An American service member was killed in Afghanistan Friday, the US-led NATO mission said, the latest US fatality as talks between the US and the Taliban continue.
"A US service member died during combat operations in Afghanistan, August 29, 2019," NATO's Resolute Support mission said in a statement.
The death brings to at least 15 the number of members of the US military to be killed in action in Afghanistan this year, just as Washington is seeking a way out of its longest war.
NATO did not immediately provide any additional information.
On August 21, two US Army commandos were killed in action in Afghanistan.
The death comes as the US and the Taliban continue to seek an agreement in Doha that would see thousands of American troops leave Afghanistan in return for various security guarantees.
There are currently approximately 13,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States will keep a permanent presence in Afghanistan, with 8,600 troops ...

US service member killed in Afghanistan: NATO

PTI Automatic

Ten statues of famous women were installed in New York this week as the first part of an international project by Australian artists to highlight gender imbalance in monuments.
Media mogul and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas were among the personalities chosen by the public to be carved in bronze.
The statues, which stand around 6.5 feet (two meters) tall, are the work of husband-and-wife sculpting duo Gillie and Marc Schattner, who want women to be fairly represented in public art.
They say on their website that less than three per cent of New York's statues are of women. The figure is three percent in London and four per cent in Sydney, they add.
"It's gorgeous!" said 46-year-old Leslie Daniels as she stopped to look at the installation on Manhattan's Sixth Avenue near Rockefeller Center.
"We women are great contributors to society and they just overlook us. It is uplifting to see this," she ...

Statues for equality: Australians unveil NY sculptures of 10 women

German prosecutors are investigating a male nurse suspected of murdering numerous patients in a case reminiscent of one of the country's worst serial killers, it emerged Friday.
Following reports in local media, the state prosecutor in Saarbruecken confirmed that the suspect, identified only as B., was under investigation on five counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
The case bears similarities to that of Niels Hoegel, the serial killer nurse who was handed a life sentence last June for the murder of 85 patients in his care.
Hoegel, believed to be Germany's most prolific serial killer, murdered patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before he was eventually caught in the act.
The prosecutor said that B. was arrested in June 2016 after he was caught posing as doctor in an attempt to gain access to a patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Homburg, near the French border.
At the time, he had been working at the hospital as a nurse for just six .

German nurse under investigation for murdering patients

France's wine output is expected to fall 12 per cent this year, the agriculture ministry said Friday, after spring frosts followed by summer heat waves took a heavy toll on vineyards across the country.
Overall production is estimated to reach 43.4 million hectolitres (1.15 billion gallons), down from 49.4 million hectolitres last year.
That would be about four per cent below average production over the past five years, the ministry added.
Large swathes of France were hit by cold snaps last spring that killed off young grape clusters or stunted their growth, in particular in the west.
The country then experienced a series of heat waves, including a fierce episode in late July when temperatures soared to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in places, withering grapes on the vine, in particular in the south.
European and US researchers later determined that July had been the hottest month on record across the globe.
The agriculture ministry said rains in early August managed to ...

Extreme weather to cut French wine output by 12%: Ministry

The brother of champion US gymnast Simone Biles has been arrested and charged in connection with a New Year's Eve shooting that left three people dead.
Tevin Biles-Thomas, 24, was charged Thursday with murder, voluntary manslaughter, felonious assault and perjury, according to a statement from police in Cleveland, Ohio, where the shooting happened.
Biles-Thomas was arrested in Georgia, said Cuyahoga County prosecutor Michael O'Malley.
Shortly before midnight on December 31 of last year, a group of young men tried to enter an apartment where a party was being held.
Guns were fired and three people were killed while two others were wounded, according to press reports.
Biles' brother is on active duty with the US Army, reports said.
He is the only person charged in the shooting.
Simone Biles, 22, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, spent the first years of her life with foster families as her mother struggled with substance abuse.
She was eventually adopted along with her younger sister ..

Brother of Simone Biles charged with triple murder

Australia star Steve Smith was out for just 23 in his first innings since being felled by England fast bowler Jofra Archer and suffering concussion in the second Ashes Test.
Smith took to the crease in the three-day tour game at Derby on Friday, coming in with Australia 179-2 in reply to Derbyshire's first innings 172.
He played his opening ball from Hamidullah Qadri defensively and later slogged the off-spinner for four.
But his 38-ball knock came to an end when he sliced a drive off Matt Critchley, a leg-spinner whose previous 59 first-class wickets had come at an expensive average of 51.86.
Qadri, running in from the cover boundary, held a well-judged catch.  Australia were then 237-3 in the 70th over.
Smith, who was in the middle for 47 minutes, faced 38 balls and struck two fours.  But the only five balls he faced that weren't from a slow bowler came from medium-pacer Anuj Dal.
Smith kept his pads on after walking back into the pavilion and soon afterwards headed into the nets in 

Australia star Smith out for 23 in first innings since concussion

China on Friday executed a man convicted of raping and killing a female passenger last year while he was working as a driver for ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, China's omnipresent answer to Uber.
The company has been slammed by critics and China's transport ministry over safety lapses after the incident in the eastern city of Wenzhou in August 2018, barely three months after a similar death.
Zhong Yuan, 28, had racked up gambling debts and was planning to rob a passenger before the fatal attack on the 20-year-old woman, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
"The criminal means (employed) were extremely cruel and the consequences of the crime are extremely serious," the court in Wenzhou said in a statement on its official Weibo microblog, while announcing the sentence.
Didi Chuxing has admitted it failed to act on a complaint about the same driver from another passenger, who said Zhong had driven her to an isolated location and followed her in his car after she left the ...

China executes ride-hailing driver who killed passenger

Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro has been fined USD 40,000 by the US Open for lack of effort in her first-round match against Hungarian qualifier Timea Babos, tournament referee Soeren Friemel said.
Suarez Navarro, a US Open quarter-finalist last year, matching her best Grand Slam run, retired at the end of the first set with a lower back injury.
The 30-year-old, who reached the fourth round last month at Wimbledon, won her only WTA titles at the 2014 Portugal Open and 2016 Qatar Open.
Grand Slam rules outline a code of conduct for performances in first-round matches, with players expected to perform to "a professional standard."
"After reviewing reports from the medical staff and the Grand Slam supervisors, the determination was made that Carla Suarez Navarro did not perform to the required professional standards," Friemel said in a statement.
She could have been fined up to the full $58,000 she received for a first-round loss at the year's final Grand Slam event.

US Open fines Spain's Suarez Navarro $40K for poor effort

Lebanon dismissed Turkish claims Friday that it would receive the Adrian Darya, an Iranian tanker which has been bouncing around the Mediterranean amid US warnings over its valuable oil cargo.
Every change of tack from the huge vessel, with its cargo of 2.1 barrels worth around USD 140 million, has sparked intense speculation.
It was detained for six weeks by the British territory of Gibraltar and released despite a US attempt to keep it detained on suspicion that its cargo was bound for Syria.
While Iran has denied selling the oil to its Damascus ally, experts said the likely scenario was for a ship-to-ship transfer, with a Syrian port as the final destination.
Maritime traffic monitors had shown that the Adrian Darya's latest listed destinations, which are not necessarily the next approved port of call, were in Turkey.
After tracking sites showed Mersin as its destination, it then switched to Iskenderun, prompting a reaction from Turkey's foreign minister Friday.
"This tanker is not 

Lebanon says no docking request from Iran tanker

England star James Anderson has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series with a calf injury, in a blow to home hopes of winning the series against Australia.
Anderson, England's all-time leading wicket-taker, has not bowled in the series since breaking down with the injury after delivering just four overs in Australia's 251-run win in the first Test at Edgbaston.
The 37-year-old Lancashire paceman had tried to get fit for the fourth Test at his Old Trafford home ground starting on Wednesday.
But after bowling during a second XI match against Durham this week he has been declared unfit for the final two Tests of the series.
On the same day  Australia had better news, with star batsman Steve Smith proving his fitness by batting in his first competitive game since suffering concussion after being felled by fast bowler Jofra Archer in the second Ashes test.
Smith, in the middle for 47 minutes in Australia's three-day match against Derbyshire, faced 38 balls and struck two fours 

England great Anderson out of the Ashes

Iraq's government is preparing a complaint to the UN after finding Israel is "certainly" behind several attacks on Hashed al-Shaabi bases, a parliamentarian and leading member of the paramilitary force said.
The Hashed has blamed both Israel and the US for a string of blasts and drone sightings at its bases in recent weeks, but Baghdad has thus far refrained from making accusations.
Ahmad al-Assadi, a Hashed official and spokesman for its parliamentary bloc "Fatah", told journalists on Thursday in his office in central Baghdad that government probes would name Israel.
"Some of the government investigations have reached a conclusion that the perpetrator behind some of the attacks is absolutely, certainly Israel," he said, declining to provide details on the evidence.
"The government is preparing sufficient evidence and documents to complain to the (UN) Security Council. It won't submit a complaint against an unknown entity."
The Hashed was established in 2014 from mostly-Shiite armed ..

Iraq probes find Israel behind 'some' base attacks: MP

Brazilian MMA champion Jessica Andrade urged swift action to douse the fires burning out of control in the Amazon rainforest on Friday as she prepared for her UFC strawweight title defence.
Andrade, 27, who will face China's Zhang Weili in Shenzhen on Saturday, will enter the cage in a traditional tribal headdress to highlight the plight of Brazil's indigenous regions.
Tens of thousands of fires have been set this year in the world's largest rainforest, setting off a global outcry over conservation and environmental concerns.
"Not enough is being done. We need to preserve our natural environment," Andrade said in southern China.
"We have so many natural riches and it seems as though we are letting them be destroyed. This has to stop. The lands and the indigenous people seem to have no protection and we must listen to their voices."
Andrade said she hoped to draw attention to the problems facing Brazil's tribal population, including the loss of traditional lands and native species.
"I .

Brazilian MMA champ issues plea over Amazon fires

A French government official said Friday that no fresh merger discussions had been held between the automakers Renault and Fiat Chrysler, after Fiat's chief indicated he'd be open to resuming talks on a deal.
"To my knowledge there aren't any new negotiations between Fiat and Renault," Martin Vial, who heads the agency that manages France's state shareholdings, told Radio Classique.
France owns 15 percent of Renault and Vial and another French official sit on the board, which gave them a front-row view of the talks with Fiat that abruptly broke down in June.
The government's reticence to back a deal without the support of Renault's longtime alliance partner Nissan reportedly played a major role in prompting Fiat to back out, though France has denied derailing the talks.
"In any event, for the state, the priority is the (Nissan) alliance and its industrial project," Vial said.
"As long as this priority hasn't effectively been put in place, there's no reason to consider any other ...

France says no new Renault-Fiat talks for now

Poland will on Sunday mark 80 years since the outbreak of World War II with commemorations attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the only major leader expected after US President Donald Trump pulled out to focus on Hurricane Dorian.
US Vice President Mike Pence will take his place in Warsaw for the anniversary of the start of history's bloodiest conflict, which claimed more than 50 million lives including six million Jews in the Holocaust.
Also not coming are French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited - unlike 10 years ago - because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
"This should be an event that unites people," said political analyst Marcin Zaborowski, adding that Warsaw should have included Russia and tried harder to attract other leaders instead of focusing on Trump.
"He cancelled and the whole thing is now looking of lesser importance," he told AFP.
The Polish presidency .

Warsaw to mark 80 years after WWII outbreak

Companies from the United Arab Emirates are taking part in the Damascus International Trade Fair, state media has said, months after their embassy reopened in the Syrian capital.
On Wednesday, a delegation of around 40 businessmen from the UAE arrived in Damascus "to take part in the international fair", pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said.
Late Thursday, a Syrian employee of an Emirati company said it was his firm's first time at the Damascus fair.
"We came with a high-level delegation from the Emirates led by the Emirati Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry," he told AFP at the fair.
The UAE reopened its Damascus embassy in December after a break of almost seven years.
Syrian state news agency SANA says some 1,700 companies from over 30 countries are taking part in this year's trade fair, which opened on Wednesday and runs to September 6.
Damascus is looking to rebuild a large swathe of war-torn Syria after a series of Russia-backed victories against rebels and ...

Emirati companies flock to Damascus trade fair: state media

The United Nations said Friday it will help evacuate civilians from an "abysmal" Syrian desert camp near the border with Jordan, after a mission last week determined who wanted to leave.
"We are ready to facilitate" evacuations from the Rukban camp, said Panos Moumtzis, the UN's Syria humanitarian chief.
"We want to make sure it happens in a voluntary way," he told AFP during an interview in Beirut, describing the situation in the settlement as "abysmal".
According to the UN official, around 12,700 people remain in the isolated Rukban camp near a base used by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.
The Syrian government and key backer Russia said in February they had opened corridors out of the camp, calling on residents to leave.
More than half of the original population has left in the past months, the United Nations says.
The UN and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent sent a mission to the camp last week to determine how many people remained inside and who wanted to leave, .

UN to 'facilitate' evacuations from Syria desert camp

The US Treasury on Friday announced penalties against Taiwanese and Hong Kong shipping firms it says are helping North Korea circumvent United Nations sanctions.
The companies are helping North Korea with "illicit ship-to-ship (STS) transfers to circumvent United Nations (UN) sanctions that restrict the import of petroleum products," Treasury said.
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control blocked the assets of two individuals and those of Taiwan-based Jui Pang Shipping Co Ltd (Jui Pang) and Jui Zong Ship Management Co Ltd (Jui Zong), as well as the Hong Kong-based Jui Cheng Shipping Company Limited (Jui Cheng).

US penalizes shipping firms said to help N.Korea circumvent UN sanctions

The Ebola outbreak showed no signs of easing in DR Congo Friday on the eve of the UN chief's visit, with the death toll from the highly contagious virus crossing 2,000 and a new fatality in neighbouring Uganda.
The latest casualty in Uganda was a nine-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, reviving fears that the virus could cross the porous borders of the central African country, where it erupted in August last year.
DR Congo health officials said late Thursday that there have been "2,006 deaths (1,901 confirmed and 105 probable)" since August 2018.
"Since the start of the epidemic, the number of cases is 3,004, including 2,899 confirmed and 105 probable," a bulletin said, adding that 902 people had been cured.
The toll is a setback for the beleaguered country, coming a day before UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visits for a first-hand assessment of the fightback.
It is the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history after more than 11,000 people were killed in Guinea, 

DR Congo Ebola death toll crosses 2,000 ahead of UN chief's visit

Georgia warned Friday of a risk of "serious confrontation"with South Ossetia after the breakaway region demanded the Georgian authorities remove a checkpoint on its boundary.
Georgian foreign ministry said it observed "mobilisation of military equipment and personnel" near the village of Chorchana, where Georgian authorities had set up the checkpoint.
The situation risked "escalating into a serious confrontation," Georgia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mari Narchemashvili told AFP on Friday.
At a talks mediated by the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday, South Ossetia had demanded that Georgian police dismantle the checkpoint before 0300 GMT on Friday, according to one of the delegates at the meeting.
"If this condition is not met, the government (of South Ossetia) will take all legal measures to ensure security of the South Ossetian people and protect the state border," a South Ossetian delegate, Yegor Kochiev, said in televised ...

Tensions rise in Georgia's separatist enclave

Queen Elizabeth II has been drawn into the Brexit battle as it comes to the crunch, opening the politically neutral sovereign to potentially challenging positions for her role as a constitutional monarch.
The 93-year-old head of state approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice to cut down the number of days parliament will meet before Britain is due to leave the European Union on October 31.
Experts say Queen Elizabeth had no option but to approve the request.
Mike Gordon, professor of constitutional law at the University of Liverpool, said Queen Elizabeth may now face dangerous situations further down the line following Johnson's move.
The constitution is unwritten, instead relying on precedent and convention.
"This definitely puts the queen in a potentially tricky position because it's drawing her into the most contentious and divisive political debate in the UK," he said.
Britain is a constitutional monarchy, meaning the sovereign has the right to be consulted, to warn and to ..

Queen drawn into Brexit battle

The United Arab Emirates has confirmed it launched air strikes on Yemen's interim capital Aden, after furious accusations from the internationally recognised government which has lost control of the city to UAE-backed separatists.
In the face of charges it targeted government troops, Abu Dhabi said it acted in self-defence against "terrorist militias" threatening the Saudi-led military coalition against Huthi rebels in which the UAE is a key partner.
A foreign ministry statement was issued late Thursday, hours after the separatists regained control of Aden, forcing government troops who had entered the southern port city a day earlier to withdraw.
Air strikes on Wednesday and Thursday that reportedly left dozens dead hit "armed groups affiliated with terrorist organisations", Abu Dhabi said, in a reference to Islamists it believes make up part of Yemeni government forces.
The operation "was based on confirmed field intelligence that the militias prepared to target the coalition forces 

AFP

AFP

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