Two people died and a police officer was wounded in a shooting early Tuesday at a Walmart in Mississippi, US media reported.
DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco told the Commercial Appeal newspaper that the suspect had been shot and wounded in the shooting in the city of Southhaven.
The two people shot dead were believed to be Walmart employees, the sheriff said, and the suspect was an employee until Monday.
He said the suspect and wounded police officer had been taken to local hospitals.
Southhaven is a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee, which lies just to the north over the state line.

Two shot dead in Mississippi Walmart: media

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Natural disasters, some linked to climate change, caused $9.0 billion more damage in the first half of 2019 than last year, according to a toll published Tuesday by German reinsurer Munich Re.
Between January and June, material damage mounted to $42 billion from 370 natural disasters around the globe, the financial firm said in a statement.
In 2018, disasters racked up a bill of $33 billion over the same period.
But both half-year totals remain well below the 30-year average of $69 billion.
June brought a stark heatwave to Europe, and especially Germany, harming harvests, while hailstorms inflicted 900 million euros ($1 billion) of damage in Europe.
The impact of ice showers in Greece and Italy in early July has not yet been totted up.
"A number of scientific studies indicate that heatwaves are increasing due to climate change, and hailstorms as well," said Munich Re's chief climate and geoscientist Ernst Rauch.
The reinsurer noted that tornado season in the United States had been ...

Natural disasters cause greater havoc in 2019: Munich Re

Australia coach Justin Langer says an Ashes return for Cameron Bancroft would be "a great story" but knows he will face a hostile reception from England fans after his ball-tampering ban.
Bancroft, 26, is set to open the batting in Thursday's first Test at Edgbaston, with Australia's top order also likely to feature David Warner and Steve Smith.
If that is the case, it would mean all three players who were banned for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa last year would be in Australia's XI.
Smith and Warner have already experienced plenty of boos from English crowds during the recent World Cup.
Bancroft, not selected for the one-day tournament, will almost certainly experience more of the same given he was the one who actually applied sandpaper to the ball during a Test away to South Africa in a blatant flouting of cricket's rulebook.
"It would be a great story if he comes back into the team," Langer said at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
"His development after what ...

Langer predicts hostile Ashes reception for Bancroft from England fans

Around $10 million in aid for the displaced in northern Iraq's Nineveh province, where the Islamic State group was based, has been embezzled by its fugitive ex-governor, the country's anti-corruption commission said Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Integrity Commission told AFP that its investigators had uncovered "invoices from developers in Iraqi Kurdistan".
But, he added, "no receipt was found" for these debited sums, which were meant for the rehabilitation of two hospitals in the northern metropolis of Mosul, capital of Nineveh.
Many of the province's inhabitants are still displaced as public services have not been fully reestablished.
Currently, 1.6 million Iraqis are still crowded into camps for the displaced, of which 40 percent are originally from Nineveh, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
A total of 11.3 billion Iraqi dinars ($9.4 million) had been allocated to the Provincial Council by the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, according to the ...

Iraq says ex-governor embezzled $10 mn in aid for displaced

Chelsea have permanently banned one supporter from Stamford Bridge for the use of racially abusive language and threatening and aggressive behaviour during last season's home game with Manchester City.
The Premier League club have also temporarily excluded five other supporters for periods of between one and two years for the use of abusive language and threatening and aggressive behaviour at the fixture on December 8.
Chelsea, who have not released any names over the incidents, said they had delayed reaching a decision in the cases in order to ensure they did not prejudice the related police investigation.
The Crown Prosecution Service recently announced it had elected not to initiate any criminal prosecutions.
According to the club, all individuals sanctioned as a result of their investigation were offered the right to appeal and, where applicable, those appeals have been heard.
Referring to the supporter handed a lifetime ban from the ground, a club statement on Tuesday read: ...

Chelsea ban fan over use of racist language

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Ireland's Leo Varadkar on Tuesday there would be no physical checks on the border between their two countries after Brexit, a spokeswoman said.
But in their first phone call since he took office, Johnson repeated that the current "backstop" plan to keep the frontier open, which is included in the EU's draft divorce deal, was unacceptable.
"On Brexit, the prime minister made clear that the UK will be leaving the EU on October 31, no matter what," a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
"He said that in all scenarios, the government will be steadfast in its commitment to the Belfast Agreement and will never put physical checks or physical infrastructure on the border."
The Belfast or Good Friday Agreement brought peace to Northern Ireland after years of violence over British control which left 3,500 people dead.
Removing checks on the border with Ireland was considered a key factor in reducing tensions. But after Brexit, that border will become ..

UK's Johnson promises Irish PM no physical border checks

England batsman Joe Denly confirmed Tuesday he will drop to number four for England's opening Ashes Test against Australia, with captain Joe Root replacing him at number three in the order.
Root has previously made clear he prefers batting at four but the Yorkshireman is understood to have approached England coach Trevor Bayliss after last week's Test win over Ireland about returning to his old position of first-wicket down when the Ashes opener starts at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Although England beat Ireland by skittling out the visitors for 38 in their second innings at Lord's, they only managed 85 all out themselves in their first innings.
Bayliss has long wanted Root, now England's best batsman, to bat at number three following a succession of top-order collapses that have seen the skipper walking out to bat at four when two cheap wickets have fallen.
Denly, speaking at Edgbaston on Tuesday, said: "Joe Root will bat at three and I'll be batting at four.
"He rang me the other day and 

England captain Root returns to No. 3 spot for Ashes opener

Rocket fire forced flights to be suspended and passengers evacuated at the Libyan capital's airport, where a UN envoy warned civilian aircraft had come "perilously close" to being hit.
Fighting has raged on Tripoli's doorstep since Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive in April to seize the capital, the seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
Flights were halted twice on Monday, according to Mitiga airport's Facebook page, but were operating again on Tuesday.
Several planes were diverted to Misrata, 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Tripoli, during the first suspension which lasted for several hours in the afternoon after shelling near the runway.
In the evening, the airspace was "closed again and passengers already on board planes disembarked because of another series of rockets", the airport management said.
It was unclear who was behind the attacks.
Addressing the UN Security Council by video link from Tripoli on Monday, UN envoy Ghassan ...

New attacks disrupt Tripoli flights, prompting UN alarm

Police say dozens of Hong Kong protesters detained during recent clashes will be charged with rioting -- an offence that carries a jail term of up to ten years -- as the finance hub's embattled pro-Beijing leaders crack down on weeks of demonstrations.
Hong Kong has been hit by seven weeks of mass protest rallies -- some of which have ended in violence -- triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
They have evolved into calls for wider democratic reforms and a halt to sliding freedoms in the most significant challenge to Beijing's rule since the city's 1997 handover.
Recent weeks have seen a dramatic surge in the level of violence used by both protesters and police who have repeatedly fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse projectile-throwing crowds.
In the latest clashes on Sunday, protesters fought running battles with riot officers in a well-heeled residential suburb on the main island with 49 arrests made.
A senior police ...

Dozens of Hong Kong protesters to be charged with rioting

An exhibition of cartoons has opened in Tehran portraying Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as a pirate, seen wielding a cutlass and sporting the skull-and-crossbones, after the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker.
Historically strained ties between Tehran and London have worsened since British Royal Marines took part in the seizure of Iran's "Grace 1" oil tanker off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on July 4.
That was followed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seizing a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 -- in what London called a "tit-for-tat" move.
Forty cartoons have now gone on display in the "Pirates of the Queen" exhibition at the Osveh Art and Cultural Center in Tehran to throw the spotlight on the seizure of "Grace 1", which was denounced by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as "piracy" by the "vicious British".
One cartoon shows the queen dressed as a burglar in a black beanie and mask about to be caught in a net while towing away a ...

Iran cartoonists depict queen as 'pirate' after British ship seizure

The United States has asked Germany to join an international naval mission to help secure the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the US embassy in Berlin said Tuesday, as tensions mount between Washington and Iran.
The request comes after Britain last week ordered its navy to escort UK-flagged ships in the world's busiest oil shipping lane in response to Iranian soldiers seizing a tanker in the flashpoint entrance to the Gulf.
"We've formally asked Germany to join France and the UK to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and combat Iranian aggression," said a statement by embassy spokeswoman Tamara Sternberg-Greller.
"Members of the German government have been clear that freedom of navigation should be protected... Our question is, protected by whom?"
Long-simmering tensions have spiked between Tehran and Washington since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal last year and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic.
The US and Gulf powerhouse Saudi ...

US asks Germany to 'help secure' Strait of Hormuz

Hong Kong will charge 44 protesters detained during recent violent clashes with rioting, a charge that carries up to ten years in jail, a senior police source said Tuesday.
"We are in the process of charging them.  A formal press statement will be issued later tonight," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hong Kong has been hit by weeks of mass protest marches -- some of which have ended in violence -- triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
They have evolved into calls for wider democratic reforms and a halt to sliding freedoms.
Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations of the protests, but has left it to the city's government to deal with the situation.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has shown no sign of backing down beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill.

Hong Kong to charge 44 protesters with rioting: police source

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to warn China not to wait to do a trade deal with the US, just as negotiations began in Shanghai to resurrect stalled talks with Chinese officials.
"My team is negotiating with them now, but they always change the deal in the end to their benefit," Trump tweeted.
"China is doing very badly, worst year in 27 - was supposed to start buying our agricultural product now - no signs that they are doing so. That is the problem with China, they just don't come through." The negotiations are the first face-to-face talks since Trump agreed to a truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping at June's G20 summit.
Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade.
The US economy "has become MUCH larger than the Chinese Economy is last 3 years," Trump boasted.
The US president suggested that China "should probably wait out our Election to see if we get one of the Democrat stiffs like ..

Trump warns China not to wait to do trade deal as talks resume

A Plan International aid worker was shot by Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state, the army said Tuesday, the first time an NGO employee has been swept up in violence plaguing the area.
Rakhine state is one of Myanmar's poorest regions and NGOs provide aid to tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims still languishing in displacement camps as well as other local communities.
But Myanmar's army has deployed thousands of troops there in recent months to try and crush rebels from the Arakan Army (AA), who are fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
Myanmar national Ye Lin Naing, 25, was driving a motorcycle in Mrauk U township Sunday when "a security forces member opened fire... as a warning shot" when he did not stop, according to a statement from the commander-in-chief's office.
He was wounded and taken to the hospital, but the army says he was carrying a grenade and charged him under a counterterrorism law.
Plan International, a prominent aid agency that provides aid ..

Myanmar NGO worker shot in restive Rakhine state

Sudanese protest leaders cancelled planned talks with the country's ruling generals on Tuesday as they visited a town where five teenaged protesters were shot dead.
Sudan's military ruler condemned the killing of the schoolchildren in the central town of Al-Obeid on Monday as the United Nations called for an investigation into what protesers said was a "massacre".
Demonstrators accused feared paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces of shooting dead the teenagers at a rally against shortages of bread and fuel.
The killings came as protest leaders were to hold talks with generals on Tuesday on the remaining aspects of installing civilian rule after the two sides inked a power-sharing deal earlier this month.
But two protest leaders who are members of the protest movement's negotiating team said the dialogue would not take place as planned.
"There will be no negotiations today as we are still in Al-Obeid," Taha Osman, a negotiator from the protest movement told AFP by telephone from ..

Sudan talks cancelled as army ruler condemns teenagers' killing

France's agriculture minister on Tuesday slammed US President Donald Trump's argument behind threatened tariffs on French wines as "absurd" and "stupid", as a row between Paris and Washington over taxing tech giants intensified.
France drew an angry response from Trump when it became the first major economy to impose a tax on digital giants earlier this month.
The GAFA tax -- an acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon -- aims to plug a fiscal loophole that has seen some internet heavyweights pay next to nothing in countries where they make huge profits.
The US president blasted the reform and pledged to retaliate with "substantial reciprocal action on (French President Emmanuel) Macron's foolishness" in a tweet last week.
When asked if French wine could be a target, Trump replied: "Might be on wine or something else." "I've always said American wine is better than French wine!" added the US president, who insists he is a teetotaller, in a none too subtle threat of ...

Trump argument for French wine tariffs 'absurd': minister

At least 164 land and environmental activists were murderedlast year for defending their homes, lands and natural resources from exploitation by mining, food and logging firms, Global Witness said Tuesday.
The charity watchdog's annual land defenders report found "countless" more people were silenced through violence, intimidation and the use and misuse of anti-protest laws across the world.
By far the most dangerous place for activists and indigenous communities was the Philippines, which saw 30 murders in 2018, the report said.
Colombia and India saw 24 and 23 deaths linked to environmental activism in 2018, while Guatemala was the deadliest nation for land defenders per head of population with 16 confirmed killings.
"This is a phenomenon seen around the world: land and environmental defenders, a significant number of whom are indigenous peoples, are declared terrorists, thugs or criminals for defending their rights," said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous ...

More than 160 land defenders murdered in 2018: watchdog

Chinese officials on Tuesday said "most" individuals held in re-education camps in its northwest Xinjiang region have left the centres and found jobs - though they did not provide any figures.
In Xinjiang, experts and human rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are held in a network of camps where they endure political indoctrination.
But Alken Tuniaz, vice chairman of Xinjiang, told reporters at a press briefing that "most personnel who have received educational training have already returned to society and have returned home." "Right now, most have already completed their studies and obtained employment," he said.
After initially denying their existence, Beijing has gone on a public relations blitz to defend what it calls "vocational education centres" as a necessary measure to counter religious extremism and boost employment.
At a press conference in Beijing, officials from Xinjiang called the centres "effective." "After these past one ..

China says 'most' inmates in Xinjiang camps are out

Huawei's sales unexpectedly rose in the first half of the year, company figures showed Tuesday, as executives admitted US sanctions would bring further challenges in the coming months.
The Chinese tech giant has been under immense pressure this year as Washington has lobbied allies worldwide to avoid the company's telecom gear over security concerns and in May blacklisted the firm from both the US market and buying crucial US components.
Revenue in the first six months rose 23.2 per cent from a year earlier to 401.3 billion yuan (USD 58.3 billion), the company said, adding that it posted a net profit margin of 8.7 per cent.
The US actions have created some "disturbances" but overall it has been "controllable", said Liang Hua, Huawei's chairman.
We are "fighting for survival while chasing development", Liang said.  Smartphone shipments in the first half of the year reached 118 million units, up 24 per cent from a year earlier, the company said.
Despite the robust results, the heft of ..

Huawei says revenue surges despite US sanctions

Floating plastic garbage has swamped a remote Pacific island once regarded as an environmental jewel and scientists say little can be done to save it while a throwaway culture persists.
Henderson Island is an uninhabited coral atoll that lies almost exactly halfway between New Zealand and Peru, with 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) of ocean in either direction.
Despite its extreme isolation, a freak confluence of geography and ocean currents means Henderson has one of the highest concentrations of plastic pollution on the planet.
"We found debris from just about everywhere," said Jennifer Lavers, an Australian-based researcher who led an expedition to the island last month.
"We had bottles and containers, all kinds of fishing stuff and it had come from, well, you name it -- Germany, Canada, the United States, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador.
"It was a real message that every country has a responsibility to protect the environment, even in these remote areas." Henderson lies at the centre of ..

Plastic junk spawns desert island disaster in Pacific

A Singaporean engineering company has built a robot that can serve up a piping hot bowl of laksa, one of the city-state's most well-known dishes, in just 45 seconds.
The electric sous-chef, dubbed Sophie by its creators, can blanch noodles, add pre-cooked prawns and ladle spicy coconut soup -- all with minimum spillage, at the rate of around 80 bowls an hour.
"It's excellent, I would say there's no difference between the one created by the robot and human," said Paul Yong, a guest at Friday's launch event catered by Orange Clove, which developed the machine with a local engineering company.
The robot will let chefs cut down on repetitive tasks and focus on understanding customers' needs, said Tan Tun Lim, the assistant sales director for Orange Clove.
Sophie will cut the staffing of the laksa station from two chefs to one, whose main role will be to replenish the ingredients and keep the station clean.
Tan said the company chose to make a robot that served laksa as it was one of their 

AFP

AFP

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