A North Korean boat with three crewmen crossed the de facto maritime border with South Korean and has been towed to a port, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing the South's Joint Chiefs.
The wooden vessel crossed the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, at about 11:20 pm Saturday, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, according to Yonhap.
The crew and their boat were taken to a South Korean military port for investigation, it said.
It was not immediately known whether they were defectors or accidentally crossed the border.
In June a fishing boat from North Korea carrying four men managed to cross the intensely monitored sea between the countries and dock undetected. Two of the men were sent back to the North and the other two said they wished to defect.
A South Korean general was sacked over the lapse in border security.
More than 30,000 North Korean civilians have fled their homeland but it is very rare for them to cross the closely guarded ...

N.Korean boat crosses into S.Korean waters: report

PTI Automatic

Sudanese generals and protest leaders, who signed a power-sharing agreement, held preliminary talks with rebel groups in neighbouring South Sudan as part of ongoing peace efforts.
The meeting on Saturday followed an agreement on Thursday between protest leaders and their rebel partners to end their differences over the accord signed with Sudan's military rulers earlier this month, vowing to work jointly for peace.
Arriving at the airport in the South Sudanese capital Juba earlier Saturday, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the deputy chief of Sudan's ruling military council, told reporters he hoped the meeting would "restore peace" by focusing on "how we can implement the recent peace agreement we signed in Khartoum".
Among those at the meeting were rebel leaders Abdelaziz al-Hilu of South Kordofan state and Malik Agar of Blue Nile state.
The umbrella protest movement on July 17 signed the power-sharing accord with Sudan's generals, which provides for a transitional civilian ...

Sudan generals, protest leaders, meet rebel chiefs in S.Sudan

The death toll in a landslide which buried a village in southwest China rose to 29, according to state media, with 22 still missing days after the disaster struck.
Official news agency Xinhua said Saturday night that 40 people have been rescued from the site in Shuicheng county, Guizhou province, according to the local emergency rescue command.
A thick torrent of mud buried 21 houses in the landslide on Tuesday, and state broadcaster CCTV broadcast footage of rescue workers trying to reach survivors through a huge mound of earth.
Two children and a mother with a baby were among those dead.
Xinhua said a local school had been set up as an emergency medical and rescue centre, with "multiple rescue teams and experts" still searching for those missing.
The government has earmarked 30 million yuan ($4.35 million) for search and rescue efforts in the province, Xinhua reported, as well as the relocation of victims.
Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, ...

China landslide death toll rises to 29 with 22 still missing

Boko Haram gunmen on Saturday killed 23 mourners in Borno state in Nigeria's restive northeast after they attended a funeral, local militia and residents said.
At around 1030 GMT, the attackers on three motorbikes opened fire on a group of men as they walked back from a funeral in Nganzai district near the state capital Maiduguri, local militia leader Bunu Bukar Mustapha said.
"Our men recovered 23 dead bodies from the scene of the attack, which happened this morning," Mustapha told AFP.
The men were returning to Badu Kuluwu from nearby Goni Abachari village where they had attended funeral prayers for a relative, Mustapha said.
A Nganzai district official confirmed both the incident and death toll.
"I received calls from Nganzai that Boko Haram killed 23 people near Badu Kuluwu this morning," said the official, who asked not to be identified for his own safety.
Local hunters and militia recovered the bodies after survivors returned to the village and alerted them, Nganzai resident ...

Boko Haram kills 23 mourners after Nigeria funeral

Police in Moscow said they arrested more than 1,000 people Saturday at a banned opposition protest calling for city authorities to reverse decisions to exclude key opposition candidates from the ballot paper.
The protest was the latest in a wave of demonstrations calling for fair local elections in the capital.
Around 3,500 people took to the streets for the unauthorised rally, according to official figures. Several of the arrests were violent and police used batons against protesters, AFP reporters at the scene saw.
In all, "1,074 people have been arrested for a variety of offences during an unauthorised demonstration in the centre of the capital", Moscow police were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The rally came a week after the capital's biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September.
Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of ...

Moscow police arrest hundreds at banned rally for fair elections

Reporters investigating Russian military intelligence have been targeted by highly sophisticated cyberattacks through their encrypted email accounts, with evidence suggesting Moscow was responsible, the email service provider ProtonMail and journalists said Saturday.
The phishing attack, which sought to dupe users into sharing their ProtonMail passwords, was aimed at journalists from the award-winning website Bellingcat, which helped identify the agents who poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain.
Geneva-based ProtonMail said in a statement that "the evidence (along with independent third-party assessments) seem to suggest an attack of Russian origin." The company's chief executive Andy Yen told AFP that the operation "was one if the best-run phishing attacks we have ever seen."
Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev, who led the site's work on the Skripal case, said he had no doubt Russia's GRU military intelligence unit was responsible and that it marked "a quantum leap" 

Journalists investigating Russia targeted by cyberattacks: ProtonMail

Police arrested more than 600 people as they gathered in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair local elections, a protest monitor said, following the latest in a wave of demonstrations after authorities blocked opposition candidates from the ballot paper.
Around 3,500 people took to the streets for the unauthorised rally, according to official figures. Several of the arrests were violent and police used batons against protesters, AFP reporters at the scene saw.
The demonstration came a week after the capital's biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September.
Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of several disqualified candidates, while top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest.
"Honestly, I'm scared," 42-year-old IT worker Alexei Sprizhitsky told AFP at the demonstration on Saturday.
He said the last ...

Moscow police arrest hundreds at rally for fair elections: monitor

Armed men described as jihadists raided a village in Burkina Faso's restive north, killing 15 people, plundering and burning shops and motorbikes, a regional governor said Saturday.
The raid took place on the night of Thursday to Friday with "around 20 individuals attacking the village of Diblou," said a security source who put the death toll at 14.
But a statement by the governor of the Centre-Nord region, Casimir Segueda, said that 15 people were killed, and the village's market torched.  A local resident said that "the terrorists burnt shops and motorcycles".
"Almost the entire market was looted," the resident added.
The poor Sahel state has been battling a rising wave of jihadist attacks over the last four years which began in the north but have since spread to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.
Most attacks in the former French colony are attributed to the jihadist group Ansarul Islam, which emerged near the Mali border in December 2016, and to the JNIM (Group to ...

15 killed in jihadist attack in Burkina Faso

Police arrested more than 500 people as they gathered in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair local elections, the latest in a wave of protests after authorities blocked opposition candidates from the ballot paper.
Around 3,500 people took to the streets for the unauthorised rally, according to official figures. Several of the arrests were violent and police used batons against protestors, AFP reporters at the scene saw.
The demonstration came a week after the capital's biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September.
Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of several disqualified candidates, while top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest.
"Honestly, I'm scared," 42-year-old IT worker Alexei Sprizhitsky told AFP at the demonstration on Saturday.
He said the last time he had seen this level of pressure on 

Moscow police arrest hundreds at rally for fair elections By

Everything he touches turns to gold, but American swim sensation Caeleb Dressel beat himself up over a less-than-perfect start Saturday after completing a stunning hat-trick of world titles.
The 22-year-old retained his 50 metres freestyle and 100m butterfly crowns in Gwangju with plenty to spare, before leading the American mixed 4x100m freestyle team to a new world record for good measure.
"I probably sound like a broken record but every time I race I always look for the bad," said Dressel, who became the first swimmer to capture at least six gold medals at two world championships.
"It wasn't easy tonight. I don't want it to be easy, I really don't."
But despite leaving Brazilian Bruno Fratus and Greek Kristian Gkolomeev for dead in the 50m free, which he won in a championship best 21.04 seconds, Dressel was still fretting about his start.
"It was so bad, I wish I could have that one back," said the tattooed pin-up, who swept to seven gold medals at the 2017 world championships in ..

Dressel looks for negatives after golden swim treble

Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel struggled to control their emotions on Saturday after Ferrari endured a double disaster that wrecked their hopes in qualifying for the German Grand Prix.
Four-time champion Vettel said he felt "bitter" to be unable to run in front of his home fans at Hockenheim where he will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid.
Leclerc, who starts from 10th, said it was "a difficult day for the team" and "a shame".
Toto Wolff of Mercedes, who saw his defending five-time champion Lewis Hamilton take the 87th pole of his career, said: "It's a shame for Ferrari and a shame for Sebastian in his home Grand Prix.
"It's a bit subdued in the crowd and Ferrari have an illness and they need to cure that because we need them for a strong championship."
Ferrari's double failure came as Mercedes celebrated the 125th anniversary of motorsport and their 200th Formula One race entry by sporting 'retro' 1950's uniforms and recovered from a challenging run of practice ...

Ferrari have an illness that needs a cure, says Mercedes boss

A top-level Myanmar government delegation began repatriation talks with Rohingya leaders in a Bangladesh refugee camp on Saturday, an official said, with many of the Muslim minority fearing for their safety if they return home.
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar's military and are living in squalid conditions in camps in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar.
The two countries signed a repatriation deal in November 2017 but so far virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to go back to Myanmar, where the group has faced decades of repression.
The Myanmar team, led by permanent foreign secretary U Myint Thu, arrived in Cox's Bazar on Saturday amid tightened security in the camps.
The delegation visited Kutupalong -- the world's largest refugee settlement -- where they discussed repatriation with Rohingya community leaders over several hours, said Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam.
"Both parties seemed positive about it and the ...

Myanmar delegation holds repatriation talks with Rohingya in Bangladesh

Direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban could begin within the next two weeks, an Afghan official said Saturday, marking a potentially crucial step in efforts to end the war.
The Taliban have so far steadfastly refused to speak to the government of President Ashraf Ghani, which they see as illegitimate, except for at a recent summit where Ghani officials attended in a "personal capacity".
"We are preparing for direct talks," said Abdul Salam Rahimi, the state minister for peace affairs, noting that the government would be represented by a 15-member delegation.
"We are working with all sides and hope that in the next two weeks the first meeting will take place in a European country." He did not specify where the summit might take place.
Germany played a crucial role in talks in an "intra-Afghan dialogue" in Doha earlier this month, but Norway has also been involved in peace efforts.
The Taliban did not immediately comment, but the apparent development comes as US ...

Afghan-Taliban talks could happen within two weeks: minister

Lewis Hamilton secured a record-extending 87th pole position on Saturday when he made the most of a double disaster for Ferrari in qualifying at the German Grand Prix.
The defending five-time world champion, who had struggled for pace and consistency in his Mercedes in practice, improved to clock a best lap in one minute and 11.767 and outpace Max Verstappen of Red Bull by 0.346 seconds.
Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was third ahead of Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull while Charles Leclerc, who had been fastest for Ferrari in final practice, failed to run in the Q3 top-ten shootout due to a technical problem with his car.
The Moneqasque will start 10th, 10 places ahead of his luckless Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel who was unable to take part in qualifying due to a turbo problem and will start at the back of the grid for his home race.
Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Alfa Romeo ahead of Romain Grosjean of Haas, Carlos Sainz of McLaren, Sergio Perez of Racing Point .

Hamilton on pole in German Grand Prix, disaster for Ferrari

Two Iranian ships stranded off the coast of Brazil for weeks will set sail this weekend, officials said Saturday, after a court ordered state oil giant Petrobras to fill up the vessels.
The bulk carriers have been stuck at Paranagua port in the southern state of Parana since early last month after Petrobras refused to provide fuel for fear of breaching US sanctions.
The port administrator said the dispute "ends this weekend." The Bavand, which is loaded with corn, will receive 1,300 tons of fuel, Portos do Parana said in a statement. The Termeh will get 600 tons.
Petrobras would not confirm if it was complying with the Supreme Court order handed down Thursday for it to refuel the ships.
A spokesperson for Eleva Quimica, the Brazilian company which contracted the vessels, said refueling started in the early hours of Saturday and would finish later in the day. They would depart this weekend.
The Supreme Court order came after Iran's top envoy to Brazil told Bloomberg that Tehran could ..

Iran ships stranded in Brazil to depart this weekend: officials

Carles Perez scored his first two goals for Barcelona as the Spanish giants won 2-0 against a Vissel Kobe side featuring Andres Iniesta, a legend of the Catalan club.
As Kobe's Iniesta, David Villa and Sergi Samper were all reunited with their former team, it was Perez who stole the limelight with a top-class double.
The 21-year-old, a product of Barcelona's academy, played a one-two inside the box and nutmegged the goalkeeper for his first goal, and fired a stunning left-footer for his second in the dying minutes.
Iniesta had his chances and 28,000 fans sighed their frustration as he put a fierce shot just wide.
"It was my first goal for Barcelona and I'm glad to score even two," Perez said.
"It's been my dream to score goals for this great team since my childhood," he added.
Iniesta said: "I am glad Barcelona were able to come here and play. It was a good game honestly as we played well."
The World Cup-winner, who lifted 32 major trophies with Barcelona, signed for Kobe last May in .

Perez double as Barcelona beat Iniesta's Kobe

Hazem Tahsin Bek on Saturday succeeded his late father as prince of the Yazidi religious minority that was brutalised by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq.
He was enthroned in a ceremony in Lalish, the Yazidis' holiest site in Iraq's mountainous northwest, after having been named by their five-member High Spiritual Council which includes Baba Sheikh, their religious chief.
The new hereditary leader, a 56-year-old former deputy in the Iraqi Kurdish parliament, is in charge of running the community and cooperating with Kurdish authorities in the north and the federal government in Baghdad.
His father, Tahsin Said Ali, died last January in Germany of a long illness after almost 75 years as head of the community, whose men were killed en masse and women and girls abducted as "sex slaves" by IS.
Of the world's nearly 1.5 million Yazidis, the largest number -- 550,000 -- lived in Iraq, with smaller numbers in Kurdish-speaking areas of Turkey and Syria.
Decades of emigration have seen 

Son of Iraq's late Yazidi prince takes over as leader

Nordic countries are experiencing searing temperatures as Europe's record-breaking heatwave moves north, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) said Saturday, with some areas recording "tropical nights".
In Sweden, the most extreme heat has headed straight for the country's far north.
On Friday the small town of Markusvinsa in the far north recorded a temperature of 34.8 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest mark reached in all of Sweden so far this year.
"That's the hottest temperature in the far north since 1945 and the third highest temperature on record," Jon Jorpeland, meteorologist at SMHI, told AFP.
Earlier in the week several places in Sweden experienced "tropical nights," meaning that temperatures stayed above 20C throughout the night.
According to Jorpeland, temperatures in the south of Sweden haven't been as extreme and it's not unusual that the mercury reaches 30 degrees a few days a year in the country, even though current temperatures 

Nordic countries sizzle as European heatwave moves north

Regime and Russian air strikes Saturday killed 15 civilians, more than half of them children, in northwestern Syria where ramped up attacks by the two allies have claimed hundreds of lives since April.
Idlib and parts of the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The region is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive by a September buffer zone deal, but it has come under increasing bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally over the past three months.
In the Idlib town of Ariha, seven children were among 11 civilians killed in Syrian air strikes that targeted two residential buildings and also wounded 28 other people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
One of the dead was a small boy who was found under the rubble by White Helmets rescuers, his face bloodied and his body covered in white dust, a photographer who works with AFP said ...

Air strikes kill 15 civilians in northwest Syria: Monitor

A probe into the deadly June 3 raid on a Sudanese protest camp has found a paramilitary group was involved but without orders from the top, a chief investigator said Saturday.
Fatah al-Rahman Saeed, head of a probe into the raid, said orders had been given to security forces to clear an area near the protest camp.
But a general from the country's feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces also ordered a colonel to disperse the sit-in outside army headquarters, he said, which led to the deaths of scores of demonstrators according the protest movement.
"They led the (RSF) forces... inside the sit-in area and ordered them to get down from their vehicles and whip the protesters," Saeed told a press conference.
Protesters and rights groups have accused the paramilitary force of carrying out the raid, but the deputy chief of Sudan's ruling military council General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who also heads the RSF has steadfastly denied his group's involvement.
On Saturday, Saeed identified the RSF .

Sudan paramilitaries involved in deadly June 3 raid: probe

Hong Kong police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday at protesters holding a banned rally against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators near the Chinese border last weekend, tipping the finance hub further into chaos.
Riot police used tear gas throughout the afternoon and evening in Yuen Long, a town close to the border, after tense standoffs with protesters, some of whom were throwing projectiles and had surrounded a police van.
Hospital authorities said nine people were injured, with five in a serious condition, as rubber bullets were fired later in the evening to disperse remaining protesters.  Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white T-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters and bystanders in Yuen Long station.
That brazen assault -- which hospitalised at least 45 people -- marked an escalation of seven weeks of unprecedented political violence that shows little sign of abating as the 

AFP

AFP

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