The US economy is likely to continue to grow, but faces continued risks from the global slowdown and trade disputes, which have already dampened expansion, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said Wednesday.
In the first of back-to-back days of testimony before Congress, Powell reaffirmed that the central bank is on hold after cutting the benchmark lending rate three times this year.
After providing that stimulus to the economy, Powell said, "my colleagues and I see a sustained expansion of economic activity, a strong labor market, and inflation near our symmetric two percent objective as most likely." However, "sluggish growth abroad and trade developments have weighed on the economy and pose ongoing risks," he told the Joint Economic Committee.
He also flagged his concerns about an "unsustainable" government budget and "high and rising debt," which could limit policymakers' ability to boost spending as needed in an economic downturn.
US GDP growth slowed to 1.9 per cent in the third 

Fed's Powell expects 'sustained expansion' of US economy

PTI Automatic

At least 13 people died and 20 were injured when a bus crashed into a truck in western Slovakia on Wednesday, the fire service told AFP.
"I can confirm the death of 13 people and 20 injuries in an accident near Nitrianske Hrnciarovce where a bus and a truck collided," said Zuzana Farkasova, spokeswoman for Slovak firefighters and rescuers.

At least 13 dead in Slovakia bus crash

Russia's football authorities said Wednesday the national team will not be wearing new Adidas-designed shirts in upcoming Euro-2020 qualifiers after some pointed out they reverse the colours of the Russian flag.
"In the upcoming games, the Russian national team will continue using the kit in which it began the qualifying round," the Russian Football Union told AFP.
Last week Adidas unveiled the new shirts with blue and white stripes trimming the red sleeves, creating the effect of a tricolour flag, similar to uniforms the brand designed for Germany.
But while the colours are in the right order on the German shirt, the Russian shirts put the colours in the reverse order to the national white, blue and red tricolour when players have their arms at their sides.
Fans complained the colours on the new shirt instead resemble the Serbian flag.  "Great uniform for the Serbian team... so when will you unveil the Russian uniform?"
Instagram user @ilyasergeich wrote under an Adidas post about ...

Russia snub new Adidas shirts with upside-down flag

The world must do much more to slash emissions if it is to defuse the climate change time bomb and deliver sustainable energy for a growing population, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.
The IEA said in its World Energy Outlook 2019 report that if current policies continue, demand will rise 1.3 percent annually through to 2040, "resulting in strains across all aspects of energy markets and a continued strong upward march in energy-related emissions".
If governments instead keep their promises of change and energy demand increases by a smaller one percent, the outcome "is still well off track from the aim of a secure and sustainable energy future," it said in a summary.
The end point of this "Stated Policies Scenario" would be a "world where hundreds of millions of people still go without access to electricity... and where CO2 emissions would lock in severe impacts from climate change."
If the aim is to go further and meet the Paris Agreement targets of limiting global ...

IEA says world needs 'laser-like focus' to bring down emissions

New challenges to a law banning gay sex were put before a Singapore court on Wednesday, the latest bid to overturn the statute and score another victory for LGBT rights in Asia.
Inherited from the British colonial era, the law is rarely enforced but campaigners say it nevertheless jars with the affluent city-state's increasingly modern and vibrant culture.
Still, opponents argue that Singapore remains at heart conservative and is not ready for change while officials also believe most would not be in favour of repealing the legislation.
A first attempt to overturn it was rejected in 2014 but now three people -- a retired doctor, a DJ and an LGBT rights advocate -- have lodged fresh challenges aiming to prove the law is unconstitutional.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs confirmed the civil suits had started behind closed doors at the High Court on Wednesday.
The three challenges will be heard one after another until November 22, and the judge will make a ruling at a later date.
"I ...

Singapore court hears new challenges to gay sex ban

Australian striker Sam Kerr will test herself at the top level of European football after impressing in her homeland and the United States as she joined Chelsea on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Matildas captain -- who scored five times in this year's World Cup as the Australians reached the last 16 -- signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Women's Super League club.
Kerr, who has been a mainstay at Perth Glory since 2014 while also playing for Chicago Red Stars in the United States, will be available for selection from January.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald last week it is believed Kerr -- who also attracted interest from  Lyon, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid -- will earn worth more than ?467,000 ($600,000) a year, not including potential bonuses.
However, Kerr -- the all-time leading scorer in the Australian and American leagues -- said she felt Chelsea were a team that had laid a solid base for winning silverware.
"The WSL is the best league in Europe," she .

Chelsea win battle to sign Australian women's football icon Kerr

Police stepped up security across Sri Lanka on Wednesday over fears of violence on the final day of campaigning for the fiercely contested presidential election, officials said.
Elite police commandos reinforced police as the two frontrunners in Saturday's vote Sajith Premadasa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa held rival rallies in and around Colombo.
"There are reports of possible violence," a senior police official told AFP. "Additional strength has been deployed in vulnerable areas. Sniffer dogs and explosive detectors will also be used at final rallies." Premadasa, 52, is the son of assassinated president Ranasinghe Premadasa who was targeted by a suicide bomber during a May Day rally in Colombo in 1993.
Rajapaksa, brother of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa, narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack in 2006 blamed on Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.
While ethnic tensions have eased, this year the country was rocked by coordinated Islamist extremist bombings on Easter Sunday that ...

Sri Lanka steps up security for final vote rallies

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury said his outspoken remarks which have caused huge offence to many are down to the racism aimed at Travellers he experienced as an amateur.
The 31-year-old Briton -- who is of Irish Traveller descent and is nicknamed 'The Gypsy King' -- drew a hail of criticism with controversial comments such as 'a woman's best place is in the kitchen' and claiming it would only take the legalisation of paedophilia in addition to the decriminalisation of abortion and homosexuals to see "the devil come home."
However, Fury -- who has battled demons such as substance abuse and mental health issues which he claims prompted him to think of committing suicide -- says he made the comments to fulfil the role of being an outsider.
"I started playing this part, being arrogant and cocky," Fury writes in his autobiography "Behind The Mask" which comes out on Thursday.
"I eventually lost myself in this character.
"When I started out as a pro, I made a decision ..

Racism the catalyst for outspoken remarks, says Fury

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza must stop rocket attacks or "absorb more and more blows" as an escalation of violence raged for a second day.
"They have one choice: to stop these attacks or absorb more and more blows. Their choice," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, adding that Israel was not seeking a further escalation.
He reiterated his warning that "this could take time" and said Israel would respond to attacks "without mercy." The exchange of fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza began on Tuesday with an Israeli targeted strike killing an Islamic Jihad commander.
Israel said the commander was responsible for rocket fire against it as well as other attacks and was planning more violence.
Gaza militants retaliated with barrages of rocket fire and Israel responded with air strikes targeting what it said were Islamic Jihad sites and rocket-launching squads.
A total of 18 Palestinians have ...

Netanyahu tells Islamic Jihad 'stop these attacks or absorb more blows'

Two Western hostages of the Taliban, who are expected to be freed in a prisoner swap for three militants, will be released only when the insurgents "reach their destination", a spokesman for the Islamist group said Wednesday.
The fate of the American and Australian hostages -- both professors at the American University in Kabul when they were kidnapped in 2016 -- remained unclear a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced the exchange.
"When our captives reach their destination, the American University professors will be released," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Wednesday.
He did not specify what that destination would be.
Afghan authorities declined to comment further on Wednesday, while the US embassy in Kabul said it had no further information after its ambassador had welcomed the news a day earlier.
Australia's foreign ministry said it did not want to give a "running commentary" on the process.
"We sincerely appreciate President Ghani's concern for Tim ..

Uncertainty over fate of Western hostages, Taliban prisoners

An inquiry into whether the deadly mosque attacks in New Zealand could have been prevented has been extended by five months, the government said Wednesday, with investigators overwhelmed with submissions.
The royal commission -- the most powerful judicial probe available under New Zealand law -- was supposed to report back on December 10 but afer receiving more than 1,100 submissions this has been extended to April 30.
The probe is investigating whether New Zealand's police and intelligence services could have prevented the March 15 attacks in which a lone gunman opened fire on two mosques in the city of Christchurch killing and wounding scores of Muslims.
Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin said more time was need "to hear submissions and consider information".
An Australian, Brenton Tarrant, will go on trial next year charged with 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and engaging in a terrorist act.
When he was arrested soon after the shootings police recovered several ...

Christchurch massacre inquiry extended under weight of submissions

One of Hong Kong's best-known charity events was cancelled Wednesday, organisers confirmed, as a result of increasingly violent pro-democracy demonstrations in the city.
The 100-kilometre (62-mile) Oxfam Trailwalker, which stretches over the hills of the New Territories on the mainland side of the territory, had been due to go ahead on Friday, and usually draws around 5,000 competitors and their support teams.
But with demonstrations in the city showing no sign of stopping -- and with increasingly violent tactics being used by both police and protesters -- organisers made a last-minute decision to pull the event.
"In light of recent developments, transportation issues, in order to ensure the safety of over 10,000 participants, support teams and volunteers, and after much deliberation, we have made the extremely difficult decision of cancelling this year's Oxfam Trailwalker," they said on their website.
"The safety of our participants and volunteers is of utmost importance to us." ...

Hong Kong's biggest charity walk cancelled as protests continue

Two people in Beijing have been diagnosed with the pneumonic plague -- a rare instance of the highly-contagious disease that is fatal if left untreated.
The two individuals were being treated at a central hospital in China's capital city -- home to over 21 million inhabitants -- on Tuesday, local authorities said.
Pneumonic plague can prove fatal in 24 to 72 hours and is the "most virulent form of plague," according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), while the bubonic form is less dangerous.
The patients are from the northwestern Inner Mongolia province, district officials said in an online statement, adding that the "relevant prevention and control measures have been implemented." The Beijing government did not respond to AFP's calls for comment, but the WHO confirmed that Chinese authorities had notified them about the plague cases.
"The (Chinese) National Health Commission are implementing efforts to contain and treat the identified cases, and increasing surveillance," said ...

Two treated for deadly pneumonic plague in Beijing

Saudi authorities have distanced themselves from an official video that sparked controversy after it branded feminism, homosexuality and atheism as extremist ideas.
Saudi Arabia's state security agency posted the animated video on Twitter last weekend at a time when de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to open up the austere kingdom to foreign tourists and overhaul its ultra-conservative image.
The tweet has since been taken down.
The security agency said the video contained "many mistakes" and suggested that those behind it would face a formal investigation, according to a statement posted late Tuesday by the official Saudi Press Agency.
It also rejected a report in Al-Watan, a local daily, that said feminists will be jailed and subject to flogging.
In a separate statement, the kingdom's Human Rights Commission stressed that "feminism is not criminalised" and that it accords "the utmost importance to women's rights".
The two statements made no mention of ...

Saudi backpedals on video labelling feminism 'extremism'

The Japanese government said Wednesday it would scrap next year's annual cherry blossom party after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came under fire amid claims he invited too many of his own supporters.
The publicly funded event has taken place in a Tokyo park since 1952 to honour people for their achievements, with the great and the good of Japanese political life mingling under the world-famous cherry blossom trees.
But opposition politicians have taken aim at Abe, claiming he brought along 850 supporters from his local constituency for the festival reportedly costing around 55 million yen (USD 504,000) from the public purse.
In a surprise announcement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government had "listened to various opinions" and as a result decided to shelve next year's party.
Suga also pledged the government would "clarify the criteria for inviting guests and make the invitation process transparent." The number of guests invited to the event is ...

Japan scraps cherry blossom party amid Abe cronyism criticism

Mainland Chinese students have begun fleeing Hong Kong campuses over security fears, police and university officials said Wednesday, as the city's seething political crisis saw some of its worst violence this week.
The most intense clashes on Tuesday occurred at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where pitched battles were fought with the police firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets and protesters throwing petrol bombs and bricks, paralysing the campus and the area around it.
A group of mainland students at CUHK attempted to depart the campus Wednesday morning over safety concerns but had to be shuttled away by boat because they were unable to leave via obstructed roads, the police said.
"The police decided to deploy a police launch to assist the group of students to go to a safe location," the force said.
Images on local outlet Stand News showed dozens of people -- some carrying luggage -- standing next to a vessel with police markings, purportedly fleeing the ...

Mainland China students flee Hong Kong over protest violence fears

Star striker David Villa, Spain's top goalscorer, Wednesday announced he will retire next month, ending a glittering career in which he won the World Cup, European Championships and Champions League.
The 37-year-old Vissel Kobe striker said he will call it a day at the end of the 2019 J-League season after a 19-year career that took in Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia while accumulating 98 caps for his country.
"I have decided to end my professional career and that I have decided to retire," Villa told reporters in Kobe, his voice occasionally breaking with emotion.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time. This is the result of discussions I had with my family and people around me... I wanted to retire from football, not be forced to retire from football," he said.
Villa will become an investor in Queensboro FC, a new franchise based in the New York district of Queens that will play in the second tier of US football.
"Even though I will no longer be on the pitch, I will .

Spain's record scorer Villa retires after 19-year career

Disgraced running coach Alberto Salazar denied subjecting former members of his Nike Oregon Project to abuse or gender discrimination on Tuesday but admitted using "callous" language against athletes in the training group.
Salazar, who was banned for four years last month for a range of doping offences, has faced stinging criticism from several former runners over methods used in his controversial Oregon Project, which has now been disbanded.
Last week, former US runner Mary Cain said she had suffered physical and mental abuse at the training camp as a result of Salazar's demanding regime.
Cain, a former high school prodigy who was tipped for middle-distance greatness, said she had suffered suicidal thoughts and started cutting herself as life in the training group took its toll.
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Cain detailed how she had faced pressure to become "thinner and thinner and thinner," eventually causing her to stop menstruating for three years.
Another former runner, ...

Salazar denies abuse, admits 'callous' language

Dom Sibley and Zac Crawley staked their claims for England Test debuts with unbeaten centuries in their first warm-up match in New Zealand, which ended in a draw in Whangarei on Wednesday.
Stuart Broad was also in sharp form with a miserly one for 15 off nine overs against a New Zealand XI made up of fringe first class players.
Given a chance to acclimatise to New Zealand conditions, Sibley made a disciplined 100 and Crawley 103 before both retired, while Joe Root hit an unbeaten 41 at a run-a-ball pace.
In reply to England's two for 376 declared, the New Zealand XI were four for 285 at the close of the two-day match.
In contrast to Broad's tight performance with the ball, Jofra Archer took two for 46 off 11 overs while Ben Stokes finished with none for 33 off eight.
A three-day match against New Zealand A starts in Whangarei on Friday with the first Test beginning in Tauranga on November 21.

Sibley, Crawley tons as England warm up for Tests

At least seven people were killed and ten wounded, including four foreigners, when a minivan packed with explosives detonated during Kabul's morning rush hour Wednesday, an interior ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said the bomb -- targeting an SUV belonging to a private Canadian security company, GardaWorld -- had gone off in a neighbourhood which is near the interior ministry and north of Kabul airport.
"As a result, seven of our people were killed and ten, including four foreign members of the security company, were wounded," he said, describing the dead as Afghan civilians.
He did not confirm the nationalities of the foreigners involved.
Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said that one of those killed was a 13-year-old child heading to school.
"The enemies of our people should know that our people are determined for peace, nothing can stop them from achieving peace," he said.
A source at the interior ministry said the blast was detonated by a suicide bomber ..

At least seven killed in Kabul car bomb blast

Two Palestinians were killed in new Israeli air and missile strikes on Gaza early Wednesday, the territory's health ministry said, taking the death toll from a two-day flare-up to 12.
Israel launched deadly strikes against commanders of Palestinian militant group  Islamic Jihad early Tuesday triggering a wave of tit-for-tat rocket salvoes and air strikes.

AFP

AFP

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