Police in northern Nigeria said on Monday they rescued over 300 young men from an Islamic boarding school where they were chained and sexually abused, the second such operation in a  month.
A police team raided the school in Daura in Katsina state after some students escaped from their hostel on Sunday and poured into the streets in protest.
Katsina police chief Sanusi Buba told reporters in Daura that the young men were chained and tortured.
"We learnt that the inmates here are over 300 and because of the inhuman treatments they are being subjected to they revolted yesterday (Sunday)," he said.
"Some of the inmates escaped while...about 60 of them stayed back," he said, with most of them found in chains.
Buba said the school was established by 78-year-old Muslim cleric, Bello Mai Almajirai, 40 years ago. He later transferred management of the school to his son.
He said the school enrolled students brought by their families to learn the Koran and be treated for drug adduction and ...

Nigerian police rescue hundreds from another 'torture house'

PTI Automatic

French President Emmanuel Macron made clear to Donald Trump on Monday "the absolute necessity to prevent a re-emergence" of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, after the US pulled its troops out of northern Syria.
Macron warned, in a telephone call on Monday evening, that the troop pullout and Turkey's subsequent offensive against Kurds in the region increased the threat of an IS resurgence, the presidential palace said.
The French leader also held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi counterpart President Barham Saleh, the presidency said.  Paris and other European capitals are concerned that the IS members held by the Kurdish authorities could escape and take advantage of the chaos in the region to regroup.
According to Macron's office, the conversation between the French president and Erdogan "underlined the deep divergence of views on the expected consequences of the Turkish offensive in the north east of Syria."
According to an account of the ...

France's Macron warns Trump of need to prevent IS resurgence

A third of the world's nearly 700 million children under five years old are undernourished or overweight and face lifelong health problems as a consequence, according to a grim UN assessment of childhood nutrition released Tuesday.
"If children eat poorly, they live poorly," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, unveiling the Fund's first State of the World's Children report since 1999.
"We are losing ground in the fight for healthy diets." Problems that once existed at opposite ends of the wealth spectrum have today converged in poor and middle-income countries, the report showed.
Despite a nearly 40 percent drop from 1990 to 2015 of stunting in poor countries, 149 million children four or younger are today still too short for their age, a clinical condition that impairs both brain and body development.
Another 50 million are afflicted by wasting, a chronic and debilitating thinness also born of poverty.
At the same time, half of youngsters across the globe under five are ...

1-in-3 young children undernourished or overweight: UNICEF

The mother of an Israeli-American jailed in Russia for smuggling cannabis said she visited her in jail Monday and found her "exhausted, fed up and confused" after her sentencing Friday.
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.  She said she had no thought of smuggling and had been brought forcibly onto Russian soil from the transit area.
"Why did they push me into Russia?" Yaffa Issachar quoted her daughter as saying in an interview with Israeli public radio. "I didn't intend to enter Moscow, why has all this happened to me?" The 26-year-old was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail by a Russian court on Friday.
Moscow reportedly seeks to trade her for a Russian jailed in Israel while awaiting extradition to the United States for alleged cyber crimes and credit card fraud.  Russian and Israeli media have reported that Moscow is seeking a swap to stop the US ...

Israeli jailed in Russia for cannabis to appeal, says mother

The White House on Monday condemned a video depicting a fake President Donald Trump shooting and stabbing media figures and political opponents that was shown at a conference for his supporters.
In the internet meme -- taken from a scene in the 2014 spy comedy "Kingsman: The Secret Service" -- the president's head is superimposed on a man opening fire on people whose faces have been replaced with the logos of media outlets including CNN, The Washington Post and NBC TV.
"The @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has not yet seen the video, he will see it shortly, but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video," White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said in a tweet.
During the rampage inside the "Church of Fake News," the Trump character strikes the late senator John McCain on the back of the neck and torches the head of Senator Bernie Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential rival.
He throws Republican senator Mitt Romney to the ground and strikes former president Barack .

White House condemns video of fake Trump attacking media

Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar will be out for four weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered playing for Brazil, the French club said on Monday.
Neymar limped off in the 12th minute on Sunday as Brazil drew 1-1 against Nigeria in a friendly in Singapore.
PSG said that an MRI scan showed that their star player had suffered "a grade two lesion" in his left hamstring.
If he is out until November 11, Neymar will miss four French league matches, including a trip to Marseille on October 17, and home and away Champions League games against Bruges.

Neymar out for four weeks say PSG

The EU on Monday condemned Turkey's assault on Kurdish forces in northern Syria but stopped short of imposing a formal arms embargo, as urged by some countries.
Several European states including Germany and France have already halted arms exports to Turkey over the offensive and there were calls for an official EU-wide ban.  But senior diplomats told AFP that Turkey's membership of NATO made such an embargo extremely difficult.
Instead, EU member states agreed to the "strict application" of their existing common policy on arms exports, which includes a provision that they should not be approved where they may "contribute to regional instability".
EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said the commitment, agreed by all 28 foreign ministers at talks in Luxembourg, would have the "same effect" as an arms embargo but was quicker and easier to implement.
But after repeated EU calls for Ankara to halt its operation went ignored, she was downbeat about the chances that the latest move would 

EU condemns Turkey over Syria, but no formal arms ban

Donald Trump demanded Monday that a whistleblower whose warning about the US president's call with Ukraine triggered the impeachment inquiry against him be identified and testify before Congress.
As the president menaced the person who exposed his potential wrongdoing, Trump faced a new setback with his former top Russia advisor, Fiona Hill, sitting for a closed-door deposition Monday before Capitol Hill lawmakers.
Hill served in the National Security Council but left the administration shortly before Trump's July 25 call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.  Democrats expect her to share her concerns about Trump's involvement in the Ukraine scandal, including his ouster of the US ambassador to Kiev Marie Yovanovitch, who testified to Congress last week.
Hill, under a congressional subpoena according to her lawyer, made no remarks to reporters as she entered the secure meeting room in the US Capitol for a deposition expected to last several hours.
With the impeachment ...

Trump demands whistleblower testify, as ex-aide talks to Congress

Energy superpowers Saudi Arabia and Russia on Monday signed a key deal to bolster cooperation among the world's oil giants, as visiting President Vladimir Putin sought to defuse political tensions in the Gulf.
Putin's visit follows attacks on Saudi oil installations that Riyadh and Washington have blamed on Moscow ally Tehran.
At a ceremony in Riyadh, Putin and his host, Saudi King Salman, penned a string of multi-million-dollar investment contracts targeting the aerospace, culture, health, advanced technology and agriculture sectors.
Key among the deals was the agreement to bolster cooperation among the so-called OPEC+ countries -- the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus 10 non-members of the cartel.
Moscow is not a member of OPEC, but it has worked closely with the group to limit supply and push up prices after a 2014 slump that wreaked havoc on the economies of Russia and cartel heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
Monday's deal seeks to "reinforce cooperation ... and ...

Russia, Saudi Arabia seal key oil deal

Exposure to airborne pollutants increases the risk of "missed" miscarriages in which a fetus dies without a pregnant woman experiencing any noticeable symptoms, researchers said Monday.
Previous studies have shown a correlation between air pollution and pregnancy complications, but the new research -- published in Nature Sustainability journal by a team of researchers from Chinese universities -- sheds light on a little-studied impact of pollution.
The study found that exposure to higher concentrations of airborne particulate matter, as well as sulfur dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide, was associated with a higher risk of missed miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Additionally, "the risk increase is not linear but becomes more severe the higher the pollutant concentration", the study said.
Missed miscarriages occur when a fetus dies or stops growing in early pregnancy while remaining in the uterus, and are often detected during routine ultrasound tests weeks ...

Air pollution linked to 'missed' miscarriages in China: study

The Pentagon has begun removing all its troops in northern Syria, a US official said Monday, after President Donald Trump ordered them to leave in the face of Turkey's attacks on Kurds in the area.
Nearly 1,000 troops will vacate the country, leaving behind only a small contingent of 150 in the southern Syria base at Al Tanf, the official said.
"We are executing the order," the official told AFP.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pressing a deadly assault against Kurdish forces -- a key US ally in the five-year battle to crush the Islamic State group -- in northeastern Syria since Wednesday last week.
Trump, whose order to pull back US special forces from the border effectively triggered the incursion, has faced a firestorm of criticism for appearing to give NATO member Turkey the green light for the push.
On Sunday Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump had ordered the withdrawal of the remaining troops deployed in northern Syria, with the US seeking to avoid getting ..

US troops in northern Syria ordered to leave country: US official

One of Greece's most successful designers Sophia Kokosalaki, who dressed A-list stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway and Julie Christie, has died, the culture minister said Monday.
The London-based designer's clients also included Kate Hudson, Cristina Ricci, Tilda Swinton, Jennifer Connelly, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley and Diane Kruger.
"It is extremely sad when a young person dies, a creative spirit, a dynamic and self-made woman who starred in the harsh and competitive world of international fashion for a 20-year period," Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said.
A former head designer for the Athens 2004 Olympics, Kokosalaki -- who was born in 1972 -- had worked for several Hollywood A-listers with clothing and jewellery that often drew inspiration from ancient Greece.
"What a great loss to the fashion world...RIP beloved...your talent was beyond the norm," fellow designer Vassilis Zoulias wrote on Instagram.
Born in Athens but of Cretan origin, Kokosalaki studied Greek and ...

Renowned Greek fashion designer Sophia Kokosalaki dies

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has given Chinese Olympic and world champion swimmer Sun Yang, accused of smashing a doping test sample with a hammer, a November court date, swimming's governing body said Monday.
"The CAS hearing concerning the swimmer Sun will take place on November 15 in Montreux," an official for FINA, the world swimming federation, told AFP.
The court action follows an explosive report from FINA's own anti-doping committee in January saying Sun had used a hammer to smash a blood sample during an out-of-competition test in September last year.
However FINA agreed with Sun, winner of multiple world and Olympic titles, that testers had failed to produce adequate identification or follow protocol during the testing, clearing him of wrongdoing.
But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) responded by taking the case to CAS.
In a break with the CAS tradition of holding sessions behind closed doors, the hearing will be open to the public and will take place away ...

Doping court sets date for Chinese swimming champ Sun

Pope Francis' main bodyguard Domenico Giani, the Vatican's security chief, resigned Monday over a leak to the media of details of a financial wrongdoing probe.
Francis accepted Giani's resignation while noting he "bears no personal responsibility" for the leak, the Vatican said.
The Argentine pontiff was furious over the publication of an internal police notice which featured the photographs of five Vatican employees -- including two senior figures -- targeted in a probe reportedly into a real estate deal.
The notice, addressed to the Swiss guards and Vatican policemen who guard the gates of the tiny city state, said they had been suspended "as a precaution" while the investigation was carried out.
"This publication was prejudicial to the dignity of the people involved and to the image of the Gendarmerie (police)," said the Vatican, which has opened a probe into the leak.
Giani was dubbed the pope's "guardian angel" by the media.
He served three pontiffs and could be seen on papal ...

Pope's bodyguard resigns over leak scandal

Roger Federer announced Monday he will compete at next year's Tokyo Olympics in a bid to claim the men's singles gold medal, the only major prize he has yet to win.
"I've been debating with my team for a few weeks now, months actually, what I should do in the summer time (of 2020) after Wimbledon and before the US Open," he said at a promotional event.
"At the end of the day my heart decided to play the Olympic Games again."
Federer has won all four of the Grand Slam tournaments, as well as the ATP Tour Finals six times, but is still waiting to grab Olympic singles gold.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion did win a doubles gold alongside fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka at Beijing in 2008, but when he got to the London singles final in 2012 he was hammered 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 by an inspired Andy Murray.
Federer did not compete at Rio 2016, where Murray won again, but has since twice won the Australian Open and took the 2017 Wimbledon title before losing an epic final in the grass-court Grand Slam to 

Olympic gold lures Federer to Tokyo Games

Thousands of Ukrainians marched in Kiev on Monday, decrying as "capitulation" a mooted pullback of troops fighting Moscow-backed separatists in the east and calling for victory in the five-year war.
Monday marks the anniversary of the foundation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a group of  nationalists who fought against Soviet troops in World War II alongside Nazi forces, and are accused of slaughtering Poles and Jews.
Nationalist forces customarily hold the "UPA March" on this date, with many of the former fighters in the conflict in eastern Ukraine among the demonstrators, as well as supporters of nationalist organisation Svoboda.
October 14 has also been designated as Ukraine's armed forces day.
Protesters chanted "No to capitulation!", "Ukraine above all" and "Russian language today, Russian tanks tomorrow".
The gathering is not the first protest against a peace plan for eastern Ukraine that would include broader autonomy for the separatist territories supported by ...

Thousands protest in Ukraine against a troop pullback

President Donald Trump suggested Monday that Kurdish fighters may be releasing imprisoned Islamic State group jihadists to bait the United States into remaining involved in northeastern Syria.
The Pentagon said Sunday Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria -- almost the entire ground force in the war-torn country -- amid an intensifying Turkish assault on Kurdish forces.
Trump's decision last week to pull out of the area -- clearing the way for the Turkish incursion -- has been attacked at home as a betrayal of America's Kurdish allies, that risks triggering a resurgence of IS.
"Europe had a chance to get their ISIS prisoners, but didn't want the cost. 'Let the USA pay,' they said..." Trump tweeted, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group.
"Kurds may be releasing some to get us involved. Easily recaptured by Turkey or European Nations from where many came, but they should move quickly." Kurdish authorities said Sunday that 800 IS ...

Kurds 'may be releasing' IS prisoners in Syria to get US involved: Trump

The first European Tour golf tournament featuring men and women competing against each other on the same course for the same prize will take place in Sweden next year, organisers announced on Monday.
The inaugural Scandinavian Mixed event, hosted by Swedish major winners Henrik Stenson and Annika Sorenstam, will be held in June 2020, with 78 men and 78 women battling it out for a 1.5 million-euro ($1.66 million) prize fund.
It will provide world rankings points for both men and women, and be co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Ladies European Tour (LET).  The tournament follows in the footsteps of this year's Jordan Mixed Open, which pitted players from the second-tier Challenge Tour, the LET and the European Seniors Tour against each other.
"Bringing women and men together in a combined tournament is exciting for fans in Sweden and for the global game as we continue to showcase golf is a game for everyone," said 10-time major champion Sorenstam, who retired from competitive ...

European Tour announces mixed-gender event in Sweden

US and Chinese officials will hold talks by phone this week and next as they work to finalize the "phase one" trade deal announced last week, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday.
President Donald Trump, beset with an impeachment inquiry and criticism over his foreign policy, on Friday hailed the breakthrough agreement, but said it would take several weeks to finalize the details before he signs a pact with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month.
There are few specifics, nor does the deal roll back the tariffs already imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars in trade between the world's two dominant economic powers.
But Mnuchin indicated the next round of new tariffs due to hit consumers on December 15 could be scrapped once the deal is signed.
He pushed back on the skepticism about the agreement in an appearance on CNBC.  "There is a fundamental agreement in principle," he said.
"There are still some issues that need to be worked out in wording but I would say we have ...

US, China trade talks continue this week: Mnuchin

EU member states united on Monday to condemn Turkey's offensive in Syria but stopped short of imposing an arms embargo, while opening the way to sanctions over Ankara's controversial drilling off Cyprus.
"The EU condemns Turkey's military action which seriously undermines the stability and the security of the whole region," the bloc said in a joint statement at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
The bloc noted the decision made by some members -- including France and Germany -- to halt weapons exports to Turkey but did not impose an EU-wide embargo.
Instead, the ministers agreed that EU member countries should pay close regard to their existing common policy on arms exports, which includes a provision that they should not be approved where there they may "contribute to regional instability".
Separately, the ministers gave the go-ahead to creating the legal framework for sanctions over Turkey's exploratory drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Cyprus.
"In light of ...

EU condemns Turkey's Syria offensive

American prodigy Coco Gauff continued her rise up the ranks of women's tennis on Monday when the WTA rankings showed a climb of 39 places to number 71 in the world.
Gauff started last week in Linz at 110 and was originally set for an early departure from Austria after losing in the qualifying rounds before grabbing a lifeline as a lucky loser.
She went on to beat 2017 Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko in the final for her maiden title.
It marks a meteoric rise for the young American -- at the end of 2018, she was 686 in the world.
Another good performance in Luxembourg this week could see her knocking on the door of the top 50.
There was no movement in the top 20 with Ashleigh Barty retaining the number one spot for another week.
WTA rankings as of October 14:  1. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 7,096 pts  2. Karol?na Pliskova (CZE) 5,940  3. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 5,621  4. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 5,495  5. Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 5,041  6. Simona Halep (ROU) 4,962  7. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 4,776  8. 

AFP

AFP

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