Seventeen people, including a soldier, were killed in weekend attacks in the north of Burkina Faso, security sources said on Sunday.
The country has been caught in a spate of violence generally blamed on a long-running jihadist insurgencies in the poor, fragile Sahel region.
On Saturday, about 20 men on motorcycles attacked the village of Komsilga in Bam province, killing nine people, security sources said. They also burned shops and two car tyres.
Later on Saturday, seven people were killed at around 6:00pm local time after armed individuals attacked the village of Deneon in the same province, a security source told AFP.
A third attack occurred on the same day in Deou in Soum province when a soldier was killed during an attack on an army unit, another security source said.
"Security measures have been reinforced and reinforcements have been deployed for sweeps in these areas," said the source.
The West African nation has become part of a four and a half year old jihadist insurgency ..

Seventeen killed in multiple attacks in north Burkina Faso

PTI Automatic

Turkey's air force on Sunday downed an unidentified drone on the Syrian border after it breached Turkish air space six times, the defence ministry said.
"An unmanned aerial vehicle which violated our air space six times (on Saturday)... was downed by two of our F-16s which took off from Incirlik" air base in southern Turkey, the defence ministry said, sharing pictures of the downed drone.
The ministry said it was not known who the drone belonged to but said it was grounded at 1324 (1024 GMT) local time.
"The wreck of the drone was found at the Cildiroba base" by the Turkish gendarmerie in the Kilis province near the Syrian border, the ministry said.
The Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24, aircraft, in the Turkey-Syria border area in 2015, sparking an unprecedented crisis in the two countries' relations.
That was condemned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "stab in the back" but the two countries later reconciled and worked together on the Syrian crisis although they ...

Turkey downs unidentified drone on Syria border: defence ministry

Newly crowned world 100m champion Christian Coleman has withdrawn from the 200m at the World Championships, the United States Track and Field Federation confirmed Sunday.
US sprinter Coleman, who blasted to a brilliant gold medal in the 100m on Saturday, had been due to take part in the heats of the 200m.
However a revised start list for the event at the Khalifa Stadium showed the American's name absent.
A USATF spokesman later confirmed Coleman was not racing the event but would be available for the relays. No reason for his 200m withdrawal was given.

World champion Coleman withdraws from 200m: US official

Austrian conservatives won most seats in snap elections Sunday, putting their leader Sebastian Kurz on track to retake power but forcing him into tough coalition negotiations after a corruption scandal sent his far-right former allies tumbling.
Kurz's People's Party (OeVP) won 37 per cent, up almost six percentage points from the last election two years ago, but not enough to form a government on its own, according to projections.
The Greens were big winners amid voters saying the climate was their top concern, securing at least 13 percent of the vote.
That means they will be viable coalition partners for Kurz in the new government.
Kurz's former allies, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), were the biggest losers, falling 10 percentage points to stand at around 16 percent following the spectacular "Ibiza-gate" affair.
The scandal broke in May, bringing down the OeVP-FPOe coalition after just 18 months in government and triggering the snap poll.
The centre-left Social Democrats look ...

Conservatives set to win Austria election as far-right tumbles

In Libya, where rival forces are deadlocked south of Tripoli, a months-long battle for the skies between Turkish and UAE drones has failed to break the stalemate, analysts say.
Since April 4, when eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive to capture Tripoli -- the capital and seat of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA)-- frontlines have moved little.
Faced with a standoff, the two sides have turned to sophisticated weaponry in the hope of gaining an advantage in a battle that has killed over 1,000, injured close to 6,000 and forced 120,000 people from their homes, according to UN figures.
Libya is "possibly the largest drone war theatre in the world", UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame said in a video released by the United Nations on Wednesday.
Salame noted "a much more intense use of drones" in recent weeks, saying they had been deployed "600 times on one side and 300 times on the other side", without clarifying the sides to which he was ...

UAE, Turkish drones battle it out in Libya skies

Five people were injured in a fire that broke out at a new high-speed train station in Saudi Arabia's western city of Jeddah on Sunday, state television reported, with huge palls of smoke seen rising into the air.
The station serves the main Haramain High Speed Rail system.
The route opened to the public in October last year, transporting passengers between Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites.
"Five people who sustained minor injuries because of the fire were transported to hospital," Al-Ekhbariya state television reported.
The General Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence said in an earlier tweet that it was working to extinguish the fire.
A video uploaded on Twitter by the Mecca provincial government showed plumes of grey smoke rising from what looked like the inside of the complex.
An AFP correspondent said security forces closed the main road linking Mecca and Jeddah and cordoned off the site.
The blaze erupted at 12:35 pm local time (0935 GMT), according to the Haramain High ...

Five injured in fire at Saudi high-speed train station: reports

Austria's 33-year-old former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was on course to win snap elections Sunday despite a scandal which engulfed his previous far-right allies, projections showed Sunday.
Kurz's centre-right People's Party (OeVP) took 37 per cent of the vote, according to first projections.
His erstwhile coalition partners, the scandal-hit far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), meanwhile, dropped from almost 26 per cent at the last election to around 16 per cent.
The election was triggered by a corruption scandal which engulfed the FPOe in May and brought down the OeVP-FPOe coalition.
The centre-left Social Democrats look set for their worst-ever result on around 22 per cent of the vote.
The Greens are the other big winners, reversing a disastrous performance in 2017 which saw them fail to enter parliament to win at least 13 per cent this time round, which would be their best-ever score.
The small liberal NEOS party scored around seven percent.

Austria conservatives projected to win snap poll amid far-right losses

Thousands of people on Sunday queued in Paris to bid a final farewell to France's former president Jacques Chirac, fondly remembered as a charismatic giant of domestic and international politics despite a mixed legacy.
A massive queue snaked round the Invalides complex to pay homage at Chirac's coffin ahead of a national day of mourning on Monday and a memorial service expected to be attended by dozens of world leaders.
Chirac's death on Thursday aged 86 prompted a flood of tributes to a man whose high-profile political career spanned three decades capped by 12 years as president from 1995-2007.
But it also sparked questions about how much this consummate political operator had actually achieved during a long spell in office and again threw the spotlight on a 2011 conviction for graft over his time as Paris mayor.
Nevertheless, a poll in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed that the French consider him to have been their best president of the modern era, alongside Charles de ...

French bid farewell at coffin of ex-president Chirac

Angola may well miss its target of clearing the country of landmines left after the civil war by 2025 because of a loss of funding, said a senior official.
Adriano Goncalves, the head of the country's demining operations (CNIDAH), made the admission to reporters Saturday evening, following the visit of Britain's Prince Harry to observe mine-clearing work.
"Angola has more than a thousand minefields to clear but has lost around 90 percent of its international funding to fight this evil," said Goncalves.
"That makes it more difficult to free the country of these devices by 2025 at the latest," he added.
On Friday Prince Harry paid what he described as an "emotional" visit to a street in Angola that was still a minefield when his mother Diana visited in 1997, shortly before her death.
Diana campaigned to draw attention to the more than one million landmines planted during Angola's 27-year war, which started after independence from Portugal in 1975.
"There are still more than 1,000 ...

Angola says funding cuts have hit its mine-clearing work

Thousands gathered in Moscow Sunday for a demonstration demanding the release of opposition protesters prosecuted in recent months.
Police estimated a turnout of 20,000 at the Sakharov Avenue in central Moscow about half an hour after the start of the protest, which was authorised.
The demonstrators chanted "let them go" and brandished placards demanding a halt to "repressions" of opposition protesters.
Several protesters who were charged but freed in recent weeks thanked the crowd for putting pressure on the authorities.
"We have to keep demanding to respect our rights, because they have left us no choice but to protest in the streets," said opposition leader Lyubov Sobol.
The current wave of demonstrations was triggered by the refusal of Moscow authorities to allow opposition activists like Sobol, an associate of top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, participate in local elections.
The sweeping, sometimes violent crackdown on protests backfired when crowds of many as 50,000 began to ...

Thousands rally for political prisoners in Moscow

Egyptian security forces have killed 15 suspected militants in a shootout in restive north Sinai, the interior ministry said Sunday.
A militant group was "planning hostile acts targeting military and police forces...in order to destabilise national security", the ministry said in a statement.
It did not name a specific group, but said "terrorist elements" had been hiding in a farm in El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province.
When forces approached, "the militants shot live rounds forcing troops to deal with them (and) leading to 15 deaths".
Graphic pictures of the bodies of the alleged militants were sent along with the Sunday press release.
Authorities also said they found a small trove of stashed weapons including an explosive belt, several rifles and an explosive device.
The ministry did not specify when the reported shootout took place, but Sunday's announcement follows recent military operations in Sinai that authorities say killed 118 suspected militants.
Nine soldiers were 

Egypt kills 15 militants in North Sinai shootout: ministry

Sebastian Vettel made light of claims that he ignored Ferrari team orders on Sunday after an engine failure ended his hopes of winning the Russian Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion, who made a blistering start and led for 27 laps, smiled when he was told he had been voted 'driver of the day' in a fan vote.
But, he said, he was disappointed Ferrari had failed to land a one-two triumph.
"I don't know exactly what happened," said Vettel, when asked about a pre-race agreement he had with team-mate Charles Leclerc, who gave him a first lap slipstream to take the lead from third on the grid.
"I think we had an agreement. I spoke with Charles especially before the race. It was quite clear. Maybe I missed something?"
"I'm sure we'll talk about it," he added with an enigmatic smile.
"It's bitter for us today because we wanted to have a one-two and it's not the result we wanted. I don't want to share (details about our agreement) and I don't want to put the team in a bad light.
"We ...

Vettel makes light of Sochi failure

A euphoric Lewis Hamilton extended his world championship lead to 73 points on Sunday when he rode his luck to claim a strategic victory for Mercedes in a roller-coaster Russian Grand Prix.
The defending five-time champion came home 3.829 seconds ahead of team-mate and nearest championship rival Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes took advantage of Ferrari's reliability and tactical problems by delivering a Silver Arrows one-two.
Having grabbed the lead from pole man Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, Sebastian Vettel ignored team orders to let him pass before he suffered a mechanical failure and stopped on lap 28.
The resultant Safety Car period gifted Mercedes, who started on medium tyres while their rivals all used softs, a chance to extend their Sochi supremacy to six consecutive wins.
Leclerc came home a frustrated and disgruntled third, claiming he expected Vettel to repay him for his slip-stream in a race punctuated by two Safety Car interventions and one use of the Virtual Safety ...

Hamilton wins in Russia to foil Ferrari renaissance

A fire erupted on Sunday at a new high-speed train station in Saudi Arabia's western city of Jeddah, authorities said, with huge palls of smoke seen rising into the air.
The station is dedicated to the Haramain High Speed Rail system which opened to the public in October last year, transporting passengers between Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites.
"The civil defence is putting out a fire that broke out at a station in Suleimaniya... no injuries have been recorded as of yet," the General Directorate of Saudi Civil Defence said on Twitter.
A video uploaded on Twitter by the Mecca provincial government showed plumes of grey smoke rising from what looked like the inside of the complex.
The blaze erupted at 12:35 pm local time (0935 GMT), according to the Haramain High Speed Rail's Twitter account.
The system is capable of transporting passengers 450 kilometres (280 miles) via the Red Sea port of Jeddah at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.
Saudi King Salman inaugurated the ...

Fire erupts at Saudi high-speed train station: authorities

Mario Balotelli scored his first goal for new club Brescia but the promoted northerners still fell to a 2-1 defeat to Napoli in Serie A action on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Italian international headed in after 67 minutes in his second match for his hometown club having missed four games because of a ban he incurred with former club Marseille.
First-half goals by Dries Mertens and Kostas Manolas ensured Napoli took all three points after their midweek loss to Cagliari, to boost confidence ahead of their Champions League trip to Belgian club Genk.
Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli stay fourth with 12 points from six games, six behind league leaders Inter Milan who beat Sampdoria 3-1 on Saturday.
Inter have a maximum 18 points from six games -- two ahead of Juve -- after winning their first six league matches for the first time since the 1966-67 season.
Juventus beat SPAL 2-0 to stay second with Atalanta third -- a point ahead of Napoli -- after thrashing Sassuolo 4-1 on Saturday.
Balotelli carried 

Balotelli scores first Brescia goal in defeat to Napoli

Voter participation in Afghanistan's presidential elections appeared Sunday to have been lower than in previous years, with turnout hit by the threat of attacks, a muted campaign and concerns of fraud.
Afghans went to the polls on Saturday to vote in the first round of a presidential race that will decide whether President Ashraf Ghani will win a second five-year term.
About 9.6 million Afghans in the war-torn nation -- with an estimated population of 35 million -- had registered to vote in the election, which was held at some 4,900 polling stations.
An initial tally released early Sunday by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission showed that with data from slightly more than half the stations, just under 1.1 million people had voted.
If that turnout trend holds, it would represent a participation level of less than 25 per cent -- lower than any of Afghanistan's three previous presidential elections.
In 2014, for instance, turnout was a little under 50 per cent, although direct .

Attacks, fraud fears dampen turnout in Afghan election

Riyad Mahrez has set his sights on inspiring Manchester City's trophy push as the Algeria winger enjoys his best run of form for the Premier League champions.
Mahrez was City's man of the match as his crucial strike set the stage for a 3-1 win at Everton on Saturday.
The 28-year-old's fine free-kick put City ahead for good in the second half. It continued his fine run of form since helping Algeria to success in the Africa Cup of Nations in July.
When that tournament ended, City were already one game into their pre-season tour of Asia, meaning Mahrez had little respite from competitive action before the Premier League resumed.
But after a first season at the Etihad Stadium in which he did not command a regular starting spot, he feels that was for the best.
"I didn't have much holidays but that is what I wanted, because I wanted to be ready straightaway," he said.
"I am happy but I have to keep going."
Mahrez troubled Everton throughout at Goodison Park and set up a glorious early ...

In-form Mahrez aims to drive Man City's trophy push

A prominent bodyguard of Saudi Arabia's King Salman has been shot and killed at a friend's house in what has been described as a personal dispute, according to state media.
Major General Abdelaziz al-Fagham's death triggered an outpouring of emotion on Twitter, with some condemning the killing of the Saudi ruler's "guardian angel".
Fagham, who was frequently seen by the king's side, died Saturday evening in the western city of Jeddah, police in Mecca said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
A spokesman said that the gunman was shot dead by security forces, but that five officers were wounded in the melee that has shocked the kingdom, where gun violence is rare.
Police said the trouble broke out when Fagham was visiting a friend who was receiving guests at his home in Jeddah, the port city in western Saudi Arabia.
An acquaintance, Mamdouh al-Ali, entered the residence and an argument ensued.
"The conversation between Fagham and Ali escalated... Ali left the 

Bodyguard of Saudi king killed in shooting

Iran's oil minister on Sunday ordered his country's energy sector to be on high alert to the threat of "physical and cyber" attacks.
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said "it is necessary for all companies and installations of the oil industry to be on full alert against physical and cyber threats," in a statement published on the oil ministry's Shana website.
Zanganeh said precautions were needed due to American sanctions and the "full-scale economic war" that the Islamic republic accuses the United States of waging against it.
Washington, Riyadh, Berlin, London and Paris blame Iran for attacks that damaged the Saudi oil sector on September 14 and forced the world's largest crude exporter to sharply reduce production.
Tehran denied any link to the strikes, which were claimed by Huthi rebels in Yemen. Iran supports the rebels against a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Huthis since 2015.
Following the attacks, US President Donald Trump said he was preparing a response. Several days .

Iran's oil sector on 'full alert' against attacks

The French authorities have expanded an investigation against Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar already charged in France with raping two women, to include evidence from two more alleged victims, judicial sources said Sunday.
Ramadan, a Swiss national, 57, has already been charged in France with raping a disabled woman in 2009 and a feminist activist in 2012. He denies all the charges.
Paris prosecutors earlier this month instructed the investigating magistrate handling the case to look into the evidence from "two new potential victims" over incidents that took place in 2015 and 2016, a judicial source told AFP, confirming a report in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Investigators took witness statements from the two women after they were identified from documents found on his computers. The women themselves have not filed a criminal complaint.
But they both say they were led into a brutal sexual relationship with Ramadan, one from November-December 2015 and the other in March 

France expands rape probe against Islamic scholar Ramadan

Naomi Osaka poked fun on Sunday at a Japanese comedy duo's reported comments that the Japanese and Haitian tennis star needed to pick up some "bleach."
The relatively unknown female comedy pairing "A Masso" reportedly suggested last week Osaka needed "bleach," and said the 21-year-old former world number one was "too sunburned" during a live performance.
They apologised after the skit referring to Osaka made news.
"'Too sunburned' lol that's wild," Osaka wrote on Twitter.
"I never get sunburned" by using a sunscreen, she added -- naming a local brand.
Osaka is a household name in Japan, where her every move is followed feverishly by local media, particularly when she is in the country of her mother's birth.
She is the face of several leading Japanese brands, including the carrier ANA, and "Naomi-chan" -- as she is affectionately known -- was the main attraction at this month's Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, which she won.
But she has faced controversies over her dual heritage in a nation .

AFP

AFP

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