Animal-rights campaigners are hoping this year's festival season in Nepal will be a little less bloody.
During the 15-day Dasain festival that began this week in the Himalayan country, families fly kites, host feasts and visit temples, where tens of thousands of goats, buffaloes, chickens and ducks are sacrificed to please the gods and goddesses as part of a practice that dates back centuries.
Animal rights groups are hoping to stop  or at least reduce  the slaughter, using this year's campaign as a practice run to combat a much larger animal sacrifice set for next year at the quinquennial Gadhimai festival.
Such a campaign is novel in Nepal, where four out of five people are Hindu and animal sacrifice is a deeply rooted tradition.
Activists first organised after the Gadhimai festival in 2009, when an estimated 250,000 animals were killed at a single temple in southern Nepal.
Images of carcasses piled up on an open field were widely published and broadcast. Though there are no ...

Groups hope to stop animal sacrifice during biggest festival

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At least 34 people have died in mudslides triggered by torrential rains in a mountainous area of eastern Uganda that is prone to such disasters, a Red Cross official said Friday.
More victims are likely to be discovered when rescue reams access all the affected areas in the foothills of Mount Elgon, said Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita.
People were killed by boulders and chunks of mud rolling down hills following a sustained period of heavy rains Thursday afternoon in the district of Bududa.
Houses were destroyed in at least three villages, and in some cases only body parts of the victims have been recovered from the mud, she said.
"We expect the death toll to increase as some people are still missing," she said. "It's really bad."
A river than runs through the area burst its banks, destroying a bridge and threatening settlements nearby, according to Martin Owor, a government commissioner in charge of disaster management.
In March 2010 at least 100 people died in similar ...

At least 34 die in Uganda mudslides triggered by heavy rains

Britain will have its second royal wedding of the year Friday when Princess Eugenie weds a tequila brand ambassador in a gala ceremony on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are to marry at St George's Chapel, which is part of the castle complex.
The nuptials will draw most senior members of the royal family, including Eugenie's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who will host a champagne luncheon for the newlyweds shortly after the ceremony.
The couple will marry in the same venue used in May by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who is now known as the Duchess of Sussex.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend, along with Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Their 5-year-old son, Prince George, will be a page boy, and Princess Charlotte, 3, will be one of six bridesmaids.
Eugenie, 28, is ninth in line to the British throne. She works in the art world. Her sister, Princess Beatrice, will be maid of honor. They are the daughters of Prince ...

Another royal wedding for Britain as Princess Eugenie weds

An Afghan official says attacks by the Taliban in the country's north have killed eight people  four soldiers and four civilians.
Military spokesman Hanif Rezaie says the troops died in Kunduz province when the Taliban attacked a military outpost in the district of Archi on Friday morning. He says six were wounded in the assault.
Rezaie says the civilians were killed on Thursday, when a car bomb targeting an election campaign headquarters in Faryab province exploded prematurely.
He says several Taliban fighters died in both incidents.
Afghanistan is holding parliamentary elections on Oct. 20. The campaign has already been marred by violence.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber struck the home of an election candidate in the city of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, killing the candidate and seven others.

Afghan official: Taliban attacks kill 8 in country's north

Sword dancers. Gleaming palaces. Military jets streaming red, white and blue trails.
President Donald Trump soaked up the grandeur of Saudi Arabia on his first foreign stop as president last year and envisioned huge benefits for the United States in building closer ties with the repressive and oil-rich desert kingdom.
Now, the White House relationship with Riyadh is imperiled over the mysterious disappearance of a Saudi writer, and the situation is creating friction between the Trump administration and members of Congress demanding to know if the columnist for The Washington Post was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Trump said he's talked to officials at the highest level of the kingdom and is "demanding everything" to explain how Jamal Khashoggi, an activist who had been critical of Saudi leaders, vanished after he walked into the consulate in Istanbul to get documents he needed to get married.
Turkish authorities claim Khashoggi, who resided in the United States, was ...

US-Saudi relations hit snag over journalist's disappearance

Indonesian President Joko Widodo took aim Friday at sparring for dominance between big economies like the US and China, saying trade wars are an invitation to destruction and are pointless in a "sinking world."
Criticism over the tariffs standoff between Washington and Beijing has been abundant during the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Coming amid an unnerving spate of turmoil in world financial markets, much attention has focused on threats to growth from the uncertainty and disruptions associated with trade friction.
"The balance of powers and the alliances among major economies are breaking down. Weakness in coordination and cooperation has caused many problems, including the dramatic rise in the price of crude oil and turmoil in the currency markets of developing economies," Widodo told the gathering of financial officials, central bank governors and experts.
Instead, attention should be focused on slowing growth .

Indonesian president says trade wars too destructive

An investment adviser charged with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on prayers by Hindu priests in India to ward off a federal investigation and save her failing business, according to testimony at her trial this week.
Using investors' money, Dawn Bennett paid a man in Washington state approximately USD 720,000 between 2015 and 2017 to arrange for the priests to perform religious ceremonies meant to ease her troubles, said a Justice Department prosecutor and the man Bennett paid. For one of these "yagya" rituals, Bennett spent USD 7,250 for five priests to pray for her across 29 consecutive days.
"I am in a very very tough fight going against my enemies and I need all the help I can get," Bennett wrote in an email to Puja.net website operator Benjamin Collins.
Six-figure payments for prayers didn't spare Bennett from a 17-count indictment on fraud charges. Neither did the "hoodoo" spells that investigators suspected her .

Ponzi scheme suspect paid USD 720K for prayers amid SEC probe

Australia has assigned a guided missile frigate to the East China Sea to boast international efforts to enforce sanctions against North Korea, an Australian officer said on Friday.
Australian Defense Force Chief of Joint Operations, Air Marshall Mel Hupfeld said the warship with a crew of 230 will be supported by two Australian AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft based in Japan.
"Despite the easing of tensions on the Korea Peninsula, Pyongyang continues with its nuclear weapons and ballistic weapons programs in defiance of ... United Nations Security Council resolutions," Hupfeld told reporters.
"The occasional deployment of ... maritime patrol aircraft and surface vessels to the region ... adds weight to Australia's ongoing economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea and enhances the capacity of ongoing multinational enforcement efforts," he added.
The Australians would work in cooperation with the Japanese, United States, Canadians and the South Koreas to enforce sanctions, ...

Australia assigns warship to enforce North Korean sanctions

The remains of a German-American who invented the first submarine able to dive and resurface by itself have been exhumed in Panama.
Julius Kroehl's remains were dug up from a cemetery Thursday with help from the US Embassy.
They are to be reburied alongside US war veterans near the Panama Canal.
The embassy says authorities will also seek to confirm the identity of the remains and establish a cause of death.
Kroehl built his submarine from parts brought from New York to search for pearls off Panama's Pacific coast during the 19th century.
Records say he died at age 47 of malaria, but some suspect he was killed by decompression sickness  also known as the bends.
Kroehl was buried in 1867, and his grave was only rediscovered in 2005.

Remains of US submarine innovator exhumed in Panama

An American pastor may soon be released after two years of captivity in Turkey.
A person involved in efforts to free Andrew Brunson says the 50-year-old evangelical pastor from North Carolina could be freed at his next court appearance on Friday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because officials had not yet reached a final agreement on the release and it could still fall through.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that the US is hopeful he will soon go free but said she was unaware of any agreement on his release.
President Donald Trump has demanded his release, and his case has added further complications to an already strained relationship.
"I'm very hopeful that before too long Pastor Brunson ... and his wife will be able to return to the United States," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.
"It's the right thing for (Turkey) to do, it's the humanitarian thing for Turkey to do."
Brunson was among thousands of people arrested in Turkey in .

US pastor detained in Turkey may soon be released

A shopping mall under construction in the Mexican city of Monterrey collapsed Thursday, killing at least seven people and leaving another nine missing, officials said.
Local council secretary Genaro Garcia told a press conference that 15 people were injured, in addition to the dead, and all the victims are believed to be construction workers.
Work on the three-story structure in this northern industrial hub in Nuevo Leon state was being carried out without the necessary license, authorities said.
The concrete slabs of the structure appear to have pancaked, falling one atop another.
Images taken by civil defence officials showed emergency personnel hauling the injured men out of the rubble.
About 150 emergency personnel were looking for more people who may be trapped.
Late Thursday night, the civil defence office released a brief statement saying that nine people were still missing.
In July, a newly opened shopping mall on the south side of Mexico City partially collapsed.
A support ...

7 dead, 9 missing in collapse of northern Mexico mall

Colombian disaster officials say at least 12 people have died in a mudslide that swept through their mountainside homes.
Officials say the slide occurred at about 2 am Thursday in the central Colombian town of Marquetalia and caught the victims while the slept.
Four children were killed by the mudslide and 53 people were rescued.
Heavy rains cause floods and mudslides that kill dozens of people every year in Colombia. Rescue workers say the latest mudslide destroyed seven homes and affected 16 families.
Colombia's National Institute for Environmental Studies has warned that eight provinces in the country could face mudslides in the coming days.

Mudslide kills 12 people in central Colombia

At least five people are dead after the collapse of a shopping mall under construction in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey.
The civil defense office in the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located, said that two people had been pulled alive from the rubble and 12 were listed as missing.
Photos taken by the office showed emergency personnel hauling the injured men out of the rubble. About 100 emergency personnel were looking for more people who may be trapped.
The concrete slabs of the three-story structure appear to have pancaked, falling one atop another.
All of the victims appear to have been construction workers employed at the building site. Between 20 and 25 workers were believed to be working there when the collapse occurred.

5 dead, 12 missing in collapse of northern Mexico mall

Marines have found the skeletal remains of six men in illegal burial pits inside a house in the Mexican resort of Acapulco.
The discovery was announced Thursday by the government of Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.
Some of the bodies were found with their hands and feet bound. One had a piece of wire tied around its neck.
The bodies were found in four pits in a low-income neighbourhood far from the city's beachside tourist zone, which is on the Pacific coast.
Drug and kidnapping gangs frequently use such pits to dispose of the victims. Morgues in Guerrero and several other states in Mexico have been overwhelmed by the number of bodies found on streets and in clandestine graves. Many are never identified.

Mexican marines find 6 bodies in clandestine graves

Pope Francis is urging Chinese Catholics to overcome past divisions and open a new phase of faith following a landmark agreement over bishop nominations aimed at ending decades of estrangement between the Vatican and Beijing that had split the church.
Francis announced Wednesday that he had written a letter to the Chinese faithful aimed at encouraging them to "heal the wounds of the past and re-establish and maintain full communion."
The letter was to be released later Wednesday.
The letter follows the deal signed Saturday governing the naming of bishops in China. The agreement regularizes the status of seven bishops who had been appointed by Beijing over the years without papal consent, and sets out a process of dialogue going forward. Francis says that ultimately it will be he who names bishops, not Beijing.

Pope urges China Catholics to heal past divisions after deal

British police have made an unusual arrest of a man accused of stealing a cat.
Scotland Yard said Wednesday a 22-year-old man is being questioned at a north London police station in connection with the theft of a cat in August.
The cat is a large Siberian Forest ginger cat called Mr. Muk. He has been returned to his owner.
Police say the man was arrested late Tuesday night in the West Hampstead neighbourhood in north London. He has not been identified or charged.

UK police arrest man suspected of stealing Mr Muk, a cat

Turkey's state-run news agency says an improvised explosive device believed to have been planted by Kurdish rebels has exploded on a road in the country's southeast, killing two government-paid village guards.
Anadolu Agency said two other village guards were wounded Wednesday in the explosion in the mainly Kurdish-populated Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq.
Anadolu said an operation has been launched to catch the perpetrators.
The village guards support Turkey's military in fighting the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a more than three-decade-long insurgency in Turkey's southeastern region.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies.

2 guards killed in explosion in southeastern Turkey

Jose Mourinho has stripped Paul Pogba of the Manchester United vice captaincy, but wouldn't offer an explanation for the decision.
Mourinho insisted that it wasn't because of a dispute with the World Cup-winning France midfielder who returned to United in 2016 for 105 million euros (then $116 million).
Mourinho told broadcaster Sky Sports that "the only truth is that I made the decision of Paul not to be the second captain any more but no fallout, no problems at all."
Mourinho added that it was "just one decision that I don't have to explain." Pogba had appeared to criticize United's style of play under Mourinho this weekend when he called on the team to attack more.
Pogba watched from the stands Tuesday as United was knocked out of the League Cup by second-tier side Derby.

Paul Pogba stripped of Man United vice captaincy by Mourinho

Harvey Elliott has become the youngest-ever player to feature for Fulham at 15 years and 174 days.
The striker made his debut for the Premier League club after coming on in the 81st minute of a 3-1 victory over Millwall in the third round of the League Cup on Tuesday.
Luca de la Torre, a 20-year-old American midfielder, scored his first goal for Fulham. Joe Bryan and Cyrus Christie also opened their accounts for the west London club.

15-year-old striker Elliott plays for Fulham in League Cup

A judge declared Bill Cosby a "sexually violent predator" on Tuesday as a first step toward sentencing the 81-year-old comedian for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman over a decade ago.
The classification means that Cosby must undergo monthly counseling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill made the decision as he prepared to sentence Cosby for violating Temple University women's basketball administrator Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004.
The comic once known as America's Dad faced anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison after being convicted in April in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years in prison. The defense requested house arrest, saying Cosby is too old and helpless to do time behind bars. He is legally blind.
Cosby's lawyers had fought the ...

Cosby is declared a 'sexually violent predator'

Michael Kors is buying the Italian fashion house Versace in a deal worth more than USD 2 billion, continuing its hard charge into the world of high-end fashion.
The deal Tuesday comes just 14 months after the New York handbag maker spent USD 1.35 billion adding to its portfolio Jimmy Choo, the shoemaker that rocketed to fame on the high heels of "Sex and the City." Like others in the fashion industry, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd is trying to fire up sales by cranking up the glamour.
Tapestry, once known as Coach, acquired Kate Spade last year. Like Coach, Michael Kors is changing its name as it seeks to reframe how people in perceive it.
Michael Kors remains the chief creative director at Kors, but the expanding company will be renamed Capri Holdings Ltd., with $8 billion in projected annual sales. Versace will be a key engine of growth, executives said in a conference call Tuesday.
Bringing in Versace adds a layer of glitter to the company, which sells handbags for less than USD 500. ..

AP

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