Thailand's Royal Palace has announced that King Bhumibol Adulyadej has been treated for a severe infection.
	A statement issued by the palace late Friday said the 88-year-old king was observed with a high heart beat and thick mucus. It said a test result of the mucus and blood "indicated a severe infection." It did not elaborate.
	Bhumibol, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has been hospitalized for a large part of the past decade, mostly with ailments associated with aging. He has not made a public appearance since January.
	In the past months, official announcements about his health have increased in frequency, but their narrow and technical focus make it hard to gauge the king's overall condition.

Thai king reported to suffer from 'severe infection'

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Opening his final trip to Asia, President Barack Obama is expected to join Chinese leader Xi Jinping in announcing their countries are formally taking part in a historic global climate deal.
	Yet thornier issues like maritime disputes and cybersecurity shadow Obama's visit.
	The president departed yesterday for Hangzhou, China, where he will meet today with Xi ahead of a summit of the Group of 20, a collection of industrial and emerging-market nations.
	Environmental groups and experts tracking global climate policy said they expected the two leaders would jointly enter the sweeping emissions-cutting deal reached last year in Paris. Unlikely partners on addressing global warming, the US and China have sought to use their collaboration to ramp up pressure on other countries to take concrete action as well.
	Entering the climate agreement has been an intricate exercise in diplomatic choreography. The deal was reached in December, and the US, China and many others signed it in April, on .

US, China expected to join climate deal during Obama visit

Former President Dilma Rousseff has slammed the process that led to her ouster this week, promising to provide a strong opposition voice to the new government.
	In comments to foreign media yesterday, Rousseff said next week she would be moving back to her hometown of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. She has 30 days to vacate the presidential palace.
	On Wednesday, the Senate voted to remove Rousseff for breaking fiscal responsibility laws in her management of the federal budget. Brazil's first female president denies wrongdoing, and has frequently pointed out that previous presidents have used similar accounting measures.
	Rousseff said she had not developed long-term plans for what comes next, but won't shy away from public life. "I don't have political plans for office, but I do have political plans. I'm going to oppose this government," she said.
	Rousseff also had sharp words for Michel Temer, who was her vice president before taking over in the wake of her removal. The two were .

Brazil's ousted president blasts process, talks about future

Governor Susana Martinez says a police officer in a New Mexico town has been killed in what marks the second on-duty death of an officer in the state in less than a month.
	In a statement, the New Mexico governor said she was saddened by the officer's death and that violence against law enforcement in the state must end.
	State and local authorities responded to the shooting in Alamogordo today that happened near a residential area around 8.30 AM, the Alamogordo Daily News reports.
	Authorities have not identified the officer or a suspect. They also haven't released other details stemming from their investigation.
	Later today, mourners were placing flowers outside the police department in the town about 200 miles south of Albuquerque.
	"I am again so very saddened to see that yet another courageous law enforcement officer has been killed in the line of duty," Martinez said.
	"The violence against our police officers has to end, and we must do everything we can to stand up for those ..

Governor: Police officer killed in New Mexico town

President Vladimir Putin says Russia wasn't involved in the hacking of emails of the US Democratic Party, but thinks the release of the information was a benefit.
	Some American officials have claimed that Russian military intelligence was behind the hacking, which provoked a political scandal in the US by revealing apparent prejudice in the Democratic National Committee against Hillary Clinton's challenger for the presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders.
	"At the state level, we certainly weren't involved in this," Putin said in an interview with the Bloomberg news service, according to a transcript released today by the Kremlin.
	Putin said it wasn't important who conducted the hacking, but "what's important is that there was material that was released to the public.

Putin says Russia didn't hack US Democratic Party

Jon Polito, the prolific and raspy-voiced character actor whose more than 200 credits ranged from "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Modern Family" to the Coen Brother films "Barton Fink" and "The Big Lebowski," has died.
	Polito died yesterday at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte California, according to his manager, Maryellen Mulcahy.
	Polito was 65 and was being treated for multiple myeloma, Mulcahy told The Associated Press on today.
	He is survived by his partner, Darryl Armbruster.
	A native of Philadelphia and graduate of Villanova University, the short, mustachioed Polito had loved movies and television since childhood and was inspired by the over-the-top acting he first spotted in old horror films and melodramas.
	With no pretentions to being a leading man, he became one of the busiest TV and movie actors of the past three decades, averaging several projects a year since the mid-1980s.
	He worked in crime stories ("Homicide: Life on the Street," "The Gangster Chronicles"), ...

Jon Polito, prolific character actor, dead at 65

The US Department of Justice is appealing a ruling over whether 911 calls made during a massacre at a Florida gay nightclub can be released.
	The Justice Department said today that it was appealing US District Judge Paul Byron's ruling last week that the federal court lacks jurisdiction.
	Byron sent the case back to state court.
	Two dozen news media groups, including The Associated Press, sued the city of Orlando for the calls' release, saying they will help the public evaluate the police response.
	The city claims the recordings are exempt under Florida's public records law, and that the FBI insists releasing them may disrupt the investigation.
	In June, gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse club nightclub in a rampage that left 49 people dead and 53 hospitalised.

Justice Dept wants Pulse 911 case kept in federal court

Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones today after finding some of their batteries exploded or caught fire.
	Samsung's Note 7s are being pulled from shelves in 10 countries, including South Korea and the United States, just two weeks after the product's launch.
	Customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones in about two weeks, said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile business.
	He apologised for causing inconvenience and concern to customers.
	The recall, the first for the new smartphone though not the first for a battery, comes at a crucial moment in Samsung's mobile business.
	Apple is expected to announce its new iPhone next week and Samsung's mobile division was counting on momentum from the Note 7's strong reviews and higher-than-expected demand.
	Samsung said it had confirmed 35 instances of Note 7s catching fire or exploding.
	There have been no reports of injuries related to the problem.
	The company said it has not found a .

Samsung recalls Galaxy Note 7 after battery explosions

Hermine tore across northern Florida today as the first hurricane to hit the state in more than a decade, killing one person, raising a storm surge that destroyed beachside buildings and toppling trees into homes.
	As the system pushed into Georgia, it knocked down power lines in both states. Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity.
	Hermine was expected to move into the Carolinas and roll up the East Coast, bringing the potential for drenching rain and devastating flooding through the Labor Day weekend.
	By today afternoon, it had weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
	The National Hurricane Center issued tropical storm watches and warnings as far north as the Connecticut-Rhode Island border.
	"Anyone along the US East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend," center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
	Although damage was still being assessed, Gov Rick Scott said he knew of no other "major issues" besides the power outages and 

Hermine is 1st hurricane to hit Florida coast in a decade

Two Pakistani military helicopters are planning to search tomorrow morning for a pair well-known Utah climbers missing on an icy mountain.
	Jonathan Thesenga of Black Diamond Equipment said today it's the first time the weather has cleared enough for helicopters to search for famed mountain climbers Kyle Dempster and Scott Adamson.
	A rescue effort was launched last Sunday near northern Pakistan's Choktoi Glacier after Dempster and Adamson failed to return Aug 26 to base camp following an attempt to climb the north face of a 23,901-foot mountain.
	Thesenga says the two left base camp on Aug 21 to begin their ascent.
	Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment is sponsoring Dempster.
	Dem and Adamson are two of the most accomplished alpinists of their generation.

Pakistan helicopter search planned for 2 missing US climbers

An explosion killed 12 people and wounded at least 24 at a night market in President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown in the southern Philippines, a region under a heightened security alert because of a military offensive against Abu Sayyaf militants, officials said.
	Regional military commander Lt Gen Rey Leonardo Guerrero said it was not immediately clear what caused the explosion at a massage section of the market, which was cordoned off by police bomb experts and investigators.
	Police Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan said witnesses gave contrasting accounts, with some saying that a cooking gas tank exploded while others suggested it may have been some kind of an explosive.
	Police set up checkpoints in key roads leading to the city, a regional gateway about 980 kilometers south of Manila.
	TV footage showed plastic chairs strewn about at the scene of the blast, where witnesses said the bodies of some of the dead lay scattered a few hours after the explosion. Ambulance vans drove to .

Philippine blast leaves 12 dead, 24 wounded in market

A man has pleaded not guilty to charges he gunned down an imam and his assistant as they left a New York City mosque.
	Thirty-six-year-old Oscar Morel entered the pleas yesterday to charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the August 13 attack.
	Prosecutors said Morel approached 55-year-old Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and 64-year-old Thara Miah from behind and shot both of them in the head near a mosque in Queens.
	Defense attorney Michael Schwed questioned how authorities have handled the investigation, saying witnesses couldn't identify Morel in a lineup.
	Schwed said he's confident he can prove his client is innocent.
	Morel is due back in court on October 18.

Man pleads not guilty in slaying of imam, aide near mosque

A series of attacks across Baghdad, including an explosion at a weapons warehouse that set off munitions and sent a huge plume of smoke over the Iraqi capital, killed 15 people and wounded over 50 today, according to Iraqi officials.
	The attacks underscore the poor security situation in the Iraqi capital, which has been subject to several recent large- scale attacks, including a July shopping center bombing that killed nearly 300 people.
	At least three rockets landed in eastern Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 15, police officials said.
	The rockets that hit eastern Baghdad appear to have been set of by a blast at a weapons storage facility, according to a police official.
	An Associated Press reporter at the scene said members of the powerful Shiite militia group Asaib Ahl al-Haq were present at the scene of the attack. Police officials say it is unclear which powerful Shiite militia the weapons store belonged to.
	The weapons' cache blast set off munitions stored there, ..

Attacks across Iraqi capital kill 15 people, wound over 50

A French satirical weekly's cartoon depicting victims of last week's earthquake in Italy under layers of lasagna has angered some in the country.
	The Italian news agency ANSA quoted the mayor of Amatrice, the hardest-hit town where more than 230 bodies were found after the Aug 24 quake, as calling the cartoon "tasteless and embarrassing."
	Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said today while he welcomes irony, it shouldn't come at the expense of the dead.
	He added that he is sure the cartoon doesn't reflect the true feelings of the French people.
	The quake in the central Apennines Mountain region claimed nearly 300 lives, injured hundreds of people and left thousands of residents homeless when several towns and hamlets were devastated.

Cartoon with quake victims under lasagna angers Italians

President Rodrigo Duterte said today the Philippine coast guard has observed Chinese barges at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, possibly indicating that Beijing is planning new construction that could ratchet up tensions.
	Still, Duterte said he wouldn't raise the territorial dispute at an Asian summit in Laos next week that will be attended by several world leaders, including China's.
	"The coast guard made some little trips near them and there are a lot of barges. ... What is the purpose of a barge?" Duterte said in a speech in southern Panabo city in Davao del Norte province, adding that the intelligence report "was unsettling."
	Duterte said the barges were sighted in Bajo de Masinloc, the Filipino name for Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines that Chinese government ships seized in 2012 following a standoff with Philippine vessels.
	"They suspect that's going to be another construction somewhere," he said. "It could be a potential flashpoint, this China ...

Philippines says Chinese barges seen in disputed shoal

Macedonian lawmakers have formally approved a caretaker government that will lead the country into early national elections December 11, in a new bid to end a 20-month political crisis.
	Emil Dimitriev, from the ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, will serve as caretaker prime minister for the second time this year.
	Previously agreed election dates this year, on April 24 and June 5, were canceled.
	Parliament agreed today that opposition politicians will hold the interior and labor portfolios.
	Macedonia has been in political turmoil since February 2015, following a massive wiretapping scandal in which the conversations of more than 20,000 people were monitored.
	The country's two main parties traded blame for the wiretaps.
	The heads of the country's four biggest parties had agreed on December elections on Wednesday.

Macedonia approves caretaker government ahead of early vote

Serbian police said they have arrested a man suspected of throwing several gasoline bombs at a McDonald's restaurant in Belgrade.
	Police said that no one was injured in the incident that took place around noon today in a new part of the Serbian capital.
	The statement identified the man only by his initials, MP, born in 1979.
	No other details were immediately available, including the motive for the attack.
	Witnesses said no major damage was visible on the restaurant.
	Anti-American sentiments are strong among some Serbs because of the 1999 US-led NATO bombing of the country that ended Serbia's control over the former province of Kosovo.

Man throws Molotov cocktails on McDonald's in Belgrade

European Union foreign ministers grappled today with how to handle strained relations with Turkey amid concerns over human rights that could threaten a key deal meant to keep refugees away from European shores.
	The relationship with Turkey is only one of several items on the agenda for the two-day 28-nation meeting. The ministers are also set to discuss joint efforts to combat terrorism and plan to focus on developing the EU's global strategy during their talks.
	But arrival comments from participants clearly indicated that how to balance relations with Turkey was the main issue on their minds.
	Turkey is pushing for visa-free travel for its citizens and is threatening to walk away from the migrant deal if its demands aren't met. Yet Brussels says it will only allow visa-free travel if Ankara rolls back a crackdown targeting wide segments of society in the wake of the mid-July abortive coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
	The agreement commits Turkey to take back migrants ...

EU foreign ministers try to find unity on relation to Turkey

The World Health Organization says the outbreak of Zika remains an international health emergency and noted the virus is continuing to infect new countries.
	The UN health agency convened its expert committee this week to assess the latest status of the epidemic.
	Dr David Heymann, the committee's chair, said today that considerable gaps remain in understanding Zika and the complications it causes including brain-damaged babies and WHO concluded that the outbreak remains a global emergency.
	WHO noted that Brazil has not reported any confirmed cases of Zika following the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, although studies are ongoing in the country to figure out why certain regions have seen an increase in babies being born with abnormally small heads.
	To date, Zika has infected 72 countries and territories.

UN: Zika remains global emergency, virus still spreading

Uzbekistan appeared to be preparing for a state funeral after saying today that the country's president is critically ill. Islam Karimov has run an authoritarian government in the Central Asian nation since 1989, and cultivated no apparent successor.
	Karimov, 78, hasn't been seen in public since mid-August, but his government admitted only last weekend that he was ill.
	His daughter Lola said he had suffered a brain hemorrhage, and a swarm of unofficial reports have placed him close to death or even dead.
	"Dear compatriots, it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that the health of our President has sharply deteriorated in the past 24 hours to reach a critical state, according to the doctors," the government's statement read.
	The uncertainty over Karimov's health has raised concerns that Uzbekistan could face prolonged infighting among clans over leadership claims, something its Islamic radical movement could exploit. Given the lack of access to the country it's hard to judge ..

Uzbekistan appears to be preparing for president's funeral

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an Italian bishop who welcomed into his diocese priests accused of, and in some cases convicted of, sexual abuse, homicide and other crimes.
	The Vatican didn't say why Bishop Mario Olivieri resigned two years before the regular retirement age of 75. Usually, the Vatican announces early retirements by saying they were due to a "grave" reason that made the bishop unfit for office.
	In Olivieri's case, the Vatican didn't even provide that information yesterday.
	Italian newspapers have identified a handful of priests accused or convicted of crimes who were accepted by the tradition-minded Olivieri into his Albenga-Imperia dioceses.
	In a letter on the diocesan website today, Olivieri said he was pained to leave because he loved the dioceses "and above all its priests.

AP

AP

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