Witnesses and emergency services say a truck has struck an overpass and collapsed a pedestrian bridge onto one of England's busiest motorways, the M20, injuring one person.
	Witnesses say a truck hauling construction vehicles appeared to clip the bridge Saturday on the London-bound M20.
	Ambulance officials say the injured man was a motorcyclist who came off his bike as the bridge started to collapse in front of him, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
	The southeast motorway, which links London with the major cross-Channel port of Dover and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal, was closed in both directions.
	The shutdown caused massive traffic jams on what was already an exceptionally busy three-day weekend for holidaymakers heading to and from France.

1 hurt as truck hits, collapses bridge on English motorway

PTI Automatic

Anti-Islam activists have staged an hour-long demonstration atop Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
	The protesters unfurled a banner calling for "secure borders" in Germany as crowds of tourists milled around the iconic monument today.
	Police said 15 people were briefly detained over the protest and are likely to face charges of trespassing, harassment and breaching laws on public assembly.
	Berlin police spokeswoman Patricia Braemer said the protesters belonged to the Identitarian Movement.
	Germany's domestic intelligence agency earlier this month said it was putting the far-right group under observation because it aims to subvert democracy.
	Leaflets scattered by supporters of the group claimed the government is trying to replace Germany's population with Muslim immigrants.
	Germany has seen an unprecedented influx of asylum-seekers, many from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, over the past year.

Anti-Islam activists stage protest atop Berlin monument

One of Britain's leading broadcasters has blacked out its programs for an hour in hopes of spurring viewers to get some exercise.
	ITV shut down broadcasts on several of its channels today morning as part of its effort to entice UK citizens to sports clubs, which are being opened for free this weekend as part of a national event called "I Am Team GB."
	Many viewers lauded ITV's challenge to couch potatoes, describing on social media the activities they'd been inspired to do.
	Others, predictably, stuck to their sofas and poked fun at the gesture, describing the blank screens as the best entertainment they'd ever seen on ITV. One viewer said his remote-control thumb had a good workout.
	ITV is sponsoring the weekend's sports-promotion activities alongside the National Lottery.

UK broadcaster shuts down for hour, asks viewers to exercise

People who hope to drive New York City's famous yellow cabs must pass tests on such details as driving rules and where they can pick up passengers.
	But one test they no longer have to take? Whether they have a grasp of English.
	A new law that streamlines licensing requirements for different kind of drivers has done away with the longstanding English proficiency test for taxi drivers, which supporters say will eliminate a barrier to the profession for immigrants, who make up 96 per cent of the 144,000 cabbies in the city.
	It's also a recognition of how technology has transformed the business. Many drivers now rely on computer navigation programs, rather than verbal directions, to reach a destination. For-hire drivers for app-based services such as Uber, for example, never had to take an English test.
	But critics, including some drivers, are giving a side-eye to the idea that a good command of English is no longer considered a basic requirement for a job that involves communicating .

You talkin' to me? English no longer a must for NYC cabbies

A fire swept through a Moscow printing plant warehouse today, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, Russia's emergency services said.
	A representative of the Kyrgyz community said the victims were all young women trapped in a dressing room while changing into their work clothes.
	The fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of the warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored, and it spread quickly through an elevator shaft to the room where those who died, said Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services.
	He said firefighters found the bodies of 16 workers and sent four injured workers to the hospital, where one later died.
	Denisov, whose statements were carried by Russian news agencies, said the dead were all from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, and were believed to be working legally in Russia.
	Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry confirmed that 14 of the dead were Kyrgyz citizens.
	Abdygani ...

Fire sweeps through Russian warehouse, killing 17 workers

Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria said Turkish airstrikes hit bases and residential areas today near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week.
	The Jarablus Military Council said the airstrikes in Amarneh village marked an "unprecedented and dangerous escalation" after Turkish artillery shelling the day before.
	The group said there was injuries but didn't specify.
	It said the escalation threatens to "endanger the future of the region" and vowed to stand its ground.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the airstrikes. Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
	The Jarablus Military Council is supported by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces.
	Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels capture Jarablus from the Islamic State group in an incursion that was partly aimed at containing Kurdish-led forces.
	Turkey has long suspected the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or 

Kurdish-led Syrian forces report Turkish air raids on bases

Two people have died and six people were injured after two motorboats collided in northwest Germany.
	Police in Oldenburg said the incident happened shortly before 2 AM today on the Barsseler Tief, a river near the Dutch border.
	Police said the dead a 24-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man were sitting in a motorboat that was rammed side-on by another vessel.
	Warm weather has resulted in a sharp rise in drownings and watersports injuries in Germany in recent days.
	At least four more people died yesterday, including a 10-month-old baby who had fallen into the river Neckar near the southwestern town of Mosbach.
	The baby's mother, an asylum-seeker from Eritrea, attempted to rescue the child. Unable to swim, she was pulled from the river by passers-by.

2 killed, 6 injured in motorboat crash in northwest Germany

An Egyptian court today ordered the release of a rights lawyer who had been held without charge in solitary confinement for over 100 days after defying President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
	The ruling in favour of Malek Adly, who was incarcerated on a rolling series of administrative detention orders, rejected an appeal by prosecutors after a court ordered Adly's release on Thursday.
	Adly's supporters say he has been targeted by authorities over a televised interview in which he objected to el-Sissi's decision in April to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. He was not formally charged with a crime.
	Adly's lawyer, Mahmoud Belal, says he should be released soon.

Egypt court orders release of lawyer who defied president

Tunisia's Parliament has approved Youssef Chahed as prime minister along with a new government focused on boosting the economy and fighting terrorism.
	Chahed's Cabinet was confirmed yesterday night in a 167-22 vote with five abstentions. The government has more women and younger politicians in its mix, but it retains previous ministers in the key posts of defense, interior and foreign affairs.
	The 41-year-old Chahed, a member of the president's Nida Tounes party, was appointed after last month's collapse of the previous government.
	Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has struggled with soaring unemployment and a slump in tourism following last year's Islamic extremist attacks on a beach resort and museum that killed some 60 people.
	Reducing deficits and reviving tourism pose major challenges for the new government, while the production of a key export, phosphate, has shrunk 60 per cent since the Arab Spring.
	The new finance minister, 55-year-old state bank director Lamia Zribi, is 

Tunisia's new government seeks stronger economy, security

Voting has started in Gabon, where the president is trying to overcome a coalition of high-profile opponents to win re-election and maintain a family dynasty that stretches back to the 1960s.
	Ali Bongo Ondimba took power in 2009 following the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled the oil-producing country of about 1.5 million people for more than 40 years.
	In his campaign Bongo has touted his efforts to diversify Gabon's economy and accused the opposition of inciting violence.
	The most formidable challenge among nine opponents comes from Jean Ping, a former chair of the African Union Commission who managed to get several other aspirants to rally around his candidacy.
	Bongo's bid for a second seven-year term is aided by the fact that Gabon does not have a runoff system, meaning he does not have to win more than 50 per cent of the votes in the first round to win.
	The tense campaign has featured efforts to get Bongo's candidacy annulled based on claims he was born in Nigeria ...

Gabon votes as president vies to keep family in power

Malaysian student activists led a rally today to demand the arrest of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been implicated in a US government probe into massive fraud in a Malaysian investment fund.
	More than 1,000 people defied a police ban as they congregated at two locations in Kuala Lumpur and marched to historic Independence Square. They held posters and caricatures of Najib, with some chanting "Catch, catch Najib."
	The US Department of Justice said last month that at least USD 3.5 billion had been stolen from 1MDB, a Malaysian fund founded by Najib. It has initiated action to seize USD 1.3 billion it said was used to buy assets in the US.
	It said in court filings that more than USD 700 million had landed in the accounts of "Malaysian Official 1." It didn't name the official, but appeared to be referring to Najib.
	Allegations against 1MDB have gained steam, but Najib has steadfastly denied any involvement or wrongdoing.
	"Can we send MO1 to jail and bring that person to face ..

Malaysian students rally to demand prime minister's arrest

An ex-wife of Donald Trump's new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon, said Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers.
	That revelation came a day after reports emerged that domestic violence charges were filed 20 years ago against Bannon following an altercation with his then-wife, Mary Louise Piccard.
	In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."
	"He said he doesn't like Jews and that he doesn't like the way they raise their kids to be 'whiney brats,'" Piccard said in a 2007 court filing.
	Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, took the helm of Trump's campaign last week in yet another leadership shake-up. The campaign has been plagued by negative stories about staffers, including charges lodged against his ..

Ex-wife says Trump campaign CEO made anti-Semitic remarks

Officials in several states are scrambling to deal with a series of heroin overdose outbreaks affecting dozens of people and involving at least six deaths.
	The spikes in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia over the past few days have seen rescue workers rushing from scene to scene to provide overdose antidote drugs.
	While it's unclear if one dealer or batch is responsible for the multistate outbreak, the spikes reflect the potency of heroin flooding the Midwest.
	In Cincinnati, police today asked for the public's help in identifying the source of the heroin behind an estimated 78 overdoses in two days.
	Officials in surrounding Hamilton County are calling the latest onslaught of overdose cases a public health emergency. County Health Commissioner Tim Ingram said the number of emergency room incidents over the last six days was "unprecedented."
	Emergency rooms estimate they had 174 suspected opioid overdose cases this week, including three deaths. Last year, accidental drug ...

Dozens treated as heroin overdose spikes hit several states

Police in central England have arrested five men on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism.
	Detectives from the West Midlands police department's counter-terrorism unit arrested the men today at locations in Birmingham and nearby Stoke-on-Trent. Officers are searching several locations in both cities as part of the investigation.
	A police statement says a military bomb disposal team has been deployed to the Lee Bank district in central Birmingham as a "precautionary measure."
	Men aged 32 and 37 were arrested in Stoke, while the three arrested in Birmingham were aged 18, 24 and 28.

UK police arrest 5 suspected of terrorism in West Midlands

Istanbul is inaugurating the third bridge spanning the Bosphorus Strait dividing the continents of Europe and Asia, in a ceremony to be attended by Turkish leadership and representatives of several nations.
	Turkey's president and prime minister will attend today's ceremony, along with dignitaries from Bahrain, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Pakistan, Georgia and northern Cyprus.
	The USD 3 billion bridge is named after the 16th-century Ottoman sultan, Selim, and is touted as the world's widest suspension bridge, featuring 10 lanes including two rail lines and spanning over 1,400 meters.

Istanbul to inaugurate third bridge linking Europe with Asia

Kyle Cook can't decide whether he's really unlucky or incredibly fortunate.
	In the last four years, the 31-year-old Florida man has been struck by lightning, bitten by a venomous spider and most recently attacked by an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake in his backyard in Lakeland.
	His father, Mike Cook, calls his son "a walking Murphy's law."
	The younger Cook was almost finished mowing the yard at his family's rented house on Aug. 11 when he heard a loud rattling sound. 	He saw the 5-foot snake about 3 feet away. As he moved back, he stepped on a stick. He says the noise provoked the snake, which struck him.
	The Ledger reports the fang marks are still visible two weeks later on Cook's right ankle.

Florida man survives lightning strike, spider, snake bites

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says police have detained several suspects in anti-Islamic State raids across the capital Ankara and "liberated" over two dozen students in one of their schools.
	Counterterrorism police conducted simultaneous operations at 20 locations early today, detaining 17 suspected IS members.
	Anadolu said one location was a bookstore which operated as a school for young children. It said 22 girls and four boys recovered there would be returned to their families.
	The school recruited its students via social media advertisements but Anadolu didn't specify how old the children were.
	IS is blamed for several recent attacks in Turkey, including a suicide bombing at a wedding last week that killed 54 people.
	Turkey supported Syrian rebels taking back the IS-held border town of Jarablus earlier this week.

Ankara police detain suspected IS members, free students

Authorities on the Greek island of Chios said four people were injured overnight in a wildfire that threatened homes.
	A 64-year-old woman suffered extensive burns and was transported by military helicopter to an Athens hospital after the fire approached villages on the northwest of the Aegean Sea island, according to officials.
	The woman's son and daughter were also among the injured.
	Five helicopters and three planes were helping the firefighting effort around the village of Sidirounda.
	A lull in high winds helped the effort.

Greece: 4 hurt in wildfire on Greek island of Chios

A Zimbabwean judge has ordered police not to interfere with an anti-government demonstration in the capital Friday.
	Organizers for the demonstration, which will bring together at least 18 opposition parties and civic organizations, say the protest will begin at midday although police with water cannons and tear gas canisters have been deployed across the capital, Harare.
	The protest will mark the first time that Zimbabwe's fractured opposition has joined in a single action to confront President Robert Mugabe's government since 2007.
	Dubbed the "mega demonstration," the protest brings together at least 18 political parties and civic organizations and protesters will include veteran opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe's former deputy, Joice Mujuru, according to organizers.
	Water cannons, frequently used to break up anti-government protests in the past two months, have been set up by police at strategic points in downtown Harare and truckloads of anti-riot police have been 

Zimbabwe judge OKs protest by opposition parties

Yemen's rebel-run news agency says airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition have killed 11 civilians and wounded others in the northern city of Saada.
	The agency, SABA, which is under control of the Shiite rebels known as Houthis, reported on Friday that the airstrikes destroyed two houses located in the district of Baqam in the city of Saada a Houthi stronghold.
	It says women and children are among the dead, and that subsequent flyovers of coalition planes delayed the rescue operation. Some of the wounded are in critical condition, which may lead to a higher death toll.
	The strikes came a day after the United Nations demanded an international investigation in the killings of civilians in Yemen.

11 civilians killed in airstrikes in northern Yemen

Iran's foreign minister is rejecting claims from Saudi Arabia that his country supplied the Shiite rebels in Yemen with missiles.
	The official IRNA news agency quotes Mohammad Javad Zarif today as saying these are "baseless accusations."
	Zarif's response came after US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a visit to Saudi Arabia yesterday that Washington was "deeply troubled" after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef showed him photos allegedly of Iranian- supplied missiles along the Saudi-Yemen border. Those photos have not been made public.
	Zarif, speaking from Chile, said Kerry's remarks show the US government is "an accomplice in Saudi war crimes against the innocent people of Yemen."
	In Yemen, its internationally recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition are battling the rebels known as Houthis and their allies.

AP

AP

Page 1860 - Ap/pti Reuters