Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson has said he is stepping aside because of an impasse that threatens to bring down the Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government.
	Robinson said today that all but one of his party's ministers will step down immediately, gravely weakening the coalition government that is a cornerstone of the 1998 peace agreement.
	He said he was leaving Arlene Foster in place as a temporary first minister and finance minister to prevent other parties from taking advantage of the situation.
	Robinson said crisis talks with the government will continue.

Northern Ireland first minister steps down amid impasse

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A Russian court has sentenced a man to more than two years in prison for painting a star on the spire of a Moscow skyscraper in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
	Four co-defendants were acquitted.
	The case reflects Russian objections to public displays of support for Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the pro-Western government in Kiev since April 2014.
	The court found Vladimir Podrezov guilty of painting the star on Aug. 20, 2014, ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day. He was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.
	Four others, who were arrested after base-jumping off of the building on the same day, were acquitted.
	In issuing the ruling today, the judge said there was some doubt they had assisted Podrezov, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russian gets prison for painting star in Ukraine's colors

Pope Francis will make his first trip to Africa in November, visiting Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic in a pilgrimage that will bring him face to face with Islamic extremism and Christian-Muslim violence on the continent.
	The Vatican today confirmed the November 25-30 trip, saying Francis had been invited by each of the three heads of states and local bishops.
	The trip will pose security risks that have largely been absent on Francis' foreign trips to date.
	Kenya has been facing the threat of attacks from al-Shabab Islamic militants ever since it sent troops to fight Somali rebels in 2011.
	Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida, has conducted major attacks in Kenya, including the 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall and an April attack on a university in Garissa that killed nearly 150 people.
	Survivors of the Garissa attack said gunmen targeted Christians and non-Muslims.
	In Uganda, Francis will certainly refer to the Martyrs of Uganda, 45 Anglicans and ...

Pope to visit Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic

A human rights legal team will pursue international sanctions and travel bans against the Maldives as part of its efforts to secure the release of the country's jailed former president, lawyer Amal Clooney said today.
	They were taking that course of action because the Maldives government has failed to fulfill many of its promises made to ex-President Mohamed Nasheed, Clooney told reporters in Male, the capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago that is a high-end tourist destination.
	"The next step will be to pursue targeted sanctions, travel bans and any other action we have recourse to until the matter is resolved," she said. "It is disappointing it has come to this."
	Clooney said the government had agreed in talks with Nasheed's party members to release him and others arrested during protests that followed his jailing.
	It not only went back on its promise but also sent Nasheed back to jail after saying it commuted his sentence to house arrest, she said.
	"These are not steps that .

Clooney says lawyers will pursue sanctions against Maldives

Conservative House Republicans have embarked on an eleventh-hour political maneuver to derail the Iranian nuclear deal, saying they can't vote on it until the president coughs up copies of side deals Tehran negotiated with atomic inspectors.
	The last-ditch effort to snarl implementation of the deal was part of a political spectacle that unfolded yesterday in Washington over one of President Barack Obama's key foreign policy initiatives.
	The maneuvering and speechifying did little to change the reality: Barring unlikely success of the House Republicans' strategy, the international accord will move ahead. Even if Congress succeeds in passing legislation aimed at undermining the deal, Obama would veto it and Democrats command enough votes to sustain the veto.
	Inside the Capitol, congressional Republicans turned on each other angrily as they moved closer to a vote on the deal, which gives Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for restraints to keep it from becoming a 

Republicans try to derail Iran nuclear deal in the House

Police say a roadside bomb has killed five officers who were on patrol in central Afghanistan.
	Asadullah Ensafi, the deputy chief police in Ghazni province, said the blast was likely from a remote-controlled bomb. It happened today morning in the city of Ghazni, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southwest of Kabul.
	Ensafi says authorities are investigating but believe the Taliban are behind the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility but the Taliban frequently use roadside bombs to attack government officials and security forces.
	Also today, Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense said in a statement that fighting between Taliban and security forces in several provinces has left 94 Taliban dead in the past 48 hours.
	The statement says 12 Afghan army troops were killed by roadside bombs and other Taliban attacks.

Roadside bomb kills 5 Afghan police officers on patrol

Taiwan's military blasted shells into the ocean today, one in a series of exercises this week to simulate attacks by political rival China after Beijing staged what appeared to be a mock strike against the presidential office in Taipei.
	The exercises, larger this year than in the past, follow televised images from China on July 22 depicting a staged ground troop attack on a red tower and attached low-rises that resembled Taiwan's presidential compound.
	China is Taiwan's only major potential military threat, though the two sides have shelved political differences since 2008.
	They are separated by an ocean strait that is 160 km (100 miles) across at its narrowest point.
	"Our most crucial goal is to simulate safeguarding against a possible attack from mainland China, whether on Taiwan itself, an outlying island post, our marine military space or our airspace," deputy Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said.
	China's military, meanwhile, today announced three days of its own ...

Taiwan simulates attacks by political rival China

A father repeatedly stabbed his three young sons to death with a knife in the back seat of their car outside a South Los Angeles elementary school before it's believed he turned the blade on himself, police said.
	The father, said to be in his 30s, was found in his car bleeding from stab wounds to the chest, his dead sons in the back and a knife in the passenger seat yesterday.
	The boys, ages 8 to 12, were pronounced dead at the gruesome scene.
	The father, whose name was not released, is the only suspect in the killings, police said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and will be arrested if he survives his wounds, Los Angeles Police Officer Matthew Ludwig said.
	The motive was unclear and is being investigated. The father had no history of domestic violence charges or arrests, police said.
	"These are horrific incidents," police Chief Charlie Beck said. "These are incidents that have scarred not only a community but the first responders that have to handle them."
	"It 

3 brothers found stabbed to death in LA; dad is suspect

The Islamic State group is extending its reach in Saudi Arabia, expanding the scope of its attacks and drawing in new recruits with its radical ideology.
	Its determination to bring down the US-allied royal family has raised concerns it could threaten the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage later this month.
	So far, the extremist group's presence in the kingdom appears to be in a low-level stage, but it has claimed four significant bombings since May, one of them in neighbouring Kuwait.
	And it has rapidly ramped up its rhetoric, aiming to undermine the Al Saud royal family's legitimacy, which is rooted in part in its claim to implement Islamic Shariah law and to be the protectors of Islam's most sacred sites in Mecca and Medina that are at the centre of hajj.
	"Daesh and its followers have made it very clear that Saudi Arabia is their ultimate target," Saudi analyst Fahad Nazer said, referring to the Islamic State group by its Arabic acronym. "Because of Mecca and Medina ... That's their .

Islamic State group's attacks in Saudi test security of hajj

Japanese military helicopters plucked dozens of residents from the tops of their homes today, but rescue officials said they were unable to keep up with the pleas for help after raging floodwaters swamped parts of a city north of Tokyo.
	As heavy rain pummeled Japan for a second straight day, the Kinugawa River broke through a flood berm, sending a wall of water into Joso, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Japan's capital.
	National broadcaster NHK showed aerial footage of rescuers lowered from helicopters and clambering onto second-floor balconies to reach stranded residents. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
	In one dramatic scene, the rescuer could be seen descending four times from a military helicopter over a 20-minute period to lift up four people one-by-one, as a deluge of water swept around their home.
	Nearby a man clung to a utility pole as the waters rose, before being taken up by a rescuer who had to be first lowered into the water so her ...

Helicopters pluck residents to safety as rains lash Japan

Seven women and one man have been detained in the latest round of arrests in the ongoing battle against building a giant telescope atop a mountain many Native Hawaiians consider sacred.
	The state Department of Land and Natural resources said 20 of its officers arrested the protesters on Mauna Kea about 1 AM yesterday. They were enforcing an emergency rule created to stop people from camping on Mauna Kea.
	The land board approved the rule in July, which restricts access to the mountain during certain nighttime hours and prohibits certain camping gear. It was prompted by protesters' around-the-clock presence to prevent construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
	Protesters say officers hauled them away while they were praying. In video footage provided by the state, officers are seen walking toward a group of people huddled in a circle and chanting. A man's voice is heard saying, "Eh, they're praying you guys, they're praying."
	The footage shows officers putting plastic handcuffs on .

8 arrested in protest against telescope on Hawaii mountain

The Kremlin says leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine have had a conference call to discuss the implementation of a peace deal for eastern Ukraine.
	The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin conferred yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the pullout of weapons, holding local elections, offering a special status for the rebel regions and other issues related to February's peace deal.
	It said Putin particularly emphasised the need for a direct dialogue between the Ukrainian government and the rebel territories.
	The Kremlin said foreign ministers of the four nations will continue discussions in Berlin this weekend, and the four heads of states are set to meet in Paris on October 2.

Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine discuss peace deal

Dr William Grier, a psychiatrist who co-authored the groundbreaking 1968 book, "Black Rage," which offered the first psychological examination of black life in the United States, has died at age 89.
	Grier's eldest son, Geoffrey Grier, said today that his father died at a hospice care facility in Carlsbad, a coastal city north of San Diego, after suffering a brain lesion.
	Grier and Price M Cobbs, both black psychiatrists working in San Francisco in the 1960s, co-authored "Black Rage" to explain the anger that triggered the riots after the assassination of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.
	The authors argued how the heritage of slavery contributed to the unrest decades after the end of segregation and continued to affect society as well as the personal lives of African Americans.
	In 1969, ABC produced a TV special about the book called "To Be Black."
	Grier had an insatiable appetite for knowledge and was driven by his need to expose the long-lasting effects of social oppression, his ..

Co-author of 'Black Rage,' Dr William Grier dies at 89

For years, Pakistan did not put prisoners to death. Then a Taliban attack butchered 150 people, most of them children, and the country resumed carrying out the death penalty and quickly turned into one of the world's most avid executioners.
	But instead of killing militants, the campaign is largely executing common criminals, The Associated Press has found. Only one in 10 of the 226 prisoners executed since December was convicted of a terror attack, according to human rights activists.
	Still, the executions continue in order to placate a public still angry over last year's Taliban assault on a military school in the city of Peshawar.
	The Pakistani government refuses to discuss the executions, and most on the street still support them. Some, however, are beginning to question whether the death penalty truly works as a deterrent in a country where suicide bombings remain a common militant tactic.
	"You cannot deter those militants who are committed to die for a cause," said analyst ...

Pakistan among world's top executioners after terror attack

One of seven men awaiting trial in the state of Minnesota on charges of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group pleaded guilty today.
	Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Other counts against him will be dismissed.
	"I have committed a terrorist act and I'm guilty of it, your honor," Musse told the judge. Musse faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced by US District Judge Michael Davis. A sentencing date has not been set.
	Prosecutors allege Musse and some of his co-defendants took a bus to New York City last November and tried to board flights overseas, with plans to go to Syria. They were part of a larger group that conspired to join the terrorist group.
	Musse admitted in court that he learned about the Islamic State group through its online propaganda. He said he viewed the group's members as freedom fighters who are saving the oppressed people of ..

Man pleads guilty in US Islamic State case

Iraqi military and security officials say Islamic State suicide bombings and clashes between the extremist group and Iraqi troops have killed 13 soldiers in western Anbar province.
	The officials say today's attacks involved at least two suicide bombers that targeted a military outpost in the volatile province, which fell to the IS group during the Islamic State's blitz last year.
	They said the outpost housed a joint contingent of Iraqi soldiers, policemen and allied Sunni militiamen. Another 13 troops were wounded in the attacks, the latest to hit beleaguered Iraqi forces trying to claw back territory from the IS in the region.
	The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Islamic State suicide bombings kill 13 Iraqi troops

Secretary of State John Kerry says the US is committed to increasing the number of refugees it is willing to take in as United States allies in Europe struggle to accommodate tens of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
	After closed-door congressional meetings Wednesday, Kerry said President Barack Obama has made it clear that the US wants to take a leadership role on humanitarian issues.
	"We are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe," he said. "That's being vetted fully right now."
	Kerry met with members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. He did not give any specifics on the number of additional refugees the US may be willing to take.
	The US has vowed to help its European allies with an escalating migrant crisis. Earlier this week, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kerry's predecessor, called for a "concerted global effort" to assist the refugees.
	White House .

Kerry: US committed to accepting more refugees to aid allies

Iran has granted permission for Russian planes to fly over its territory en route to Syria, a bypass needed after Bulgaria rejected Moscow's overflight request amid signs of a Russian military buildup in Syria.
	The Russian Embassy in Tehran has received Iranian permission for Syria-bound flights, its spokesman Maxim Suslov said today, according to the Interfax news agency.
	After Bulgaria rejected Moscow's overflight request for September 1-24, a path via Iran and Iraq appears to be the only one left as Russia apparently wants to avoid flying over Turkey, which once grounded a Syria-bound Russian plane with military cargo.
	The controversy over the Russian flights comes amid signs of increased Russian military presence in Syria. Moscow, which has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nation's four-and-a-half-year civil war, said its military experts are in Syria to train its military to use weapons supplied by Russia.
	Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria ...

Russia gets Iran's clearance for Syria-bound flights

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan is running for FIFA president, saying Wednesday he will fight "deep-seated corruption and political deal-making" and make soccer's scandal-scarred governing body more transparent.
	The prince spoke before a select crowd of about 300 young Jordanians, including school-age soccer teams, with a Roman amphitheater serving as a backdrop. After making the initial announcement in Arabic, the 39-year-old royal laid out his agenda in English.
	He said if elected, he would shift some decision-making powers from FIFA headquarters in Zurich to national football associations.
	He promised to invest more in soccer development, make sure each member association has a dedicated national stadium in the next four years, do more for women's soccer and tackle the "plague of match-fixing."
	The prince ran in the previous FIFA election in May, denying long-time incumbent Sepp Blatter a majority in the first round of voting. He stepped aside before the second round.
	Four 

Prince Ali of Jordan announces bid for FIFA president

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney attended a hearing Wednesday to appeal a 13-year jail sentence given to the Maldives' former president and met with the attorney general to discuss the case.
	Clooney is part of a three-member international legal team trying to secure Mohamed Nasheed's release.
	There was no decision after today's preliminary hearing, and no details were given of Clooney's meeting with Attorney General Mohamed Anil.
	Nasheed was sentenced to jail in March after a lower court found him guilty of terrorism for ordering the arrest of a senior judge when he was president in 2012. The court said the arrest by the military was akin to abduction, a crime under the terrorism law.
	Nasheed's sentencing sparked nightly protests and drew widespread international condemnation that his trial was flawed.
	The government later began negotiations with Nasheed's party and transferred him to house arrest, raising hopes of a pardon.
	The talks broke down after authorities decided to ...

Lawyer Clooney attends ex-Maldives leader's appeal hearing

Israel has reopened its embassy in Cairo, four years after an Egyptian mob ransacked the site where the mission was previously located.
	In a statement, Israel's Foreign Ministry quoted director Dore Gold as saying at today's opening ceremony that Israel and Egypt "are working together for stability and prosperity" in the region.
	It says the Israeli flag was raised and the national anthems of both countries were played during the ceremony at the new location of the embassy.
	Israeli diplomats and their families left Cairo in 2011, after rioters stormed the embassy amid angry protests over the deaths of five Egyptian policemen in Sinai, killed by Israeli forces chasing Gaza militants who had carried out a deadly attack.
	Egypt and Israel have maintained cordial relations since the 1979 peace treaty.

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