Bankrate Inc, an online publisher of widely-read consumer finance data, has agreed to pay a $15 million fine to settle federal regulators' charges of manipulating its financial results to meet analysts' expectations.
	The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the settlement of civil charges of accounting fraud with Bankrate and a former vice president of finance.
	Bankrate, based in North Palm Beach, Florida, neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. It has agreed to refrain from future violations of the securities laws.
	The former vice president, Hyunjin Lerner, agreed to resolve allegations that he and two other Bankrate executives ran a scheme to inflate revenues and omit some expenses from reports to meet analysts' estimates for the second quarter of 2012.
	Lerner is paying a USD 150,000 fine and making restitution of USD 30,045 that he allegedly gained from selling Bankrate stock after the company announced the false results and the share price rose from USD 15.95 to .

Bankrate paying USD 15M to settle SEC charges on false results

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A Pakistani physician has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he inappropriately touched a girl in July while the two were seated together on a New York-to-Chicago flight.
	Muhammad Asif Chaudhry entered the plea Tuesday at an arraignment in Chicago federal court. He's charged with abusive sexual contact.
	The complaint says the girl sent frantic text messages to her mother during the encounter. She later alerted a flight attendant and was moved to another seat.
	Chaudhry, who is 57, is a Pakistani citizen who was on vacation in the US. As a condition of his bail, he is forbidden from flying, so he drove 16 hours from Oklahoma to attend the arraignment.
	The girl is between 12 and 16 and was traveling alone on the airline's unaccompanied-minor program.

Doctor pleads not guilty to touching young girl on flight

The head of Sierra Leone's National Ebola Response Center says that three new cases of Ebola have emerged in an area where a 67-year-old woman died in late August, bringing the total new cases in treatment to four.
	Alfred Palo Conteh said today that three new cases were confirmed Monday. He said now four people are in treatment after another case was confirmed September 5.
	Palo Conteh said the new cases were in contact with the woman who died in the northern Kambia district on August 28.
	Samples from her body came back positive less than a week after the country's last known patient was discharged from the hospital.
	The worst Ebola outbreak in history has killed nearly 4,000 people in Sierra Leone, and more 11,300 people in total.

Sierra Leone officials confirm 3 new cases of Ebola

Russia on Tuesday lashed out at Bulgaria over its refusal to allow Russian cargo planes bound for Syria to fly over its territory, saying the move has cast doubts on the nation's independence.
	The angry statement comes amid signs of a Russian military build-up in Syria that has raised U.S. Concerns. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov alleged that Bulgaria and Greece are facing pressure from Washington.
	Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry earlier said the country is refusing to allow Russian military transport aircraft to fly through its airspace en route to Syria from September 1-24.
	It said without elaboration that the reason for the refusal was "incorrect information" about the purpose of the flights and the cargo.
	Yesterday, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantinos Koutras said the US has asked Greece to cancel overflight permission for flights headed to Syria. He said Athens is examining the request.
	"If they make some restrictive or banning measures at American ...

Russia fumes at Bulgaria for barring Syria-bound flights

A man carrying an explosive device was arrested today while trying to enter a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, the mall's managers said in a statement.
	The man was arrested after acting suspiciously, and later two sniffer dogs confirmed the small hand-held device he carried had explosive material. The device was "safely neutralized" following an evacuation of the mall, Nairobi's Garden City Mall said in a statement today.
	Kenyan police are questioning three men over the incident, said Robinson Moloi, police chief for Nairobi's Kasarani region.
	"This afternoon we had an incident at the Garden City Mall where three people were arrested with an improvised explosive device," he said. "They were detected while entering during screening and they were uncooperative, and on being searched one was found with the device."
	Officers from the bomb disposal unit had safely detonated the device, he said, adding that investigators are examining whether the suspects belong to any known ...

Kenyan mall evacuated in bomb threat

Homegrown militants loyal to the Islamic State group are making inroads into Afghanistan, controlling territory in some parts of the country and ruling with the harsh hand the group is notorious for in Iraq and Syria, according to officials, military leaders and analysts.
	IS expansion into Afghanistan has been a concern for both Afghan and international authorities for months, with officials warning that the militant group was actively recruiting members from other Islamic militant groups, including the rival Taliban.
	Now multiple local and international officials say IS loyalists have increased their visibility and in some parts of the country are violently confronting the Taliban which is still waging its own 14-year-old insurgency to retake power in Kabul.
	There remains some confusion as to whether the growing visibility of the now-familiar IS black flag in Afghanistan constitutes the presence of an actual Islamic State group affiliate.
	Authorities have yet to confirm the ...

Islamic State group loyalists eye a presence in Afghanistan

Police are searching a river in Nepal where the body of a 27-year-old teacher from Austin, Texas, was thrown after she was hammered to death, an official said today.
	Police official Hari Bahadur Pal said authorities are looking for the body of Dahlia Yehia, who disappeared from the resort town of Pokhara in western Nepal last month.
	Police have arrested a local teacher, Narayan Paudel, who was hosting Yehia while she was in Pokhara to help victims of a devastating earthquake in April.
	Pal said Paudel confessed to the crime and described how he hammered the victim to death and threw her body into the Seti River. Pal said police found blood-soaked clothes and ropes they believed were used to tie Yehia's body.
	Authorities believe the motive for the killing was money, with Paudel saying he took cash from Yehia, according to Pal.
	He said authorities plan to seek the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for Paudel, 30, but that they need the body to help build a strong case.
	Yehia ...

Nepal police search for body of slain Texas teacher

Paula Radcliffe, a three-time London Marathon winner who holds the world record for the distance, denied today that she ever used performance-enhancing drugs and said she was "devastated" that her name had been linked to allegations of wide-spread blood doping in track and field.
     "I categorically deny that I ever resorted to cheating in any form whatsoever at any time in my career," the British runner said in a strongly-worded four-page statement issued through her management company.
     The 41-year-old Radcliffe, who has retired from international competition, said she was "effectively" implicated during a Parliamentary hearing Tuesday into allegations of doping leveled last month by The Sunday Times newspaper and German broadcaster ARD.
     Jesse Norman, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said during the hearing that "potentially the winners or medalists at the London Marathon, potentially British athletes are under suspicion for very high levels of ..

Paula Radcliffe denies that she ever resorted to doping

President Michelle Bachelet says Chile will welcome "an important number of refugees."
	Bachelet spoke during a religious ceremony late yesterday. She didn't specify the country of origin of the refugees. But her foreign minister said over the weekend that Chile was looking into receiving Syrians fleeing the civil war in the largest refugee crisis since World War II.
	Bachelet said Chile will welcome the refugees because in her words, the tragedy being lived now is a tragedy affecting all of humanity.
	Uruguay welcomed 42 Syrian refugees in October 2014, but they now want to leave, saying the country is too expensive and they cannot find jobs. The five families are protesting outside Montevideo's presidential building.
	Neighbouring Argentina said this week that its doors are also open to Syrians refugees.

Bachelet says Chile will welcome refugees

Kevin Pietersen is heading back to where it all started after signing a short-term contract to play Twenty20 cricket for his former team in South Africa.
     Pietersen will be available for five games for the Durban-based Dolphins from the start of November, returning to the team he left as a youngster to pursue a career in England.
     "It's wonderful. All my buddies are there, my best mates are there ... It's going to be fun," the England batsman said of his return to his hometown team.
     Pietersen, now 35 and apparently discarded by England for good despite being its record run-scorer, was born in Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.
     He was at the announcement at Johannesburg's international airport at the end of a vacation in South Africa today.
     He said he will return late next month ahead of the Ram Slam competition. He will be available for the Dolphins for around two weeks, he said.
     "It's a great comeback, but its work," Pietersen said, adding he would "try to ...

Kevin Pietersen coming back to former team in South Africa

Independent Yemeni security officials and witnesses say 12 Shiite rebels were killed in airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in the province of Marib, where a rebel missile strike killed 45 Emirati soldiers earlier this week.
	Officials from the rebel group, known as Houthis, confirm more than 20 airstrikes occurred today.
	Neither side has captured more territory, as pro-government forces say they plan to seize the rest of the province before proceeding to Jawf, and eventually to Saada province, the Houthi heartland.
	Officials fighting the Houthis say they are prioritizing taking control of the cities of Bihan to the west and Sirwah to the south, which lie on supply routes to the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
	The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.

Yemeni rebels bombed by Saudi-led coalition in key province

Libya's military spokesman says eight soldiers have been killed during an attack by Islamic militants southwest of the city of Benghazi.
	Speaking today, Col Ahmed al-Mesmari said one soldier is missing and 10 were wounded in the attack early yesterday.
	Al-Mesmari says soldiers fighting for Libya's internationally recognised government chased the attackers, capturing many of their weapons and causing casualties. The spokesman says the soldiers "initially repelled the attack" and chased them into a neighbourhood known to be a stronghold of Ansar al-Shariah and Islamic State loyalists.
	Libya has slid into chaos since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
	An Islamic State affiliate has exploited the chaos, consolidating their hold last month over Sirte, Gadhafi's hometown, after putting down a local rebellion.

Libyan military says 8 soldiers killed by Islamic militants

A Chinese court publicly apologised to 19 people it wrongfully convicted of financial crimes in a rare show of contrition by the country's authoritarian and highly opaque legal system.
	The apology from the People's High Court for the eastern province of Anhui appeared in a local newspaper yesterday. The court said it wished to help restore the reputations of the individuals, all of whom were imprisoned in 2012 on charges of illegal fundraising, or fraud.
	The 19 people were accused in a single case involving China's so-called grey economy, which loans money to business ventures too small to obtain loans from large state banks. The court said a review of the case revealed the convictions were wrongful, but it didn't explain why.
	The convictions of the 19 defendants were overturned as well as the original indictments against them.
	Chinese courts are controlled by the ruling Communist Party, and trials almost always result in convictions.
	Wrongful convictions, including those ...

Chinese court publicly apologises for wrongful convictions

A UN agency is mounting a worldwide campaign for equal pay for women, who get 24 per cent less than men on global average and around 30 per cent less for those in Asia.
	Recent estimates by the International Labor Organization shows gender inequality in employment across Asia alone is costing USD 45 billion a year, with 45 per cent of working-age women outside the labor force compared to 19 per cent for men, the leader of the UN Women agency, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, told a forum at the Asian Development Bank headquarters.
	She said if female employment were to match male employment, per capita GDP would rise 19 per cent in Southeast Asia and 27 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa.
	"We are definitely going to go on a major campaign on equal pay this is one of the issues we are putting to heads of state, we are also putting that to private sector," she said.
	"The issue of equal pay is paramount because we have to win some battles in order for women to be in a position to ...

UN official says women in Asia paid 30 per cent less than men

The spokesman for an opposition party in Burundi was shot and killed outside his home in the capital, the leader of the party said today.
	Patrice Gahungu of the opposition UPD Zigamibanga was assassinated by unknown gunmen in the Gihosha neighborhood of Bujumbura yesterday, said party leader Chauvineau Mugwengezo.
	In May Zedi Feruzi, then the leader of UPD Zigamibanga, was shot dead in Bujumbura amid violent street protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for more time in office.
	Nkurunziza won re-election in July polls widely seen as not credible, but violence persists in Bujumbura, with occasional bursts of gunfire and grenade explosions, as the security forces mount an operation to disarm civilians in some volatile parts of the city.
	In August a top military general who once led the intelligence services, Adolphe Nshimirimana, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Bujumbura, sparking concerns of revenge killings in which regime loyalists and opponents target each ...

Burundi's opposition party spokesman killed in capital

German airline Lufthansa says it is canceling 84 long-haul flights because of a pilot strike.
	The airline says some 20,000 travelers will be affected by the grounding today. A further 90 flights will take place as planned.
	The pilots union, Vereinigung Cockpit, says it will extend its strike to include medium- and short-haul flights Wednesday. Lufthansa's 5,400 pilots want the airline to keep paying a transition payment for those wanting to retire early, and are opposed to a restructuring of the airline.
	Lufthansa says passengers should check its website, www.Lh.Com , for details of forthcoming flight cancelations.

Lufthansa cancels 84 long-haul flights over pilot strike

Iran's president said today that his country is ready to hold talks with the US and Saudi Arabia on ways to resolve Syria's civil war, providing such negotiations can secure peace and democracy in conflict-torn Syria.
	Hassan Rouhani's remarks came during a press conference with visiting Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer, when the Iranian leader was asked if he would sit down and negotiate with the Saudis and Americans on the Syrian crisis.
	"Iran will sit at any table with regional countries and world powers if the outcome will be a safer, stable and democratic future for Syria," Rouhani said, adding this is part of Iran's commitment to "international, Islamic and humane" norms.
	Shiite powerhouse Iran is a leading patron of Syrian President Bashar Assad and accuses Sunni rival Saudi Arabia and the US of siding with anti-Assad rebels and militants.
	Tehran has also sent military advisers to Damascus to help Assad's troops against the Islamic State group. Iran, however, denies ...

Rouhani: Iran ready to hold talks on Syria with US, Saudi

Just five years ago, when Aung San Suu Kyi was still under house arrest, she commented that one day she hoped to get a Twitter account and chat with the outside world.
	Todaay, the opposition leader kicked off campaigning for Myanmar's historic November 8 general election with a Facebook post one of many signs of how far the country and its most recognizable politician have come in a few years.
	In a video message, the opposition leader called the upcoming elections "a crucial turning point for our country."
	"For the first time in decades, our people will have a real chance of bringing about real change," Suu Kyi said, in a message posted on her party's Facebook page in Burmese and English.
	"We hope that the whole world understands how important it is for us to have free and fair elections."
	More than 90 political parties will take part in the parliamentary elections, which are being closely watched as the next step toward democracy in a country that was run by a repressive ...

Myanmar's Suu Kyi opens election campaign on Facebook

Authorities in Colombia said they seized over 1 metric ton of cocaine disguised as printer ink and bound for Mexico.
	The police said officers at Bogota's El Dorado airport were tipped off when a drug-sniffing Labrador named Mona detected the narcotics hidden in 48 boxes of a 1-metric ton cargo shipment bound for a company in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
	There were no arrests and police wouldn't say on which airline the illegal cargo shipment had been stashed.
	The police in a statement yesterday said that as soon as the black powder tested positive for cocaine they alerted their Mexican counterparts leading to the bust of a similar amount of so-called "black cocaine" at Mexico City's airport on a flight that had departed Bogota hours earlier.
	Mexico's federal police said told The Associated Press they had no knowledge of a weekend interdiction.
	A spokesman who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he's not authorized to discuss the operation publicly said the only recent ...

Colombia seizes 1 metric ton of cocaine on Mexico flight

Attorneys for the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed last week because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples have said they have filed an emergency motion with a federal court that they hope will result in Kim Davis' freedom.
	Davis' plight has reignited the gay marriage debate and the limits of religious freedom following the US Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
	Her imprisonment has inspired spirited protests from both sides in this small eastern Kentucky community known mostly as the home to Morehead State University.
	The filing seeks to have Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear accommodate Davis' "religious conviction," and not compel her to grant licenses to gay couples, Liberty Counsel said in a statement yesterday.
	"The motion requests an injunction pending appeal for an exemption from the Governor's mandate that all county clerks issue marriage licenses," said the statement by Liberty Counsel, which is representing Davis.
	The ...

Kentucky clerk appeals her jailing over gay marriage

Hundreds of angry and frustrated asylum-seekers broke through police lines near Hungary's southern border with Serbia and began marching north toward Budapest, while Britain and France pledged to take in tens of thousands more refugees to try to ease the crisis.
	As European leaders debated how to share responsibility for the more than 340,000 people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia who are already seeking refuge, Germany promised to spend billions of euros in extra aid for those already there and those yet to arrive. France weighed whether increased airstrikes against Islamic State militants would help to stem the flow of those fleeing Syria.
	But the Hungarian prime minister scoffed at a proposed quota system for refugees in the 28-member European Union, saying it wouldn't work unless Europe first secured its borders.
	Hungary's inability to control the flow of people across its southern border with Serbia was on graphic display yesterday. Crowds who had grown tired of waiting .

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