A Malaysian official says the death toll from a wooden boat that capsized last week with Indonesian migrant workers off the country's western coast has risen to 61.
	Another 20 Indonesians have been rescued.
	Maritime official Mohamad Hambali Yaakup says rescuers have retrieved the bodies of 37 men, 23 women and that of a young girl.
	The boat was believed to have been taking migrant workers home to Tanjung Balai in Indonesia's Sumatra province when it sank Thursday in bad sea conditions, not far from the coast of Sabak Bernam town in central Selangor state.
	Hambali said today that the search operation will continue. Such incidents are common in Malaysia, which has up to 2 million Indonesian migrants working illegally.

Death toll from boat tragedy in Malaysia rises to 61

PTI Automatic

Poles voted in a referendum in which they were asked to weigh in on whether to change the voting system, the funding of political parties and taxation rules.
	At least 50 per cent of registered voters must cast ballots for the results to be binding. After polls closed in the evening yesterday, the state electoral commission said it wouldn't announce the results and the turnout until this evening.
	The vote was set by former President Bronislaw Komorowski after a surprisingly poor showing in the first round of the presidential election in May.
	The move was seen as a last-ditch attempt by Komorowski to hold onto power by giving disgruntled voters the chance to weigh in on issues of concern to them. The tactic did not work, he lost the final round anyway to new conservative President Andrzej Duda.
	Komorowski had been a popular president but lost amid a rising wave of frustration in a system many believe to be unresponsive to popular needs.
	In the first round of the vote, a rock star, .

Poland opens referendum on voting system, party funding

Brazilian news reports say around 14 people have died and another estimated 40 were injured in a bus accident near the colonial coastal town of Paraty.
	G1, the internet portal of the Globo television network, said the accident took place today afternoon, as the bus was traveling between Paraty and Trindade, a beach about 30 kilometers (19 miles) to the south.
	The news report included a video showing the bus overturned, on the shoulder of the road. The injured have been taken to area hospitals, the report said.
	Calls to area firefighters and police went unanswered. Paraty is roughly halfway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and is a popular tourist destination for residents of both cities.
	This is a long weekend in Brazil, with Monday marking independence day.

Bus accident in Brazil kills around 14 people, reports say

Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said the upcoming national election is a battle between his "honorable" government of the past seven months and "the dark period of corruption, cronyism and power networks" that prevailed in previous decades.
	Tsipras, leader of the left-wing Syriza party, yesterday said he is the best-placed to improve the bailout deal with Greece creditors which he himself agreed to in July and which he described as "open-ended" on several issues and subject to improvement through negotiations.
	Tsipras was speaking at the Thessaloniki International Fair, where the government of the day traditionally outlines its economic program for the next year. But this year, an interim government is in power, after Tsipras and his coalition government resigned on August 20, following the defection of dozens of lawmakers from his party.
	Tsipras outlined a government programme whose reformist agenda, on education, health, employment, the economy and the civil ...

Tsipras warns Greeks against return to 'corrupt' past

A Tunisian Interior Ministry official has warned of a plan to attack sites in the capital with car bombs and other devices, according to the country's state news agency.
	The TAP report on Sunday said unidentified militants planned to attack "sensitive sites" in the city with car bombs and explosive belts. The report cited an unnamed Interior Ministry official.
	It added that police had banned traffic on Bourguiba Avenue in the heart of downtown and nearby streets to prevent attacks.
	There have also been increased police patrols and raids around the capital and its suburbs.
	In March and June, gunmen attacked the national museum and a beach resort killing nearly 60 foreign tourists. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Tunisia warns of plot to attack capital with car bombs

Israel's prime minister says he will scrap a newly passed law banning journalists working for the country's public broadcast authority from expressing their opinions on air.
	Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not say Sunday when the contested legislation will be reversed.
	The law, passed early Thursday, drew criticism from journalists, who accused the government of trying to stifle dissent. The law said broadcasts should "avoid one-sidedness, prejudice, expressing personal opinions, giving grades and affixing labels."
	The Israel Press Council urged parliament to cancel the law, saying it violates free speech.
	Following Netanyahu's about-face, the Cabinet minister who pushed for the legislation resigned from his role overseeing public broadcasting. Ofir Akunis, one of Netanyahu's closest confidantes, says he couldn't keep functioning with such a "lack of backing.

Netanyahu to scrap ban on Israeli journalists airing views

Airstrikes from a Saudi-led coalition destroyed a key rebel encampment today in Yemen's capital, while also hitting a school, restaurants and embassies, witnesses and officials from both sides of the conflict said.
	The strikes wounded 17 people, including school children taking final exams, medical officials said. The Saudi and Emirati embassies were damaged, witnesses and security officials said.
	Yemen is torn by fighting between Shiite Houthi rebels allied with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's coalition-backed forces, as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists.
	The Saudi-led and US-backed coalition, made up mainly of Gulf nations, has been launching airstrikes against the rebels since March.
	The strikes early this morning hit the headquarters of the Special Security Forces, where troops remain loyal to Saleh. Security officials said warplanes also targeted weapons caches in the mountains of .

Saudi coalition airstrikes destroy Yemen rebel encampment

The Vatican will shelter two families of refugees who are "fleeing death" from war or hunger, Pope Francis announced today as he called on Catholic parishes, convents and monasteries across Europe to do the same.
	Francis cited Mother Teresa, the European-born nun who cared for the poorest in India, in making his appeal in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square.
	"Faced with the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing death by war and by hunger, and who are on a path toward a hope for life, the Gospel calls us to be neighbours to the smallest and most abandoned, to give them concrete hope," Francis said.
	It's not enough to say "Have courage, hang in there," he added.
	"May every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe host a family, starting with my diocese of Rome," Francis said. He also asked bishops throughout Europe to have their dioceses take up his call to "express the Gospel in concrete terms and take in a ..

Pope: Vatican will shelter 2 families fleeing war, hunger

An independent report released today dismantles the Mexican government's investigation into last year's disappearance of 43 teachers' college students, starting with the assertion that the giant funeral pyre in which the attorney general said they were burned to ash beyond identification simply never happened.
	While the government said the Sept 26 attack was a case of mistaken identity, the report said the violent reaction to the students, who were hijacking buses for transportation to a demonstration, may have had to do with them unknowingly interfering with a drug shipment on one of the buses.
	Iguala, the city in southern Guerrero state where that attacks took place, is known as a transport hub for heroin going to the United States, particularly Chicago, some of it by bus, the report said.
	"The business that moves the city of Iguala could explain such an extreme and violent reaction and the character of the massive attack," the report said.
	The report means that nearly a year ...

Independent group rejects Mexican gov't case on 43 missing

Hungary permitted migrants to use normal train services to move closer to Western Europe through its porous western border today, abandoning the visa checks it previously used to prevent them from easily reaching Austria and Germany by public transportation.
	The unexpected move came just a day after Hungary buckling from the pressure of a build-up of thousands of asylum seekers at Budapest's main international railway station and on a major highway shuttled several thousand people to its border with Austria using a fleet of buses.
	Most hope to settle in Germany, which agreed take Saturday's busloads as an exceptional measure. But both Germany and Austria emphasized that Hungary must handle the cases of other asylum seekers on its own soil. Hungary likewise described the bus convoy as a once-only opportunity for migrants to avoid its own asylum system. Yet thousands continued to flow Sunday into Austria, riding the cross-border trains previously off limits to travelers lacking legal .

Migrants flow west on Hungarian trains; 12,000 reach Austria

Microsoft Corporation gets a second chance to prove it's entitled to keep data stored overseas out of the hands of US investigators when its lawyers appear before a federal appeals court Wednesday, but the computer software giant is already hedging its bets, calling on Congress to clarify the law.
	The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Microsoft's challenge to a July 2014 lower court ruling concluding that a court or law enforcement agency in the United States is empowered to order a person or entity to produce materials, even if the information is housed outside the country.
	The Redmond, Washington-based company hopes the appeals court will overturn the decision upholding the US government's right to search a consumer email account that Microsoft stores in Dublin, Ireland. The government wants to search the account as part of a narcotics investigation.
	A warrant for the information was issued in December 2013, saying there was probable cause to believe the account in a ...

Federal appeals court set to hear Microsoft 'cloud' case

An Egyptian court released a detailed ruling today on why it sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison for airing what it described as "false news" and biased coverage, a case long criticized by press freedom advocates and others.
	The ruling, published by the state news agency MENA, says the three men Canadian national Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed were by default members the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, which Egyptian authorities consider a terrorist organization.
	"It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the Al-Jazeera media channel has dedicated its broadcasting to the service and support of the Muslim Brotherhood faction and that they have permanently sided with them at the expense of their media ethics," the ruling said. "This provides enough ground for a conviction of belonging to a group based on violations of the law."
	The ruling also said the three operated without press ...

Egypt court releases full ruling in Al-Jazeera English case

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said today the United States should not open its doors any wider to welcome Syrian refugees streaming into Europe.
	The former technology executive cited concerns about terrorism in explaining her position during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the US "sadly, cannot relax our entrance criteria."
	An estimated 4 million refugees have fled Syria since 2011. The United States has accepted about 1,000 Syrians this year among 70,000 refugees from across the world.
	Some have called on the US to expand its refugee program. Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the situation as "a shared responsibility among the civilised nation states of the world," in an interview that aired today on ABC's "This Week."
	Yet Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, said the US should be "very careful about who we let enter this country from these war torn regions to ensure that terrorists are not coming here."
	Fiorina 

Fiorina: US shouldn't open doors wider to Syrian refugees

An uncomfortable challenge confronted Guatemala's presidential candidates on today trying to win the votes of a nation that has put the last elected leader in court custody.
	Most are old-guard candidates picked to run before energized prosecutors backed by a mass anti-corruption movement toppled the previous administration. Many voters are so skeptical that they campaigned for the election itself to be postponed to give them a new crop of choices.
	Leading in most polls with roughly 30 percent backing is Manuel Baldizon, a wealthy 44-year-old businessman and longtime politician. His running mate is accused by prosecutors of influence trafficking, but as a candidate enjoys immunity from prosecution.
	Guatemalans began heading to the polls after they opened early Sunday to also elect a vice president, members of Congress and the Central American Parliament, and local authorities for municipalities nationwide.
	In the presidential race, Baldizon's most competitive rivals were television 

Guatemala voters choose new president amid fraud scandal

Anti-Semitic phrases have been spray-painted onto a provocative sculpture by British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor in the gardens of the palace of Versailles.
	It's the second time the artwork, a 70-meter (230-foot) metallic cavern called "Dirty Corner," has been vandalized. It was spray-painted in June, and targeted again Sunday. France has seen rising concerns about anti-Semitism in recent years.
	Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin called the new vandalism "ignominious" and says it shows a "fascist vision of culture." She said in a statement that authorities would pursue the perpetrators.
	The sculpture prompted controversy when it was installed, for its style, its incongruity with the traditional glamour of Versailles and because Kapoor told a French newspaper it suggests "the vagina of the queen (Marie Antoinette)."
	It is on display through November.

Anti-Semitic vandalism of Kapoor sculpture at Versailles

The remains of Holocaust victims stored for decades in a French medical school have at last been laid to rest.
	Several hundred people gathered today for a sober burial ceremony in eastern France for the victims.
	The corpses of dozens of people were sent to the anatomy institute at the University of Strasbourg for Nazi research.
	Some remains were buried after the war, but a few were saved and even put on display for what were described as scientific purposes.
	Then they were apparently forgotten until July, when researcher Raphael Toledano and the institute's director discovered jars and test tubes in a locked room.
	The remains belonged to multiple people, and only one has been definitively identified: Menachem Taffem, a Polish Jew deported to Auschwitz and gassed to death.

France buries Holocaust victims' secretly conserved remains

Yemeni medical officials say airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition fighting the country's rebels have wounded 17 people in the capital, some of whom were school children taking final exams.
	Witnesses and security officials from both sides of the conflict said today's airstrikes destroyed a key rebel encampment in downtown Sanaa, hitting a school, several restaurants and the nearby Saudi and Emirati embassies.
	Yemen is torn by fighting between the rebels known Houthis and their allies against exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's coalition-backed forces.
	The security officials said the warplanes also targeted weapons caches in the mountains of Noqum and Ayban, east and west of Sanaa.
	All officials and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters or for fear of reprisals.

Saudi coalition airstrikes wound 17 in Yemen's capital

China's central bank governor has told a meeting of the G-20 that China's currency has stabilized against the dollar after the country's surprise announcement last month to revalue the yuan amid stock market turmoil.
	Zhou Xiaochuan told a meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Turkey that the exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar "tends to be stable," according to a statement late yesterday on the website of the People's Bank of China.
	"At present, the exchange rate of RMB against dollar tends to be stable, and most of the correction of the stock market has taken place, so the financial market is expected to be more stable," the statement read.

China central bank governor says yuan stable against dollar

The first female prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago faces a tough fight for re-election tomorrow amid complaints about corruption and violent crime in the twin-island Caribbean nation.
	Polls show a close race for control of Parliament between the coalition led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the party of opposition leader Keith Rowley.
	The two rivals have similar ideology and divide largely along ethnic lines. Each claims it will do a better job of tackling violent crime and managing the country's natural gas and oil resources amid falling prices.
	The two also have traded accusations of corruption, some lobbied by ousted former world soccer official Jack Warner, who is seeking to recapture a seat in Parliament while fighting extradition to the US on corruption charges.
	Five parties and several independents are contesting the 41 seats in the Parliament.
	Persad-Bissessar, 63, took office in May 2010 at the head of the four-party People's Partnership coalition. She ..

Trinidad PM in election fight over crime, corruption claims

Two anti-corruption organisations are accusing Afghanistan's government of failing to take action to protect its vital mining sector from graft and conflict.
	Global Witness and Integrity Watch Afghanistan today said that President Ashraf Ghani's administration missed the opportunity of a meeting of donors in Kabul to outline measures for protecting and developing its USD 1 trillion worth of mineral assets.
	Mining is one of the few avenues for developing a self-sustaining economy in Afghanistan and ending the country's reliance on international aid.
	Ikran Afzali, head of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, says the Senior Officials Meeting "has not produced a single commitment to action ... To counter the threat of conflict and corruption around the extractives industries."
	Afghanistan's 14-year insurgency has seen the Taliban take control of mineral assets across the country.

Afghan government accused of inaction on mining safeguards

Dozens of white balloons drifted over Vancouver's harbor to honour the young Syrian boys whose deaths at sea sparked worldwide outrage about the refugee crisis.
	The boys' aunt, Tima Kurdi, stood looking at the sky yesterday after she and other mourners let go of the balloons, which had photos attached of 3-year-old Alan and 5-year-old Ghalib.
	With tears in her eyes, she tossed a bouquet of yellow flowers into the water.
	Kurdi said she hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada, which she made home more than two decades ago.
	Her brother, Abdullah, isn't ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobani, where his sons and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, Kurdi said. They drowned after piling into an overloaded boat in Turkey headed for the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.
	"One day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there," Kurdi said.
	Family, friends and strangers yesterday packed a small theater for a memorial service.
	Kurdi ...

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