The US Olympic Committee on Tuesday named Los Angeles as its candidate for the 2024 Games, replacing Boston's soured bid and marking a comeback for LA's dream of becoming a three-time Olympic host.
     The announcement by USOC CEO Scott Blackmun came under a summer sun at Santa Monica Beach, where the city's plan calls for staging beach volleyball on the site where the sport was founded.
     "I want to thank Los Angeles for standing up, once again, as America's bid city," Blackmun said, adding that the city's proposal squares with the Olympic movement's goals of watching the bottom line while investing in projects that dovetail with community needs.
     Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city was inspired to bring the games back to the U.S. For the first time in 28 years.
     "This is a quest that Los Angeles was made for," the mayor said. "This city is the world's greatest stage."
     Earlier Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council cleared the way for Garcetti to strike agreements for a 

USOC endorses Los Angeles for 2024 Olympics bid

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Israel has urged UN leaders to reject a Palestinian attempt to raise their flag at UN headquarters as early as this month's gathering of world leaders there.
	Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor accused the Palestinians yesterday in letters to the United Nations secretary-general and General Assembly president of "attempting to swiftly change longstanding UN tradition in order to score political points."
	The flags of all 193 UN member states fly outside UN headquarters in New York and other UN offices but not the flags of the two non-member observer states, Palestine and the Vatican.
	The Palestinians are seeking General Assembly approval of a draft resolution that would allow non-member observer states to raise their flags.
	Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told The Associated Press that he expects a revised draft to be circulated on Thursday and a vote on September 10, though a General Assembly spokeswoman said no date had been set.
	He said he expects an "overwhelming majority" .

Israel asks UN to reject Palestinian attempt to raise flag

Yemen's Shiite rebel leaders announced today that they will form a Cabinet in 10 days as mediated talks with the country's internationally recognized government hit an impasse in the Gulf nation of Oman.
	The country's major political parties dismissed the move and didn't attend the press conference at Sanaa, where it was announced.
	"No one will recognize this Cabinet," said spokesman Rageh Badie of the internationally recognized Yemen government, exiled in neighboring Saudi Arabia. "It is a suicidal move."
	A day earlier, the mediated talks were halted after the rebels, known as Houthis, offered to hand over their positions to "the military," without giving details or specifying which military, pro-government officials said.
	Yemen has been torn by fighting between the Houthis allied with army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against military forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The conflict has killed over 2,100 civilians, according to the ...

Yemen's Shiite rebels to form Cabinet in 10 days

Southwest Airlines says a Chicago-bound flight has been diverted to Texas after a group of passengers became disorderly.
	Dallas-based Southwest says Flight 1522 from San Diego landed last night at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.
	Amarillo police Cpl. Jerry Neufeld said six people remained in custody today pending formal charges.
	Southwest says in a statement that several passengers traveling together "became disorderly and, subsequently, refused to follow instructions from the crew."
	Law enforcement officials met the aircraft and detained the six people. The flight then continued on to Chicago's Midway International Airport and landed without further incident.

Southwest jet diverts after passengers become disorderly

The same museum that chronicles Sin City's mob beginnings led by underworld criminals like Bugsy Siegel is hoping to score with an exhibit exploring FIFA's wide-ranging corruption scandal.
	The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas is debuting the exhibit today morning.
	US prosecutors indicted top-ranking FIFA officials in May and sought their extradition on charges of bribery, fraud and racketeering.
	Prosecutors allege the defendants plotted to pay bribes of more than USD 150 million tied to the award of broadcasting and hosting rights for major tournaments.
	The exhibit is being called "The 'Beautiful Game' Turns Ugly." The museum says it uses photos and news reports to delve into the "kickbacks, secrecy and match-fixing" surrounding the international soccer organization.
	The museum's executive director says the exhibit will resonate particularly with international visitors.

FIFA scandal becomes exhibit at Mob Museum in Las Vegas

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon shine at the top of China's guest list at this week's grand commemorations of the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.
	After them, the wattage gets pretty low. Beijing says the attendance of 30 overseas leaders from countries ranging from Mongolia to Egypt to Venezuela is a sign that China's long-undervalued contributions to that victory in 1945 are finally getting their proper due.
	That's clouded, however, by the absence of high-level representatives from major Western democracies whose forces were key in the Allied victory, such as the United States, Britain, France and Australia.
	Given Beijing's political repression at home and its aggressive moves to assert territorial claims in the region, many countries appear reluctant to associate too closely with an event calculated to elevate the Communist Party and its leader, President Xi Jinping, on the world ...

China parade draws Putin, but few other major world leaders

Iraqi officials say a series of suicide attacks by the Islamic State group outside a town in Anbar province west of Baghdad killed 12 soldiers and allied Sunni militiamen.
	The military and hospital officials say Tuesday's attack began when IS militants shelled army and militia positions outside the town of Haditha with mortars. They followed up with two suicide bombers who blew themselves up near the troops and later with three suicide car bombings.
	The officials say five soldiers and three Sunni tribesmen were wounded.
	The officials say airstrikes by the U.S.-led alliance destroyed six IS vehicles and killed 13 militants as they approached the site.
	The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Much of Anbar is under IS control.

Multiple suicide attacks kill 12 Iraqi troops, militiamen

Kuwait's public prosecutor says his office has referred 26 people to court on allegations that include illegal weapons possession, committing acts harmful to the country's unity, and having "furtive contacts" with Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
	The official Kuwait News Agency cited a statement from prosecutor Dherar al-Asousi saying that the accused include 25 Kuwaitis and one Iranian. All but three of the suspects are in custody.
	Kuwaiti security forces last month uncovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives hidden deep underground at a farm, and arrested three Kuwaitis during the raid.
	The public prosecution issued a gag order on information related to the incident after local newspapers linked the cell to Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group.

Kuwait refers 26 to court following major weapons bust

Islamic State militants in Syria committed an "intolerable crime against civilization" by destroying the Temple of Bel, one of the ancient world's most iconic monuments, the head of the U.N. Cultural agency said today.
	The militants used explosives to destroy the two-millennia-old temple in the ancient city of Palmyra on Sunday. Witnesses described a huge blast and the destruction was later confirmed by U.N. Satellite images.
	Over the past year, IS has seized one-third of Iraq and Syria and imposed a violent interpretation of Islamic law in a self-declared "caliphate" straddling the two countries. The group captured the ruins of Palmyra and an adjacent modern town of the same name in May.
	The militants claim ancient relics and sites of worship promote idolatry. They have blown up several ancient treasures in Iraq and destroyed a smaller Palmyra temple, Baalshamin, in late August.
	UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said Tuesday that "the destruction of Palmyra constitutes an intolerable ...

UNESCO chief: IS destruction of Syrian temple 'intolerable'

The Dutch government is appealing a landmark court ruling that ordered it to slash greenhouse gas emissions, in a case seen as a possible precedent for similar legal action around the world.
	The government announced today it will appeal the June ruling that it must cut emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels. But the government added that it also will begin implementing the order while the appeal, which will likely take months or years, is underway.
	Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government said it is appealing because it has "question marks about the way the court judged Cabinet policies."
	The activist group that brought the case said the government does not need to appeal if it only wants to check the ruling's legality.

Dutch government to appeal landmark climate change ruling

Ukrainian police say 141 people remain hospitalised after a nationalist protest in Kiev turned violent, with 10 of the injured in serious condition.
	This is up from the 122, mostly police officers and National Guard troops, cited yesterday by the interior minister. One officer died from his wounds.
	The nationalist protesters clashed with police outside Ukraine's parliament on Monday as lawmakers voted to give greater powers to Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
	About 30 people were detained, and police said today that 18 remained in custody.
	The decentralisation of power was a condition demanded by Russia for a truce signed in February aimed at ending the fighting between government troops and Russia-backed separatists that has left more than 6,800 dead since April 2014.

141 still hospitalized after violent protests in Ukraine

Afghanistan's president has called for a "holy war" against corruption, one of the major problems facing his war-torn country as he tries to improve its economy and create jobs.
	Ashraf Ghani, who has been in power almost a year, said today that corruption is a "cancerous lesion" threatening the survival of the state.
	He says graft in government contracts, land grabbing and illegal drug production and trafficking are major problems. He says education is key to ending corruption.
	Ghani says the government is investing in agriculture as the majority of Afghanistan's people live off the land. Ghani says Afghanistan should be known as an exporter of legitimate products.
	Transparency International consistently ranks Afghanistan among the world's most corrupt countries. Most of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan.

Afghan president calls for 'holy war' against corruption

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is accusing enemies in Colombia of trying to assassinate him as both countries prepare to spar at the Organisation of American States over an increasingly tense border dispute.
	Maduro said during a visit to Vietnam that the conspiracy has the consent of Colombia's government. He didn't present any evidence to back the claim but said he would soon.
	Maduro and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos have been trading barbs ever since last week's expulsion of more than 1,000 Colombians living illegally in Venezuela.
	Maduro accuses the migrants of being behind a wave of crime and smuggling along the border.
	Diplomats from the two countries will address representatives from 34 Western Hemisphere nations at an OAS emergency meeting Monday in Washington to discuss the border crisis.

Venezuelan leader says Colombia plotting his assassination

A Kansas man who plotted a suicide bomb attack aimed at causing "maximum carnage" at a Wichita airport has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
	Terry L. Loewen apologized today during his sentencing to his family for the pain he had caused them.
	The 60-year-old Wichita man pleaded guilty in June to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. District Judge Monti Belot imposed the proposed sentence that came with the plea deal.
	The avionics technician was arrested during an undercover operation in December 2013 when he tried to bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at Mid-Continent Airport.
	He came to the FBI's attention when he became a Facebook friend of an individual who regularly posted information supporting violent jihad, or holy war.

US man sentenced to 20 years for airport bomb plot

President Barack Obama said people who attack Jews who support the Iran nuclear deal are like African-Americans who differ with him on policy and then conclude he's "not black enough."
	Obama, in an interview with the Jewish newspaper "Forward," was asked whether it hurt him personally when people say he's anti-Semitic.
	"Oh, of course," Obama said. "And there's not a smidgeon of evidence for it, other than the fact that there have been times when I've disagreed with a particular Israeli government's position on a particular issue."
	The president added, though, that he's "probably more offended when I hear members of my administration who themselves are Jewish being attacked. You saw this historically sometimes in the African-American community, where there's a difference on policy and somebody starts talking about, 'Well, you're not black enough,' or 'You're selling out.' And that, I think, is always a dangerous place to go."
	Obama didn't mention any specific critics or targets by .

Obama offended by attacks on Jews who back Iran deal

Polish authorities have blocked off a wooded area near a railroad track after scores of treasure hunters swarmed southwest Poland looking for an alleged Nazi gold train.
	The city of Walbrzych and its surrounding wooded hills are experiencing a gold rush after two men, a Pole and a German, informed authorities through their lawyers that they have found a Nazi train with armaments and valuables that reportedly went missing in the spring of 1945 while fleeing the Red Army.
	Inspired by a local legend since World War II, people with metal detectors and ground-penetrating equipment are combing the area and its still-used railway tracks. Some of them have arrived from Germany.
	The gold fever intensified after deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said last week he had seen contours of the train on an image from a ground- penetrating device.
	The alleged site is somewhere between the 61th and the 65th kilometer of the tracks that wind their way between Walbrzych and Wroclaw.
	Provincial .

Gold hunters blocked from site of alleged Nazi gold train

Swaziland's government says 13 people died in a road accident taking young women to the annual Reed Dance festival.
	A statement released by the government spokesman today said 13 people were killed, including three men. Ten girls and women, aged between 11 and 19, were also killed. The statement said five more girls were still in hospital.
	The crash happened on Friday, when a truck carrying dozens of girls and young women to the annual festival collided with two other vehicles.
	A rights group, the Swaziland Solidarity Network, accused the 	government of understating the fatalities in the crash. The group initially reported that 38 people died in the accident and later increased the death toll to 65.
	Despite the crash, the festival continued with thousands of young women participating.

Swaziland's government says official crash death toll is 13

Egyptians in a Nile Delta province are outraged after a cleric allegedly changed a line in the traditional Islamic call to dawn prayers to mention Facebook.
	Instead of saying "prayer is better than sleep" twice, as he was supposed to, Shiekh Mahmoud Maghazi of Beheira province allegedly said: "Prayer is better than Facebook."
	The issue drew nationwide attention when he defended himself against shouted accusations on one of Egypt's most-watched television talk shows, called 10 PM, yesterday.
	The country's Religious Endowments Ministry suspended Maghazi after locals complained last week, prompting him to launch a hunger strike and deny that he made the reference.
	With over a quarter of the population plagued by illiteracy, Egypt's talk show hosts play a major role in leading public opinion.

Alleged Facebook mention in prayer call sparks Egypt outcry

The mayor of a remote, Islamic State-held town in western Iraq said today that some 200 residents have been detained by the group at an unknown location following clashes there.
	Trouble in Rutbah, in Anbar province near the Jordanian border, started Saturday when Islamic State militants killed a local resident for killing a member of the group as part of a long-running clan blood feud.
	Hundreds of residents demonstrated later that day to protest the killing and clashes broke out when the militants attempted to disperse the protesters.
	A provincial Anbar official said Saturday some 70 residents were detained by the militants and more than 100 more were tied to streetlight poles for about 24 hours as a punishment.
	Rutbah's mayor, Imad al-Rishawy, said that around 200 residents are still held by the Islamic State group at an unknown location and that the town is gripped by fears that they might be killed.
	Demonstrating against the Islamic State group in areas under its control had ..

200 residents of Iraqi town held by Islamic State group

Three Canadians, a Pakistani and a Nigerian were among those killed in a fire that engulfed parts of a residential compound in the kingdom's oil-rich east, a Saudi official said.
	The blaze began early yesterday in a sprawling, multistory housing complex in the city of Khobar that accommodates workers for state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
	Col Ali bin Saad al-Qahtani, a civil defence spokesman for the kingdom's Eastern Province, provided the update in comments carried by the official Saudi Press Agency early today.
	He said a total of 10 people died and 259 were injured in the blaze. The civil defence directorate previously said 11 people were killed.
	Al-Qahtani did not provide the nationalities of the other five people killed.
	Of those injured, 179 have left the hospital after receiving treatment.
	A preliminary investigation suggests a short circuit in an electrical transformer in the building's basement sparked the blaze, which quickly spread through 130 cars parked in the basement, .

Canadians, Pakistani and Nigerian among dead in Saudi fire

The Hotel Okura, a favored Tokyo lodging for US presidents, movie stars and other celebrities, is closing the doors of its landmark half-century-old main building today to make way for a pair of glass towers ahead of the 2020 Olympics.
	The redo raised an outcry from those who love the Okura's unique melange of modernism and traditional Japanese aesthetics. But social media campaigns, a petition and other efforts to "Save the Okura" just underscored the futility of resisting Tokyo's flood-tide of pre-Olympics urban renewal.
	Other major landmarks, such as the decades-old fish market in Tsukiji and the National Stadium also are being replaced over the protests of many who are sad to see them go.
	Andrew Lindsay, a Deutsche Bank executive who took part in a "Save the Okura" Facebook campaign, spent hours exploring the hotel during his first visit to Tokyo in the 1990s.
	During his last visit, he sat in the lobby, with its round, red lacquer tables and chairs arrayed like plum blossoms, .

AP

AP

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