Germany's president expressed deep remorse for the suffering his nation inflicted on Poland and the rest of Europe during World War II, warning of the dangers of nationalism as world leaders gathered Sunday in the country where the war started at incalculable costs.
"This war was a German crime," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Poland's top leaders, US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders at a 80th anniversary ceremony marking World's War II's outbreak.
Also in attendance were elderly Polish war veterans wearing military uniforms and a Holocaust survivor wearing a yellow Star of David and the striped clothes that prisoners wore at Nazi German death camps.
Steinmeier expressed his sorrow over the mass killings Adolf Hitler's regime committed in Poland, which paid a huge price for being the place war began on September 1, 1939.
The German president expressed gratitude to Poles for the gestures of forgiveness Poland has bestowed in ...

WWII's start marked in Poland with German remorse, warning

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The Israeli military on Sunday said that Lebanese militants fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles at an Israeli army base, scoring a number of direct hits on Israeli targets. Israel responded with heavy artillery fire toward targets in southern Lebanon.
The sudden burst of violence raised the prospect of a wider round of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The bitter enemies, which fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate, have appeared to be on a collision course in recent weeks amid a series of covert and overt Israeli military strikes and Hezbollah vows of revenge.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri held telephone calls with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron urging Washington and Paris as well as the international community to intervene in the volatile situation.
Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy, and Iran-backed Hezbollah to be its most immediate military ...

Israeli army says multiple targets hit by fire from Lebanon

A computer breakdown briefly disrupted all air traffic in France, but flights are now gradually resuming.
A spokesman for the civil aviation authority DGAC said the automatic flight plan system broke down Sunday morning and the reason is being investigated.
He said the problem had "no impact on flight security" and was fixed before midday.
The spokesman wasn't authorised to be publicly named according to the authority's rules.
However it temporarily halted all air traffic throughout French territory, and airports are still seeing residual delays.
That includes Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, among Europe's busiest, where dozens of flights are running late.

Air traffic computer glitch delays all flights in France

The UK Labour Party's chief Brexit adviser says opposition plans to block a "no-deal" Brexit will require another extension to Article 50 so the October 31 deadline doesn't take effect.
Keir Starmer told the BBC on Sunday that the legislation to be introduced in Parliament will focus on an extension of the deadline to prevent Prime Minister Boris Johnson from leaving the European Union without a deal.
He says the length of the extension is "secondary" because the top priority is preventing a disorderly departure on October 31.
Current plans call for Britain to leave the EU on that date unless Britain formally asks for an extension and each of the bloc's other 27 nations agree.
Britain's Parliament only has a short time to deal with the situation.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to suspend Parliament for part of the time during the run-up to the Brexit deadline.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who is heading up "no-deal" preparations, declined Sunday to commit the government to ...

UK Labour Party to seek Brexit extension in Parliament

Pope Francis is urging governments to show the "political will" to take drastic steps to deal with climate change and says it's time to abandon dependence on fossil fuels.
Francis issued the appeal in a message Sunday, the start of several weeks of prayer by Christians to raise political awareness about pollution and exploitation of natural resources.
He also wants people to reflect on "thoughtful and harmful" daily decisions about consumption and "self-centered" attitudes toward Creation.
Francis said that at the UN Climate Action Summit later this month "governments will have the responsibility of showing the political will to take drastic measures" to achieve as quickly as possible zero net greenhouse gas emissions and to limit average the average increase in global temperature in line with the Paris climate accords.

Pope to leaders: take drastic action now on climate change

Pope Francis says he was stuck for 25 minutes in a Vatican elevator and had to be rescued by firefighters.
Francis apologized to faithful in St Peter's Square Sunday for showing up seven minutes late for his traditional noon appointment with the public.
Apparently referring to electric power, Francis said a "drop in tension" caused the elevator to block. He said that Holy See firefighters rescued him and asked the people in the square to applaud them.

Pope gets stuck in Vatican elevator, firefighters rescue him

Train service to Hong Kong's airport was suspended Sunday as pro-democracy demonstrators gathered there, while protesters outside the British Consulate called on London to grant citizenship to people born in the former colony before its return to China.
Hong Kong has been the scene of increasingly tense anti-government protests for nearly three months. They began in response to a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include other grievances and demands for more democracy and the resignation of the territory's leader.
On Saturday, protesters threw gasoline bombs at government headquarters. Police stormed a subway car and hit passengers with clubs and pepper spray.
On Sunday, several hundred protesters gathered at the airport on Chek Lap Kok island in the early afternoon and set up temporary barricades at a bus terminal. A dozen blue-uniformed police officers in riot helmets formed a line across an entrance corridor to keep them out of the terminal.
The operator of the express .

Trains to Hong Kong airport suspended after violent protests

Philippine officials say a small plane has crashed into a resort area south of Manila and exploded in flames, but there was no immediate word on casualties as firefighters scrambled to control the fire.
Provincial police chief Eleazar Matta says the light plane crashed in a swimming pool resort in Pansol village in Laguna province Sunday near the foothills of Mount Makiling and authorities were checking possible casualties on board the plane and on the ground.
Eric Apolonio of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines says a light plane on a medical evacuation flight from southern Dipolog city to Manila disappeared from radar for unknown reasons around the time the small plane crashed in mid-afternoon in Laguna, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the capital.

Small plane crashes into resort in Philippines

An Iranian oil tanker pursued by the US is off the coast of Syria.
The ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com shows the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, slowed to a near-stop on Sunday some 50 nautical miles (92 kilometers) off Syria.
The ship still does not list a destination for its 2.1 million barrels of oil, worth some USD 130 million.  The Adrian Darya was held for weeks off Gibraltar after being seized by authorities there on suspicion of violating EU sanctions on oil sales to Syria.
The US has a warrant in federal court to seize the ship and has been warning nations not to accept it.
Meanwhile, Iran's deputy foreign minister and economists are to travel to Paris on Monday to speak with French officials.

Iranian oil tanker pursued by US off the coast of Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reaffirming his pledge to impose Israeli sovereignty on West Bank settlements.
Speaking Sunday at a ceremony opening the new school year in the settlement of Elkana, Netanyahu says there "will be no more displacements" and all the communities will be "part of the state of Israel".
Such a move would be a sharp departure from long-standing Israeli government policy. Netanyahu made a similar pledge to begin annexing part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on the eve of April elections this year but did not act on it.
With just over two weeks to go to repeat elections, Netanyahu looks to be seeking to shore up his right-wing base again.
More than 600,000 Israelis live on war-won land, two-thirds of them in the West Bank.

Israel PM vows to annex West Bank settlements

Officials say more than two dozen people were injured when a stage barricade collapsed during a performance at a Seattle music festival, although no one was seriously hurt.
Seattle Fire Department spokesman David Cuerpo told news outlets that around 25 people were evaluated for injuries after the 4-foot-high (1-meter-high) steel barricade collapsed Saturday night at the Seattle Centre, which is playing host to this weekend's Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival.
Electronic music artist Jai Wolf was performing at the time.
Four people were hospitalised with minor injuries.
Cuerpo says members of the crowd of around 3,000 people were pressed against the barrier, causing it to fall. Wolf cancelled the rest of his set.
The festival said in a statement that on-site medical teams assisted those injured.

2 dozen injured in barricade collapse at Seattle music fest

Yemeni officials say airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit a detention centre in the southwestern Dhamar province, killing at least 52 people.
The officials say the airstrikes took place Sunday and targeted a university in the city of Dhamar, which the Houthi rebels use as a detention centre.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to brief the media.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said many of the wounded, over 50, and dead were captured government fighters.
The Saudi-led coalition says it was targeting storage for drones and missiles.
The Saudi-led coalition has been battling the rebels on behalf of an internationally recognised government since 2015 in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Yemeni officials: Saudi-led airstrikes kill dozens in prison

An official says the Taliban have launched an attack on a second Afghan city in as many days, even as a United States envoy says the US and the Taliban are at the threshold of an agreement to end America's longest war.
The spokesman for the Baghlan province police chief, Jawed Basharat, says gunbattles continue on the outskirts of its capital, Puli Khumri.
The attack Sunday comes a day after the Taliban attacked Kunduz, one of Afghanistan's largest cities, in a neighboring province and killed at least 16 people.
The attacks are seen as strengthening the Taliban's negotiating position in the talks with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
He is visiting Kabul on Sunday to brief the Afghan government on the details of a deal that is not yet final.

Taliban attack 2nd Afghan city as US envoy says deal is near

Hurricane Dorian bore down on the northern Bahamas on Saturday with howling winds, surging seas and a threat of torrential rains, forcing some evacuations and hotel closures ahead of the fierce Category 4 storm.
Forecasters expected Dorian, packing 150 mph (240 kph) winds, to hit some Bahamian islands Sunday before heading near Florida and then skirting along or off the U.S. Southeast seacoast. The projected turn north in the coming days could spare the U.S. a direct hit, but would still threaten Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas with powerful winds and rising ocean water that could cause potentially deadly flooding.
In the Bahamas, tourists were sent to government shelters in schools, churches and other buildings offering protection from the storm while residents were evacuating.
"My home is all battened up, and I'm preparing right now to leave in a couple of minutes. ... We're not taking no chances," said Margaret Bassett, a ferry boat driver for the Deep Water Cay resort.
Over two 

Evacuations begin as Dorian bears down on northern Bahamas

A jailed media magnate is among the 26 candidates authorised Saturday to run in Tunisia's presidential election next month, a crucial test for the North African country's fragile young democracy.
The Tunisian election authority announced the list of candidates who qualified for the Sept. 15 first round of voting. The top vote-getters advance to a second round two weeks later.
Businessman Nabil Karoui was allowed to maintain his candidacy while in custody on accusations of money laundering and tax evasion. Karoui and another candidate accused of money laundering can run for president as long as they haven't been convicted, the electoral authority said.
"The fact that the candidate Nabil Karoui is in jail is a concern, but the electoral authority does not interfere in court cases, but at the same time strives to ensure the candidates all their rights," electoral commission president Nabil Baffoun told reporters.
Before his arrest, Karoui was considered a leading contender to replace ...

Jailed tycoon among Tunisia's 26 presidential candidates

The Venezuelan government presented evidence Saturday of what it called paramilitary training camps in neighboring Colombia to plot violent attacks to undermine President Nicols Maduro.
Communications Minister Jorge Rodrguez appeared on state television to accuse Colombian President Ivn Duque of doing nothing to stop the aggression against Venezuela  or even supporting it.
Rodrguez showed satellite images and coordinates that he said prove the existence of three paramilitary camps along the border inside Colombia. They are used to train 200 armed men, he said, at times directly addressing Duque.
"If you brought this kind of evidence to Venezuela, we would act immediately," Rodrguez said. "We are sure you won't do anything, because you are complicit with these terrorists." There was no immediate reaction from Duque.
The accusation comes amid mounting tensions between the two South American nations as Colombia's government backs a campaign by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid to ..

Venezuela says it has proof of anti-Maduro plot in Colombia

Parents in Spain whose babies and toddlers developed abnormal body hair plan to sue a company that put a hair loss treatment into containers meant for a medicine, a mother of one of the children said Saturday.
Spanish health authorities have blamed the packaging mix-up involving the topical treatment Minoxidil and omeprazole syrup, which is used for stomach problems, on Farma-Qumica Sur.
At least 20 children, ranging from newborns to 2-year-olds, have been affected, Spain's Health Ministry has said.
The mislabeled medicine was recalled in July and the company was closed down until an investigation into the error is completed.
The mother of one of the children, a 10-month old baby told The Associated Press that families were preparing to file a joint lawsuit against Farma-Qumica Sur.
ngela Martnez said the family doctor prescribed omeprazole syrup in January to treat her son Uriel's acidy stomach. The baby began growing darker hair in March, about a month after she gave him the syrup, .

Children in Spain grow body hair from alleged drug mix-up

A "straight pride" parade and counter-demonstration went off in Boston Saturday without any major conflicts reported between the two groups.
An organization calling itself Super Happy Fun America announced the parade as Boston celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month earlier this summer, saying it believes straight people are an oppressed majority.
Counter-demonstrators accused those organizers of promoting an atmosphere of violence toward the LGBTQ community.
The parade, with marchers carrying signs such as "2020 Trump" and "Build The Wall," moved from Copley Plaza, through major downtown streets before ending with a rally at City Hall Plaza, where the crowd and speakers were outnumbered by those protesting them from behind barricades.
Several arguments and minor fights were reported on the parade route and police made arrests, but did not report any major confrontations.

'Straight pride' parade draws marchers, protesters in Boston

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Saturday he and Poland's president have agreed that sanctions ought to continue against Russia until Ukraine regains the territory it lost in Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Zelenskiy, accompanied by some members of his Cabinet, was on his first visit to Poland as president for political talks and to attend ceremonies planned for Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.
He said he and Polish President Andrzej Duda had discussed the next steps needed to end the war in eastern Ukraine and to return the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine.
"We have agreed on our next steps to stop the war in eastern Ukraine and to bring back occupied Crimea," said Zelenskiy, who was a comedian who starred on a popular sitcom before his election in April.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 in a move that Ukraine and almost all of the world views as illegal. The European Union and the U.S. imposed sanctions.
In eastern Ukraine, a deadly conflict 

Ukraine, Poland want continued sanctions on Russia

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said he won't use pens made by French company Bic following his spat with President Emmanuel Macron over fires in the Amazon.
Bolsonaro said Friday he would sign presidential pardons for imprisoned police officers using Brazilian pen-maker Compactor.
"No more Bic," said the far-right president who has faced international criticism over devastating fires in Brazil's Amazon region.
Bic headquarters declined to comment on Saturday, saying only that Bic pens sold in Brazil are made in a factory in Manaus in the Amazon.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro said he would "use Compactor pens, not Bic... because Bic is French."
Bolsonaro and Marcon have had a series of clashes since Macron suggested that fires in the Amazon were an "international crisis," which Bolsonaro said undermined Brazil's sovereignty.

Brazil's Bolsonaro stops using France's Bic pens amid clash

Turkey's president threatened Saturday to launch a unilateral offensive into northeastern Syria if plans to establish a so-called safe zone along Turkey's border fail to meet his expectations, including a demand that Turkish soldiers control the corridor.
Speaking to graduates of a military academy in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US had up to three weeks to satisfy Turkish demands.
Earlier in August, Turkish and US officials agreed to set up the zone east of the Euphrates River.
Ankara wants US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, considered terrorists by Turkey, to pull back from the border.
"If our soldiers do not start to control the area actively, we will have no choice but to activate our own operational plans," Erdogan said.
Turkey has been pressing to control  in coordination with the US  a 19-25 mile (30-40 kilometer) deep zone within civil war-ravaged Syria, running east of the Euphrates all the way to the border with Iraq.
On Friday, Erdogan said Turkish officials had .

AP

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