A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired for making mistakes that the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger.
	Arlington officer Brad Miller, 49, could also face criminal charges once police complete their investigation, Police Chief Will Johnson said.
	Christian Taylor's death came two days before the anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
	Brown's death helped spur protests and a nationwide "Black Lives Matter" movement to demand reforms to how police treat minorities.
	Called to the scene of a suspected burglary early Friday morning, Miller pursued 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without telling his supervising officer, Johnson said.
	Instead of setting up a perimeter around the ...

Chief fires Texas officer who killed unarmed 19-year-old

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China respects freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea but will not allow any foreign government to invoke that right so its military ships and planes can intrude in Beijing's territory, the Chinese ambassador said.
	Ambassador Zhao Jianhua said late yesterday that Chinese forces warned a US Navy P-8A not to intrude when the warplane approached a Chinese-occupied area in the South China Sea's disputed Spratly Islands in May. A CNN reporter who was on board the plane, which had taken off from the Philippines, reported the incident then.
	"We just gave them warnings, be careful, not to intrude," Zhao told reporters on the sidelines of a diplomatic event in Manila.
	Washington, however, does not recognize any territorial claim by any country in the South China Sea, a policy that collides with the position of China, which claims virtually the entire sea.
	When asked why China shooed away the US Navy plane when it has pledged to respect freedom of navigation in the South ...

Chinese diplomat outlines limits to freedom of navigation

A US Army helicopter crashed during a training mission today while landing on a Navy ship off of Japan's southern island of Okinawa, injuring seven people and damaging the aircraft, officials said.
	The H-60 helicopter made a hard landing on the Navy cargo vessel USNS Red Cloud around 30 kilometers east of Okinawa, US Forces Japan said in a statement, adding that the cause of the incident was under investigation.
	Okinawa is home to most of the tens of thousands of US troops in Japan.
	The injured were transported to a Navy hospital, the statement said. Their conditions were not immediately clear. The other 10 people aboard the helicopter were not hurt, said Japanese coast guard spokesman Shinya Terada.
	Japanese national broadcaster NHK showed video of the helicopter sitting on the cargo ship, with its tail broken off and covered with an orange tarp.
	The presence of thousands of US troops on Okinawa, where more than half of about 50,000 American troops in Japan are concentrated, has 

US Army helicopter crashes in southern Japan; 7 injured

A suspected US drone strike in Yemen today killed five suspected al-Qaeda militants traveling in a vehicle near an extremist-held coastal city, military and security officials said.
	The attack happened east of the city of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Hadramawt, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
	Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch, considered by Washington to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network, has made gains in the sprawling eastern Hadramawt province, and captured Mukalla in April.
	The al-Qaeda offshoot has gained ground lately in Yemen, profiting from the civil war now engulfing the country. That fighting pits Iranian-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against an array of southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
	Washington, meanwhile, has 

Suspected US drone strike kills 5 al-Qaeda members in Yemen

A Malaysian opposition party today filed a civil lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak for alleged election offenses involving $700 million in his bank accounts.
	The anti-graft agency recently announced the money, most of which was received ahead of March 2013 general elections, came from donations and not from state investment fund 1MDB.
	The People's Justice Party said the money was 26 times above the amount that Najib's ruling National Front coalition was allowed to spend in the elections. The National Front, which has ruled since independence from Britain in 1957, won the elections but lost the popular vote for the first time to an opposition alliance that includes the People's Justice Party.
	The party's vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the lawsuit will reveal "all kinds of bribes and corrupt tactics" allegedly used by the National Front to win the elections.
	With evidence of corrupt transactions, she said the results of the 2013 general elections should be nullified .

Opposition party sues Malaysian PM over USD 700M in donations

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said today that an international agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program could give impetus to efforts aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
	Hammond, who is in Beijing for talks on security cooperation and climate change, made the comments during a speech to students at elite Peking University. He is to meet with Chinese senior foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi tomorrow and visit an Airbus assembly plant in Tianjin.
	Calling the Iran agreement reached in Vienna a "major success for multilateral diplomacy," Hammond said there "may be lessons to be drawn around the world including on tackling nuclear proliferation" in North Korea.
	While offering no specifics, Hammond said Britain strongly supports the long-stalled six-nation negotiating process on North Korea hosted by China. Britain shares an interest "in ensuring that this particular multilateral initiative succeeds in bringing to an end North Korea's nuclear weapons ...

Britain's Hammond in China for security, climate talks

Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested a man suspected of advocating terrorism and selling clothes carrying propaganda for the Islamic State armed group.
	A ministry statement today said the Spanish national ran a shop and an online outlet through which he sold clothes, including baby onesies, with jihadi group emblems, and T-shirts with images of Islamic State group attacks.
	It said he also sold T-shirts bearing an image of British hostage Alan Henning kneeling beside his suspected jihadi executioner.
	The statement said the man, whose identity was not released, used Internet social networks to promote IS and other groups, belittle jihad victims and advocate violence.
	He was arrested in the northwestern town of Naron.
	Spain has arrested some 50 suspected jihadi militants and recruiters this year.

Spain: Police arrest man suspected of promoting jihad

The slump in China's auto market worsened in July as sales contracted by 6.6 per cent, industry figures showed today.
	Drivers in the world's biggest market by number of vehicles bought 1.3 million cars, minivans and other passenger vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
	Sales growth that peaked at 45 percent in 2009 has declined steadily as the world's second-largest economy cooled and cities imposed ownership limits to curb smog and congestion.
	The fall in recent months has been far sharper than expected, leading General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Chinese SUV brand Great Wall Motors to cut prices.
	Global auto brands have invested heavily in trying to appeal to Chinese tastes. GM announced a USD 5 billion initiative on July 22 to develop models with its main Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp., to sell in China, India, Brazil and other developing markets.
	July's slide in sales followed June's 3.4 percent fall, which was only 

Downturn in China's auto market worsens as July sales shrink

An Afghan official said the corpses of four men kidnapped in eastern Afghanistan last week have been found. All had been shot dead.
	Asadullah Ensafi, the deputy chief police of Ghazni province, said today that the bodies were found in Nawur district, which borders Pakistan.
	He said three of the men were Hazara. The other was a Sunni Pashtun.
	The Hazara are a largely Shiite ethnic minority in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan. The group has been targeted by the Taliban and other Sunni extremists in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
	In February, 30 Hazara men were abducted in Zabul province, south of Ghazni. Last month, 11 Hazaras were kidnapped in northern Baghlan, which also has been plagued by militants since the Taliban stepped up their war against Kabul in April.

Afghan official says corpses of 4 kidnapped men found

Documents leaked online detailing two attempts by Palestinian officials to misuse public funds have triggered outrage, highlighting the corruption and mismanagement critics say remains rampant in the Palestinian government.
	The furore over the documents comes as the Palestinian economy is stagnating and Palestinians grow increasingly displeased with government services.
	Palestinian Authority officials have defended their record on stamping out corruption, saying they've recovered millions of dollars in misspent funds.
	A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to discuss the leak, confirmed the documents authenticity to The Associated Press. They have offered a rare glimpse into the wheeling and dealing of the Palestinian government, long bogged down by rivalries.
	One document signed by Majdi al-Khaldi, a diplomatic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who accompanies him on his trips to world capitals, asked Bahrain's foreign 

Leaked documents raise anger over Palestinian corruption

A draft UN Security Council statement that could be adopted this week strongly backs intensive preparatory talks on key issues to restore peace to conflict-torn Syria, including a political transition and fighting terrorism.
	UN diplomats said a deadline of noon today EDT (1600 GMT) has been set for council members to raise objections to the proposed presidential statement, which was obtained yesterday by The Associated Press. If there are none, it could be adopted today afternoon, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private.
	Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters last Friday there was "a high possibility" that the deeply divided council would endorse the recently announced plan by U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura aimed at setting the stage for new peace talks to end the Syrian war.
	"It would be the first exclusively political document on the Syrian crisis adopted by consensus," Churkin said.
	De Mistura's plan ...

Proposed UN statement would back preparatory talks on Syria

Lionel Messi scored twice and set up the winning goal as Barcelona started the season in dramatic style by beating Sevilla 5-4 after extra time to lift the UEFA Super Cup.
     The action-packed, all-Spanish match was won when Pedro, linked by British media with a move to Manchester United, scored from close range after a shot by Messi rebounded in the 115th minute on Tuesday.
     In the final seconds of extra time, Sevilla defender Adil Rami had a golden chance to send the match to penalties but missed an open goal from close range.
     Earlier, Sevilla had battled back from 4-1 down to 4-4 as Barcelona's fitness was tested in its first competitive match of the season - Europe's curtain-raiser between the winners of the Champions League and the second-tier Europa League.
     After a busy pre-season with games in the United States, Italy and Spain, Barcelona's dominance evaporated midway through the second half.
     "I thought we were much better, much stronger," Messi said of the 

Messi stars as Barcelona beats Sevilla 5-4 in Super Cup

Peruvian officials say one man was killed and 61 people injured as police tried to clear a main highway of protesting workers seeking to prevent a smelter from closing.
	La Oroya hospital director Elias Lazo tells Canal N television that the 41-year-old who died suffered a chest wound. Fifteen people were seriously hurt with gunshot wounds.
	Video broadcast by the station showed police firing pistols yesterday as they retreated behind shields under a shower of rocks.
	The protesters are demanding eased environmental standards so a buyer can be found for the Doe Run metallurgy complex. Otherwise it will go into liquidation with 2,400 jobs lost.
	The complex's notorious contamination made the city of La Oroya one of the world's most polluted places during the 2000s.

1 dead, 61 hurt in protest over Peru's Doe Run smelter

An international web of hackers and traders made USD 100 million on Wall Street by stealing a look at corporate press releases before they went out and then trading on that information ahead of the pack, federal authorities said today.
	Authorities said it was the biggest scheme of its kind ever prosecuted, and one that demonstrated yet another way in which the financial world is vulnerable to cybercrime.
	In an insider-trading scandal with a 21st-century twist, the hackers pulled it off by breaking into the computers of some of the biggest business newswire services, which put out earnings announcements and other press releases for a multitude of corporations.
	Nine people in the US and Ukraine were indicted on federal criminal charges, including securities fraud, computer fraud and conspiracy. And the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil charges against the nine plus 23 other people and companies.
	The case "illustrates the risks posed for our global markets by today's ..

Hacking ring accused of making USD 100M on stolen news

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian is no stranger to criticism, having spent the better part of the last decade in the public eye. But she's probably never faced negative publicity like this before: The Food and Drug Administration says Kardashian's social media posts violate drug-promotion rules.
	Kardashian recently began promoting a prescription pill that treats morning sickness through her social media accounts.
	Such endorsement deals are common for celebrities. In posts to Instagram and Facebook earlier this month Kardashian talks about her struggles with nausea due to pregnancy and recommends a drug from a Canadian manufacturer.
	But FDA regulators say the posts violate drug promotion rules because they don't mention potentially dangerous side effects and drug interactions.
	The drugmaker said in a statement Tuesday it will fix the problem.

FDA issues warning over Kim Kardashian's drug promotions

Iran's intelligence agencies have penetrated CIA front companies, executed Western agents and captured a sophisticated US drone.
	So why should anyone believe American intelligence officials when they express confidence that they can monitor Iran's compliance with the just-completed nuclear agreement?
	The main reason, according to a classified joint intelligence assessment presented to Congress, is that the deal requires Iran to provide an unprecedented volume of information about nearly every aspect of its existing nuclear program, which Iran insists is peaceful.
	That data will make checking on compliance easier, officials say, because it will shrink Iran's capacity to hide a covert weapons program.
	"We will have far better insight (into) the industrial aspects of the Iranian nuclear program with this deal than what we have today," James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told an audience last month at the Aspen Security Forum.
	Outside experts don't dispute that. But 

Despite skepticism, US confident it can monitor Iran deal

The return of an armed militia group patrolling the streets of Ferguson drew criticism today from both protesters and the county police chief overseeing security amid ongoing demonstrations marking the anniversary of 18-year-old Michael Brown's shooting death.
	St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said the overnight presence of the Oath Keepers, wearing camouflage bulletproof vests and openly carrying rifles and pistols on West Florissant Avenue, the hub of marches and protests for the past several days, was "both unnecessary and inflammatory."
	The St. Louis suburb was the focus of months of massive protests and sometimes violent unrest last summer after the killing of Brown by a white Ferguson police officer, which sparked a nationwide protest movement and a fierce debate over how police treat minorities.
	Belmar plans to ask county prosecutor Bob McCulloch about the legality of armed patrols by the far-right anti-government activist group, which largely comprises past and ...

Armed militia group's return to Ferguson raises concern

A group of Israeli rabbis has created an independent Jewish conversion court, defying the country's Orthodox establishment's monopoly on religious affairs.
	While the conversions will not be officially recognized, the move signals growing impatience in some sectors with the Orthodox rabbinate's tight grip on aspects of daily life and a political leadership that has not liberalized access to conversion and other religious services.
	The court, established by a dozen liberal rabbis, began offering conversions on Monday, with six children starting the process.
	Itim, an Israeli group that assists people dealing with the rabbinate, said it helped establish the court after efforts to address the issue failed. Spokeswoman Einat Levin said the rabbis hope that if large numbers of people go through with the conversions the state will have no choice but to recognize them.
	"We had patience but it ran out," said Levin. "People want to be Jewish. The only thing that is preventing them is the ...

Israeli rabbis create independent Jewish conversion court

A young US couple who are charged with attempting to join the Islamic State were ordered held without bail today, pending federal grand jury action on the charges.
	Nineteen-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young and 22-year-old Muhammad "Mo" Dakhlalla, who were arrested at a local airport just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul, went before a US Magistrate Judge on Tuesday in Oxford, Mississippi.
	The judge denied bail, saying that even though the pair have never been in trouble with the law and have relatives willing to oversee their home confinement, their desire commit terrorism is "probably still there."
	Urging the court to keep the suspects in custody, Assistant US Attorney Clay Joyner likened them to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, saying that like him, they could commit violence with knives, vehicles or homemade weapons.
	"They don't need a gun to do harm," Joyner said. "They don't need military training to do harm. What they need is a violent, ...

US couple charged in Islamic State case denied bail

The Obama administration has intervened in a lawsuit over Palestinian attacks that have killed Americans, advising a judge that requiring a hefty bond payment in the case could financially destabilize the Palestinian government.
	The filing comes in a case in New York City, where a jury this year awarded USD 218.5 million to survivors and victims' relatives in a case brought against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. That amount is automatically tripled under the Anti-Terrorism Act, lawyers have said.
	By intervening, the government said it was trying to strike a balance between its support for the rights of terrorism victims to be compensated and concerns that a large bond imposed while the verdict is on appeal would weaken the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and undermine "several decades of US foreign policy."
	"Senior US officials have made clear to other governments that if the PA were to collapse, we would be faced with a crisis that ...

US intervenes in lawsuit over Palestinian terror attacks

Amnesty International is accusing UN peacekeepers of indiscriminately killing a 16-year-old boy and his father and raping a 12-year-old girl in separate incidents in Central African Republic.
	A statement today said the two incidents on August 2 and 3 occurred as the peacekeepers were carrying out an operation in the capital, Bangui.
	Amnesty International said a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission told the human rights organisation that it has opened an internal investigation into the alleged rape and killings. The spokesperson also told the group that the Bangui operation was carried out by police peacekeepers from Rwanda and Cameroon.
	UN peacekeepers have been in the country since September to try to calm unprecedented, deadly violence between Christians and Muslims.
	The girl had been hiding in a bathroom when a man wearing a UN peacekeeping helmet and vest "took her outside and raped her behind a truck," the group's statement said.
	The next day, after armed clashes ...

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