Heavy monsoon rains have wreaked havoc in Pakistan, killing at least 28 people, including women and children, and triggering flash floods and landslides in several parts of the country, officials said on Sunday.
At least 12 people were killed and over 22 others injured in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to flash floods, landslides and rain-related accidents, said a spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
Three people were killed each in Bajaur and Swat district. One person was killed each in Dir Lower, Buner, Malakand, Shangla, Aurakzai and Torghar districts, the spokesman said, adding that the deceased included two women and two children.
In Chitral district, the colony setup for Chinese engineers working on Lawari tunnel was also inundated by flash floods, the official said.
However, the engineers were evacuated to safer places.
At least six people were killed when their vehicle fell in the Indus river in Kohistan district.
The passengers were ...

28 people killed in heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan

PTI Automatic

The shooting at a mosque near Oslo is being treated as an "attempted act of terror", Norwegian police said Sunday, with the suspect appearing to harbour far-right, anti-immigrant views.
"We are looking at an attempted act of terror," acting chief of the police operation Rune Skjold told a press conference after Saturday's incident left one man injured.
Skjold said the investigation had shown that the man appeared to hold "far-right" and "anti-immigrant" views.
The suspect, armed with multiple weapons, opened fire in the mosque in Baerum, a suburb of Oslo, on Saturday afternoon, before being overpowered by a man who suffered "minor injuries" in the process.
Hours after the attack, the body of a young woman related to the suspect was found in a home also in Baerum.
Police said earlier Sunday they had tried to question the suspect, described as a "young man" with a "Norwegian background" who was living in the vicinity but he did not want to "give an explanation to police".

Norway mosque shooting 'attempted act of terror'

As Muslims in Khartoum marked their first Eid al-Adha feast without Omar al-Bashir as a ruler in three decades, the mood was upbeat Sunday but the menu stayed frugal.
Months of bloody anti-regime protests created a historic opportunity for civilian rule in Sudan but also saw prices soar, putting a damper on celebrations.
In Khartoum markets, the price of a sheep -- a must in the Feast of the Sacrifice which is considered the holiest day in the Muslim calendar -- has doubled since last year.
"You used to be able to find a sheep for 3,500" Sudanese pounds (USD 60), said Mohamed Abdullahi, a farmer who lives on Tuti, a rural island wedged between the twin cities of Khartoum and Omdurman, where the Blue and White Nile meet.
This year he paid 8,000 pounds, an amount he couldn't really afford even after raising the selling price of the milk from the few cows he rears on a small plot by the riverbank.
"I have three children, I had to bring them something for the feast," the greying ...

Muted celebrations for Sudan's first post-Bashir Eid

Tanzania was in mourning Sunday, preparing to bury 69 people who perished when a crashed fuel tanker exploded as crowds rushed to syphon off leaking petrol.
President John Magufuli declared a period of mourning through Monday following the deadly blast near the town of Morogoro, west of Dar es Salaam.
He will be represented at the funerals by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, an official statement said.
"We're currently mourning the loss of 69 people, the last of whom died while being transferred by helicopter to the national hospital in Dar es Salaam," Majaliwa told residents in comments broadcast on Tanzanian television.
The number of injured stood at 66, he said.
The burials will start Sunday afternoon, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jenista Mhagama announced during the morning after relatives identified the dead.
"The preparations for the burials have been completed. Individual graves have been dug and the coffins are ready," Mhagama said, adding that experts would be available to ..

Tanzania mourns 69 killed in fuel tanker blast

The suspect in a weekend shooting at a mosque near Oslo, has not given any explanation for his actions, police said Sunday.
The suspect, armed with multiple weapons, opened fire in the mosque but one person there managed to overpower him, suffering "minor injuries" in the process.
Shortly after the attack Saturday the body of a young woman related to the suspect was found in a home in the suburb of Baerum where the shooting took place.
Police said they have opened a murder probe into a "suspicious death".
Police said Sunday they had tried to question the suspect, described as a "young man" with a "Norwegian background" who was living in the vicinity but he did not want to "give an explanation to police".
"He therefore hasn't taken any position in regards to the charge," acting chief of the police operation Rune Skjold said in a statement, adding that a press conference was scheduled at midday (1000 GMT).
On Saturday, Norwegian media reported that the suspect was believed to have put ..

No motive yet for Norway mosque shooting: police

Fighting between pro-government forces and separatists in Yemen's second city Aden has killed around 40 people and injured 260 others including civilians, the UN said Sunday.
"Scores of civilians have been killed and wounded since August 8 when fighting broke out in the city of Aden. Preliminary reports indicate that as many as 40 people have been killed and 260 injured," a UN statement said.

40 killed, 260 wounded in clashes in Yemen's Aden: UN

The head of a major South Korean cosmetics firm resigned Sunday after facing heavy backlash for forcing his staff to watch a YouTube video praising Japan during a raging trade war between the two nations.
The clip, played at a monthly meeting of some 700 employees of Kolmar Korea last week, slams President Moon Jae-in's response to Japan's trade regulations and praises Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for "not punching Moon in the face".
The video also refers to Venezuela's crippling economy, where "women are going into prostitution for mere seven dollars", and adds that South Korea is not far from meeting a similar fate.
The incident triggered massive public fury and mounted calls to boycott the company, which supplies dozens of cosmetics brands worldwide.
Yoon Dong-han, chairman of Kolmar Korea, apologised on Sunday for "stirring up trouble" and said he will step down from his post.
"I apologise to the consumers and the Korean people who trusted and loved our products," he said, adding: "I 

South Korean cosmetics firm boss quits over YouTube praising Japan

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is promising more prisons and stronger police powers in an effort to fight violent crime.
The government announced plans Sunday to create 10,000 more prison places to ease overcrowding and said it would allow police to stop and search people without reasonable suspicion "if serious violence is anticipated."
Such powers are contentious because young ethnic-minority men are disproportionately likely to be stopped and searched.
Opposition Labour Party law-and-order spokeswoman Diane Abbott said it was "a tried-and-tested recipe for unrest, not violence reduction." Official statistics show that violent crime has begun to rise after declining for two decades.
The crime clampdown is the latest in a series of policy promises that Johnson, a Conservative, has made since taking office last month, sparking speculation that an early election is looming.

UK govt boosts prisons, police powers in crime clampdown

The death toll from Typhoon Lekima rose to 32 in eastern China, local authorities said Sunday, as rescue teams worked to find more than a dozen people still missing after the storm triggered a landslide and forced the evacuation of more than a million residents.
The monster storm hit Wenling city early Saturday, packing winds of nearly 190 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour) and generating waves several metres high along the coast.
At least 18 people were killed in a landslide triggered by torrential downpours in the municipality of Wenzhou, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Shanghai, national broadcaster CCTV said Saturday.
A further 14 deaths were announced Sunday, but it was unclear if they were from the same incident.
Sixteen people were still missing, according to Zhejiang provincial authorities.
"Currently, search and rescue work from various regions is still ongoing," they said on social media platform Weibo.
More than a million people were evacuated from their ...

Typhoon Lekima death toll in eastern China rises to 32

Indian star Priyanka Chopra was verbally attacked at an event in the US by a Pakistani woman who accused her of encouraging nuclear war against her country.
The audience member questioned the actor's role as a United Nations Goodwill ambassador in the light of her February 26 tweet where she congratulated the Indian Air Force after Indian fighter jets attacked the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s terrorist camp at Balakot in Pakistan.
"Jai Hind #IndianArmedForces," Priyanka's tweet read.
In a video on social media from the Beautycon Los Angeles event a woman sitting in the audience said she was a Pakistani and pointed fingers at Priyanka.
"As a Goodwill Ambassador, you are encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan. People like me have supported you in your business...," the woman said.
Priyanka, in her own words, let the woman "vent" and then said she is not somebody who promotes war.
"I have many, many friends from Pakistan and I am from India. War is not something I'm really fond of but I am 

War not something I'm fond of, but I'm patriotic: Priyanka Chopra

Muslim worshippers and Israeli police clashed Sunday at a major Jerusalem holy site during prayers marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Palestinian medics said at least 14 people were wounded, one seriously, in the skirmishes with police at the site, which Muslims refer to as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and Jews refer to as the Temple Mount. Police said at least four officers were wounded. Witnesses said at least two people were arrested.
Tens of thousands of Muslims had flocked to the site in Jerusalem's Old City early Sunday for holiday prayers, police said. Sunday is also the Ninth of Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the two Biblical temples which stood at the site in antiquity.
It is the holiest site for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It has long been a flashpoint at the epicentre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Large numbers of Palestinians had gathered at the gates of the compound early Sunday ...

Muslims clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem holy site

Italian fashion house Versace has apologized in China for selling T-shirts that it said attached incorrect country names to cities, after a Chinese actress said the clothing was suspected of harming the country's territorial integrity and cut her ties with the company.
Versace did not identify the T-shirt in a social media post Sunday, but Chinese media said the item did not list Hong Kong and Macao as parts of China. Both former European colonies were returned to China in the late 1990s.
The studio for actress Yang Mi said in an earlier social media post that it had sent a termination notice and stopped all cooperation with Versace.
The luxury house said the shirts had been removed from all sales channels on July 24 and destroyed.

Versace apologies in flap over T-shirts sold in China

Padma Bhushan awardee Anupam Kher's autobiography, which chronicles his failures, rejections and lessons learnt in his life and in a career spanning 500 films, was released here by his friend and eminent actor Rishi Kapoor, his wife Neetu Kapoor and the fellow cast of the NBC show "New Amsterdam".
Kher's autobiography "Lessons Life Taught Me, Unknowingly" was released Friday at a special event organised at the Consulate General of India in New York and was attended by the veteran actor's close friends and associates.
"My life is a sum total of what went wrong and because things went wrong in my life, everything went right," Kher said as he addressed the gathering at the book release.
Sharing incidents from his life that shaped his career, Kher said the autobiography is an exciting account as it does not talk about his successes.
"Success to me is very boring, it's very one-dimensional. Failure is multi-dimensional, it's so amazing. What I'm today is because of my failures," he ...

Rishi Kapoor releases Anupam Kher's autobiography in New York

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters hit the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday for the 10th weekend in a row, once again defying police after a night of "hit-and-run" rallies across the city.
Activists calling for greater democratic freedoms in the city have shown no sign of standing down, despite Hong Kong's leader insisting she will not meet their demands.
Early Sunday afternoon, hundreds of protesters were gathered in the city's Victoria Park, braving hot and humid conditions and a police ban on the demonstration following a planned march route from the park.
"The police should try their best to maintain public security instead of rejecting our request to march," said a 25-year-old protester who gave only her family name, Wong.
"We're still here... and we'll see if we feel like marching later. We won't worry that much about illegal assembly. We still have our rights," she told AFP.
Police have given protesters a permit to gather at the park, but denied their request to stage a march .

'We're still here': Hong Kong protesters return to streets

Syrian regime forces seized a town on the edge of Idlib province Sunday, a monitor said, their first ground advance since resuming an offensive on the jihadist-dominated enclave more than three months ago.
The region of northwestern Syria, which is home to an estimated three million civilians, has come under almost daily Syrian and Russian bombardment since late April.
The most recent fighting focused on an area straddling Idlib and Hama provinces, a war monitor said, and claimed dozens of lives on both sides.
"Regime forces seized the town of Al-Habeet, in Idlib's southern countryside, at dawn," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, said.
The regime's latest gains were in the north of Hama province, which lies to the south of Idlib.
The area has escaped the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government since 2015 and is the last major bastion of opposition to his regime and its allies.
The capture of Al-Habeet, one of several strategic ...

Syria regime gains ground in deadly Idlib push: monitor

Myanmar troops deployed to flood-hit parts of the country on Sunday to help with relief efforts after rising waters left thousands stranded and the death toll from a landslide jumped to 51.
Every year monsoon rains hammer Myanmar and other countries across Southeast Asia, submerging homes, displacing residents and triggering landslides.
But this year's deluge has tested the government's ability to respond after a fatal landslide on Friday in southeastern Mon state was followed by heavy flooding that reached the roofs of houses and the tops of street signs in nearby towns.
Hundreds of emergency response workers were still pulling victims out of the muddy wreckage in Paung township on Sunday.
"Three more dead bodies were found at 11:50 am. The total death toll has reached 51 people," the Myanmar fire services department said on its Facebook page.
Heavy rains pounded other parts of Mon, Karen and Kachin states, flooding roads, destroying bridges and forcing people to flee by boat.
As the 

Myanmar troops help flood rescue after landslide kills 51

Flash floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon rains have killed at least 18 people, including women and children, in northwest Pakistan, an official said on Sunday.
At least 12 people were killed and over 22 others injured in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to flash floods, landslides and rain-related accidents, said a spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
Three people were killed each in Bajaur and Swat district.
One person was killed each in Dir Lower, Buner, Malakand, Shangla, Aurakzai and Torghar districts, the spokesman said, adding that the deceased included two women and two children.
In Chitral district, the colony setup for Chinese engineers working on Lawari tunnel was also inundated by flash floods, the official said.
However, the engineers were evacuated to safer places.
At least six people were killed when their vehicle fell in the Indus river in Kohistan district.
The passengers were travelling from Gilgit to lower dir ...

18 killed in rain-related incidents in Pakistan

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Beijing on Sunday on a key three-day visit to hold talks with the Chinese leadership on a host of issues including finalisation of arrangements for President Xi Jinping's visit to India later this year for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit of Jaishankar, the first Indian minister to tour China after the Modi government began its second term, is also taking place in the aftermath of India's decision to revoke special status to Jammu and Kashmir and its division into two Union Territories -Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
His visit was finalised much before India's move to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Jaishankar, who was the first career diplomat to become the External Affairs Minister, served as India's Ambassador to China from 2009 to 2013, the longest tenure by an Indian envoy.
His official engagements will begin on Monday with a call on ...

Jaishankar arrives in Beijing for key talks with Chinese leaders

Flash floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon rains have killed at least 15 people in northwest Pakistan, an official said on Sunday.
Nine people were killed and over twenty others injured in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to flash floods, landslides and rain-related accidents, said a spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority.
In Chitral district, the colony setup for Chinese engineers working on Lawari tunnel was also inundated by flash floods, the official said.
However, the engineers were evacuated to safer places.
At least six people were killed when their vehicle fell in the Indus river in Kohistan district.
The passengers were travelling from Gilgit to lower dir district for Eid vacations when they met the accident took place at Janchal area.
Rains and snowfall often cause landslides and flash floods in northern Pakistan where millions live in mountainous areas.
Last month, at least 28 people were killed in heavy rains and flash floods that ...

15 killed in rain-related incidents in Pakistan

Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers clashed at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site on Sunday as overlapping Jewish and Muslim holidays led to tensions there, an AFP journalist reported.
Police fired sound grenades as Palestinian protests intensified at the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported injuries without specifying a number.
Sunday marked the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday and thousands of Palestinians prayed at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
It coincided with the Jewish Tisha B'av holiday, which typically sees an increase in Jewish visits to the holy site.
In a bid to ease tensions, police barred Jewish visits to the site on Sunday but Muslim worshippers still feared they would be allowed in and protested there. The clashes with police broke out afterward.
The compound, which includes the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is one of the most sensitive sites in the Israeli-Palestinian ...

Israel police, Palestinians clash at flashpoint Jerusalem holy site

Bollywood star Aamir Khan is set to work with South superstar Vijay Sethupathi.
Sethupathi confirmed the news to PTI on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).
"We are in talks and details will be announced soon," Vijay told PTI.
Reports of the duo collaborating started doing the rounds last month after the "Dangal" star paid a visit to the sets of Sethupathi's Tamil film "Sanga Thamizhan".
The 41-year-old actor also revealed he is a huge fan of superstar Shah Rukh Khan and megastar Amitabh Bachchan.
"Amitabh Bachchan is my favourite actor and I have seen his several films, including 'Pink'," adding that meeting Shah Rukh, who is the chief guest at IFFM, was a pleasure.
Sethupathi also won the best actor award at IFFM for Tamil-language film "Super Deluxe".
The movie, which won an honorary award 'Equality in Cinema' at the festival, is directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja.
"Super Deluxe" was also nominated in the best director and best film ...

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