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Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, gives good copy. Here’s a quote from his final election rally: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.” And here’s another, from last Sunday, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime condemned Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.” “I do not want to insult you,” Duterte said. (He only called them “stupid.”) “But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that rude, we might just as well leave. So take us out of your organization. You have done nothing. Never. Except to criticize.” What upset Ban and the UNDOC is the fact that Duterte is having people murdered. Since he took office three months ago, some 900 “suspected drug-dealers” have been shot dead by police and civilian vigilantes acting in his name. None was found guilty by a court, and some, of course, were completely innocent. Duterte is not denying it or apologizing. Before he leaves office, he says, he’ll just give himself an amnesty: “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.” “The Punisher,” as he was known when he was mayor of Davao, is very serious about his “war on drugs.” He recently said he would kill his own children if they took drugs. But crime is not the Philippines’ biggest problem, and it’s not clear what else he is serious about. He talks vaguely about making the Philippines a federal country, but no details of his policies and plans have emerged. In fact, he has spent most of the time since his election down south in his Davao stronghold, not in Manila. But he does have a plan of sorts for what to do after he walks out of the U.N. He says he may ask China and African countries to walk out too and form a rival organization. He doesn’t know much about China or Africa, so maybe he thinks they would like to get together and defy the parts of the world where governments believe that killing people is wrong. “Duterte Harry” (another nickname) is very popular in the Philippines, but he is not really a threat to global order. The hundred million Filpinos will have to live with him for the next six years, but the U.N. is not doomed. In fact, it is doing better than most people give it credit for. One proof of this is the fact that the secretary general now has the right to criticize a member government merely for killing its own citizens. That’s not what it was designed for. When it was created in 1945, as the catastrophe of World War II was ending, its main goal was to prevent any more wars like that. The founders tried to give it the appearance of a broader moral force by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but that was mainly window-dressing. The U.N. was created by the great powers to prevent any government from launching another war of international aggression, not to make governments treat their own citizens better. In fact, each major power was effectively guaranteed the right to do whatever it wanted to its own citizens, so long as it did not attack the neighbors. In this, the new U.N. was just recognizing reality, for every great power was determined to preserve its own “sovereignty.” Even for smaller powers, the great powers could rarely agree on what kind of intervention was desirable, and who should do it. The U.N. has done well in its original task: It shares the credit with nuclear weapons for the fact that no great power has fought any other for the past 71 years. It has gradually moved into other areas like peacekeeping and promoting the rule of law in the world, but it never interferes inside the territory of the great powers. Even in smaller countries it almost never intervenes without the invitation of the local government. So when Duterte called the U.N. useless because “if you are really true to your mandate, you could have stopped all these wars and killings,” he was talking through his hat. Besides, he would never accept U.N. intervention in his own country to deal with an alleged crime wave. He’s just talking tough because he hates being criticized. It’s very unlikely that he will carry out his threat. The U.N. is the keystone in the structure of international law that, among many other things, deters China from settling its territorial dispute with the Philippines by force. Duterte is just a problem for the Philippines, not for the U.N. or the world. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist and military historian whose articles are published in 45 countries.[SEP]Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines, gives good copy. Here’s a quote from his final election rally: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.” And here’s another, from last Sunday, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime condemned Mr Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.” “I do not want to insult you,” Duterte said. (He only called them “stupid.”) “But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that rude, we might just as well leave. So take us out of your organisation. You have done nothing. Never. Except to criticise.” What upset Ban Ki-moon and the UNDOC is the fact that Duterte is having people murdered. Since he took office three months ago, some 900 “suspected drug-dealers” have been shot dead by police and civilian vigilantes acting in his name. None was found guilty by a court, and some, of course, were completely innocent. Duterte is not denying it or apologising. Before he leaves office, he says, he’ll just give himself an amnesty: “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.” “The Punisher,” as he was known when he was mayor of Davao, is very serious about his “war on drugs”: he recently said he would kill his own children if they took drugs. But crime is not the Philippines’ biggest problem, and it’s not clear what else he is serious about. He talks vaguely about making the Philippines a federal country, but no details of his policies and plans have emerged. In fact, he has spent most of the time since his election down south in his Davao stronghold, not in Manila. But he does have a plan of sorts for what to do after he walks out of the United Nations. He says he may ask China and African countries to walk out too and form a rival organization. He doesn’t know much about China or Africa, so maybe he thinks they would like to get together and defy the parts of the world where governments believe that killing people is wrong. “Duterte Harry” (another nickname) is very popular in the Philippines, but he is not really a threat to global order. The hundred million Filpinos will have to live with him for the next six years, but the United Nations is not doomed. In fact, it is doing better than most people give it credit for. One proof of this is the fact that the Secretary General now has the right to criticise a member government merely for killing its own citizens. That’s not what it was designed for. When it was created in 1945, as the catastrophe of the Second World War was ending, its main goal was to prevent any more wars like that. The founders tried to give it the appearance of a broader moral force by signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but that was mainly window-dressing. The UN was created by the great powers to prevent any government from launching another war of international aggression, not to make governments treat their own citizens better. In fact, each major power was effectively guaranteed the right to do whatever it wanted to its own citizens, so long as it did not attack the neighbours. In this, the new UN was just recognizing reality, for every great power was determined to preserve its own “sovereignty.” Even for smaller powers, the great powers could rarely agree on what kind of intervention was desirable, and who should do it. The UN has done well in its original task: it shares the credit with nuclear weapons for the fact that no great power has fought any other for the past 71 years. It has gradually moved into other areas like peace-keeping and promoting the rule of law in the world, but it never interferes inside the territory of the great powers. Even in smaller countries it almost never intervenes without the invitation of the local government. So when Duterte called the UN useless because “if you are really true to your mandate, you could have stopped all these wars and killings,” he was talking through his hat. Besides, he would never accept UN intervention in his own country to deal with an alleged crime wave. He’s just talking tough because he hates being criticized. It’s very unlikely that he will carry out his threat. The UN is the keystone in the structure of international law that, among many other things, deters China from settling its territorial dispute with the Philippines by force. Rodrigo Duterte is just a problem for the Philippines, not for the UN or the world. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.[SEP]"We are certainly not leaving the U.N.," Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said. "As I've said, the statement of the president is a statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration, and it is not any statement that should indicate a threat to leave the United Nations." President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the U.N. in a speech Sunday after receiving criticism of his approach to drug crime since taking office. The pugnacious new leader made the comments in Davao City, the southern Filipino city where he served as mayor for over two decades. "Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," he said in English during the address. "If you are that insulting, son of a bitch, we should just leave," he said then in Tagalog, according to a translation by CNN affiliate CNN Philippines. "Take us out of your organization. You have done nothing anyway." He accused the U.N. of ignoring the plight of the country. "When were you here last time? Nothing. Never. Except to criticize." A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines The comments come days after the U.N. urged Duterte's administration to step back from its violent approach to drug crime. The crackdown since Duterte took office in late June has seen over 650 police killings -- deaths Duterte and his top police officer, Roland Dela Rosa, say are justified self-defense killings -- alongside as many as 900 unexplained murders perpetrated by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has also publicly accused dozens of officials and politicians of being involved in the drug trade. A woman cradles her husband, next to a placard which reads "I'm a pusher," who was shot dead in Manila on July 23, 2016. Police patrol a shanty community at night during curfew on June 8, 2016 in Manila. Philippine police have been conducting frequent night raids and revived a curfew for minors that has not been enforced for years. Some 1,000 people whom authorities accused of being drug users and dealers take an oath before local authorities after turning themselves in in Tanauan, the Philippines, on July 18, 2016. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power on a promise to clamp down on drugs in a two-month crime blitz, encouraging police and even civilians to shoot drug dealers. The country has seen a surge in killings of suspected dealers. A man authorities accused of being a drug user is fingerprinted during the mass surrender of some 1,000 alleged drug users and pushers in the Philippine town of Tanauan, located about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Manila on July 18, 2016. A social worker gives counseling to those who have turned themselves in for drug-related crimes in the Philippines on July 18, 2016. A Philippine police forensic investigator displays packets of drugs and a hand gun found inside a shanty where members of a suspected drug syndicate were killed after a shootout with police on July 3, 2016. A suspected female member of a drug syndicate is presented by police in Manila on June 22, 2016. A gun, bullets, marked money and sachets of crystal meth are laid on a table after a drug raid in Manila on June 20, 2016. Police officers stand in formation before the start of "Oplan Rody" on June 1, 2016, a law enforcement operation named after President Duterte, whose nickname is Rody. The U.N. has condemned the approach. "Allegations of drug-trafficking offenses should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets," a report released Thursday quotes human rights experts as saying. "We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions," the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said in the report. "Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings." Invitation to investigate welcomed. Ready to "see for myself." https://t.co/K9BIZ3ZFKO — Dr Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) August 19, 2016 Duterte's undiplomatic style has landed him in hot water before. He recently insulted the US Ambassador to the Philippines, calling him a "gay son of a bitch," and prior to taking office used similarly colorful language to complain that Pope Francis' visit to the country had resulted in traffic jams. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. As he addressed troops at the country's Armed Forces Central Command Headquarters on August 5, Duterte recounted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the country, saying in Tagalog that he was feuding with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. The Philippines president-elect effectively said he supported vigilantism against drug dealers and criminals in a nationally televised speech in June 2016. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Speaking at a press conference to unveil his new cabinet on May 31 2016, Rodrigo Duterte said journalists killed on the job in the Philippines were often corrupt. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. During the third and last presidential debate, Duterte had said that he would plant a Philippine flag in disputed territories should China refuse to recognize a favorable ruling for the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte made international headlines in April 2016 with his inflammatory comments on the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary that took place in Davao City. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Foreign diplomats weighing in on Rodrigo Duterte's controversial remarks did not sit well with the then-mayor. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. He also lashed out at the womens' group that filed a complaint against him before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. At a CNN Philippines Townhall event in February 2016, Duterte, admitted that he had three girlfriends and a common-law wife. His marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman was annulled due to his womanizing, but he denied this meant he objectified women. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Although he later denied the accusations, the former Davao City mayor admitted his links to the alleged Davao death squad in a May 2015 broadcast of his local television talk show. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte apologized to the Pope after cursing him for the traffic he caused during a 2015 Papal visit to the Philippines. Duterte enjoys high levels of support among Filipinos, who he says are tired of the scourge of drugs. However, the new president's approach to drug crime is facing scrutiny within the country, with one of Duterte's most vocal opponents, Senator Leila de Lima, conducting an inquiry into the high numbers of drug-related deaths since he took office. The senator has called Dela Rosa to a senate hearing on the issue. Last week, in a speech to police officials, Duterte launched a deeply personal attack on de Lima, shocking many Filipinos. Duterte stands by his tactics, which he says are justified in ridding the country of drugs. "My orders are for the police to go out and hunt for criminals," he said. 'I tell them to arrest these criminals if they surrender peacefully, but kill them if they put up a violent struggle. I assume full responsibility for what happens."[SEP]Police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show close to 6,000 killed since new president took office on June 30. *This story was first published on August 25. Last updated on December 13. *Police records show 5,882 people were killed across the country since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30. Of that number 2,041 drug suspects were killed during police operations from July 1 to December 6, while another 3,841 were killed by unknown gunmen from July 1 to November 30, according to a local website. Among the latest fatalities was a seven-year-old child on the island of Cebu, who was hit by a stray bullet on December 3, while unknown gunmen were chasing a teenage boy accused of selling drugs. *Based on other sources collected by Al Jazeera, there have been an estimated 5,946 deaths. The number does not include cases still to be reported by police or news outlets in the provinces after December 6. *Al Jazeera has gathered the information of 1,485 people who were killed and the cause of their deaths. Almost six months into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, police records and data gathered by Al Jazeera show the death toll in his anti-drug war has almost reached 6,000. Despite the mounting toll, Duterte was quoted as saying on Monday that fewer people were being killed, adding "most of them have been finished off anyway, I am not kidding". On Tuesday, he announced the release of $20m to fund the medicine for patients undergoing drug rehabilitation. Recently, human rights groups and activists have denounced the Philippine leader for "steamrolling the rule of law". Top clerics of the Catholic Church have also stepped up criticism against Duterte's drug war policy, while expressing opposition to his plan to re-impose the death penalty on heinous crimes, including drug-related offences. INFOGRAPHIC: Who's liable for the mounting death toll? In August, Duterte hailed his anti-drug campaign saying of the three million suspected drug dependents in the country, 600,000 have turned themselves in to authorities. While saying it does not condone extra-judicial killings, the office of the president said the country should "seize the momentum" in its campaign against illegal drugs. Duterte took his oath as president on June 30 and has vowed to keep his campaign promise of solving the country's illegal drug problem, saying, "I don't care about human rights, believe me." As of December 13, an Al Jazeera investigation has collected information from 1,485 people who were killed across the country.[SEP]"We are certainly not leaving the U.N.," Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said. "As I've said, the statement of the president is a statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration, and it is not any statement that should indicate a threat to leave the United Nations." President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the U.N. in a speech Sunday after receiving criticism of his approach to drug crime since taking office. The pugnacious new leader made the comments in Davao City, the southern Filipino city where he served as mayor for over two decades. "Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations," he said in English during the address. "If you are that insulting, son of a bitch, we should just leave," he said then in Tagalog, according to a translation by CNN affiliate CNN Philippines. "Take us out of your organization. You have done nothing anyway." He accused the U.N. of ignoring the plight of the country. "When were you here last time? Nothing. Never. Except to criticize." A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines A brutal war on drugs in the Philippines The comments come days after the U.N. urged Duterte's administration to step back from its violent approach to drug crime. The crackdown since Duterte took office in late June has seen over 650 police killings -- deaths Duterte and his top police officer, Roland Dela Rosa, say are justified self-defense killings -- alongside as many as 900 unexplained murders perpetrated by suspected vigilantes. Duterte has also publicly accused dozens of officials and politicians of being involved in the drug trade. A woman cradles her husband, next to a placard which reads "I'm a pusher," who was shot dead in Manila on July 23, 2016. Police patrol a shanty community at night during curfew on June 8, 2016 in Manila. Philippine police have been conducting frequent night raids and revived a curfew for minors that has not been enforced for years. Some 1,000 people whom authorities accused of being drug users and dealers take an oath before local authorities after turning themselves in in Tanauan, the Philippines, on July 18, 2016. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power on a promise to clamp down on drugs in a two-month crime blitz, encouraging police and even civilians to shoot drug dealers. The country has seen a surge in killings of suspected dealers. A man authorities accused of being a drug user is fingerprinted during the mass surrender of some 1,000 alleged drug users and pushers in the Philippine town of Tanauan, located about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Manila on July 18, 2016. A social worker gives counseling to those who have turned themselves in for drug-related crimes in the Philippines on July 18, 2016. A Philippine police forensic investigator displays packets of drugs and a hand gun found inside a shanty where members of a suspected drug syndicate were killed after a shootout with police on July 3, 2016. A suspected female member of a drug syndicate is presented by police in Manila on June 22, 2016. A gun, bullets, marked money and sachets of crystal meth are laid on a table after a drug raid in Manila on June 20, 2016. Police officers stand in formation before the start of "Oplan Rody" on June 1, 2016, a law enforcement operation named after President Duterte, whose nickname is Rody. The U.N. has condemned the approach. "Allegations of drug-trafficking offenses should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets," a report released Thursday quotes human rights experts as saying. "We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions," the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said in the report. "Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings." Invitation to investigate welcomed. Ready to "see for myself." https://t.co/K9BIZ3ZFKO — Dr Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) August 19, 2016 Duterte's undiplomatic style has landed him in hot water before. He recently insulted the US Ambassador to the Philippines, calling him a "gay son of a bitch," and prior to taking office used similarly colorful language to complain that Pope Francis' visit to the country had resulted in traffic jams. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. As he addressed troops at the country's Armed Forces Central Command Headquarters on August 5, Duterte recounted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the country, saying in Tagalog that he was feuding with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. The Philippines president-elect effectively said he supported vigilantism against drug dealers and criminals in a nationally televised speech in June 2016. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Speaking at a press conference to unveil his new cabinet on May 31 2016, Rodrigo Duterte said journalists killed on the job in the Philippines were often corrupt. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. During the third and last presidential debate, Duterte had said that he would plant a Philippine flag in disputed territories should China refuse to recognize a favorable ruling for the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte made international headlines in April 2016 with his inflammatory comments on the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian missionary that took place in Davao City. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Foreign diplomats weighing in on Rodrigo Duterte's controversial remarks did not sit well with the then-mayor. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. He also lashed out at the womens' group that filed a complaint against him before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. At a CNN Philippines Townhall event in February 2016, Duterte, admitted that he had three girlfriends and a common-law wife. His marriage to Elizabeth Zimmerman was annulled due to his womanizing, but he denied this meant he objectified women. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Although he later denied the accusations, the former Davao City mayor admitted his links to the alleged Davao death squad in a May 2015 broadcast of his local television talk show. Rodrigo Duterte has said some outrageous things. Duterte apologized to the Pope after cursing him for the traffic he caused during a 2015 Papal visit to the Philippines. Duterte enjoys high levels of support among Filipinos, who he says are tired of the scourge of drugs. However, the new president's approach to drug crime is facing scrutiny within the country, with one of Duterte's most vocal opponents, Senator Leila de Lima, conducting an inquiry into the high numbers of drug-related deaths since he took office. The senator has called Dela Rosa to a senate hearing on the issue. Last week, in a speech to police officials, Duterte launched a deeply personal attack on de Lima, shocking many Filipinos. Duterte stands by his tactics, which he says are justified in ridding the country of drugs. "My orders are for the police to go out and hunt for criminals," he said. 'I tell them to arrest these criminals if they surrender peacefully, but kill them if they put up a violent struggle. I assume full responsibility for what happens."[SEP]MANILA, Philippines (AP) — On the day he was sworn into office, President Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to "go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful." Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users lay dead as morgues continue to fill up. Faced with criticism of his actions by rights activists, international bodies and outspoken Filipinos, including the top judge, Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work. According to a survey early last month, he has the support of nearly 91 percent of Filipinos. The independent poll was done during his first week in office, and no new surveys have come out since then. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing this week that police have recorded more than 1,900 dead, including 756 suspected drug dealers and users who were gunned down after they resisted arrest. More than 1,000 other deaths are under investigation, and some of them may not be drug-related, he said. Jayeel Cornelio, a doctor of sociology and director of Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies Program, said he suspects only a few of Duterte's supporters are disillusioned by the killings and his rhetoric because voters trust his campaign promise to crush drug criminals. They also find resonance in his cursing and no-holds-barred comments. Duterte's death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humor have enamored Filipinos living on the margins of society. He overwhelmingly won the election, mirroring public exasperation over the social ills he condemns. Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings "may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good," a sentiment echoed by a deluge of comments by Duterte supporters in social media deriding his critics and defending the brutal war on drugs. "The killings are OK so there will be less criminals, drug pushers and drug addicts in our society," said Rex Alisoso, a 25-year-old cleaner in Manila. He said people have gotten used to the way Duterte talks and voted for him knowing his ways. Kim Labasan, a Manila shopkeeper, said she does not like Duterte's constant swearing, his "stepping on too many toes," and his decision to allow late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in the Heroes' Cemetery. But she supports the anti-drug war despite the rising death toll because, she said, she has personally seen the effects of drugs. Addicts in her hometown north of Manila have ended up with "poisoned brains" and even robbed her family's home. "A battle of moralities is being waged right now by this administration — before, if you were a human rights advocate you are a hero of the country, now you are seen as someone who can destroy the country," Cornelio said. He said that Duterte fosters "penal populism" — identifying a particular enemy, a criminal, and then hunting him down to death. Because the results are visible, tangible and people feel it, "it becomes more important than many other things to the ordinary person." Duterte has said drugs were destroying the country. In his State of the Nation Address last month, he said "human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy the country." He also lashed out at U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, calling him gay in derogatory terms, after he criticized Duterte's rape comments during the presidential campaign. He threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations because of U.N. comments condemning extrajudicial killings, saying he did not "give a shit" about the consequences. The following day, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said the Philippines was not leaving the U.N. and Duterte made the comment only because he was tired, angry and frustrated. Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, said Duterte "is streamrolling the rule of law and its advocates both at home and abroad." The killings suggest his aggressive rhetoric advocating extrajudicial solutions to criminality has found a receptive audience, Kine said. "His supporters are cheering him on, but wait till one of them is killed," said Ferdie Monasterio, a driver of a ride-sharing company who doesn't support Duterte. "He is no different from Marcos and it looks like he wants to establish a dictatorship." Cornelio said the death toll is not the clincher in turning public sentiment against Duterte, because a lot of people look at them as justified killings. He said that Dutere's first year in office will be crucial since he promised quick action. "I think the threshold has to do with the delivery of the promises," he said. "Are changes going to happen sooner or later? If they don't then, people will start getting disillusioned."[SEP]Improving the quality of life of the people is the better option than violence. MANILA – An urban poor group is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider its violent approach to end the proliferation of illegal drugs, especially in urban poor communities, by addressing the root causes of their impoverished conditions. In a statement, Kadamay said the proliferation of illegal drugs in urban poor communities is “symptomatic of the extreme poverty levels being experienced by the people, and as such, improving their quality of life is the better option than violence.” “Can the president conclusively say that violence and police operations are better solutions to the drug problem than raising the standards of living? With jobs, education and health services, most Filipinos will not need to turn to drugs or at the very least be able to afford the currently high cost of rehabilitation in the country,” Kadamay chairperson Gloria Arellano said. Nearly a thousand has been killed in the name of Duterte’s war against illegal drugs. Rights groups and church workers have assailed that those killed, for supposedly resisting arrest, belong to poor families. This week, an audio recording of a police operation in Pasay City surfaced in which pedicab driver Eric Sison amid police pursuit, was heard pleading “Ito po! Ito po! Susuko na ako” (Here I am! I will surrender) followed by a series of gunshots. The police said they are already conducting an investigation. In a television interview, one police officer claimed that voice heard in the audio recording was not that of the pedicab driver but of a police officer. But the pedicab driver’s family and neighbors described the shooting as “overkill.” Children most vulnerable in drug campaign The youngest casualty of the illegal drug campaign, as described in news reports, is five-year-old Danica May, a granddaughter of tricycle driver Maximo Garcia in Mayombo village, Pangasinan who surrendered to the police after learning he was listed in its drug watch. News reports said the Garcia family was having lunch on Aug. 23 when a man opened fired at their house, killing the child and wounding Garcia in the stomach. Garcia, 53, is recuperating in a hospital. Children rights group Salinlahi assailed Danica May’s killing, saying that children belonging to families without decent livelihood in urban poor communities are exposed to such violence. Salinlahi secretary general Kharlo Manano said, “We are one with the Duterte administration’s intention to eliminate illegal drugs in the country, but we should always consider the social context of poor children and their families. If the killings do not stop, more and more children will be caught in the middle of this bloody war.”[SEP]DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 Aug) — President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the United Nations (UN) amid its criticisms on the current administration’s campaign against illegal drugs that allegedly shot up the cases of extrajudicial killings. He told an early morning press conference at the Malacañang of the South at the Department of Public Works and Highways 11 in Panacan that he might just decide to part ways with the UN and invite China and African countries to form a new organization. “So the next time you issue it, I do not want to insult you. But maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations,” Duterte said. He also criticized the international organization for not doing anything to help the country. “So take us out of your organization – you have done nothing here, anyway, also. When were you here the last time? Never. Except to criticize. You do…Food world? Where’s the food? There’s the world, but there is no food. World Hunger Organization, maybe,” he said. But Duterte said the country will only leave the UN if it would refund the Philippines with all its contributions and use the money to build more rehabilitation centers around the country. “The joke is on you. You have to refund me with these so many contributions that we have made all these years. Isauli ninyo contributions namin and we will go out. We contribute a certain amount for the maintenance of UN, right? Oh, you return the money to us and we will go out,” he said. He also asked the UN, “when have you done a good deed to my country?” The UN, an intergovernmental organization that promotes international cooperation, with 51 founding member states including the Philippines, was established on October 24, 1945 after World War II. A Filipino diplomat, Carlos P. Romulo, became President of the UN General Assembly from 1949 to 1950. Amid the criticisms on the extrajudicial killings, Duterte hit the UN for falling short of respect to him as the country’s chief executive. Duterte said that the UN must observe proper protocol by sending its representative to personally talk to him before the international organization issued a statement hitting him for the rising cases of extrajudicial killings when he assumed post on June 30. “You observe protocol because if you do that directly you are addressing yourself to me. Remember that I am – I do not like to say it because I wanted to be called Mayor still – I am the President of the sovereign,” he told. Duterte, who is known for his scathing words, was apparently irked with UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Dainius Puras’ pronouncements, and said, “ you have fallen short of the protocol for respect and you want me to respect you? You must be s**t. Do not criticize immediately.” He told the American UN representatives “bastos ka (you are rude)” and went on to say they could even do anything about the killings happening within their country. “Tell this American, show your respect first. Because sabihin ko, why are you Americans killing the black people there, shooting them down, when they are already on the ground? Answer that question, even if it is one, two, or three, it’s still human rights violations,” he said. Unfazed with UN’s call to end extrajudicial killings, the President said he is willing to meet with these the UN representatives to disprove their accusations. “Okay, you guys, you law expert of the United Nations, come here, come here and face me and make the accusations and I will show you the statistics and I will hold your finger and teach you how to count,” he said. Duterte told the UN to also look at the efforts of the government in protecting its people and not only the increasing number of criminals who were reportedly killed after resisting arrest. But the President said even the authorities could sometimes be killed in pursuing their fight against illegal drugs. “The other day I lost two soldiers who where assisting the police. This time it is the police, a day after. We lose about two policemen a day in connection with the drug campaign,” he said. Duterte said that he assumes full responsibility for the police drug operations that resulted to bloody combat with drug suspects. Duterte challenged to compare the current statistics on killings with the previous administration. “And I would ask him, compare it with the previous administration. Same deaths, but these are the innocent children being killed, raped, victims of hold-up and everything, this time, almost with the same number, but it is the criminals who are dying. You can hardly hear now of a student waylaid or a hold-up victim in a bus,” he said. He also hit Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for just “counting the dead criminals and never made a comparison of the dead victims, innocent people, law-abiding people being killed in the streets.” Duterte reiterated that he has obligation to protect the innocent, law-abiding citizens and “was never tasked by any law to protect the life of the criminals.” “I was never born to protect evil. I was born in this universe to suppress evil. I was not raised by my parents, I did not go to Roman Catholic schools and Ateneo and San Beda and talk how to protect the evil doers. I grew up and (was) taught by my parents to be on the side of fairness, to protect the good, and to take care of your country,” he said. He said that the drug menace is not just “epidemic but pandemic.” “So what am I supposed to do as a President? Empower the military and the police for after all they are there to protect the integrity and preserve the people of the Philippines,” he added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/ MindaNews)[SEP]Jaypee Bertes was bruised and battered, his arm broken. He had three bullets in him. He asked for a doctor. “He was leaning on the bars and had a hard time standing,” his widow Harra Kazuo told the senators of her husband and his father at the police station. “He had a difficult time speaking. That was the last time I saw them alive.” Bertes, a small-time drug dealer, and his father are now just two of a grim statistic – two of the 1,916 who have died in the Philippines police’s “war on drugs”, unleashed barely eight weeks ago, as new hard man president Rodrigo Duterte had promised during his election campaign “Shoot him and I’ll give you a medal,” Duterte had told police of dealing with the drug lords, suggesting the public get involved too. And they have taken his injunction to heart. Of the total dead, 756 were suspects killed by the unleashed police and 1,160 were killed “outside police operations”, many by vigilantes. How many were involved in drug pushing is unclear and there was undoubtedly some score settling by drug pushers too. According to the government, faced by a barrage of international and domestic criticism, the new tough policy is paying dividends – 600,000 plus of the country 3.7 million users have reportedly surrendered themselves to the police to avoid arrest. To little avail in Bertes’s case, as the seven-month-pregnant Kazuo this week told a committee of the senate to inquire into the killings. Wearing large sunglasses and partly covering her face with a shawl to protect her identity, she claimed he had been preparing to surrender to the police because he was afraid he would be killed. The police had beaten and threatened to shoot him if he did not hand over his drugs, but he had nothing to give them. They strip-searched their two-year- old daughter looking for drugs. When his father Renato Bertes arrived and demanded to see a warrant he was told simply by one officer “If you want, we can shoot you all here.” He too would die. Duterte, a controversial former mayor and prosecutor who rose to power after a landslide election victory in May, brought his local police chief Ronald dela Rosa with him from Davao to Manila to head the national force. In Davao, the Philippines’s second city, he had previously waged a similar “successful” campaign. Hundreds died. “We are not butchers,” dela Rosa told the sceptical senators. Duterte, a thin-skinned, Trump-like demagogue – though he hates the comparison and leans politically to the left – has lashed out at critics. In response to UN concerns Duterte threatened to pull the Philippines out of the international body. He has threatened to shut down the legislature if it hinders his plans and possible martial law. He warned Supreme Court chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno not to create “conflict” after she urged members of the judiciary linked by him to illegal drugs not to surrender without a warrant. Journalists have been told they are not protected from assassination And he has launched a bitter attack on former justice secretary, senator Leila de Lima, who instigated the senate hearings, accusing her while minister of having an affair with her driver/ bodyguard, who allegedly collected money from drug lords detained in Manila’s New Bilibid prison. She vigorously denies the charges. And, apparently aping Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, Duterte has now turned his fire on public servants, promising in his “campaign against corruption” to fire every official appointed by a previous president. Many weary Filipinos see in Duterte’s over-reach a replaying of their political system’s sorry history of autocratic and corrupt rulers. “To Filipinos, it’s just politics as usual – the manipulations of a game of thrones, so to speak,” says author Miguel Syjuco. He writes of a “deeply entrenched culture of impunity”. He recalls Ferdinand Marcos whose brutal and deeply corrupt legacy Duterte is seeking to revive with reburial of the dictator’s body with full honours . And former president Gloria Arroyo, who, despite facing charges of graft, has recently been named deputy speaker of congress, and former members of whose cabinet now comprise the majority of Duterte’s inner circle. It is likely that only international pressure will stay his hand. But the EU, for example, which in 2014 granted the Philippines, alone among Asean member-states, tariff- free access, is not taking a view yet. Franz Jessen, the head of the EU delegation, says: “Right now, we are looking at the developments. We are not making any conclusion about what would happen later on. We have to wait and see.” Last year EU exports to the Philippines rose 18 per cent to €6.8 billion.[SEP]Is the media serving justice to alleged victims of the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs? No, if we go by the headline of the banner story of the Thursday issue of another national broadsheet about a five-year-old girl being the “latest fatality” in the drug war. The headline made the story into a case of another drug-related killing, taking the police angle despite claims to the contrary by the family of the man who was shot in a Dagupan City incident, protesting against the police’s inclusion of his name in a drug watch list. The story’s spin was that the granddaughter was what the newspaper called “collateral damage” in the government’s crackdown on the drug menace and its Pied Pipers across the archipelago. Yes, a “gunman” had supposedly targeted the grandfather but missed, and accidentally shot and killed the young girl. Although early in the narrative the story did not make a connection between the shooter and the old man, the account segued to the police chief of the northern city where the tragedy happened as having “theorized that drug dealers were behind the attack.” It was not clear from the story what the basis of the theory was. No detail was given about the local police chief’s comment, not even a qualifier saying the reporter made the necessary follow-up question about that drug-watch list and its basis, and if such question had received any reply. After all, it may not be a farfetched possibility that the assailant could have also just been trying to settle a personal score with the old man and that the shooting had nothing to do with illegal drugs at all? Authorities, however, had to first produce the attacker, but the story said nothing more about what happened with the suspect after the incident. The grandfather’s wife said her husband had never been involved in illegal drugs and feared that the “killers may come back for [him].” Well, the old man survived the shooting and the burden to prove his innocence now lies with him. In the event he is as clean as a whistle, as his wife portrays him to be, then the description of the girl being “collateral damage” collapses. If, on the other hand, the grandfather is guilty of any illegal drugs connection, then the entire sorry episode cannot be automatically blamed on the government’s war on drugs but on the individual shooter, as may or may not have been provoked by the victim himself. The local police chief referred to the attackers as “drug dealers.” The victim could have also been a drug user or a drug pusher even before the Duterte administration took over. Obviously, the headline of the story chose to side with the police description of the matter as a drug-related killing perpetrated by private participants in the illegal drugs trade, punching holes in the government crackdown on this crime as nothing more than a bloody foray to meet a deadline and everything about a drive against criminality gone berserk. There was this other story about a supposedly very young boy who was a heroin addict, according to Janet Cooke, the reporter who wrote the Pulitzer-winning piece for The Washington Post in 1981. Cooke said in her report “Jimmy” injected himself with heroin. Her editors believed her, but later faced with incontrovertible proof that she had fabricated the story, the paper was forced to return her prize. While the modern news media’s duty to report the facts now comes with the responsibility of connecting the dots for the readers, when faced with two conflicting sides in the same story, choosing to highlight the angle that favors one side without providing factual back-up for that choice could be as oppressive as hiding the truth itself.

The death toll in Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs reaches 1,900 people killed.

(CNN) More than 80 ISIS targets were attacked in the first hours of "Operation Euphrates Shield" early Wednesday, officials say, as Turkish armor and warplanes targeted a key ISIS-held town across its border with Syria. Jarablus is one of the few towns in northern Syria that ISIS still controls and is a critical location for supplies, money and fighters coming into ISIS-held areas. In recent months, much of Turkey's firepower has been directed at the Kurdish separatist PKK in southeastern Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq. It has also occasionally shelled ISIS positions in northern Syria, but its last-known airstrikes against ISIS were in November last year. Why is Turkey doing this now? Turkish authorities have been pressed into taking action against ISIS by the surge of suicide bombings in Turkey, as well as the terror group's use of safe houses and "informal" financial services on Turkish soil. "Daesh should be completely cleansed from our borders, and we are ready to do that," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Ankara may also have calculated that ISIS is especially vulnerable, after many of its remaining fighters fled Manbij, another key stronghold in Syria. The town was liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces backed by the United States. ISIS' lines of communication and resupply have now been disrupted and it's taken heavy losses across northern Syria in recent months. But Turkey is anxious that ISIS' vulnerability could provide an opportunity for their "other" enemy in northern Syria -- the Kurdish YPG militia -- who have taken several villages near Jarablus recently. What does Turkey want to achieve? Turkey has several aims. One is to degrade ISIS in this area -- to push the threat it poses away from the Turkish border and make infiltration harder. Beyond that, Turkey wants this part of Syria to become part of its sphere of influence. If it can clear this area of ISIS, it plans to inject Syrian rebel groups that it supports, according to officials. Several hundred are currently massed on the border, according to the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights. The advantage for Turkey in putting its "own" groups into this part of Syria is to stop the Kurdish advance in its tracks. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group indistinguishable from the PKK, which it battles on a daily basis in south-eastern Turkey. The Syrian Kurds have made no secret of their desire to expel ISIS and link the two regions of northern Syria they already control. They would then oversee much of Syria's border with Turkey. Hence the words of Erdogan Wednesday: "Turkey is determined that Syria retains its territorial integrity and will take matters into its own hands if required to protect that unity." How much is Turkey working with coalition partners? "We are working together with the coalition regarding air support," Cavusoglu said Wednesday. In addition, it's likely that the US is providing intelligence and targeting data to Turkish forces using unmanned aerial vehicles from the Incirlik air base. The US has long urged Turkey to become more involved in operations against ISIS in northern Syria, but relations have been strained by the crackdown following the coup attempt in Turkey last month and a surge of anti-US sentiment in Turkey. Cooperating in a substantial effort to weaken ISIS -- just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Ankara -- is one way to overcome a troubled few weeks. Additionally, in light of the sudden rapprochement between Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the US wants to reinforce its partnership with Turkey. The US is also sending a message to the Syrian Kurds, its most effective partner on the ground in this region: that American support is not a blank check and that they should not provoke the Turks by moving on Jarablus. Will Turkey will get sucked in further? If the aim of the operation is to expel ISIS from Jarablus and surrounding areas, it's unlikely to be achieved in days. Manbij took weeks to clear, despite a ground offensive and hundreds of US airstrikes. One problem is the risk of substantial civilian casualties. ISIS frequently uses civilians as human shields, preventing them from leaving urban areas, to make targeting more difficult. Perhaps the greatest risk is that this incursion on the ground will spill over into conflict with Kurdish forces. But the Kurds will realize that with their light, outmoded weaponry, they are no match for Turkish tanks. The US is likely encouraging the YPG -- to which it indirectly supplies weapons and training -- to stay out of this. Additionally, Syrian Kurdish sources say they believe Turkey would like nothing better than a pretext to go after the YPG. But if the Kurds don't return to the eastern banks of the Euphrates -- Turkey's "red line" -- the operation against ISIS could evolve into something very different -- perhaps a broader operation that also focuses on the YPG. Turkish public opinion is likely to support this operation, in light of recent attacks blamed on ISIS, so long as its scope and duration is defined. But in Damascus, the Assad regime has bitterly criticized it as a "blatant breach to its sovereignty." The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "substituting (ISIS) with other terrorist organizations backed directly by Turkey" is not "fighting terrorism."[SEP]BEIRUT (AP) — Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria say Turkish airstrikes have hit their bases near Jarablus, a town seized by Turkey-backed rebels earlier this week. The Jarablus Military Council says the airstrikes Saturday on their bases in Amarneh village marked an "unprecedented and dangerous escalation" and came after Turkish artillery shelled the positions the day before. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the airstrikes. Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Turkish troops head to the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and to contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey .(AP Photo/Halit Onur Sandal) The Jarablus Military Council is supported by the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces. Turkey sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels capture Jarablus from the Islamic State group. The incursion was partly aimed at containing Kurdish-led forces. Turkey says the Kurds must withdraw to the east of the nearby Euphrates River. Turkish troops head to the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and to contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey. (AP Photo/Halit Onur Sandal) Turkish tanks head to the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and to contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey. (AP Photo/Halit Onur Sandal) Turkish ambulances return from the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and to contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey. (AP Photo/Halit Onur Sandal) A Turkish army tank stationed overlooks the Syrian border, in Karkamis, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. Turkey on Wednesday sent tanks across the border to help Syrian rebels retake the key Islamic State-held town of Jarablus and to contain the expansion of Syria's Kurds in an area bordering Turkey.(AP Photo/Halit Onur Sandal)[SEP]ANKARA (Reuters) - A car bomb at a police headquarters in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast killed at least eleven and wounded dozens on Thursday, officials said, two days after Turkey launched an incursion against Islamic State and Kurdish terrorists in Syria. The state-run Anadolu news agency blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a terror group which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy and has been involved in almost daily clashes with security forces since a ceasefire collapsed more than a year ago. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Large plumes of smoke billowed from the site in Cizre, located in Turkey’s Sirnak province bordering both Syria and Iraq, footage on CNN Turk showed. The broadcaster said a dozen ambulances and two helicopters had been sent to the scene. Hospital sources initially told Reuters that nine people were killed and 64 wounded, but an official later said the toll was eight. It was not clear whether the casualties were civilians or police officers. Photographs broadcast by private channel NTV showed a large three-floor building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, and surrounded by grey rubble. Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched their first major incursion into Syria on Wednesday in support of Syrian rebels, in an operation President Tayyip Erdogan has said is aimed both at driving Islamic State away from the border area and preventing territorial gains by the Kurdish YPG militia. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in Turkey in 1984. Turkish troops fired on YPG terrorists in northern Syria on Thursday. Also on Thursday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the PKK of attacking a convoy carrying the country’s main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The government has blamed the PKK for a series of terror attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack on a police station.[SEP]Turkey has suffered a deadly bomb blast and an unprecedented threat by a Syrian group, as it faces an escalation of its battle with Kurdish militants. A truck bomb at a police headquarters in Cizre, in the Kurdish heartlands of the southeast, killed 11 people and wounded over 70 yesterday morning, in the latest indication that the Syrian conflict threatens to increase tensions within Turkey itself. The blast came just hours after a Syrian Kurdish group called for retaliation against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for sending Turkish forces into the country this week. In an ostensibly anti-jihadi operation, Turkish troops, supplemented by Turkish-trained Syrian rebels, thwarted Kurdish plans for territorial expansion on Wednesday by taking over Jarablus, a Syrian town Isis had held since July 2013. “Death to Erdogan and his mercenaries,” said a group known as the council of Aleppo, in a statement shared by the political arm of the Syrian Kurdish militias. “We call on all the national revolutionary forces in Syria and to its north to face this invasion and to intervene immediately. Jarablus and north Syria will be a graveyard for the murderous invader Erdogan and his mercenaries.” Control of Jarablus was a central goal of Kurdish militias in Syria, who had hoped to join two separate cantons they control in the north of the country and create a self-administered state along Turkey’s southern border. The Syrian Kurdish militia is closely linked to the PKK, an outlawed group that has waged a conflict for more than 30 years to win self-rule for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, a battle in which tens of thousands of people have died. Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, a consultancy, warned Ankara’s decision to intervene militarily in Syria was likely to exacerbate its long-running tensions with the PKK and could invite further attacks from Isis. “This aggressive move will raise the stakes for Turkey’s involvement in Syria and introduces the risk of a further intervention to support rebel forces if they come under stress in the future,” he said. “In the meantime, Turkey’s exposure to Syria will increase domestic security risks and is likely to provoke retaliatory attacks by Isis and the PKK in Turkey.” The Turkey-backed rebels now intend to expand their corridor of influence, after the US pressured the Syrian Kurdish fighters to disperse from Manbij, a town they had helped liberate from Isis “The next step is Al Bab,” said Mohammad al Shamali, a vice-president with the Turkmen Council, a group of fighters backed by Turkey, and rivals of both Isis and the Kurdish militias. He was referring to an Isis controlled city about 20km from Aleppo.[SEP]KARKAMIS, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish troops fired on U.S.-backed Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria on Thursday, highlighting the complications of an incursion meant to secure the border region against both Islamic State and Kurdish advances. Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered Jarablus, one of Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border, on Wednesday. But President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made clear the aim of “Operation Euphrates Shield” is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG militia seizing territory and filling the void left by Islamic State as it is about eliminating the ultra-hardline Islamist group itself. A Turkish security source said the army shelled the People’s Protection Units (YPG) south of Jarablus. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu agency described the action as warning shots. Gunfire and explosions echoed around hills in the region on Thursday, a day after the incursion first began. Some of the blasts were triggered as Turkish security forces cleared mines and booby traps left by retreating Islamic State militants, according to Nuh Kocaaslan, the mayor of Karkamis, which sits just across the border from Jarablus. He said three Turkish-backed Syrian rebels were killed but no Turkish troops. Turkey, which has NATO’s second biggest armed forces, demanded that the YPG retreat to the east side of the Euphrates river within a week. The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a U.S.-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from Islamic State. Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-old insurgency on its own soil. It has been alarmed by the YPG’s gains in northern Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, fearing it could extend Kurdish control along Turkish borders and fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. Turkey’s stance has put it at odds with Washington, which sees the YPG as a rare reliable ally on the ground in Syria, where Washington is trying to defeat Islamic State while also opposing President Bashar al-Assad’s government in a complex, multi-sided, five-year-old civil war. The Syrian Kurdish force is one of the most powerful militias in Syria and regarded as the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance formed last October to fight Islamic State. Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said the Kurdish PYD party, the political arm of the YPG, wanted to unite Kurdish-controlled cantons east of Jarablus with those further west. “We cannot let this happen,” he said. “Islamic State should be completely cleansed, this is an absolute must. But it’s not enough for us ... The PYD and the YPG militia should not replace Islamic State there,” Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV. EUPHRATES U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu by phone on Thursday that YPG fighters were retreating to the east side of the Euphrates, as Turkey has demanded, foreign ministry sources in Ankara said. A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State said the SDF had withdrawn across the Euphrates, doing so “to prepare for the eventual liberation” of Raqqa, the radical group’s stronghold which lies further east. Turkish army tanks make their way towards the Syrian border town of Jarablus, Syria August 24, 2016. Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office/Handout via REUTERS Isik said the retreat was not yet complete and Washington had given assurances that this would happen in the next week. “If the PYD does not retreat to east of the Euphrates, we have the right to do everything about it,” the minister said. The offensive is Turkey’s first major military operation since a failed July 15 coup shook confidence in its ability to step up the fight against Islamic State. It came four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who met Erdogan during a trip to Turkey on Wednesday, said Turkey was ready to stay in Syria for as long as it takes to destroy the radical Islamist group. “I think there has been a gradual mind shift ... in Turkey, with the realization that ISIL is an existential threat to Turkey,” he told reporters during a visit to Sweden, using an acronym for the militant group. A Turkish official said the ground incursion had been in the works for more than two years but had been delayed by U.S. reservations, resistance from some Turkish commanders, and a stand-off with Russia which had made air cover impossible. Turkey had made the case more strongly to Washington over the past few months, had patched up relations with Russia, and had removed some of the Turkish commanders from their posts after finding they were involved in the coup attempt, paving the way for the operation to go ahead, the official said. The incursion comes at a testing time for Turkish-U.S. relations. Erdogan wants the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania for 17 years and whose religious movement Turkey blames for staging last month’s failed coup. Washington says it needs clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement and that it is a matter for the courts, a position that has sparked an outpouring of anti-Americanism from Turkey’s pro-government media. Gulen denies any role in the coup attempt. REBELS ADVANCE The sound of gunfire, audible from a hill on the Turkish side of the border overlooking Jarablus, rang out on Thursday and black smoke rose over the town. War planes flew overhead. A senior Turkish official said there were now more than 20 Turkish tanks inside Syria and that additional tanks and construction machinery would be sent in as required. A Reuters witness saw at least nine tanks enter on Thursday, and 10 more were waiting outside a military outpost on the Turkish side. “We need construction machinery to open up roads ... and we may need more in the days ahead. We also have armored personnel carriers that could be used on the Syrian side. We may put them into service as needed,” the official said. Erdogan said on Wednesday that Islamic State had been driven out of Jarablus and that it was now controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, who are largely Arab and Turkmen. “The myth that the YPG is the only effective force fighting Islamic State has collapsed,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter, reflecting Turkish frustration at how closely Washington has been working with the Kurdish militia. Slideshow (13 Images) Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish PYD, said on Wednesday that Turkey was entering a “quagmire” in Syria and faced defeat there like Islamic State. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the YPG, said the intervention was a “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs”. After seizing Jarablus, the Turkish-backed rebels have advanced up to 10 km (6 miles) south of the border town, rebel sources and a group monitoring the war said. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Kurdish-backed forces opposed by Ankara had gained up to 8 km of ground northwards, apparently seeking to pre-empt advances by the rebels.[SEP](CNN) More than 80 ISIS targets were attacked in the first hours of "Operation Euphrates Shield" early Wednesday, officials say, as Turkish armor and warplanes targeted a key ISIS-held town across its border with Syria. Jarablus is one of the few towns in northern Syria that ISIS still controls and is a critical location for supplies, money and fighters coming into ISIS-held areas. In recent months, much of Turkey's firepower has been directed at the Kurdish separatist PKK in southeastern Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq. It has also occasionally shelled ISIS positions in northern Syria, but its last-known airstrikes against ISIS were in November last year. Why is Turkey doing this now? Turkish authorities have been pressed into taking action against ISIS by the surge of suicide bombings in Turkey, as well as the terror group's use of safe houses and "informal" financial services on Turkish soil. "Daesh should be completely cleansed from our borders, and we are ready to do that," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Ankara may also have calculated that ISIS is especially vulnerable, after many of its remaining fighters fled Manbij, another key stronghold in Syria. The town was liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces backed by the United States. ISIS' lines of communication and resupply have now been disrupted and it's taken heavy losses across northern Syria in recent months. But Turkey is anxious that ISIS' vulnerability could provide an opportunity for their "other" enemy in northern Syria -- the Kurdish YPG militia -- who have taken several villages near Jarablus recently. What does Turkey want to achieve? Turkey has several aims. One is to degrade ISIS in this area -- to push the threat it poses away from the Turkish border and make infiltration harder. Beyond that, Turkey wants this part of Syria to become part of its sphere of influence. If it can clear this area of ISIS, it plans to inject Syrian rebel groups that it supports, according to officials. Several hundred are currently massed on the border, according to the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights. The advantage for Turkey in putting its "own" groups into this part of Syria is to stop the Kurdish advance in its tracks. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group indistinguishable from the PKK, which it battles on a daily basis in south-eastern Turkey. The Syrian Kurds have made no secret of their desire to expel ISIS and link the two regions of northern Syria they already control. They would then oversee much of Syria's border with Turkey. Hence the words of Erdogan Wednesday: "Turkey is determined that Syria retains its territorial integrity and will take matters into its own hands if required to protect that unity." How much is Turkey working with coalition partners? "We are working together with the coalition regarding air support," Cavusoglu said Wednesday. In addition, it's likely that the US is providing intelligence and targeting data to Turkish forces using unmanned aerial vehicles from the Incirlik air base. The US has long urged Turkey to become more involved in operations against ISIS in northern Syria, but relations have been strained by the crackdown following the coup attempt in Turkey last month and a surge of anti-US sentiment in Turkey. Cooperating in a substantial effort to weaken ISIS -- just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Ankara -- is one way to overcome a troubled few weeks. Additionally, in light of the sudden rapprochement between Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the US wants to reinforce its partnership with Turkey. The US is also sending a message to the Syrian Kurds, its most effective partner on the ground in this region: that American support is not a blank check and that they should not provoke the Turks by moving on Jarablus. Will Turkey will get sucked in further? If the aim of the operation is to expel ISIS from Jarablus and surrounding areas, it's unlikely to be achieved in days. Manbij took weeks to clear, despite a ground offensive and hundreds of US airstrikes. One problem is the risk of substantial civilian casualties. ISIS frequently uses civilians as human shields, preventing them from leaving urban areas, to make targeting more difficult. Perhaps the greatest risk is that this incursion on the ground will spill over into conflict with Kurdish forces. But the Kurds will realize that with their light, outmoded weaponry, they are no match for Turkish tanks. The US is likely encouraging the YPG -- to which it indirectly supplies weapons and training -- to stay out of this. Additionally, Syrian Kurdish sources say they believe Turkey would like nothing better than a pretext to go after the YPG. But if the Kurds don't return to the eastern banks of the Euphrates -- Turkey's "red line" -- the operation against ISIS could evolve into something very different -- perhaps a broader operation that also focuses on the YPG. Turkish public opinion is likely to support this operation, in light of recent attacks blamed on ISIS, so long as its scope and duration is defined. But in Damascus, the Assad regime has bitterly criticized it as a "blatant breach to its sovereignty." The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "substituting (ISIS) with other terrorist organizations backed directly by Turkey" is not "fighting terrorism."[SEP]Kurdish-aligned group in north Syria says targeted by Turkish warplanes KARKAMIS, Turkey, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A group allied to Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it was bombarded by Turkish warplanes on Saturday, after Turkey's military launched an incursion this week into northern Syria against both Islamic State and Kurdish forces. Turkish officials had no immediate comment on the report which, if confirmed, would signal Turkey's action against Kurdish-aligned forces was being ratcheted up a notch. The Jarablus Military Council, a group that is part of the SDF, said jets hit positions near the strategic town of Jarablus. It reported civilian casualties and called the strike "a dangerous escalation". Early on Saturday, a Reuters witness in Karkamis, a Turkish town on the other side of the border from Syria's Jarablus, saw warplanes flying from Turkish air space into Syria and then heard several explosions. The identity of the planes was not clear. Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered Jarablus this week, seizing the frontier town that had been an Islamic State stronghold. The rebel force backed by Turkey were largely Arab and Turkmen. The Turkish campaign pre-empted action by Kurdish-backed forces which had sought to get to Jarablus first. But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and other senior officials has made clear that the incursion is as much about pushing away Islamic State as it is about preventing Kurdish forces filling the void left as the Islamists withdraw. Turkey wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of a continuous stretch of territory along its southern border, which Ankara fears they could use to support the Kurdish militant group PKK that is fighting an insurgency on Turkish soil. The Jarablus Military Council said the village of al-Amarna, which lies a few km south of Jarablus, was hit. In response to the Turkish strike, it said: "If they do not attack our forces, then we will keep the border strip secure." The newly formed Jarablus Military Council has said it is made up by people from the area with the aim of capturing the town and the surrounding area from Islamic State militants. However, the Turkish-backed rebels seized Jarablus first. The Jarablus Military Council has aligned itself with the SDF, which encompasses several militias including Arabs and the Kurdish YPG group. The SDF is also backed by the United States, putting Ankara at odds with its NATO ally Washington in its engagement in Syria, where the multi-faceted conflict has raged for five years, creating complex rivalries and alliances. On Thursday, a day after Turkey began its cross-border offensive, Turkish troops fired on U.S.-backed YPG forces, which is part of the SDF. Turkey's state news agency described that salvo as warning shots. The use of Turkish warplanes against an SDF-aligned group would point to tougher action. A Reuters witness in Karkamis heard blasts and smoke rising from the nearby Syrian village of Kivircik. Several militias under the SDF banner pledged support to Jarablus Military Council after it reported the Turkish bombing. The Northern Sun Battalion, an SDF faction, said in a statement it was heading to "Jarablus fronts" to help the council against "threats made by factions belonging to Turkey". Tension has mounted in the past year between the Kurdish YPG force and its allies on one hand and Turkish-backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad on the other, in the Aleppo region. The two sides have clashed on several occasions. (Additional reporting by Ece Toksabey and Orhan Coskun in Ankara; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Mark Heinrich)[SEP]KARKAMIS, Turkey — Turkey sent more tanks into northern Syria on Thursday and demanded Kurdish militia fighters retreat within a week as it seeks to secure the border region and drive back the Daesh terror group with its first major incursion into its neighbour. Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes on Wednesday entered Jarablus, one of Daesh’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border. Gunfire and explosions echoed around hills in the region on Thursday. Some of the blasts were triggered as Turkish security forces cleared mines and booby traps left by retreating Daesh militants, according to Nuh Kocaaslan, the mayor of Karkamis, which sits just across the border from Jarablus. Three Syrian rebels were killed during the operation to take Jarablus, one of them when he opened the door of a house rigged with explosives, Kocaaslan told reporters. There were no casualties among the Turkish troops. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made clear the aim of “Operation Euphrates Shield” is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG militia seizing territory and filling the void left by Daesh as about eliminating the radical group itself. Turkey, which has NATO’s second biggest armed forces, demanded that the YPG retreat to the east side of the Euphrates River within a week. The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a US-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from Daesh. Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-old insurgency on its own soil. It has been alarmed by the YPG’s gains in northern Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, fearing it could extend Kurdish control along Turkish borders and fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. Turkey’s stance has put it at odds with Washington, which sees the YPG as a rare reliable ally on the ground in Syria, where Washington is trying to defeat Daesh while also opposing President Bashar Assad’s government in a complex, multi-sided five-year-old civil war. The Syrian Kurdish force is one of the most powerful militias in Syria and regarded as the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance formed last October to fight Daesh. Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik said preventing the Kurdish PYD Party — the political arm of the YPG — from uniting Kurdish cantons east of Jarablus with those further west was a priority. “Daesh should be completely cleansed, this is an absolute must. But it’s not enough for us.... The PYD and the YPG militia should not replace Islamic State [Daesh] there,” Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV. “The PYD’s biggest dream is to unify the western and eastern cantons. We cannot let this happen,” he said. US Secretary of State John Kerry told Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu by phone on Thursday that YPG fighters were retreating to the east side of the Euphrates, as Turkey has demanded, foreign ministry sources in Ankara said. A spokesman for the US-led coalition against Daesh also said the SDF had withdrawn across the Euphrates, doing so “to prepare for the eventual liberation” of Raqqa, the radical group’s stronghold in northern Syria, which is to the east. Isik said the retreat was not yet complete and Washington had given assurances that this would happen in the next week. “We are closely following this... If the PYD does not retreat to east of the Euphrates, we have the right to do everything about it,” he said. The offensive is Turkey’s first major military operation since a failed July 15 coup shook confidence in its ability to step up the fight against Daesh. It came four days after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. US Vice President Joe Biden, who met Erdogan during a trip to Turkey on Wednesday, said Turkey was ready to stay in Syria for as long as it takes to destroy the radical Islamist group. “I think there has been a gradual mind shift... in Turkey, with the realisation that ISIL [Daesh] is an existential threat to Turkey,” he told reporters during a visit to Sweden. A Turkish official said the ground incursion had been in the works for more than two years but had been delayed by US reservations, resistance from some Turkish commanders, and a stand-off with Russia which had made air cover impossible. Turkey had made the case more strongly to Washington over the past few months, had patched up relations with Russia, and had removed some of the Turkish commanders from their posts after finding they were involved in the coup attempt, paving the way for the operation to go ahead, the official said. The incursion comes at a testing time for Turkish-US relations. Erdogan wants the United States to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania for 17 years and whose religious movement Turkey blames for staging last month’s failed coup. Washington says it needs clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement and that it is a matter for the courts, a position that has sparked an outpouring of anti-Americanism from Turkey’s pro-government media. Gulen denies any role in the coup attempt. The sound of gunfire, audible from a hill on the Turkish side of the border overlooking Jarablus, rang out early on Thursday and a plume of black smoke rose over the town. Warplanes flew overhead. A senior Turkish official said there were now more than 20 Turkish tanks inside Syria and that additional tanks and construction machinery would be sent in as required. A Reuters witness saw at least nine tanks enter on Thursday, and 10 more were waiting outside a military outpost on the Turkish side. “We need construction machinery to open up roads... and we may need more in the days ahead. We also have armoured personnel carriers that could be used on the Syrian side. We may put them into service as needed,” the official said. Erdogan said on Wednesday that Daesh had been driven out of Jarablus and that it was now controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, who are largely Arab and Turkmen. “The myth that the YPG is the only effective force fighting Daesh has collapsed,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter, reflecting Turkish frustration at how closely Washington has been working with the Kurdish militia. Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish PYD, said on Wednesday that Turkey was entering a “quagmire” in Syria and faced defeat there like Daesh. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the YPG, said the intervention was a “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs”. After seizing Jarablus, the Turkish-backed rebels have advanced up to 10km south of the border town, rebel sources and a group monitoring the war said. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Kurdish-backed forces opposed by Ankara had gained up to 8km of ground northwards, apparently seeking to pre-empt advances by the rebels.[SEP]Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yidirim on Friday denounced as a "bare-faced lie" suggestions in Western media that Ankara's military operation in Syria was singling out Kurdish people rather than jihadists. "They either know nothing about the world, or else their job is to report a bare-faced lie," Yildirim snarled when asked to comment on claims the operation was not targeting Islamic State (IS) jihadists but Kurds. He had been asked to respond to an article in German weekly Der Spiegel -- which frequently riles the Turkish authorities -- with the headline "Turkey's Syria operation -- IS is the pretext, the Kurds the target". Yildirim said: "Our soldiers' mission is to ensure our border security and the life and property of our citizens. The news apart from that is just a lie." "You tell lies that Turkey is weak in the fight against ISIS (IS) but when we save innocent lives from ISIS you go and write this," he fumed. Ankara has said it will act in the operation against the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia who it accuses of seeking to carve out an autonomous region in northern Syria. Turkey regards the organisations as terror groups who represent neither the Kurdish nor the Syrian people. The YPG are allies of the United States in the fight against IS but Ankara argues this is a dangerous error.[SEP]Russia says a solution to Syria's 5 1/2-year-long war may be getting closer after relations improved with Turkey, a major backer of rebel groups fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "It's a very important moment," Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, said in an interview in Moscow Thursday. Turkey "is showing its interest in both the military and political sphere" in resolving the Syrian conflict and "when there's a constructive dialogue then of course it always helps the situation to develop in a positive way. It's a step in the right direction." Russia welcomes contact between Turkey and Iran as a "constructive contribution" to resolving the Syrian crisis, Zakharova said. "If we communicate with Turkey and Iran, why shouldn't Turkey and Iran talk to each other? Many in Washington don't like it, but it's an important element" in diplomatic discussions, she said. The thawing of relations between Russia and Turkey is taking place as the government in Ankara carries out its biggest military operation in Syria. Turkey is seeking to drive Islamic State militants away from its border and deter advances by Kurds allied with Turkish separatists. Jets pounded Islamic State positions and tanks crossed the border this week, allowing the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army to gain control of the strategic town of Jarablus, state-run Anadolu news service reported Wednesday. A softening in Turkey's insistence on Assad's departure in any settlement of the war has narrowed differences with Russia, which has conducted air strikes in support of the Syrian leader since September. Turkey has also reached out to Iran, Assad's other main supporter. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Ankara a few days after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg this month to repair relations that had been plunged into crisis when Turkey shot down a Russian military jet near the border with Syria in November. Russia "sees potential for it and Turkey and Iran to reach a compromise," said Irina Zvagelskaya, a senior fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oriental Studies. "For Turkey, the only red line is the Kurds." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss efforts to coordinate actions against terrorists in Syria when they meet in Geneva on Friday, Zakharova said. Russia and the U.S. have tried unsuccessfully so far to reach agreement on synchronizing air strikes against militants in Syria, a move that could revive efforts to end a war in which more than 280,000 people have been killed and millions more have fled to neighboring countries and Europe. "If we consider the Syrian settlement to be important then this is key -- it's a cornerstone of what is happening there" because "we need to destroy the terrorists," Zakharova said before leaving with Lavrov for Geneva. The U.S. targets "terrorists where there are no opposition members shielding them. Where they are being shielded under Washington's direction we have a problem." A "terrorist center remains" in these areas of Syria and "no one can deal with it because so-called moderate opposition groups are there," Zakharova said. The Turkish offensive aims to push Islamic State deeper into Syria and create a buffer zone against the Syrian Kurds if they attempt to move northward toward the border. It has produced a rare degree of unity between the U.S., Russia and Turkey, with a Russian Foreign Ministry official calling the action "timely," while the U.S. extended its cooperation. The U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds have been seeking to link enclaves they control by seizing major villages and towns from Islamic State along the border with Turkey. That alarmed Ankara, which fears the campaign will encourage restive Kurds in its east. Russia may have agreed not to object to a limited Turkish incursion into Syria in return for Turkey being more cooperative on a political settlement with Assad, according to Dmitri Trenin, head of the Carnegie Moscow Center. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said last week that a transition with Assad still in power is possible and he called the confrontation over the downed Russian warplane an "unnecessary crisis." Yildirim on Wednesday said Turkey will increase cooperation with Iran on Syria and fighting Turkish separatist Kurds. Demands for Assad to step down are unacceptable and "there can't be any preconditions in fighting against terrorism," Zakharova said. The presidency "is an important key to maintaining a strong fight against terrorists on the ground" in Syria, she said.

Turkey sends more tanks into northern Syria to continue its offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

[SEP]Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd said on Wednesday it has set up a Cayman Islands-based fund that will buy mining projects as the Chinese state-owned copper producer sets its eyes on potential bargains as the commodities cycle bottoms. As China’s largest copper producer reported a 37.9 percent drop in profits due to weak metals prices, it said it had allocated $100 million through its subsidiaries to establish Valuestone Global Resources Fund I in the Cayman Islands with CCB International Asset Management Ltd, part of China Construction Bank Corp. By Aug. 4, the fund had $150 million in initial funding and was now open to domestic and foreign institutional investors. The aim is to get $300 million in total investment. Jiangxi didn’t identify what projects it was targeting, but said the fund will capture opportunities arising from low metals prices. While it is not unusual for banks and hedge funds to use investment arms to buy into mining projects, it is an unusual move for a Chinese government-owned producer and reflects the company’s global ambitions. “The focus is not to secure supply, it is rather how to make a profit at the bottom of this industry cycle,” analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong said. “Eventually Jiangxi Copper may participate in operating and investing… but they may ask the (private equity) fund to just flip it.” The fund may be able to cast its net wider than traditional private equity units, said Lau. Private equity funds have been on the hunt for deals for the past few years but have largely held back on purchases. However, Jiangxi’s fund could have greater capacity to develop projects since it is a major producer as well as a stakeholder offering operational know-how and could pay for the offtake, said Lau. Jiangxi Copper sources only 20 percent of its supply from its own mines. It has said its next step will be to focus on international acquisitions and Lau said the fund will help Jiangxi bolster its international M&A experience. Jiangxi has had limited success overseas with projects in Afghanistan and Peru, unlike peers such as China Moly and Minmetals. The Afghani project has been delayed after insurgent attacks that have also hampered nearby infrastructure builds. London Metal Exchange copper prices have fallen by more than quarter since May 2015 amid concerns about slowing demand from China, the world’s top commodities consumer, and are languishing at around $4,700 per tonne. For more on this story go to: https://www.pehub.com/2016/08/jiangxi-copper-targets-investors-with-300-mln-global-mining-fund-reuters/[SEP]There is hope for the big players in the mining industry, amid the crackdown launched by Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez versus irresponsible mining operations, with over 100 new projects being reviewed by the Duterte administration. In fact, Environment Undersecretary Mario Luis J. Jacinto said the ongoing mining audit—first thought to be Lopez’s way of curbing mining operations in the country—will eventually benefit large-scale miners who responsibly do business in the Philippines. Jacinto said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is now reviewing more than 100 mining applications that were put on hold by the Aquino administration. “We will, on the basis of existing operations, submit our policy recommendations and the directions to take [on the review of new applications]. On the basis of that, then a review of the permitting processes will have to be undertaken and then deliberate decision on how to proceed with it; what is allowed, what should be restricted will be put in place,” he said. In 2012 then-President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Executive Order (EO) 79 effectively putting on hold the processing of new mining projects until a new revenue-sharing measure has been put in place by Congress. “We have rich mineral resources, we have large ecosystem, so it is a fragile ecosystem. We have resources that are God-given, so we must make very deliberate decisions on how to best utilize them. And what will be the best land uses for all the areas,” Jacinto added. The applications for exploration, transport, export and all other mining-related permits including agreements, already reached “hundreds” since the moratorium was imposed, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official said. “We are now doing the assessment; we are waiting for the results of the audit first then we can take it from there,” Jacinto added. The government, through the DENR-MGB, is doing an audit on all mining operations in the country, which already led to the suspension of 10 large-scale mines. “We now expect to get the comments in the audit and the recommendations and then it should turn out to be a good jump-off point for industry monitoring,” Jacinto said. Data from Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) showed that the mining sector could infuse around $20 billion to $30 billion to the economy over the next five to 10 years with the inclusion of new projects. The group’s latest breakdown showed that the combined mining investments expected this year stands at $2.25 billion. The country is also anticipating projects with a combined value of $6 billion in 2017. In 2018 mining investments are expected to go as high as $14.75 billion. This year, the projects that are expected to be operational are those of Asiaticus Mining Corp. in Davao Oriental and Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. in Palawan. To be followed by Philex Mining Corp.’s Silangan project in Surigao del Norte, Nadecor’s Kingking project in Davao del Norte, the Balabag Gold-Silver project of TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc., which are all expected to take off in 2017. In 2018 projects targeted for operation are the Tampakan Mine development of Sagitarius Mines in South Cotobato, the project of Intex Resources in Mindoro, the Masbate gold project of Philsaga Mining Corp., the nickel-mine project of San Miguel Corp., through Philnico in Surigao del Sur, and the Balatoc Mines project of Benguet Corp. As of now, the sole project expected in 2019 is the Far South East Gold project of Lepanto Mning Corp. in Benguet. Jacinto advised investors to make sure that they are compliant before investing in mining in the Philippines. “If you put in that kind of investment, then you also make sure that you are compliant. Because it is useless if you put that kind of investment and you are not compliant,” he said. There are four considerations for mining operations to continue in the Philippines under the Duterte administration, he said. “It should be technically feasible; it will be environmentally compliant, socially acceptable and financially viable. Any of the imperatives absent, then it means it is not time to mine,” he added. He said there are companies that existed for almost half a century and they have complied with the highest standard of mining, which other mining companies can emulate. The mining audit, he said, will be completed by the end of the month. The DENR chief, he said, will always have the final say whether a mining operation should continue or stop, based on the new mining audit criteria. Jacinto represented President Duterte in the ongoing Mining Philippines 2016 Conference and Exhibition in Pasay City. During his speech, Jacinto said, while news headlines over the past weeks highlighted alleged environmental violations of miners, suspensions of mining operations and show-cause orders, he sees the audit as “a blessing in disguise to responsible miners who have religiously followed and are compliant of mining and environmental laws, rules and regulations.” “Those who have clearly violated the terms and conditions of their contracts; taken shortcuts; largely ignored the adverse impact of their operations to their host communities; polluted waterways so essential to the productivity of farmers and fisherfolks; and threatened the very survival of people who should benefit from mining from these economic activities are the ones who have to face sanctions for their irresponsible acts,” he said. Jacinto’s remark referring to COMP participants as “responsible miners” receive loud applause from conference participants. “It was an excellent speech,” said Jose Leviste, president of OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. COMP Vice President for Legal and Policy Ronald Recidoro said apparently, “Jacinto knows the language of responsible miners.” COMP President Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez remains optimistic of the prospects of responsible miners under the Duterte administration. Romualdez, the president of Benguet Corp., assured Jacinto that the COMP will follow the law, and we will engage in responsible mining, using only the best practice available to ensure that our host communities and the environment will thrive under our care. “We are not afraid of the ongoing audit of the DENR. We welcome it! We welcome this purging of illegal and noncompliant mining operations. We have always operated under some of the strictest laws and we believe that if you cannot obey these laws, you should not be in this industry,” he said. However, he said the mining industry does not need a new law, adding that the existing mining law is one of the best in the world today, because it already integrates stringent rules on the environment and caring for the local communities. “What is needed is strict and fair enforcement of a stable policy regime that promotes the long term stewardship of our environment and natural resources,” he said. He said COMP has always maintained the highest standard of professionalism in the conduct of business. “As a highly regulated industry, we seriously follow the Mining Act and all regulatory rules of the DENR.” Romualdez said of the 21 member-companies of the COMP currently operating today, 17 have already secured ISO 14001 certification for their environmental management systems.[SEP]What do surging LME copper stocks say about China? Andy Home LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A wave of copper is currently washing up in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. Arrivals of metal have totalled 73,325 tonnes this week, lifting headline exchange inventory to 271,575 tonnes, the highest level since October last year. There's no big mystery as to where this metal is coming from. Surging arrivals at LME sheds in Singapore and South Korea have broadly corresponded to export flows out of China. And in part this is no more than a continuation of the stocks rebalancing that has been playing out for several months, a refilling of a depleted LME system from high inventories in China that accumulated earlier this year. But unlike the mini surge of LME arrivals in early June, there is no obvious bull-bear battle being waged across the front part of the London copper curve. If no-one is being forced to deliver metal against a short position, the alternative explanation would be that this is China pushing out surplus. If so, it would mean that copper oversupply, already clear to see at the raw materials stage of the supply chain, is finally starting to take manifest form in the refined metal arena. It's not unusual for LME copper stocks to trend higher during the dog-days of northern hemisphere summer as manufacturing activity drops a gear. And, conforming with that pattern, warranting of metal has taken place at a wide variety of LME good delivery points, including Hull in Britain, Bilbao in Spain and several U.S. locations. But the real stand-out has been the accelerated flows at Singapore, which has received almost 95,000 tonnes since the start of June, and South Korea, which has taken in 103,000 tonnes. Both countries have also featured prominently in China's export profile over the same period of time. Customs data shows exports of 89,000 tonnes to Singapore and 76,000 tonnes to South Korea since March, when China's exports first started accelerating. Between them Singapore and South Korea have accounted for almost 60 percent of all outbound flows. The correspondence between Chinese exports and LME arrivals isn't perfect (see the chart above) but the broad picture is one of metal leaving China and turning up in the most easily shippable LME locations. The question is whether this metal is being pushed or pulled. A mini-surge of copper arrivals in the LME system in early June bore all the hallmarks of a distress delivery by a short position holder facing a cash-date squeeze. What's noticeable about the current flood is that there is no similar tension in the LME spreads. True, the LME's market positioning reports show a dominant long holding between 50-80 percent of non-cancelled stocks and 40-50 percent of cash positions as of the close of business Wednesday. But ever since the bull-bear battle of early June the front part of the curve has been trading in benign contango. The cash-to-three months period traded as wide as $27 per tonne backwardation in late May. As of Thursday's close it was valued at $9 per tonne contango. The very front part of the curve, between cash and the September prime prompt on the 21st of the month has tightened up a little over the last couple of days but is still only quoted at level. Any pull on extra units to alleviate LME spread stress is currently weak, in other words. That's not to say there is no gravitational pull at all, rather it has been coming in the form of incentives offered by LME warehouse operators in the Asian region. That particular magnet, however, only really works if the incentives are competitive in terms of physical premiums, first and foremost in China itself. Which it seems they are. Premiums for delivery to China are trading at a soggy $45-50 per tonne over LME cash prices, according to LME broker Triland Metals. To put that figure into context, remember that Chilean producer Codelco's "benchmark" premium covering 2016 shipments to China was set at $98 per tonne. Nor is there any obvious indication of tightness within the mainland market, Triland again noting that the domestic premium structure is largely flat against front-month Shanghai Futures Exchange contracts. All of which tells us that the Chinese market right now seems very comfortably supplied, if not oversupplied, with physical refined copper units. To the point that LME warehouse operators can probably match if not better Chinese premiums, stimulating a physical arbitrage. So who is actually moving the material? Some of it seems to be coming from Chinese smelters themselves, or at least the handful that have clearance to export without paying the export duty. Modest exports to countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh have no obvious LME arbitrage significance since none of them host LME warehouses. But there is almost certainly a second stream of exports being shipped by merchants from China's bonded warehouse zones. Or maybe that should read "re-exports". Copper in bonded warehouses has not yet been subject to China's VAT and can turn around and head back out without any tax penalty, albeit showing up in the customs figures as bona fide "exports". So if China is pushing out surplus copper, or at least exerting a lesser magnetic pull than that offered by LME warehousers, what does it say about the health or otherwise of Chinese demand? Not as much as you might think. China's apparent consumption, a back-of-the-envelope calculation factoring in production, imports and visible stocks movements, jumped by 11 percent in the first half of this year. Not even the most exuberant bull would argue that real consumption growth was anywhere near that level. The spectrum of estimates is a wide one but the middle ground would be around three percent. The implication is that there has been significant stocks build, possibly on the mainland, possibly in bonded warehouses and most probably a combination of the two. China, in other words, is full of copper. And getting fuller, because the other dimension to this mass stocks relocation is China's own production of refined metal, up almost 10 percent in July and up by around eight percent over the year to date. That of course is a reflection of the oversupply in the raw materials market and the subsequent flow of concentrates into what is the world's largest smelting and refining base. Imports of concentrate have surged by 35 percent so far this year with the pace accelerating steadily over the last few months. The tension between this domestic production surge and the strength of import demand was ratcheted up over the first part of this year. We're now seeing it resolved in the form of higher exports and rising LME inventories. It is starting to look as if the copper surplus, so obvious in the concentrates market and yet so elusive in the refined market, is now finally taking concrete form in LME sheds in Singapore and South Korea.

Miners in the Philippines criticize the government after a crackdown on mining closed more nickel and copper mines.

Italy earthquake: Death toll hits 250 as survivors recount narrow escape Updated The death toll from the powerful earthquake in central Italy has reached 250, amid fears many more bodies remain buried in the rubble of devastated mountain villages. As rescuers sifted through collapsed masonry in the search for survivors, questions mounted as to why there had been so many deaths so soon after the 2009 L'Aquila disaster, exposing Italy's vulnerability to earthquakes. "In Amatrice alone we are already over 200 deaths," said Sergio Pirozzi, the mayor of one of the worst-affected villages, suggesting the total number of victims could rise significantly. Amatrice normally has a population of around 2,500 but it was packed with visitors when the quake struck as people slept in the early hours of Wednesday. The fate of 28 of 32 guests staying in the village's Hotel Roma was still unclear. The Red Cross began shipping in food and water supplies for homeless residents. Among those who came to pick up emergency provisions were Maria Atrimala, 48, and her 15-year-old daughter. "We escaped by pure luck, the stairs of the house held and we ran, blindly in the dark and dust," she said with tears rolling down her face. "When we got out we could hear the cries of people still trapped and we helped those we could. "We were in L'Aquila when the earthquake struck there, and now this. We have friends, relatives that didn't make it. What the future holds I don't know." Sorry, this video has expired Video: Drone footage shows Amatrice earthquake devastation (ABC News) 'Nothing has ever been done' Although rescue workers were pessimistic about the chance of finding any more survivors, officials stressed that the last survivor in nearby L'Aquila in the 2009 quake was pulled from the rubble some 72 hours after it struck. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was chairing an emergency cabinet meeting on the crisis. "The objective is to rebuild and start again," he said, vowing lessons would be learned from L'Aquila, which still bears huge scars from the 2009 quake that left 300 people dead. After L'Aquila, the Civil Protection agency made almost 1 billion euros available for upgrading buildings in seismically-vulnerable areas. But the take-up of grants has been low, largely because of the cumbersome application process, according to critics. "Here in the middle of a seismic zone, nothing has ever been done," said Dario Nanni of the Italian Council of Architects. "It does not cost that much more when renovating a building to make it comply with earthquake standards. But less than 20 per cent of buildings do." Mr Nanni said the quake's impact had been increased by the widespread use of cement rather than wood beams. "These indestructible beams hit walls like a hammer and that is what made so many (houses) collapse." One building which was supposed to be quake-proof was the Romolo Capranica school in Amatrice, which collapsed on Wednesday. That was in sharp contrast to the oldest building in the town, the 13th-century Civic Tower, which was still standing Thursday, despite having been shaken sufficiently to detach its bell. The bell tower in nearby Accumoli did collapse, onto a quake-proofed house next door, killing a couple and their two toddlers. Local mayor Stefano Petrucci denied there had been negligence in the maintenance of the tower. "I don't want to get into a row about that now, we are already suffering too much," he said. AFP Topics: earthquake, italy First posted[SEP]CLOSE Rescuers cheered when the 10-year-old girl was safely pulled from the rubble in Pescara del Tronto. USA TODAY NETWORK Rescuers clear debris while searching for earthquake victims in damaged buildings on Aug. 24, in Arquata del Tronto, Italy. (Photo: Getty Images) AMATRICE, Italy — Work crews digging through rubble in quake-ravaged mountainous towns in central Italy found more bodies Thursday, bringing the death toll to at least 267. But they also found rare moments of joy when their frenzied, round-the-clock excavation freed survivors still trapped for more than a day beneath tons of rock and metal. “We just pulled a woman from the rubble," said Claudio Catanese, 32, a fireman and volunteer rescuer working in the hard hit town of Amatrice. "She was in good health, feeling fine, and just thirsty and hungry after 36 hours under rocks and dust. The first thing she did was ask for a glass of water." He said the work, nonstop, is hard, but critical. "You don’t sleep and your muscles hurt," Catanese said. "But when you save someone’s life, it fills you with new energy. There’s a great satisfaction in that." In Pescara del Tronto, firefighters plucked an 10-year-old girl named Giorgia from the rubble where she had been trapped for 16 hours. Rescuers said they were able to locate the area of Giorgia's room and started digging until they reached her. They also found the body of her sister, who was lying next to her, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Italy’s civil protection agency said early Thursday that at least 250 people were killed and at least 365 others hospitalized. A Spaniard and five Romanians were among the dead, according to their governments. If the death toll tops 300 it will be the deadliest earthquake in modern Italian history, surpassing the total from the 2009 quake in L’Aquilla. Most of the victims — 184 — were found in Amatrice, a picturesque medieval town of around 3,000 people. The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, sending tons of stone walls on many victims while they were sleeping. But rescue workers and civil protection officials said the death toll would have been worse if it hit during the day when many of the public buildings destroyed were occupied. In Amatrice, some people whose houses were built on a slant were especially lucky. They awoke from their sleep unscathed to find the outside wall of their building collapsed outward. "They've told us for years we should make our houses anti-seismic," said Gloria Nardo, 69, of Amatrice. "But how do you retrofit a brick house built in 1750? It's almost all gone now." The search efforts are focused around the isolated hilltop communities of Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto where sniffer dogs, firefighters and paramedics were desperately searching for signs of life amid huge chunks of rock, cement and metal from collapsed homes and buildings. Thousands of rescuers are using heavy lifting equipment to sift through the rubble but many are also using their bare hands. At least one major bridge leading to Amatrice was compromised by the temblor and unable to support the weight of the heavy equipment needed to move big pieces of rock or walls. But volunteers were able to reinforce the bridge enough for the equipment to move within about 12 hours of the quake. One rescue operation was mounted at the Hotel Roma in Amatrice, where an annual spaghetti festival was scheduled this weekend to honor the town's signature bacon and tomato pasta sauce. Amatrice’s mayor initially said 70 guests were in the collapsed hotel, but rescue workers later cut the estimate in half after the owner said most guests had managed to escape. Firefighters’ spokesman Luca Cari said one body had been pulled out of the hotel just before dawn after five others were extracted earlier but searches continued there and elsewhere. CLOSE A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit the center of Italy in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Before and after photos reveal the devastation. Meanwhile, a prosecutor in Rieti opened an investigation into possible culpable negligence over the collapse of two recently restored structures — a school in Amatrice and a bell tower in Accumoli, RAI-TV reported. Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited the quake-affected area Wednesday. He vowed to rebuild “and guarantee a reconstruction that will allow residents to live in these communities, to relaunch these beautiful towns that have a wonderful past that will never end.” Italy's civil protection agency said the first estimate for damage is about $11 billion. The nation’s culture ministry decreed that proceeds from public museums across Italy on Sunday will be dedicated to helping restore damaged buildings in the quake zone, the Associated Press reported. Several churches and other medieval-era buildings were damaged or destroyed. In a statement Thursday, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini urged Italians to go out in force Sunday to visit museums and Italy’s numerous archaeological sites “in a concrete sign of solidarity” with quake victims. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bXODXW[SEP][SEP]Gain a global perspective on the US and go beyond with curated news and analysis from 600 journalists in 50+ countries covering politics, business, innovation, trends and more.[SEP]Rescuers search for survivors in Italy after earthquake[SEP]The death toll from the powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck central Italy on Wednesday has climbed to at least 247. Fabrizio Curcio, head of Italy’s civil protection agency, revised the death toll after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi earlier gave a toll of 120 dead and 368 injured. IMAGE: A man is rescued alive from the ruins following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy. Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters Rescuers were working through the night to pull survivors from the rubble and “won’t slow down”, Curcio told public broadcaster Rai. The quake also left a trail of destruction across several mountain villages packed with holidaymakers. Renzi said the disaster had caused “a pain without limits”, and insisted it was too early to begin a debate on what might have been done to prevent the disaster. “Today is the time for tears and emotion,” he said. IMAGE: A general view of Pescara del Tronto town destroyed by the earthquake. Photograph: Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images The earthquake flattened the town of Amatrice, where the mayor said residents were buried under debris and the town “isn’t here anymore.” The town traces back centuries, to the Roman era. Tourist Eve Read described what she felt. “My husband and I woke up, being shaken from side to side in the bed…and probably continued for 6 or 7 seconds after we had woken up,” Read said. Read and her family were not hurt, but their vacation home did suffer some damage, including a collapsed ceiling. IMAGE: A man walks through rubble following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters A ten-year-old girl was pulled from the rubble after spending 17 hours trapped upside down in debris from the Italian earthquake. The child was hauled to safety by rescuers who shouted ‘she's alive’ as they carried her from the ruins of a building in the devastated central Italian town of Pescara del Tronto. Footage shows just the dust-covered legs of the youngster as emergency crews tried desperately to free her from the rubble. IMAGE: Rescuers walk through rubble following the earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters One rescuer could be heard saying: “You can hear something under here. Quiet, quiet.” He then urged the child to wriggle free one rescue worker said: “Come on, Giulia, come on, Giulia. ... Watch your head.” Cheers broke out when she was pulled out. IMAGE: People cover themselves with blankets as they prepare to spend the night in the open following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters Chefs in Italy and around the world are using their talents, and Amatrice's signature dish, to help raise money for earthquake victims. Before Wednesday’s devastating, 6.2 magnitude earthquake, the Italian town was best known for spaghetti all Amatriciana, a tomato-based sauce that traditionally includes pork jowl, olive oil, white wine, chili and pecorino cheese. More than 600 restaurants are putting the pasta dish on their menus and have pledged to donate €2 (Rs 151) from each sale to the Italian Red Cross. IMAGE: A statue of the Virgin Lady stands outside a destroyed niche following an earthquake at Pescara del Tronto, central Italy. Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters Art experts fear numerous historic Italian buildings and their contents were damaged in Wednesday’s earthquake, across a region where almost every hilltop town and village has beautiful churches and monuments. The Dutch classicist David Rijser, an expert on the culture of Abruzzo, said there had been damage to the central region’s many churches, funeral monuments and museums. “It has been a true drama, there is a lot that has been lost,” he told Dutch radio. IMAGE: escuers clear debris while searching for victims in damaged buildings in Arquata del Tronto, Italy. Photograph: Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images Some of the greatest destruction was in Amatrice, which was voted one of Italy’s most beautiful towns last year and is celebrated for its Cento Chiese, 100 churches filled with frescoes, mosaics and sculptures. Half the facade of the 15th-century church of Sant Agostino has collapsed, taking with it the beautiful rose window. The courtyard of one of the town’s Renaissance palaces has been turned into a temporary morgue. The town clock in the 16th-century bell tower remains frozen at just after 3.36 am, the moment the earthquake struck.[SEP]AMATRICE, Italy—The death toll from a devastating earthquake in central Italy climbed to at least 250 on Thursday and could rise further with rescue teams working for a second day to try to find survivors under the rubble of flattened towns. The 6.2 magnitude quake struck a cluster of mountain communities 85 miles east of Rome early on Wednesday as people slept, destroying hundreds of homes. An army of emergency workers using sniffer dogs clambered over piles of debris trying to find anyone still buried beneath, while cranes removed huge slabs of fallen masonry and trucks full of rubble left the area every few minutes. On Thursday afternoon a violent aftershock measuring magnitude 4.3 sent rescuers fleeing from debris and stones that fell from the severely damaged bell tower of the 15th century church of St. Augustine in Amatrice. The jolt, which struck fear and panic in survivors, detached the church's facade, leaving it leaning dangerously over the main street where rescuers worked. The original earthquake was powerful enough to be felt in Bologna to the north and Naples to the south, both more than 135 miles from the epicenter. Many of those killed or injured were holidaymakers in the four worst-hit towns - Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto, Arquata del Tronto and Accumoli - where seasonal visitors swell populations by up to tenfold the summer. That makes it harder to track the deaths. One Spaniard, five Romanians, and a number of other foreigners, some of them caregivers for the elderly, were believed to be among the dead, officials said. Aerial video taken by drones showed swathes of Amatrice, last year voted one of Italy's most beautiful historic towns, completely flattened. The town, known across Italy and beyond for a local pasta dish, had been filling up for the 50th edition of a popular food festival this weekend. The mayor said the bodies of 15-20 tourists were believed to be under the rubble of the town's Hotel Roma, which he said had about 32 guests when it collapsed on Wednesday morning. About 365 people injured in Wednesday's quake were hospitalised, the Civil Protection department said, adding that about 5,000 people, including police, firefighters, army troops and volunteers, were involved in post-quake operations. Rescuers working with emergency lighting in the darkness overnight saved a 10-year-old girl, pulling her alive from the rubble where she had lain for about 15 hours. Many other children were not so lucky. A family of four, including two boys aged eight months and nine years, were buried when a church bell tower toppled into their house in nearby Accumoli. Local magistrates opened an investigation into whether there had been any negligence over the recently restored tower. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's cabinet was meeting on Thursday to decide emergency measures to help the affected communities. "Today is a day for tears, tomorrow we can talk of reconstruction," he told reporters late on Wednesday. The death toll appeared likely to rival or even surpass that from the last major earthquake to strike Italy, which killed more than 300 people in the central city of L'Aquila in 2009. While hopes of finding more people alive diminished by the hour, firefighters' spokesman Luca Cari recalled that survivors were found in L'Aquila up to 72 hours after that quake. Most of the damage was in the Lazio and Marche regions, with Lazio bearing the brunt of the devastation and the biggest toll. Neighbouring Umbria was also affected. All three regions are dotted with centuries-old buildings susceptible to earthquakes. Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. The country's most deadly earthquake since the start of the 20th century came in 1908, when an earthquake followed by a tsunami killed an estimated 80,000 people in the southern regions of Reggio Calabria and Sicily.

The search continues for survivors in central Italy with the death toll now 241. An aftershock of 4.7 MMS hits further east in the province near Norcia.

Toronto police confirm there is a link between the three deaths involving a crossbow in east Toronto and a suspicious package found in the downtown area of the city. No further details were provided. Earlier Thursday, police revealed that three people are dead, all of whom were found with apparent crossbow injuries, in the Scarborough area of Toronto on Thursday afternoon. A source with knowledge of the investigation said it's believed all three deceased are related, CBC News has learned. Police said the bodies of two men and a woman were found in a garage. Two people were found with no vital signs, and one person died after officers arrived, police confirmed. Toronto police were investigating a suspicious package on Queens Quay they say is linked to a deadly crime scene in Scarborough. (Marjorie April/CBC) "We have a lot of work to do," Det. Sgt. Mike Carbone said four hours into the police investigation. "We still have a ways to go." The identities of the victims are not being released until next of kin are notified, Carbone said. Paramedics said another man was taken to hospital with injuries that were not serious. "He was another victim," spokesman Evert Steenge revealed. Police have also confirmed that a 35-year-old male suspect, who has injuries, is being held in custody. Three people are dead, including at least one who was found with an apparent crossbow injury in Scarborough. 0:24 Police responded to a report of a stabbing at around 1 p.m. ET on Lawndale Road near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, Const. David Hopkinson told CBC News. "Indications were that [a] person had been stabbed — their injuries were fairly serious," Hopkinson said. "When officers arrived, they found that person and two others suffering from injuries from what we believe to be a crossbow bolt." Police said a crossbow was found on the floor of the garage. "We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened," said Hopkinson. Scarborough crossbow deaths scene through neighbour's backyard <a href="https://t.co/2a0CtAYQpT">pic.twitter.com/2a0CtAYQpT</a> —@trevorjdunn Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said there were other "things" found in the area that could have been used as weapons. Neighbour Jerome Cruz told CBC News that he heard screams before things went silent and said it sounded like a fight in the garage. "It was going on for about five minutes — the screaming," he explained. "After that, all quiet." Cruz said he's lived in the area for the past two years and said the people who reside in the house where the incident took place are normally "very quiet." Neighbour near crossbow attack heard screams, then silence. <a href="https://t.co/1RwalICnsZ">pic.twitter.com/1RwalICnsZ</a> —@trevorjdunn "It was very strange to hear a big noise and screaming," Cruz said. "We are looking to speak to anyone that may have information," Hopkinson said. Nearby streets, including Knowlton Drive, Lockleven Drive and Glenda Road, are closed and the police homicide unit has taken over the investigation. A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to A bolt is a crossbow projectile that is under 40.6 centimetres (16 inches) in length, according to Phillip Bednar of TenPoint Crossbow Technologies , adding that anything longer is considered an arrow. Dale Lounsbury, who sells crossbows at a sporting goods store in Waterloo, Ont., and owns one himself, said they can be dangerous due to their power and accuracy, but they are not suited to firing multiple shots in quick succession. "I can probably fire two shots a minute, maybe three," Lounsbury said. Unlike guns, no licence is required to buy or own a crossbow. Toronto Police on Lawndale Rd in Scarborough. 3 people dead. <a href="https://t.co/yiaoPxdoEf">pic.twitter.com/yiaoPxdoEf</a> —@trevorjdunn This isn't the first time a person has been killed by a crossbow bolt in the city. In December 2010, a man fired a bolt into his father's back at a Toronto Public Library branch before crushing the 52-year-old man's skull with a hammer. Zhou Fang was charged with first-degree murder but accepted a plea for second-degree murder after it was revealed that he was the victim of long-term abuse by his father. Fang, then 26, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012.[SEP]Jerome Cruz was gardening in the backyard when suddenly he heard a man “screaming and banging” at a neighbouring house. At the time, the 69-year-old had no idea three people were being brutally slain with a crossbow bolt. Nor could he know that in a bizarre twist, the triple murder in Scarborough would end up being linked to a suspicious package found downtown. “It was angry screaming,” Cruz recalled Thursday from his yard, which backs onto the yard of the Lawndale Rd. home where the murders unfolded. “It went on for about five minutes and then I heard another man trying to calm him down. He was saying, ‘Calm down, be quiet.’” With his view blocked by a shed, Cruz was unable to see the two men. But soon after he caught a glimpse of a woman running along the driveway at the side of the house. Within a few minutes, it got deathly “quiet,” but Cruz just figured the commotion had ended peacefully. “I thought maybe the young man was drunk or something and now everything was OK,” he said. But when his neighbourhood was soon filled with the flashing lights of emergency crews, Cruz knew something bad had happened. Toronto Police say they initially received a 911 call around 1 p.m. for a man bleeding heavily from a suspected stab wound on the residential street near Markham and Kingston Rds. “When our officers from 43 Division arrived, they found the lifeless bodies of three individuals,” Det.-Sgt. Mike Carbone said at the scene. “They also took one person into custody.” A fourth victim was taken to hospital, he added. Carbone refused to reveal if there was any sort of relationship between those involved. Toronto EMS confirmed two men and one woman were killed and the fourth victim suffered only minor injuries. Carbone also refused to comment on reports a crossbow or bolts, the arrows fired from a crossbow, were involved in the killings. However, in the immediate aftermath of the murders, police said the victims suffered what appeared to be fatal injuries from a crossbow bolt. Police couldn’t say Thursday night whether the bolts were fired from a crossbow or used like a knife to stab the victims. About 90 minutes after the triple murder, cops received a call for a suspicious package inside a condo at Queens Quay and Lower Simcoe St. that is thought to be tied to the attack. Traffic was shut down in the area and 218 Queens Quay was evacuated while bomb disposal officers were called in. “We have cleared the package and there is no threat to public safety,” Supt. Bill Neadles said. “Homicide detectives have now taken over the scene.” While it’s unclear what was contained within the package, Carbone confirmed the downtown incident was tied to the Scarborough murders. “I’m not going to discuss what was found at the scene other than to say there is a link between our scene here and the one down on the Queens Quay,” he said. Residents of the Scarborough neighbourhood were stunned by the mayhem that occurred in their community. “This is a quiet area ... I’m very surprised by this,” Ragu Sangaramoorthy, 41, said. The family man, who rents a basement apartment two doors down from where the victims were found, recalled having seen three children, maybe 7 to 13, and a woman possibly in her 50s coming and going from the home at times. “I’m very upset because I have two kids,” Sangaramoorthy said. Another resident, Sadiya Haque, said her sense of shock and fear is based partly on the many unanswered questions. When it comes to buying a crossbow in Toronto or across Canada, it turns out that bigger is better, legally speaking. According to the Canadian Firearms Program as published by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, crossbows with an overall length of 500 mm or less are prohibited across the country. However, the program states that no licence or registration is required for crossbows longer than 500 mm and that Criminal Code provisions making it an offence to acquire a crossbow without a valid licence were never brought into force. Here are more guidelines for crossbows, according to Paul Hunkin, from Al Flaherty’s Outdoor Store on Dufferin St. in Toronto: — You must be 18 years of age or older to purchase one. — Crossbows may not be fired anywhere inside the boundaries of the City of Toronto. Different types of crossbows that are available in stores: — There are only two types: Prohibited and non-prohibited. — Prohibited are crossbows that are 500 mm in length or smaller, which can be held and fired with one hand, similar to a handgun. — Both are classified as “firearms” for legal purposes. Locations where crossbows are sold and how much they cost: — Retailers such as Al Flaherty’s, Canadian Tire, Sail, and Bass Pro Shops all sell a wide range of crossbows. — Prices range from around $400 to well over $1,000. — Commonly used for a wide variety of hunting. — The crossbow hunting seasons do not overlap rifle and shotgun seasons and typically run for a longer period, making them popular among hunters. — Moose, deer, bears, and sometimes turkeys are hunted with crossbows. -- In December 2010, 24-year-old Zhou Fang shot his father in the back with a crossbow then crushed his skill with a hammer, at a public library in Toronto's east end. -- In July, a Mission, B.C., father was charged with attacking his son who was shot in the forearm with a crossbow. -- In November 2007, a 26-year-old man was charged with murder and attempted murder after his mother was killed and father was injured by a crossbow in St-Cesaire, Que. -- In October 2002, a dairy farmer was shot in the back and injured with a crossbow in St.-Bonaventure. -- In August 1998, a man asleep in his Hamilton home was shot in the head and injured by a man who fired a crossbow. -- In 1998, Edward Stuart Walker shot a pregnant Stephanie Celestine Thomas with a crossbow, then stabbed her 46 times in Central Saanich on Vancouver Island. -- In September 1994, Yvon Gosselin was driven to a gravel pit near Terrace, B.C., where he was killed with two bolts from a crossbow. -- In May 1995, a man armed with a crossbow entered the Winnipeg Convention Centre shortly before then-prime minister Jean Chretien arrived to deliver a speech. The suspect was arrested. -- In January 1993, B.C. Institute of Technology student Silvia Leung, 22, bled to death in the campus parking lot in Burnaby after being hit in the shoulder by a crossbow. -- In November 1991, Ottawa lawyer Patricia Allen was killed with a crossbow by her estranged husband Colin McGregor.[SEP]The assailant used bolts, a shorter and thicker version of an arrow, police spokesman Officer David Hopkinson said. A 35-year-old man at the scene was treated for injuries and taken into custody. Police did not say what his connection to the victims might be. The incident occurred about 1 p.m. in the Scarborough neighborhood. Officers responding to a call found all three victims dead. About 90 minutes later, authorities heard from an unidentified caller about the package, Hopkinson said. Police discovered the package in downtown Toronto, but said it is "no longer a threat." It's unclear whether it was destroyed.[SEP]Three people have been killed in an attack involving a crossbow in Toronto on Thursday. A man was taken into custody and police later evacuated a building over a suspicious package in a related incident, Detective Mike Carbone said, without giving further details. In the initial incident, police responding to a report of a stabbing to find three people who appeared to have been injured by crossbow bolts, said police spokesman David Hopkinson. Two men and a woman were pronounced dead. “We don’t have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,” said Hopkinson. CTV News, citing emergency services, said two other people were seriously injured. An undentified man, 35, was taken into custody, police said. Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street in Scarborough, a suburban area east of the city’s downtown area. In 2010, a man shot his father in the back with a crossbow in a Toronto public library before smashing his skull with a hammer. Zhou Fang, who had suffered domestic abuse, was convicted of a lesser charge of second-degree murder.[SEP]TORONTO (AP) — A 35-year-old Toronto man is facing murder charges in the deaths of three people suffering from what appeared to be crossbow wounds. Brett Ryan is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths that shocked a quiet residential neighborhood in the city's east end. The slayings were discovered on Thursday. Police found two men and one woman lying in the driveway suffering from serious wounds with a crossbow lying nearby. The names of the victims have not released but an autopsy is scheduled. Ryan is due to appear in court Friday morning. Police said there was a link between the crossbow scene and a suspicious package investigation in a condo on Toronto's waterfront. The condo was evacuated as police cordoned off the area but the package was later cleared.[SEP]Man charged after three die in Toronto crossbow attack -police TORONTO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Toronto police have charged a man with three counts of first-degree murder after three people were killed in a crossbow attack on a quiet suburban street, police in Canada's largest city said on Friday. Brett Ryan, 35, was slated to appear in court later on Friday, police said. Two men and a woman died at the house in the city's east end on Thursday. Police responding to a stabbing found the three bleeding on the driveway outside a nearby garage. One of the victims made a 911 call before dying, according to a local newspaper report, and the suspect was also wounded.[SEP]A Toronto bank robber known as the “fake beard bandit” was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after three people were killed in a crossbow attack in the city’s east end, police in Canada’s largest city said on Friday. Brett Ryan (35) who appeared in court briefly on Friday, was arrested in 2008 for committing robberies in disguise, police said. He was charged with more than a dozen counts of robbery and later convicted. Two men and a woman died in the driveway of a house on Thursday. One of the people who was killed made a 911 emergency call before dying, according to a local newspaper report, which said the suspect had also been wounded. The police have not offered a reason for the killings nor have they identified the victims. Property records showed that the house where the three were killed was in the name of Susan and William Ryan, 66 and 65 years old, respectively. William Ryan died last year, local media reported. Brett Ryan had previously lived at the same house as Susan and William Ryan, according to government records that indicated bankruptcy proceedings had been initiated for him in 2010. He was jailed for three years and nine months in the bank robbery cases, according to court records. Court records showed that Ryan now lives at a condominium building near Toronto’s waterfront. That building was evacuated by police on Thursday due to a suspicious package. They said the incident was related to the east end deaths, but gave no details. Canada has stricter gun laws than the United States and fewer homicides. Crossbows that can be aimed and fired with one hand and crossbows with an overall length of 0.5m (19.7 inches) or less are prohibited, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The latest three deaths bring Toronto’s homicide count for this year to 47. The city had 56 homicides for 2015. In comparison, Chicago, which is similar in population, had at least 480 homicides in 2015. Ryan’s lawyer declined to comment. Ryan’s next scheduled court appearance is September 2nd.[SEP]A 35-year-old man has been arrested after three people were killed in an attack involving a crossbow in Toronto's east end on Thursday. Police responding to a call about a stabbing found two men and a woman who appeared to have been injured by a crossbow bolt, spokesman David Hopkinson said. All were pronounced dead. 'We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,' said Hopkinson. A police source told CTV News that two bodies were discovered in the garage at the Scarborough home and the third was found in a driveway. Police say the man who placed the call to 911 is one of the deceased. Two other people were seriously injured. A 35-year-old man has been taken into custody. There are reportedly no other suspects outstanding. Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, a suburban area east of the city's downtown area. Resident Jerome Cruz told CTV News Channel that he heard someone screaming for several minutes before everything went silent. He also heard a commotion and what sounded like 'banging' in his neighbor's backyard.[SEP]A 35-year-old Toronto man is facing murder charges in the deaths of three people suffering from what appeared to be crossbow wounds. Brett Ryan is facing three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths that shocked a quiet residential neighborhood in the city's east end. The slayings were discovered on Thursday when police found two men and one woman lying in the driveway suffering from serious wounds with a crossbow lying nearby. All three died at the scene, according to CBC News. The names of the victims have not released but an autopsy is scheduled. Ryan is due to appear in court Friday morning. Police said there was a link between the crossbow scene and a suspicious package investigation in a condo on Toronto's waterfront. However, officials would not say what the link was between the package and the attack. The condo was evacuated as police cordoned off the area but the package was later cleared. Ryan was arrested in 2008 in relation to 14 bank robberies committed throughout Toronto and Durham Region, CP24 Go reported. At the time he wore a fake beard as a disguise and was called the 'fake beard bandit' by officials. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009. Ryan was also listed as living at the address of the crime scene when he filed for bankruptcy in 2010, City News reported. 'We don't have any idea with regards to why this may have happened,' police spokesman David Hopkinson said. A police source told CTV News that two bodies were discovered in the garage at the Scarborough home and the third was found in a driveway. Police say the man who placed the call to 911 is one of the deceased. There are reportedly no other suspects outstanding. Television footage showed police tape surrounding part of a residential street near Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East, a suburban area east of the city's downtown area. Resident Jerome Cruz told CTV News Channel that he heard someone screaming for several minutes before everything went silent. He also heard a commotion and what sounded like 'banging' in his neighbor's backyard.[SEP]WINNIPEG — Police are investigating after a scary incident right outside their headquarters. It happened around 1:00pm Friday afternoon and forced the closure of Graham Avenue between Smith Street and Fort Street. Garry was also closed as a precaution, but all have since re-opened. “There were some concerns upon initial examination with respect to the nature of the package.” Police say there’s no indication this suspicious package is tied to one that exploded outside the Law Courts on Wednesday. “We are not, by any means, linking these two incidents at this point. Nothing has detonated. There’s been no explosion. There are no injuries.” The Bomb Unit evacuated some buildings, but police tape started to come down around 2:30pm. Witnesses on scene say the suspicious packaged appeared to be a laptop case.

Three people are killed and two are injured after a crossbow attack in Scarborough, Toronto. A suspicious package was also found in another linked event.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s Senate began the trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday after a lengthy impeachment process that has paralyzed the politics of Latin America’s largest nation and is expected to culminate in her removal from office next week. The secretary of the Federal Senate reads the opening of the process during a final session of debate and voting on suspended President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial in Brasilia, Brazil August 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino Thursday’s session, presided over by Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, heard witnesses for and against Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, who is charged with breaking budget laws. The leftist leader, whose popularity has been hammered by a deep recession and immense corruption scandal since she won reelection in 2014, will appear before the 81 senators on Monday to defend herself. Her opponents are confident they have more than the 54 votes needed to convict her. Authorities prepared barriers to contain demonstrations outside Brazil’s modernistic Congress building, but virtually no Rousseff supporters turned out, underscoring the isolation of the impeached president. If the final vote, which is expected late Tuesday or in the early hours of Wednesday, goes against Rousseff it would confirm her vice president, Michel Temer, as Brazil’s new leader for the rest of her four-year term through 2018, ending 13 years of left-wing Workers Party rule. Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, is charged with spending without congressional approval and manipulating government accounts to mask the extent of Brazil’s growing deficit in the run-up to her 2014 re-election. Her Senate supporters managed to discredit a key witness, a Federal Audit Court prosecutor who led the probe of Rousseff’s government, because he had taken part in an anti-Rousseff demonstration. Lewandowski ruled that Julio Marcelo de Oliveira could be questioned but his testimony would not count as proof, a development that is not expected to affect the outcome of a trial that is more political than judicial. A survey published by O Globo newspaper on Thursday showed that 52 senators were committed to voting to dismiss Rousseff, with only 19 supporting her and 10 undecided or not polled. Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to oust her as a “coup.” She has refused to resign and said the accounting practices she is being put on trial for were also commonly used by previous governments. With unemployment above 11 percent, and dozens of politicians in her coalition implicated in a kickback scandal at state-led oil company Petrobras, the trial has become a test of Rousseff’s support. Polls show ordinary Brazilians are unconcerned by the alleged accounting irregularities but want Rousseff ousted in the hope the next government can better manage the economy. DAUNTING TASK If confirmed president by Rousseff’s ouster, Temer would face a daunting task: steering Latin America’s largest economy out of recession and plugging a budget deficit that has topped 10 percent of gross domestic product. In the unlikely case that she is acquitted, Rousseff would immediately return to office. Brazilian assets have rallied on prospects of a more market-friendly government, with the currency rising around 30 percent against the dollar this year. Still, investors and members of Temer’s fragile coalition are concerned he has yet to implement measures to control the deficit. Temer’s right-leaning government has sought to speed up the trial so he can set about restoring confidence in a once-booming economy and remove any doubts about his legitimacy. A draft budget for next year is not expected in Congress until Aug. 31, after the Senate votes, by which time Temer could have more political leverage to push through austerity measures. Investors are concerned Temer might give in to pressure for spending increases such as pay hikes for public employees, including the nation’s judges, a demand supported by Lewandowski. Temer has proposed a constitutional limit on spending and a broad reform of Brazil’s pension system to reverse a deteriorating fiscal outlook - moves applauded by credit rating agencies that last year stripped the country of its prized investment grade. “While we expect the current administration to have a better chance of getting these reforms through Congress than the previous government, there is still no clear support to approve these measures,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a client note. If Rousseff is removed, Temer must be sworn in by the Senate. He is then expected to address the nation before heading to the summit of the G20 group of leading economies in China on Sept. 4-5. Without the legal protection of her presidential status, Rousseff could find herself in court facing an investigation into whether she and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tried to obstruct the Petrobras corruption probe. Slideshow (6 Images) Even Rousseff’s Workers Party, hurt by corruption scandals and her dismal economic record, has distanced itself from her last-minute call for elections to resolve the political crisis. Yet party leader Lula came to her defense on Thursday. Speaking to workers in the city of Niteroi, Lula said Rousseff may have committed policy errors but she was an honest politician who had done nothing to warrant her removal. “What they’re doing is finding a way to take power without winning votes in an election,” he said. “Today is a shameful day. The senators have begun to rip up Brazil’s constitution.”[SEP]BRASILIA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Senate impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff descended into a shouting match between her political supporters and opponents during its second day on Friday, forcing a two-hour halt in the proceedings. Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who is presiding over the final phase of a lengthy impeachment process that has paralysed Brazilian politics since December, suspended the session after Senate President Renan Calheiros was unable to stop the arguments. The trial resumed after lunch. Supporters and opponents of Rousseff shouted insults at each other in a tumultuous session that showed the buildup to a final vote expected on Wednesday morning will be fraught with tension. "This impeachment trial has become a loony bin," Calheiros said, appealing for calm. But Calheiros himself set off another argument by taking on Gleisi Hoffmann, a senator from Rousseff's Workers Party, for stating the Senate lacked moral authority to try the leftist president. He said Hoffmann did not have a leg to stand because he had helped the senator avoid corruption charges a month ago. The trial is expected to culminate in the removal of Rousseff from office, ending 13 years of left-wing Workers Party rule, and the confirmation of her vice president, Michel Temer, as president for the remainder of her term through 2018. Temer has been interim president since mid-May, when Rousseff was suspended after Congress decided it would continue the impeachment process that began in the lower house. Her opponents need 54 votes, or two-thirds of the 81-seat Senate, to convict her of breaking budget laws. A survey by the O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper published on Friday found 54 senators backed her ouster and 18 opposed it, with 14 undecided or not saying. A deep recession and wide-ranging corruption scandal has caused Brazil's first female president's popularity to plummet since she won reelection in 2014. Polls show a majority of Brazilians want her gone. But polls also show that Temer has as little popular support as Rousseff and that the majority of Brazilians would like to see new elections called, an unlikely development. Few if any Rousseff supporters have shown up outside Brazil's Congress building to back her, underscoring the impeached president's isolation. Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazil's military dictatorship, is charged with spending without congressional approval and manipulating government accounts to mask the extent of the nation's growing deficit in the run-up to her reelection. Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing and described efforts to oust her as a "coup" plotted by Temer and his political allies, many of whom are caught up in the huge kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras that has engulfed much of Brazil's political and business class. If confirmed as president, Temer would face a daunting task: steering Latin America's largest economy out of recession and plugging a budget deficit that has topped 10 percent of gross domestic product. Temer will need to quickly demonstrate his commitment to cutting the budget deficit if he is to sustain investor optimism after a major rally in financial markets this year. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Lisa Von Ahn)[SEP]RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s Senate on Thursday began a trial to decide whether to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. While the formal accusations against Rousseff are related to her management of the federal budget, the leadership fight involves much more. The Associated Press explains how we got to this point and how the trial is likely to play out. How did we get here? Rousseff was re-elected to a second four-year term in October 2014. As the economy worsened, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in early 2015, with many demanding the ouster of Rousseff and her left-leaning Workers’ Party. Her foes in Congress introduced a measure last year to impeach and remove her. In April, the Chamber of Deputies approved it 367-137 and in May, the Senate voted 55-22 in favour. Rousseff was suspended and Vice-President Michel Temer became interim president. What is Rousseff accused of doing? Rousseff is accused of illegally shifting funds between government budgets. Opposition parties say that was to boost public spending and shore up support while masking the depths of deficits. Rousseff says other former presidents used similar accounting techniques. How will the trial unfold? Supreme Court chief justice Ricardo Lewandowski will preside as witnesses from both sides testify and senators cross-examine them. Rousseff is expected to testify on Monday. A vote is expected by the middle of next week. A supermajority – 54 of the 81 senators – is needed to convict her, which would result in her permanent removal from office. What do Rousseff’s supporters and opponents claim? Rousseff and her backers say impeachment is a “coup” by corrupt opposition lawmakers meant to derail investigations into into billions of dollars in kickbacks at the state oil company. They also argue that Brazil’s ruling class wants to end 13 years of leftist government. Opponents say Rousseff’s budget manoeuvrs aggravated the crisis in Latin America’s largest economy. What happens if she is convicted? A conviction would permanently remove Rousseff from the presidency and bar her from holding any office for eight years. Temer would serve out her term, which ends Dec. 21, 2018. If convicted, Rousseff will likely appeal to the country’s highest court. But previous appeals during the process have failed. What happens if she is absolved? If fewer than 54 senators vote to remove her, Rousseff would return to office. She’s promised that if that happens, she would let voters decide in a plebiscite whether they want early presidential elections. What do Brazilians want? Brazilians are soured on politicians in general; both Rousseff and Temer are very unpopular. A poll taken last month by Datafolha found that 62 per cent want new elections to solve the crisis. But before new elections could occur, both Rousseff and Temer would have to resign or be removed from office.[SEP]The Senate voted 59 to 21 Wednesday in favor of impeachment trial proceedings. The vote means Rousseff, who was suspended this year on allegations of breaking budget laws, will likely face trial later this month after the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Rio. The Games end on August 21. The trial will take place in the Senate, presided over by the president of Brazil's Supreme Court. The impeachment trial would convict or acquit Rousseff of committing the crime of "fiscal irresponsibility" for authorizing public bank credits in the budget to cover up budget deficits. stepped in as acting President and will take over permanently if Rousseff is impeached. stepped in as acting President and will take over permanently if Rousseff is impeached. Vice President Michel Temer stepped in as acting President and will take over permanently if Rousseff is impeached. Rousseff, the country's first female President, has described her suspension as "a coup." "I'm the victim of a great injustice," she said in May. While she is accused of breaking budget laws, she maintains she did the same things previous Brazilian leaders have done. "I have made mistakes, but I have not committed any crimes. I am being judged unjustly, because I have followed the law to the letter," she said. Rousseff vowed to keep fighting efforts to impeach her, and called for her supporters to join her. "Destiny has reserved many challenges for me... Some of them seemed impossible to overcome. I have suffered from torture, I have suffered from sickness, and now I suffer from the pain of injustice," she said. "What is more painful now is injustice. I am victim of a political farce. But I won't give up. I look back and I see all we have accomplished. I look forward and I see all we still need to do."[SEP]BRASÍLIA: Angry quarrels erupted at suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial, while her key ally, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced corruption charges on a day of turmoil for Latin America’s biggest country. Day two of Rousseff’s Senate trial in the capital Brasilia began with shouting matches that forced Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski to put the session on hold until tempers calmed. Senate President Renan Calheiros called the row, prompted by a Rousseff loyalist’s questioning of the notoriously corrupt Senate’s moral authority, “a demonstration of infinite stupidity.” Rousseff, 68, is accused of breaking the law by taking unauthorized state bank loans to cover up budgetary shortfalls during her 2014 re-election. She says the budgetary maneuvers were legal, describing herself as victim of a right-wing power grab after 13 years’ rule by her leftist Workers’ Party. Witnesses for the defense were called Friday following the trial’s opening day Thursday, when the case against Rousseff was presented. Rousseff herself is planning to testify Monday in a dramatic last-ditch attempt to save herself before senators vote — with analysts widely predicting her defeat. At stake is not just Rousseff’s fate, but that of the once mighty Workers’ Party. Its founder, Lula, faced his own mounting problems after police Friday filed a request for corruption and money laundering charges linking the influential ex-president to a vast embezzlement and bribery scheme at state oil company Petrobras. Lula’s lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins said Lula was innocent and targeted by a politically motivated case. “Once again there is an act that by a strange coincidence occurs at a politically important moment for the country,” he told a news conference in Sao Paulo. “That makes me think that this play, apart from being a fiction, has a clear political connotation.” Although prosecutors and a judge must still approve the recommendation for Lula to go to trial, the police filing represented another blow for a man seeing his lifelong project to build Brazil’s left put in peril. Adding to the drama, Lula was planning to travel from his home city of Sao Paulo to Brasilia to support Rousseff when she confronts her accusers in the Senate on Monday. Under current plans, a vote would then take place within 48 hours after the senators’ final speeches. A pro-impeachment vote would see Rousseff immediately removed from office. However, given the snail’s pace of the trial so far — with the first defense witness finishing only late afternoon Friday — it was not clear whether the schedule would change. Two thirds of the Senate — 54 of the 81 senators — must back impeachment to remove Rousseff from office. Her allies insist they can still sway a half dozen or so senators to prevent that happening, but analysts believe there is no appetite for allowing Rousseff to return to power. And opponents of the former leftist guerrilla say they have the votes in the bag. Senator Raimundo Lira, a strong backer of impeachment, told AFP that senators “have already made up their minds, and I don’t think there will be any change at the vote.” If Rousseff goes, Michel Temer — Rousseff’s former vice president turned bitter enemy — will be sworn in. He has already served as acting president since her suspension in May and moved quickly to shift Brazil away from the left, saying the country needs reform to rebuild its giant, crumbling economy. It shrank 3.8 percent in 2015 and is forecast to drop a further 3.3 percent this year, a historic recession. Inflation stands at around nine percent and unemployment at 11 percent. Temer is hardly more popular than Rousseff, however: a recent opinion poll found only 14 percent of Brazilians thought he was doing a good job. AFP[SEP]BRASÍLIA: Angry quarrels erupted at suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial Friday, while her key ally, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, faced corruption charges on a day of turmoil for Latin America’s largest country. Day two of Rousseff’s Senate trial in the capital Brasilia began with shouting matches that forced Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski to put the session temporarily on hold until tempers calmed. Senate President Renan Calheiros called the row, prompted by a Rousseff loyalist’s questioning of the notoriously corrupt Senate’s moral authority, “a demonstration of infinite stupidity.” About two-thirds of the senators have current or past brushes with the law, according to corruption watchdog Transparencia Brasil. Rousseff, 68, is accused of breaking the law by taking unauthorized state bank loans to cover up budgetary shortfalls during her 2014 re-election. She says the budgetary maneuvers were legal, describing herself as victim of a right-wing power grab after 13 years’ rule by her leftist Workers’ Party. Witnesses for the defense were called Friday following the trial’s opening day Thursday, when the case against Rousseff was presented. One witness, economist Luiz Gonzaga Belluzo, insisted that Rousseff did not violate the law, and that ousting her would be “an attack on democracy.” The session ended at 0200 GMT Saturday, and is set to resume at 1300 GMT. Rousseff herself is planning to testify Monday in a dramatic last-ditch attempt to save herself before senators vote—with analysts widely predicting her defeat. Lula’s troubles deepen At stake is not just Rousseff’s fate, but that of the once mighty Workers’ Party. Its founder, Lula, faced his own mounting problems after police Friday filed a request for corruption and money laundering charges linking the influential ex-president to a vast embezzlement and bribery scheme at state oil company Petrobras. Lula’s lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins said Lula was innocent and targeted by a politically motivated case. “Once again there is an act that by a strange coincidence occurs at a politically important moment for the country,” he told a news conference in Sao Paulo. “That makes me think that this play, apart from being a fiction, has a clear political connotation.” Although prosecutors and a judge must still approve the recommendation for Lula to go to trial, the police filing represented another blow for a man seeing his lifelong project to build Brazil’s left put in peril. Adding to the drama, Lula was planning to travel from his home city of Sao Paulo to Brasilia to support Rousseff when she confronts her accusers in the Senate on Monday. Under current plans, a vote would then take place within 48 hours after the senators’ final speeches. A pro-impeachment vote would see Rousseff immediately removed from office. However, given the snail’s pace of the trial so far—with the first defense witness finishing only late afternoon Friday—it was not clear whether the schedule would change.[SEP]Defense witnesses to testify in trial of Brazil's president RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Senators in Brazil have begun a second day of deliberations in the trial of President Dilma Rousseff. Rousseff, in the middle of her second term, is accused of breaking fiscal rules in her management of the federal budget. She denies wrongdoing and argues that her enemies are carrying out a "coup d'etat." Witnesses for Rousseff's defense are expected to testify Friday. FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2015 file photo, a woman holds a sign that reads in Portuguese; "Dilma Out" during a demonstration in favor of the impeachment of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Just days after the Rio Olympics ended, Brazilian senators are now gearing up for a final decision on whether to permanently remove Rousseff from office. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File) Several days of debate, including an address by Rousseff on Monday, will culminate in a vote on whether to permanently remove her from office. The Senate voted in May to impeach and suspend her for up to 180 days while the trial could be prepared. Vice President Michel Temer took over in May. If Rousseff is removed, Temer will serve the rest of her term through 2018. FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2014 file photo, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff listens to a question during a re-election campaign news conference at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Just days after the Rio Olympics ended, Brazilian senators are now gearing up for a final decision on whether to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. The months-long leadership fight has brought to the surface deep polarization in Latin America's most populous nation, fueled by anger over endemic corruption and angst about an emerging economy that has gone from darling to depression amid its worst financial crisis in decades. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)[SEP]The impeachment trial of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in the Senate descended into a shouting match between her political supporters and opponents during its second day on Friday, forcing a halt in proceedings. Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski was obliged to intervene and suspend the session after Senate President Renan Calheiros was unable to stop the arguments, in a sign that the build up to a final vote expected on Wednesday morning will be fraught with tensions. Lewandowski adjourned early for lunch and will restart the session at 1 p.m. local (1600 GMT)[SEP]RIO DE JANEIRO — The last medals have been handed out, the athletes have all gone home and the fireworks at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium are fading into memory. Now Brazil’s real drama begins. Just days after the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics, Brazilian senators are about to decide whether to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, the climax of a months-long political battle that has laid bare deep polarization in Latin America’s largest nation. The Aug. 5-21 Summer Games were a welcome distraction for many Brazilians angry over endemic corruption and an emerging economy that has gone from analysts’ darling to severe recession amid its worst financial crisis in decades. Street parties erupted when their beloved soccer team beat Germany to win gold, a measure of redemption after being humiliated 7-1 by the Germans in the World Cup semifinal two years ago. With the Olympic bash over, “we return to the divisions, to the fighting,” said Fabiano Angelico, a political consultant based in Sao Paulo. On Thursday, the Senate begins the final phase of the trial of Rousseff, who was suspended in May for allegedly breaking fiscal rules in managing the federal budget. Several days of deliberations, including an address to lawmakers by Rousseff herself, will culminate in a definitive vote expected early next week. Rousseff’s opponents argue that she used sleight of hand budgeting to mask the depth of government deficits and ultimately exacerbated the growing economic crisis, which has led to 10 per cent inflation, daily announcements of layoffs and repeated credit downgrades from ratings agencies. Brazil’s first female president denies any wrongdoing, pointing out that previous presidents used similar accounting measures. Rousseff alleges that something more nefarious is at play: a bloodless “coup” by corrupt legislators who want to oust her so they can water down a wide-ranging investigation into billions of dollars in kickbacks at the state oil company, Petrobras. A letter signed by 22 international artists and intellectuals was published Wednesday voicing support for Rousseff. Among them were actor Danny Glover, film director Oliver Stone, linguist Noam Chomsky, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, actor Viggo Mortensen and composer Brian Eno. “The legal basis for the ongoing impeachment is widely contested and there is compelling evidence showing that key promoters of the impeachment campaign are seeking to remove the president to stop the corruption investigations that they themselves are implicated in,” the letter said. But much of the alleged graft happened over the 13 years that Rousseff’s left-leaning Workers’ Party has been in power. Several businessmen and top politicians have been jailed, including some connected to Rousseff’s government, and a number of opposition officials are also in investigators’ sights. The probe has blown the lid off a political culture of corruption that spans the ideological spectrum: About 60 per cent of lawmakers in the Senate and lower house are being investigated for various crimes, many related to graft and the Petrobras scandal. Rousseff has never been personally implicated, but her detractors say she must have known what was happening and bears responsibility. She refused to block the investigations even as she paid a steep political price through her impeachment, saying it is a process that Brazil badly needs to go through. The interim government that stepped in for her has also been stung, with three Cabinet ministers forced to resign right after taking office due to corruption allegations. Acting President Michel Temer, who was Rousseff’s vice-president and is known as a behind-the-scenes dealmaker, has been fingered for alleged bribery by witnesses who have reached plea deals in the Petrobras case, although he has not been charged with any crime. The result has been widespread popular disgust and anger at both Rousseff and Temer: A national poll by Datafolha last month found that 62 per cent of respondents favoured holding new elections rather than keeping either one as president. Rousseff has promised to hold a referendum on whether to call new elections if she survives the Senate trial. But for that to happen, both she and Temer would have to resign or be removed. Temer, a 75-year-old career politician from the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, has shown no indication he would step down. He casts himself as a reluctant saviour who just wants to do what’s best for a divided country, and denies Rousseff’s accusations that he’s the ringleader in the push to oust her. If Rousseff is permanently removed, Temer would serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. “Michel wants to remain president, but he can’t show himself to be trying to do that,” Brasilia-based political consultant Alexandre Barros said. “It’s a complicated equation for everybody.” In any case, Rousseff’s odds of surviving the Senate trial appear slim. In May, 55 of the body’s 81 senators voted to impeach and suspend her — one more than the 54 it would take to kick her out for good. Since then Rousseff has embarked on a campaign to change their minds, hunkering down with supportive senators, tweeting regularly against the “coup,” holding rallies around the country and meeting with Brazilian and international media. Earlier this month, 59 senators voted to move forward with the trial.[SEP]RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A trial against Brazil’s president turned into a yelling match and was temporarily suspended on Friday after the head of Senate declared “stupidity is endless” and sharply criticized a colleague who had questioned the body’s moral authority. The second day of the trial against President Dilma Rousseff got off to an edgy start when Senate President Renan Calheiros decided to bring up a comment made on Thursday by Sen. Gleisi Hoffmann, a member of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party. Hoffmann, who like many in the Senate and lower Chamber of Deputies is being investigated for corruption, had declared that “no one here” had the moral standing to judge Rousseff. “It can’t be that a senator is saying things like this,” said Calheiros, who later added: “I am very sad because this session is, above all, a statement that stupidity is endless.” In a bizarre and heated exchange with Hoffmann and other senators, Calheiros said he had asked the Supreme Federal Tribunal, the country’s highest court, not to raid Hoffmann’s home, apparently trying to make the point that federal lawmakers should not be persecuted arbitrarily. Only the high court can decide to investigate, arrest or prosecute federal lawmakers. Police are investigating whether Hoffmann and her husband received kickbacks from state oil company Petrobras in the form of campaign contributions. They deny wrongdoing. Calheiros’s comments provoked gasps of surprise in the Senate, and are likely to raise questions about his relationship with justices on the high court, who are supposed to be independent. With several senators shouting at once, Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski called for a five minute recess, then changed his mind and said the body would instead return after lunch. Witnesses for Rousseff’s defense were expected to testify Friday after the prosecution dominated Thursday’s session. Rousseff, in the middle of her second term, is accused of breaking fiscal rules in her management of the federal budget. She denies wrongdoing and argues that her enemies are carrying out a “coup d’état.” Several days of debate, including an address by Rousseff on Monday, will culminate in a vote on whether to permanently remove her from office. The Senate voted in May to impeach and suspend her for up to 180 days while the trial could be prepared. Vice President Michel Temer took over in May. If Rousseff is removed, Temer will serve the rest of her term through 2018.

Brazil's Federal Senate begins the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

An attack with an explosives-laden truck on a police checkpoint in south-east Turkey has killed at least 11 police officers and wounded 78 other people. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack on a checkpoint about 50 metres from a police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Şırnak province that borders Syria. Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck, while the three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. The health ministry said it had sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and installations. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for those attacks. Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members have been killed since. Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in south-east Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul’s main airport in June, which killed 44. Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key Isis-held town. Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed. The PKK is considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies. The attacks on police came as the country was still reeling from a violent coup attempt on 15 July that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy of vehicles carrying Turkey’s main opposition party leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in the north-east, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said.[SEP]Story highlights Eleven police officers were killed, state media says Kurdish militants claim responsibility Turkey sent tanks into Syria on Wednesday Turkey-Syria border (CNN) An explosion at a police checkpoint Friday in southeastern Turkey killed 11 police officers and injured at least 78 people, the country's semiofficial Anadolu news agency reports. Attackers detonated a bomb-laden truck near the checkpoint in Cizre, Anadolu reported, citing the governor's officer in the province of Sirnak. The injured included 75 officers and three civilians, Anadolu reported. Four of the injured were in critical condition, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag told CNN Turk. The armed wing of the the PKK -- a militant Kurdish group that's labeled a terror group by many in the international community -- took credit Friday for the attack. In an online statement, it promised to give more details Saturday on what it called a "comprehensive action took place to kill dozens of policemen by our brave team in Cizre."[SEP]PKK suicide bombing kills 11 officers – Attack comes two days after Turkish offensive in Syria ISTANBUL: The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) yesterday claimed a suicide truck bombing on a police building in Turkey’s southeast that killed 11 officers and wounded dozens more. The blast came two days after the Turkish army launched an offensive in Syria that the government says is not only aimed against Islamic State (IS) jihadists but also a Syrian Kurdish militia detested by Ankara. The blast tore the facade off the headquarters of the Turkish riot police in the town of Cizre, a bastion of PKK support just north of the Syrian border. The local governor’s office said 11 officers were killed and 78 people injured, three of them civilians. Four people were said to be in critical condition. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the explosion took place 50 meters from the building, at a control post. The PKK said it carried out the assault in retaliation for the “continued isolation” of the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the “lack of information” about his welfare. Cizre, a majority Kurdish town, has been badly hit by renewed violence between the PKK and government forces since the collapse of a ceasefire last year. Turkish security forces have been hit by near daily PKK attacks since a two-and-a-half year truce with the state collapsed in July 2015, leaving hundreds of police officers and soldiers dead. Turkey’s operation in Syria aims to push both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia that is fighting the jihadists out of the border region. Ankara considers the YPG, which has links to the PKK, as a terror group bent on carving out an autonomous Kurdish region on Turkey’s border. On Friday, the army sent four more tanks over the border, according to an AFP photographer at Karkamis on the Turkish side of the frontier. Kurdish activists have accused Turkey of being more intent on preventing Syrian Kurds creating a stronghold than fighting IS jihadists. But Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Friday denounced as a “bare-faced lie” suggestions in Western media that the Syria operation was singling out Kurds. “They either know nothing about the world or else their job is to report a bare-faced lie,” he said. Ankara’s hostility to the Syrian Kurdish fighters has put it at odds with its NATO ally, the United States, which supports them in the fight against IS. On Wednesday, Turkish tanks and fighter jets helped pro-Turkish rebels rout IS from the town of Jarabulus, on which the YPG appeared to have designs. On Thursday, Turkey shelled Kurdish fighters in the area, saying they were failing to observe a deal with the US to stop advancing west into IS-held territory. Anadolu quoted security sources as saying the military would continue to intervene against the Syrian Kurdish fighters until they began to retreat. In a separate incident on the border, three Turkish soldiers were injured by mortar shells fired from Syria that landed in Yayladagi district, Dogan news agency reported. The agency said there had been clashes between local Turkmen and Syrian regime forces in Latakia, from where the shells were fired. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin-who until late June had been locked in a bitter feud over the shooting down of a Russian war plane-agreed to step up efforts to ensure aid reached Syria’s conflict-torn northern Aleppo province. The two also emphasized the need to fight “all terror groups” in Syria, Anadolu agency said. Visiting Turkey on Wednesday, US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington had warned YPG not to move west of the Euphrates river after recent advances, or risk losing American support. Murat Karayilan, one of the top Iraq-based leaders of the PKK, accused Turkey of doing a deal with IS to vacate Jarabulus. “ISIS has never abandoned a town in one day without putting up a fight,” he told the pro-PKK Firat news agency, using another acronym for IS. The PKK has kept up its assaults following the unsuccessful July 15 coup by rogue elements in the military aimed at unseating Erdogan. The government for its part has vowed to press on with the campaign to eradicate the PKK from eastern Turkey. Over the past year, the military has conducted operations and imposed punishing curfews in towns and cities in the southeast that have claimed civilian lives, including in Cizre. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority. It is proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. – AFP[SEP]At least 11 police officers were killed and 70 injured when suspected Kurdish militants attacked a police checkpoint in south-east Turkey with an explosives-laden truck. Turkey on Friday vowed to retaliate. 'We will give those vile (attackers) the answer they deserve,' Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul. 'No terrorist organisation can hold Turkey captive.' The attack struck the checkpoint some 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province which borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported. The three-storey police station was destroyed in the powerful explosion. News channel NTV showed large plumes of smoke billowing from the site, which it said was a police checkpoint. At least two of the wounded were in a critical condition, an official said. The Health Ministry said it had sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the scene. State-run Anadolu Agency blamed the attack on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been involved in almost daily clashes in the region since last July, when a ceasefire between it and the government collapsed. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in 1984. On Thursday Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the group of attacking a convoy carrying the main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The government has blamed the PKK for a series of attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack, on a police station.[SEP]An attack with an explosives-laden truck on a police checkpoint in south-east Turkey has killed at least 11 police officers and wounded 78 other people. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Kurdish militants were responsible for the attack on a checkpoint about 50 metres from a police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Şırnak province that borders Syria. Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck, while the three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. The health ministry said it had sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and installations. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for those attacks. Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members have been killed since. Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in south-east Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul’s main airport in June, which killed 44. Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key Isis-held town. Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed. The PKK is considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies. The attacks on police came as the country was still reeling from a violent coup attempt on 15 July that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy of vehicles carrying Turkey’s main opposition party leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in the north-east, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said.[SEP]The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party on Friday claimed a suicide truck bombing on a police building in Turkey’s southeast that killed 11 officers and wounded dozens more. The blast came two days after the Turkish army launched an offensive in Syria that the government says is not only aimed against Islamic State jihadists but also a Syrian Kurdish militia detested by Ankara. The blast tore the facade off the headquarters of the Turkish riot police in the town of Cizre, a bastion of PKK support just north of the Syrian border. The local governor’s office said 11 officers were killed and 78 people injured, three of them civilians. Four people were said to be in critical condition. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the explosion took place 50 metres from the building, at a control post. The PKK said it carried out the assault in retaliation for the ‘continued isolation’ of the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the ‘lack of information’ about his welfare. Cizre, a majority Kurdish town, has been badly hit by renewed violence between the PKK and government forces since the collapse of a ceasefire last year. Turkish security forces have been hit by near daily PKK attacks since a two-and-a-half year truce with the state collapsed in July 2015, leaving hundreds of police officers and soldiers dead. Turkey’s operation in Syria aims to push both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia that is fighting the jihadists out of the border region. Ankara considers the YPG, which has links to the PKK, as a terror group bent on carving out an autonomous Kurdish region on Turkey’s border. On Friday, the army sent four more tanks over the border, according to an AFP photographer at Karkamis on the Turkish side of the frontier. Kurdish activists have accused Turkey of being more intent on preventing Syrian Kurds creating a stronghold than fighting IS jihadists. But prime minister Binali Yildirim on Friday denounced as a ‘bare-faced lie’ suggestions in Western media that the Syria operation was singling out Kurds. ‘They either know nothing about the world or else their job is to report a bare-faced lie,’ he said. Ankara’s hostility to the Syrian Kurdish fighters has put it at odds with its NATO ally, the United States, which supports them in the fight against IS. On Wednesday, Turkish tanks and fighter jets helped pro-Turkish rebels rout IS from the town of Jarabulus, on which the YPG appeared to have designs. On Thursday, Turkey shelled Kurdish fighters in the area, saying they were failing to observe a deal with the US to stop advancing west into IS-held territory. Anadolu quoted security sources as saying the military would continue to intervene against the Syrian Kurdish fighters until they began to retreat. In a separate incident on the border, three Turkish soldiers were injured by mortar shells fired from Syria that landed in Yayladagi district, Dogan news agency reported. The agency said there had been clashes between local Turkmen and Syrian regime forces in Latakia, from where the shells were fired.[SEP]Attackers detonated a bomb-laden truck near the checkpoint in Cizre, Anadolu reported, citing the governor's officer in the province of Sirnak. The injured included 75 officers and three civilians, Anadolu reported. Four of the injured were in critical condition, Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag told CNN Turk. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The Sirnak governor's office told Anadolu they blame the PKK -- a militant Kurdish group that's labeled a terror group by many in the international community. It said a car bomb was detonated at the police checkpoint. "Turkey will never allow these terrorists to realize their dirty aims," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday in a statement. "There is no question that our fight with terror will succeed."[SEP]A suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast killed at least 11 and wounded dozens on Friday, two days after Turkey launched an incursion against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters in Syria. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said there was no doubt that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, was responsible for the attack in Sirnak province, which borders Syria and Iraq. The provincial governor's office said 11 police officers were killed and 78 people, three of them civilians, wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The bombing in the town of Cizre was the latest in a series of attacks since a ceasefire with the PKK collapsed more than a year ago, and comes as Turkey tries to recover from a failed July 15 military coup. READ MORE: * Turkish tanks roll into Syria * Blast kills dozens at wedding * Turkey has detained 40,000 since coup * Seven die from car bomb More than 1700 military personnel have been removed for their alleged role in the putsch, including some 40 per cent of admirals and generals, raising concern about the NATO member's ability to protect itself as it battles Islamic State in Syria and Kurdish militants at home. At a news conference in Istanbul, Yildirim said Turkey had opened a war on all terrorist groups. His deputy, Numan Kurtulmus, said on Twitter that Islamic State, the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were all attacking Turkey to take advantage of last month's coup attempt. "Turkey is in an intense fight against terrorist organisations ... The PKK/YPG and Islamic State seized the July 15 coup attempt as an opportunity," Kurtulmus wrote. Large plumes of smoke billowed from the blast site in Cizre, footage on CNN Turk showed. The broadcaster said a dozen ambulances and two helicopters had been sent to the scene. Photographs broadcast by private channel NTV showed a large three-storey building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, and surrounded by grey rubble. On Thursday (local time), Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the PKK of attacking a convoy carrying the country's main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The government has blamed the PKK for a series of attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack on a police station.[SEP]ANKARA/KARKAMIS, Turkey, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast killed at least 11 and wounded dozens on Friday, two days after Turkey launched an incursion against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters in Syria. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said there was no doubt that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, was responsible for the attack in Sirnak province, which borders Syria and Iraq. The provincial governor's office said 11 police officers were killed and 78 people, three of them civilians, wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The bombing in the town of Cizre was the latest in a series of attacks since a ceasefire with the PKK collapsed more than a year ago, and comes as Turkey tries to recover from a failed July 15 military coup. More than 1,700 military personnel have been removed for their alleged role in the putsch, including some 40 percent of admirals and generals, raising concern about the NATO member's ability to protect itself as it battles Islamic State in Syria and Kurdish militants at home. At a news conference in Istanbul, Yildirim said Turkey had opened a war on all terrorist groups. His deputy, Numan Kurtulmus, said on Twitter that Islamic State, the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were all attacking Turkey to take advantage of last month's coup attempt. "Turkey is in an intense fight against terrorist organisations ... The PKK/YPG and Islamic State seized the July 15 coup attempt as an opportunity," Kurtulmus wrote. Large plumes of smoke billowed from the blast site in Cizre, footage on CNN Turk showed. The broadcaster said a dozen ambulances and two helicopters had been sent to the scene. Photographs broadcast by private channel NTV showed a large three-storey building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, and surrounded by grey rubble. Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched their first major incursion into Syria on Wednesday in support of Syrian rebels, in an operation President Tayyip Erdogan has said is aimed both at driving Islamic State away from the border area and preventing territorial gains by the YPG. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in Turkey in 1984. Turkish troops fired on U.S.-backed YPG fighters in northern Syria on Thursday - a confrontation that highlights the cross-cutting of interests of two pivotal NATO allies. Also on Thursday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the PKK of attacking a convoy carrying the country's main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The government has blamed the PKK for a series of attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack on a police station. Last week Erdogan accused followers of a U.S.-based Islamic cleric he blames for the July 15 coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied any involvement in and denounced the coup plot.[SEP]ANKARA, Turkey — Kurdish militants on Friday attacked a police checkpoint in southeast Turkey with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, officials and the state-run news agency said. The attack struck the checkpoint 50 meters (yards) from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, for those attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll, saying it was a suicide attack carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to “destroy the terrorists.”(nypost.com)…[+]

Eight Turkish police officers are killed and 40 are injured in a bombing at a police checkpoint in the town of Cizre, with the PKK believed to be responsible.

For four long years the Damascus suburb of Daraya endured siege, bombardment and starvation at the hands of the Syrian regime. The city was one of the first to rise up in peaceful protest against Bashar al-Assad during the early days of the Arab Spring and it stood strong in face of his violent oppression. But on Friday Daraya’s long defiance came to an end and the city finally surrendered to the regime troops who have besieged it since 2012. Its loss is a blow to the Syrian rebels as Daraya, which is just 15 minutes from central Damascus, was an icon of resistance. Its capture is both a symbolic victory for Mr Assad and a battlefield success that will free up his troops to fight elsewhere around the Syrian capital. Children in Daraya speaking about the siege in April[SEP]Syrian rebel fighters evacuated from the Damascene suburb of Darayya on Friday, government officials and rebel leaders said, ending one of the longest-running sieges in the country’s devastating civil war. Syrian state news operator SANA reported that “a reconciliation agreement” had been struck in the city of Darayya on Thursday, a short 15-minute drive from the center of Damascus, “so as to empty it of arms and gunmen in preparation for the return of all state institutions and the inhabitants of the city.” Families now in the besieged suburb will be transferred to “temporary residency centers” while roughly 700 gunmen would be moved to the rebel-held province of Idlib after surrendering their medium and heavy weaponry to the Syrian government troops, Darayya’s mayor, Marwan Ubeid, was quoted as saying. An opposition activist in the city who gave his name as Mutaz for reasons of privacy, confirmed the deal in an interview early Friday. He said that roughly 4,000 civilians will be taken to the Damascus suburbs of Qudsaya and Kisweh. The transfers will occur under international supervision, he said. Later on Friday, a SANA reporter said that the evacuation operation had begun. Aid trucks from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent entered the suburb hours after the deal was struck. Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese news channel close to Assad ally Hezbollah, broadcast live images from Darayya showing government troops standing near what it said were 45 green-and-white buses prepared to move out civilians. Meanwhile, officials were checking off names of those fighters who had chosen to leave, while those remaining behind would be evacuated over the next four days, the news agency reported. The U.N.’s Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, issued a statement Friday saying, “The situation regarding Darayya [was] extremely grave.” “It is tragic that repeated appeals to lift the siege of Darayya, besieged since November 2012, and cease the fighting have never been heeded,” said Mistura, adding that he was “made aware of the agreement to evacuate the civilians and fighters” overnight. “The U.N. was not consulted or involved in the negotiation of this agreement. It is imperative that the people of Darayya are protected in any evacuation that takes place, and that this takes place voluntarily.” He appealed to members of the International Syria Support Group, a coalition of countries, including the U.S. and Russia, working to bring about an end to the war in Syria “to ensure that the implementation of this agreement and its aftermath is in full compliance with international humanitarian law and protection standards.” Opposition activists uploaded video depicting rebel fighters embracing family members before their departure. Other photos showed women and men dragging their luggage through neighborhoods all but pulverized by almost four years of constant fighting. The deal marks the end of one of the Syrian civil war’s most punishing standoffs. Darayya, a suburb once home to 78,000 people and thought to be the site where Paul the Apostle had his conversion on the road to Damascus, was one of the first areas near the capital to join anti-government uprisings and became a byword for opposition to the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The suburb is also close to Mezzeh military airport, which reportedly houses headquarters of the government’s elite Republican Guards and the much-feared Air Force Intelligence. In August 2012, Darayya was the site of what U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said was “an appalling and brutal” massacre that killed more than 200 people, many of them civilians, after fierce clashes forced rebel fighters to withdraw to the suburb’s outskirts. Both sides blamed the other for the killings. Rebel factions seized control of Darayya later that year, but found themselves steadily losing a war of attrition with pro-government forces who mounted an increasingly tight siege on the area. Despite intense lobbying by the U.N., only one food shipment had entered Darayya since June, when a fragile ceasefire deal was forged to allow the delivery of aid. Meanwhile, activists in the town spoke of frequent bombings by government warplanes, including one they claimed took out the last remaining hospital in the suburb last week. Images broadcast by both government and opposition supporters hinted at the scale of the destruction within, and of the bitter calculus that would count Darayya a victory for the government in Syria’s vicious civil war; hardly any neighborhood escaped unscathed, with anywhere from 60% to 90% of the buildings damaged or destroyed. The reconciliation agreement follows similar deals forged in the central city of Homs in May 2014, which saw fighters and their families evacuate the city’s old quarter and move to Idlib. Opposition supporters took to social media to condemn the agreement; they excoriated rebel factions in the country’s south for not doing more to help break the siege on the city. Yet rebel activists in Darayya insisted they would leave the city only to fight the government once again. “We only left to return,” media activist Mohammad Abu Al-Zain said on his Facebook page Friday. Abu Jaafar Al-Homsi, the nom de guerre of a commander in the Martyrs of Islam Brigade, one of two major factions in the suburb, posted a defiant statement on Twitter, saying the deal had come after “thousands of failed incursion attempts” by pro-government forces. “We leave the stones of Darayya in the care of Allah … and accompany with us the heroes of Darayya and their rifles,” he wrote. “Darayya is where the battles are, for no land can contain Darayya.” Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and U.S. claim major victory over Islamic State As women are fined for wearing head scarves, French activists push back on 'burkini' ban Crews find living among the dead as search goes on for survivors of Italy quake 8:30 a.m.: This article has been updated with a report of aid trucks entering the suburb.[SEP]DARAYA, Syria | Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating a long-besieged Damascus suburb Friday as part of an agreement reached with the government following four years of grueling airstrikes and siege that left the suburb in ruins. The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights opposition forces for control over Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Syrian soldiers are seen at the entrance of Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Local Council of Daraya City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens gather as they prepare to evacuate from Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(Local Council of Daraya City via AP) Syrian soldiers walk at the entrance of Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Local Council of Daraya City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens gather with their belonging next of a bus, as they prepare to evacuate from Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(Local Council of Daraya City via AP) This photo provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group Local Council of Daraya City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens carry their belonging as they prepare to evacuate from Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(Local Council of Daraya City via AP) A Syrian soldier walks in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) Syrian soldiers are seen at the entrance of Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) Aid ambulances in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) Damaged buildings in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) Syrian soldiers take in the view from a damaged building in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. The development in the Daraya suburb is part of an agreement struck between the rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Rebels agreed to evacuate after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that has left the sprawling suburb southwest of the capital in ruins.(AP Photo) Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday. Under the terms of the deal, around 700 gunmen will be allowed safe exit to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken temporarily to a shelter south of Daraya. The suburb has been besieged and blockaded by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during this time. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade. As the first white bus with rebels and their families emerged from Daraya, Syrian army soldiers swarmed the vehicle, shouting pro-Assad slogans. The development comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks center on proposals to share intelligence and coordinate militarily with Russia against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq. Russia and Iran are strong backers of Assad and have been accused of targeting Western-backed rebel forces. The U.N.’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, called for the protection of people being evacuated from Daraya and said their departure must be voluntary. In a statement issued in Geneva, he said the U.N. was not consulted or involved in the negotiation of the deal reached between rebel factions and government forces. Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. In August 2012, around 400 people were killed over several days in a killing spree by troops and pro-government militiamen who stormed the suburb after heavy fighting and days of shelling, according to opposition activists. At least 48 green and white buses, eight ambulances and several Red Crescent and U.N. vehicles were lined up at the entrance of Daraya earlier Friday, waiting for the green light. An Associated Press journalist who entered the suburb from its northern entrance saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred. A group of uniformed soldiers celebrated, shouting pro-Syria slogans and flashing victory signs. Black smoke rose on the horizon — caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. Footage posted on the internet by a member of the Daraya local council shows a small group of a few dozen people milling about in a street lined with destroyed buildings. Surrounded by some meager belongings, they appear to be waiting to be evacuated. Women in full face cover are seen sitting on pieces of rubble while bearded men walk about. Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to hundreds of gunmen and their families out of Daraya and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib. Civilians will be taken to Kesweh, south of Daraya. “Idlib will be their graveyard,” said a Syrian army soldier. “This is a precious moment for every Syrian,” he added. The soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, saw some of the first demonstrations against Assad after the uprising against his family rule began in March 2011, during which residents took to the streets, sometimes pictured carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. It is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops following years of siege. Opposition activists and human rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. The first major truce deal was struck in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, west of Daraya, in 2014. It was followed by truces and cease-fires in Babila, Yalda, Barzeh around the Syrian capital — all deals that swung heavily in the government’s favor and pacified the region. Daraya provided a stark example of the price of rebuffing truce overtures. For years, government helicopters conducted a brutal aerial campaign, pounding the suburb with barrel bombs — large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal. The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs. Last December, Syrian rebels evacuated the last district they controlled in the central city of Homs, a major symbol of the uprising, after a siege that lasted almost three years. Rebels there also headed to Idlib, handing the government a significant victory in central Syria. The U.N.’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Residents had described burning plastic material to make fuel. Activist Hussam Ayash said residents were “trying to absorb the shock” of suddenly having to leave. “It’s difficult, but we have no choice,” he told the AP, speaking from inside Daraya. “Our condition has deteriorated to the point of being unbearable,” he said on Thursday night, ahead of the evacuations. “We withstood for four years but we couldn’t any longer,” he said, choking on his words. Ayash said the situation became unbearable after the town’s remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week. The government had in recent months also encroached on the town’s agricultural farms — the only source of food for the local population, which he estimated at 8,000 people. Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.[SEP]Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating a long-besieged Damascus suburb on Friday as part of an agreement reached with the government following four years of gruelling airstrikes and siege that left the suburb in ruins. The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights opposition forces for control over Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late on Thursday. Under the terms of the deal, around 700 gunmen will be allowed safe exit to the Opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken temporarily to a shelter south of Daraya. The suburb has been besieged by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during this time. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade. As the first white bus with rebels and their families emerged from Daraya, Syrian army soldiers swarmed the vehicle, shouting pro-Assad slogans.[SEP]The besieged Syrian town of Darayya, a symbol of the rebellion against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, is to be taken over by government forces after the last rebel fighters agreed to hand over their weapons and leave. The surrender and evacuation of the Damascus suburb after a brutal four-year siege is a devastating blow to opposition morale and a long-sought prize for Assad. Weeks of intense bombardment, which activists claim included napalm attacks, has finally overwhelmed rebels. The evacuation will be carried out in stages, with fighters leaving for opposition-controlled areas, but the fate of the few thousand civilians who have endured years of fighting and deprivation is still unclear. “The Assad regime and the armed groups in Darayya agreed on a ceasefire as an interlude to a settlement that includes evacuating civilians as of tomorrow, Friday,” a member of the local council told the Guardian. Families fear being forced to separate, and many of the people left in the city are worried that if they are forced into government-held areas they will disappear into jail for their activism in Darayya, or face an even grimmer fate. “The civilians are forced mainly to go to the regime-held areas. It is said that the families of the fighters can go with them, but nothing is confirmed yet. Tomorrow, when they come to take the first group of civilians, we will know further details,” the council member said. The fighters who join other opposition forces will be celebrated for their years of resistance, said Osama Abu Zaid, legal consultant to the Free Syrian Army. “We are awaiting the heroes of Darayya, the courageous,” he added, saving his criticism for western powers that he said offered no support. “For four years Darayya was under siege and the international community did nothing,” he said in a radio broadcast in northern Syria. “Four years and the United Nations couldn’t provide any humanitarian aid, except once.” The town became known as a centre for the opposition from the start of the uprising against Assad, which later turned into civil war. “Darayya was one of the very first towns to go against Assad. We started very early and we were so peaceful, we didn’t take the choice of raising arms for a full year,” said Kholoud Waleed, an activist from the town who now lives in exile. Darayya was the home of Ghiath Matar, an activist committed to non-violence. He was famous for handing out roses and bottles of water to government soldiers when they first entered the town in summer 2011. He inspired pro-democracy protesters around Syria, but that autumn he was killed, his body disfigured and his throat cut out. The town was also the site of a notorious massacre by government forces almost four years to the day before the surrender was agreed. They stormed in to make house-to-house searches, and left hundreds dead in one of the worst killing sprees of the war. Like many of Darayya’s residents, Waleed fled as Assad’s troops began laying a siege on the town in 2012. Those who managed to cling on inside the military cordon survived by growing their own food in fields between houses. But in recent weeks fighters and civilians had been pinned into just a few blocks with nowhere to produce food, Waleed said. Heavy fighting continues around the city of Aleppo, with reports of civilian casualties on both sides. Activists said 13 people, most of them children, were killed this week by a government barrel bomb dropped on a residential area. In northern Syria, a rebel force backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and aircraft entered the town of Jarablus, one of the last Islamic State strongholds along the border, as Ankara demanded Kurdish militia fighters retreat to the east side of the Euphrates river within a week. Turkey wants to secure the border and drive back Isis after a bomb at a wedding on Turkish soil killed dozens of people. However, Ankara is also concerned about the rapid advance by the Kurdish YPG militia across former Isis strongholds. It wants to prevent the fighters, who have been advancing fast with US air support, from seizing territory and consolidating control that could fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.[SEP]By Albert Aji and Zeina Karam, Associated Press DARAYA, Syria — Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating a long-besieged Damascus suburb Friday as part of an agreement reached with the government following four years of grueling airstrikes and siege that left the suburb in ruins. The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights opposition forces for control over Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday. Under the terms of the deal, around 700 gunmen will be allowed safe exit to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken temporarily to a shelter south of Daraya. • August 25, 2016 Turkey: U.S. says Syria Kurds are pulling back in north Syria • August 24, 2016 Dobbs: Syrian boy is another symbol of the incalculable cost of war • August 23, 2016 Cartoons of the day: Syrian boy rescued in Aleppo • August 23, 2016 Turkey strikes Islamic State in Syria as tensions rise over border town The suburb has been besieged and blockaded by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during this time. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade. As the first white bus with rebels and their families emerged from Daraya, Syrian army soldiers swarmed the vehicle, shouting pro-Assad slogans. The development comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks center on proposals to share intelligence and coordinate militarily with Russia against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq. Russia and Iran are strong backers of Assad and have been accused of targeting Western-backed rebel forces. The U.N.’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, called for the protection of people being evacuated from Daraya and said their departure must be voluntary. In a statement issued in Geneva, he said the U.N. was not consulted or involved in the negotiation of the deal reached between rebel factions and government forces. Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. In August 2012, around 400 people were killed over several days in a killing spree by troops and pro-government militiamen who stormed the suburb after heavy fighting and days of shelling, according to opposition activists. At least 48 green and white buses, eight ambulances and several Red Crescent and U.N. vehicles were lined up at the entrance of Daraya earlier Friday, waiting for the green light. An Associated Press journalist who entered the suburb from its northern entrance saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred. A group of uniformed soldiers celebrated, shouting pro-Syria slogans and flashing victory signs. Black smoke rose on the horizon — caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. Footage posted on the internet by a member of the Daraya local council shows a small group of a few dozen people milling about in a street lined with destroyed buildings. Surrounded by some meager belongings, they appear to be waiting to be evacuated. Women in full face cover are seen sitting on pieces of rubble while bearded men walk about. Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to hundreds of gunmen and their families out of Daraya and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib. Civilians will be taken to Kesweh, south of Daraya. “Idlib will be their graveyard,” said a Syrian army soldier. “This is a precious moment for every Syrian,” he added. The soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, saw some of the first demonstrations against Assad after the uprising against his family rule began in March 2011, during which residents took to the streets, sometimes pictured carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. It is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops following years of siege. Opposition activists and human rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. The first major truce deal was struck in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, west of Daraya, in 2014. It was followed by truces and cease-fires in Babila, Yalda, Barzeh around the Syrian capital — all deals that swung heavily in the government’s favor and pacified the region. Daraya provided a stark example of the price of rebuffing truce overtures. For years, government helicopters conducted a brutal aerial campaign, pounding the suburb with barrel bombs — large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal. The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs. Last December, Syrian rebels evacuated the last district they controlled in the central city of Homs, a major symbol of the uprising, after a siege that lasted almost three years. Rebels there also headed to Idlib, handing the government a significant victory in central Syria. The U.N.’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Residents had described burning plastic material to make fuel. Activist Hussam Ayash said residents were “trying to absorb the shock” of suddenly having to leave. “It’s difficult, but we have no choice,” he told the AP, speaking from inside Daraya. “Our condition has deteriorated to the point of being unbearable,” he said on Thursday night, ahead of the evacuations. “We withstood for four years but we couldn’t any longer,” he said, choking on his words. Ayash said the situation became unbearable after the town’s remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week. The government had in recent months also encroached on the town’s agricultural farms — the only source of food for the local population, which he estimated at 8,000 people. Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.[SEP]Buses, ambulances and trucks have lined up at the entrance of a long-blockaded Damascus suburb to evacuate rebels and civilians under a deal struck between Syrian opposition forces and the government of President Bashar Assad. The surrender of the Daraya suburb, which became an early symbol of the uprising against Mr Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. Daraya’s rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late on Thursday, after four years of gruelling bombardment and a crippling siege that left the sprawling suburb in ruins. The suburb has been besieged and blockaded by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during this time. The development comes as US secretary of state John Kerry arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks centre on proposals to share intelligence and co-ordinate militarily with Russia against Islamic State and al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. Russia and Iran are strong backers of Mr Assad and have been accused of targeting western-backed rebel forces. Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummelled by government air strikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. The evacuations are to begin later on Friday. At least 48 green and white buses, eight ambulances and several Red Crescent and UN vehicles were lined up at the entrance of Daraya, waiting for the green light. In a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred, black smoke rose on the horizon – caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to 700 gunmen and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib . Around 4,000 civilians will be taken to shelters in and around Damascus. “Idlib will be their graveyard,” said a Syrian army soldier. “This is a precious moment for every Syrian,” he added. Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, has suffered thousands of helicopter-dropped, unguided barrel bombs over the years. It saw some of the first demonstrations against Mr Assad after the uprising against his family rule began in March 2011, during which residents took to the streets, some carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. It is the latest area to surrender to government troops following years of siege. Opposition activists and human rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. The UN’s humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Residents had described burning plastic material to make fuel. “No one will remain here”, said Hussam Ayash, a Daraya activist. “We are being forced to leave, but our condition has deteriorated to the point of being unbearable,” he said, ahead of the evacuations. “We withstood for four years but we couldn’t any longer,” he said, choking on his words. Mr Ayash said the situation became unbearable after the town’s remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week. The government had in recent months also encroached on the town’s agricultural farms – the only source of food for the local population, which he estimated at 8,000 people.[SEP]Escorted by armed troops, dozens of insurgents and their families left this war-wrecked suburb of the Syrian capital on Friday as part of a forced evacuation deal struck with the government to end a four-year siege and aerial campaign that has left the area in ruins. The capitulation by rebel forces in Daraya, an early bastion of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, provides another boost for his forces amid a stalemate in the fight for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. It also improves security around Assad’s seat of power, pacifying an entire region southwest of Damascus that was once a backbone of the rebellion. Daraya was the last remaining rebel holdout in the region known as western Ghouta — and the closest to the capital. The mass relocation of the suburb’s residents reflects the government’s ongoing military strategy to break up Sunni population areas, weakening the rebellion against it. It also highlights concerns over the forced displacement of members of the Sunni majority, seen by some as a government policy to strengthen its base and create a corridor made up of its minority supporters. Following the deal struck late Thursday, Daraya’s rebels began evacuating in government buses on Friday, a process expected to take several days. Around 700 gunmen are to be allowed safe passage to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken to temporary shelter in government-controlled Kisweh, south of Daraya. The U.N., which said it was not consulted over the plan, expressed concern over the evacuation, saying it was imperative that those participating do so voluntarily. As the first white government bus carrying evacuees emerged from Daraya carrying mostly women and children, Syrian Army soldiers swarmed the vehicle, shouting pro-Assad slogans. Inside, armed troops guarded the doors as the women tried to hide their faces. Nine buses left Daraya on Friday. One of Daraya’s fighters, Tamam Abouel Kheir, posted a video message saying, “We are forced to leave. But we will return, our nation.” The post included pictures of his loved ones and a photo of a group of young men visiting the Daraya cemetery to pay their respects to the hundreds who died in the fighting. “If only we could take the tombs of our martyrs with us,” he wrote. Dr. Mohamad Diaa, a 27-year-old general practitioner in Daraya, said he would likely leave Saturday with the rebels heading to Idlib. “Today married civilians and families. Tomorrow, the rest of the shabab leave,” he said, using Arabic slang for young men. His family left Syria long before, but he chose to stay behind, Diaa said, giving only his first and middle names because he feared for his safety. He said he hoped the presence of the Red Crescent would be enough to prevent the government from arresting the evacuating rebels. Daraya-based opposition activist Hussam Ayash said residents were “trying to absorb the shock” of suddenly having to leave. “It’s difficult, but we have no choice,” he said. Daraya is part of “Rural Damascus,” a province that includes the capital’s suburbs and farmland. It saw some of the first demonstrations against Assad after the 2011 uprising against his family’s rule in which residents took to the streets, sometimes carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. After the uprising turned into insurgency, the suburb became a persistent threat to the government’s nearby Mezzeh air base. It was pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. In August 2012, around 400 residents were killed by pro-government militiamen who stormed the suburb following heavy fighting and days of shelling, according to opposition activists. Once known for its workshops that produced handmade wooden furniture, Daraya has been besieged and blockaded by government forces since November 2012, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach it during that time. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade. An Associated Press journalist who entered the suburb Friday saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred. Black smoke rose on the horizon — caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. In a statement, the U.N. said it was neither involved nor consulted about the evacuation plan, adding, “the world is watching.” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a small team of U.N. and Red Cross aid workers would travel to Daraya “to meet with all parties and identify the key issues for the civilians.” “We are using this lull in the fighting to get in and see what we can do and obviously see for ourselves what the situation is inside the city,” Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. Daraya is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops following years of siege. Opposition activists and human rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. Last December, Syrian rebels evacuated the last district they controlled in the central city of Homs, a major symbol of the uprising, after a nearly three-year siege. Rebels there also headed to Idlib, handing the government a significant victory in central Syria. Daraya provided a stark example of the price of rebuffing truce overtures. For years, government helicopters conducted a brutal aerial campaign, pounding the suburb with barrel bombs — large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal. The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs. Diaa said for the last eight months Daraya has been pounded with hundreds of barrel bombs, as the government attempted to storm it. It was left choked off, with no supply lines and no roads in or out. The U.N.’s humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Residents said the situation became unbearable after the town’s remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week. The government had in recent months also encroached on the town’s farmlands — the only source of food for the local population. Diaa said Daraya’s residents were let down by the international community and by rebel factions in Daraa and eastern Ghouta who did not come to their rescue. “We had hoped someone would stand by us and put some pressure on the regime. But it didn’t happen,” he said. Meanwhile, in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, had “achieved clarity” on a path toward restoring a truce in Syria, but details remained to be worked out. Kerry said the “vast majority” of technical discussions on steps to reinstate the cease-fire and improve humanitarian access had been completed during talks on Friday, and experts would try to finalize the unresolved steps in the coming days.[SEP]DARAYA, Syria (AP) — Buses, ambulances and trucks lined up at the entrance of a long-blockaded Damascus suburb on Friday to evacuate rebels and civilians under a deal struck between the Syrian opposition forces and the government. The surrender of the Daraya suburb, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. Daraya's rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday, after four years of grueling bombardment and a crippling siege that left the sprawling suburb in ruins. The suburb has been besieged and blockaded by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during this time. The development comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks center on proposals to share intelligence and coordinate militarily with Russia against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Syria and Iraq. Russia and Iran are strong backers of Assad and have been accused of targeting Western-backed rebel forces. Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. The evacuations are to begin later Friday. At least 48 green and white buses, eight ambulances and several Red Crescent and U.N. vehicles were lined up at the entrance of Daraya, waiting for the green light. An AP journalist who entered the suburb from its northern entrance saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred. A group of uniformed soldiers celebrated, shouting pro-Syria slogans and flashing victory signs. Black smoke rose on the horizon — caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. Footage posted on the internet by a member of the Daraya local council shows a small group of a few dozen people milling about in a street lined with destroyed buildings. Surrounded by some meager belongings, they appear to be waiting to be evacuated. Women in full face cover are seen sitting on pieces of rubble while bearded men walk about. By midday Friday, three buses and several ambulances were seen entering Daraya, ahead of the evacuation. Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to 700 gunmen and their families out of Daraya and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib. Around 4,000 civilians will be taken to a shelter in Kesweh, south of Daraya. "Idlib will be their graveyard," said a Syrian army soldier. "This is a precious moment for every Syrian," he added. The soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, has suffered thousands of helicopter-dropped unguided barrel bombs over the years. It saw some of the first demonstrations against Assad after the uprising against his family rule began in March 2011, during which residents took to the streets, sometimes pictured carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. It is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops following years of siege. Opposition activists and human rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. The first major truce deal was struck in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh, west of Daraya, in 2014. It was followed by truces and cease-fires in Babila, Yalda, Barzeh around the Syrian capital — all deals that swung heavily in the government' favor and pacified the region. Daraya provided a stark example of the price of rebuffing truce overtures. For years, government helicopters conducted a brutal aerial campaign, pounding the suburb with barrel bombs — large containers packed with fuel, explosives and scraps of metal. The Syrian government denies using barrel bombs. Last December, Syrian rebels evacuated the last district they controlled in the central city of Homs, a major symbol of the uprising, after a siege that lasted almost three years. Rebels there also headed to Idlib, handing the government a significant victory in central Syria. The U.N.'s humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that severe food shortages were forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Residents had described burning plastic material to make fuel. Activist Hussam Ayash said residents were "trying to absorb the shock" of suddenly having to leave. "It's difficult, but we have no choice," he told The Associated Press, speaking from inside Daraya. "Our condition has deteriorated to the point of being unbearable," he said on Thursday night, ahead of the evacuations. "We withstood for four years but we couldn't any longer," he said, choking on his words. Ayash said the situation became unbearable after the town's remaining field hospital was bombed and destroyed last week. The government had in recent months also encroached on the town's agricultural farms — the only source of food for the local population, which he estimated at 8,000 people. Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.[SEP]DARAYA, Syria -- Syrian rebels and their families began evacuating a Damascus suburb Friday as part of an agreement reached with the government after four years of grueling airstrikes and siege that left the suburb in ruins. The surrender of Daraya, which became an early symbol of the nascent uprising against President Bashar Assad, marks a success for his government, removing a persistent threat only a few miles from his seat of power. It provides a further boost for the Syrian army as it fights opposition forces for control over Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Daraya's rebels agreed to evacuate in a deal late Thursday. Under the terms of the deal, about 700 gunmen will be allowed safe exit to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken temporarily to a shelter south of Daraya. The suburb has been blockaded by government forces, with only one food delivery by the United Nations allowed to reach the district during the siege. It has been held by a coalition of ultraconservative Islamic militias, including the Martyrs of Islam Brigade. As the first white bus with rebels and their families emerged from Daraya, Syrian army soldiers swarmed the vehicle, shouting pro-Assad slogans. The development comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. After meeting off and on with Lavrov for nearly 10 hours, Kerry said the two "have achieved clarity" on a path to restore a truce in Syria but details remain to be worked out. Neither Kerry nor Lavrov described the talks in detail. The talks center on proposals to share intelligence and coordinate militarily with Russia against the Islamic State extremist group and the al-Qaida branch in Syria and Iraq. Russia and Iran are strong backers of Assad and have been accused of targeting Western-backed rebel forces. Asked at the start of the gathering to identify the main impediment to a broader nationwide ceasefire, Lavrov responded: "I don't want to spoil the atmosphere for the negotiations." Any U.S.-Russian coordination would be complicated by the fact that Russia says there are Islamic extremist groups mixed in with the moderate rebels that the U.S. supports. Russia accuses the U.S. of preventing strikes on terrorist groups out of concern that would mean targeting these rebels. "A terrorist center" remains in those areas of Syria and "no one can deal with it because so-called moderate opposition groups are there," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said in an interview the day before the talks. At the moment, a key focus is the humanitarian situation in Aleppo. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said Thursday that Russia has agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire there and he's waiting to hear if rebels will do the same. He said trucks are ready to take humanitarian relief to the city. On Friday, de Mistura called for the protection of people being evacuated from Daraya and said their departure must be voluntary. In a statement issued in Geneva, he said the U.N. was not consulted or involved in the negotiation of the deal reached between rebel factions and government forces. "The world is watching," de Mistura said. Located just southwest of Damascus, Daraya has been pummeled by government airstrikes, barrel bombs and fighting over the years. In August 2012, around 400 people were killed over several days by troops and pro-government militiamen who stormed the suburb after heavy fighting and days of shelling, according to opposition activists. At least 48 green and white buses, eight ambulances and several Red Crescent and U.N. vehicles were lined up at the entrance of Daraya earlier Friday, waiting for the green light. A journalist who entered the suburb from the north saw a landscape of severely damaged and deserted buildings, some of them charred. A group of uniformed soldiers celebrated, shouting pro-Syria slogans and flashing victory signs. Black smoke rose on the horizon -- caused by the rebels burning their belongings before evacuating, according to Syrian army soldiers. Footage posted on the Internet by a member of the Daraya local council shows a small group of a few dozen people milling about in a street lined with destroyed buildings. Surrounded by some meager belongings, they appear to be waiting to be evacuated. Women in full face cover are seen sitting on pieces of rubble while bearded men walk about. Under the deal, the government is to allow safe exit to hundreds of gunmen and their families out of Daraya and let them head to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib. Civilians will be taken to Kesweh, south of Daraya. "Idlib will be their graveyard," said a Syrian army soldier. "This is a precious moment for every Syrian," he added. The soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Daraya, which lies in the western Ghouta region, saw some of the first demonstrations against Assad after the uprising against his family rule began in March 2011, during which residents took to the streets, sometimes pictured carrying red and white roses to reflect the peaceful nature of their protests. It is the latest rebel-held area to surrender to government troops after years of siege. Opposition activists and human-rights groups accuse the government of using siege and starvation tactics to force surrender by the opposition. Information for this article was contributed by Albert Aji, Zeina Karam, Sarah El Deeb, Jamey Keaten and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Nick Wadhams and Henry Meyer of Bloomberg News.

Following a ceasefire agreement with the government, Syrian rebels begin evacuating the war-torn suburb of Darayya, near Damascus, ending a four-year-long siege by government forces. Under the terms of surrender, the 8,000 civilians who reside in the suburb will be moved to regime-controlled areas while several hundred rebel fighters will be given passage to the Idlib Governorate.

GARIPCE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey opened one of the world’s biggest suspension bridges on Friday, the latest megaproject in a $200 billion building spree that President Tayyip Erdogan hopes will secure his place in history. People wave Turkish flags during the opening ceremony of newly built Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge, the third bridge over the Bosphorus linking the city's European and Asian sides, in Istanbul, Turkey, August 26, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer The bridge creates a new link across the Bosphorus Strait, which divides Asia and Europe. It is built in the style of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and boasts pylons higher than the Eiffel Tower. It is 1.4 km (0.9 mile) long and 59 meters wide, with eight vehicle lanes and two high-speed rail lines. “When man dies, he leaves behind a monument,” Erdogan told a crowd of thousands waving Turkish flags at the opening ceremony on the shores of the Bosphorus next to the bridge. He is seeking to use such projects to drive economic growth and secure a place as Turkey’s most significant leader since the modern republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. “Be proud of your power, Turkey,” said a TV advert before the opening of the $3 billion Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge on the edge of Istanbul. It is named after a 16th-century Ottoman ruler. Erdogan’s infrastructure drive is transforming Europe’s biggest city, which straddles the Bosphorus Strait. In a little more than a decade, Istanbul’s skyline has soared, new highways have been built, and the length of the metro tripled. But Turkey’s stellar economic growth has slowed since 2011 and it could face difficulties attracting investment following an attempted coup last month, which led to a purge by the government that has seen tens of thousands of people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education being detained, suspended or placed under investigation. The country has also been hit by attacks this summer by Islamic State on a wedding party and Istanbul airport, while the Turkish army’s incursion this week in Syria to curb jihadist and Kurdish forces has unsettled nerves. But Erdogan - whose government announced a $200 billion, decade-long infrastructure investment plan three years ago - has vowed the months of turmoil would not stop planned megaprojects. The Yavuz Sultan Selim, which runs from the Garipce area on Istanbul’s European side to the region of Poyrazkoy on the Asian side, is the third bridge to span the Bosphorus Strait and can withstand winds of 300 km an hour. It ranks among the world’s biggest suspension bridges, in terms of width of deck, height of pylons as well as length of span. It has been built by Italy’s Astaldi and Istanbul-based IC Ictas which will jointly operate it for about a decade. Officials say the bridge will ease congestion in a city of 14 million people, reduce fuel costs and save workers time. Environmentalists say the project threatens Istanbul’s last forestland and will contaminate water supplies. Some economists warn the costs of such large-scale building is unsustainable. BRIDGE ‘IS SYMBOL’ Turkey closed deals to secure $45 billion in private infrastructure investment last year, absorbing 40 percent of the global total, according to the World Bank. Other planned megaprojects include the world’s biggest airport in Istanbul and a huge canal that would render a large chunk of the city an island. Such undertakings trumpet Turkey’s regional clout and drive the economy, Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan told Reuters near the bridge site at Garipce. Construction accounts for 6 percent of output and employs 2 million people. “Turkey, by virtue of its geography, bridges Asia and Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus, but to benefit from this position, we need arteries and corridors,” he told Reuters. “There is money to be made by easing transportation between Europe and Asia, and this is why we are doing these projects.” As Arslan spoke, workers scaled the bridge’s gleaming white steel cables. Some 300 meters below, crude tankers rumbled north through the Bosphorus, one of the world’s busiest oil transit points, connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Each day, 650 new cars hit Istanbul’s roads, Arslan said, making it the word’s third-most congested city and increasing travel times by 50 percent, according to TomTom Traffic Index. The bridge “is a symbol and much like Turkey a gateway”, said Paolo Astaldi, chairman of Astaldi which owns a third of the joint venture. “It not only alleviates traffic in Istanbul, it speeds movement of goods across Turkey and, as Syria stabilizes, the importance of the link will increase.” Under a build-operate-transfer model, the consortium receives the toll crossing fees for vehicles using the hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge - $3 for cars and $15 for trucks. The government guarantees the firms will receive, as a minimum, the toll income from 135,000 cars a day, though the actual number expected to use the bridge is expected to be higher. Planned Turkish megaprojects, if realized, may add 10 to 15 percentage points in the next five years to the debt-to-GDP ratio, now 33 percent due to a wide current-account deficit, said Atilla Yesilada, an analyst at Global Source Partners. “You’re trying to stimulate sagging growth with a surge in infrastructure, but you have a savings problem. There comes a point when the international community won’t lend to you.” ISTANBUL’S ‘LUNGS’ The bridge is part of a network of 215 km of transit roads for freight to bypass Istanbul, Arslan said, reiterating a government pledge to protect the area from housing development. Yet realtors in nearby fishing and farming villages report a fourfold rise in land prices, and activists in the Northern Forests Defence campaign group believe the real aim is to erect new suburbs. “Transit makes up 3 percent of total traffic, so it won’t mitigate traffic jams,” said Cihan Baysal of the Northern Forests Defence. “This opens up hitherto pristine lands to more construction projects, because Turkey’s economy depends on construction ... which paradoxically exacerbates traffic jams.” The new roads seared gashes through forestland. Arslan said that while 380,000 trees were felled, 2.5 million were planted. “These forests are Istanbul’s lungs,” said Baysal, pointing to a court ruling the bridge lacked an environmental report. Among other concerns are the fate of what media reports said were a trove of unexcavated antiquities in the construction area, including Paleolithic remains and a Byzantine jail. Slideshow (13 Images) The two older Bosphorus Strait bridges, crossed by 150 million vehicles a year, sparked protests in 1973 and 1988; now their silhouettes define the skyline. Even the third bridge’s name stirred controversy when it was announced at a 2013 ground-breaking ceremony. Selim I, known as Selim the Grim, expanded the Ottoman Empire to dominate the Middle East. Many members of Turkey’s Alevi community, whose faith draws from Shi’ite, Sufi and Anatolian traditions, say Selim slaughtered tens of thousands of their forebears. They unsuccessfully lobbied to change the bridge’s name.[SEP]Istanbul to inaugurate third bridge linking Europe with Asia ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul is inaugurating the third bridge spanning the Bosphorus Strait dividing the continents of Europe and Asia, in a ceremony to be attended by Turkish leadership and representatives of several nations. Turkey's president and prime minister will attend Friday's ceremony, along with dignitaries from Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Pakistan, Georgia and northern Cyprus. The $3 billion bridge is named after the 16th-century Ottoman sultan, Selim, and is touted as the world's widest suspension bridge, featuring 10 lanes including two rail lines and spanning over 1,400 meters.[SEP]ANKARA: A third bridge linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul will be opened Friday with a ceremony to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, built above the northern Bosphorus, was named after 16th century Ottoman Sultan Selim I, whose rule marked the expansion of the burgeoning world power in the Middle East. The ceremony will also be attended by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akinci, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as well as other senior officials from Pakistan, Georgia and Serbia. According to Turkish officials, it is estimated that the “longest suspension bridge to have a railway system” in the world will save $1.75 billion annually in terms of cutting travel times and reducing energy costs. The bridge is also expected to provide a solution to the city’s air pollution as well as traffic congestion, the officials claimed. Turkey’s government has guaranteed operators that 135,000 automobiles will use the bridge each day. The fee for automobiles going from the European to the Asian side will be 9.90 Turkish liras ($3.40).There will be no charge for passage from the Asian to the European side. The bridge is 1.4 kilometers (0.9 mile) long, 59 meters wide and boasts eight road lanes as well as two rail lines. It has been built as a part of the Northern Marmara Motorway Project, which has been planned in three phases. The first phase of the project has been completed by the private sector, which invested around $3 billion. The other two phases will involve the construction of highways and link roads amounting to a total length of 257 km. These are expected to be completed and available for public use in 2018.[SEP]The news stories that flooded front pages in the wake of Hurricane Irene late last month focused mostly on surging rivers, torn-up homes, downed trees, and the fate of New York City. But one story in particular caught my attention: the state of Vermont lost several of its historic covered bridges, those pleasant reminders of a bucolic North American past, beloved by so many-including, as of only recently, me. Just hours before Irene slammed into the Eastern Seaboard, my girlfriend and I were driving aimlessly around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, filling to the brim our box of vacation memories, already bursting at the seams with scenes of sunrise in coastal Maryland and rainy hours whiled away in the American rooms of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Partly on whim, partly because of fond childhood memories, and partly because it just seemed like a good way to organize the morning, we decided to see as many of Lancaster County's famed covered bridges as possible. By noon, when the rain started falling, I was hooked. The architectural impetus for covering a bridge has less to do with beauty than with sheer practicality. In the northeastern states and provinces of the U.S. and Canada, the arrival of the industrial revolution in the 19th century caused a massive population explosion, and a corresponding need to bridge the terrain's many rivers and streams in order to allow the free movement of people and goods across the land. Bridges made of stone, as those in Europe generally were, didn't make sense in North America, because violent temperature swings meant that the bridges would freeze and thaw and require maintenance every year. To build them instead with wood, plentiful anywhere in the Northeast, made sense. To then protect those wooden bridges with walls and a ceiling-after builders realized that such shelter would prolong a wooden bridge's lifespan tenfold, to nearly a century-made even more sense. While the existence of covered bridges can be traced back almost 3,000 years to ancient Babylon, they reached their architectural apex, and surely their greatest numbers, in 19th century North America. In Quebec alone, over a thousand covered bridges were built during the century and a half they were in vogue. But by the 1950s, stronger building materials had been developed, making it no longer necessary for builders to cover bridges in order to extend their lives and ensure that construction of new spans would be a worthy investment. Residents of towns with covered bridges were suddenly embarrassed by them, thinking the wooden structures evidence of backwardness compared to the modern steel bridges of which neighbouring towns could boast. Many bridges were demolished in the decades between when they stopped being built and the time, not so long ago, that people began to realize how special the remaining covered bridges were, and actively moved to preserve them. After that morning in Lancaster County, I began researching covered bridges, and found that there were nearly 100 still standing in the province of Quebec. I resolved that at the first opportunity I would head into the countryside to see some of them. With only minimal coaxing, I convinced two friends, Sam and Jack, to join me for a recent Sunday drive. Neither had any prior experience with covered bridges, but both are enthusiastic and willing to thoroughly immerse themselves in new things. I did sense some initial skepticism about my new obsession, though, so my friends proved an interesting experiment for observing how excitement steadily begins to grow in a bridge-hunting initiate. So how do you find Quebec's covered bridges? It's surprisingly easy. My new favourite website, www.coveredbridgemap.com, imposes the locations of Quebec's surviving ponts couverts on Google maps; by zooming in closely, you can carefully trace a route from bridge to bridge and back home. I drew up a short plan of action, including whatever historical and expository information I could find online for each of the bridges, and had Sam, acting as navigator in the passenger seat, read the directions as we went along. After getting slightly lost in Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge, we rounded the last curve on a small dirt road and, to whoops and hollers (disproportionately mine, I admit), finally pulled up to examine our first bridge. Sam read from a brief history of the town and the bridge that I'd pulled off a local website. Built in 1884, the Des Rivières Covered B ridge is painted barn-red, the typical uniform for most North American spans. The interior is dark, all wood, weak light shining thinly through cracks in the walls and from the far end, like a short tunnel. The floor of the bridge consists of dusty wooden slats, some more stable than others, with noticeable grooves from one entrance of the bridge to the other, where vehicles have worn down the wood over the last century. Small spare boards thrust into spaces where the wall beams fall just short of their intended marks makes the construction feel spontaneous. Through a small cut-out window in one of the walls, you can watch the stream humming along, dipping below some willow trees on the bank, and disappearing from view - precisely what you would have seen in the same spot more than 125 years ago. We returned to the car, opened some lawn chairs from my trunk, and enjoyed thick slices of mango in the sun. Inside one of the next bridges we saw, someone had spray-painted in orange block letters: "VIVE L'AMOUR!" However vandalous, such an inscription is appropriate enough: another name for a covered bridge is a "kissing bridge," because young couples back in the day used the darkness of the bridge to cloak whatever heinous things young couples used to do. Even today, the dark interiors of most covered bridges continue to host the conjoined signatures of lovers past. I should probably admit that there's a bridge somewhere in Lancaster County sporting a careful engraving from my own set of Honda keys. The last stop on our route, the Balthazar Bridge in Brigham Township, was, as Jack declared, "the finale." Built in 1932, it spans a section of the Yamaska River that features a brief section of Class 3 rapids, as we learned from a group of kayakers who had just arrived from somewhere upstream. We stood on the bank throwing large sticks into the current, admiring how the water flowed smoothly over the rocks before forking around a small island and disappearing around the bend. Quebec's covered bridges, unlike New York's, don't have signs that say you can be fined $1 for driving over the bridge faster than a walk, but the idea, I think, is implicit. Ready to return to Montreal, I slowly coaxed my car over the precarious wooden slats and onto the other side, where, along the riverbank, a dozen cows sat fatly in the grass, mooing and chewing in the shade. "Oh shit, oh my God, oh shit!" So a woman cries-literally, cries-in a video that has circulated around the Internet in recent weeks, showing the collapse of her beloved Bartonsville Covered Bridge in Vermont into the raging waters of the Williams River below. The video is really sad: a few locals stand around in Hurricane Irene's fierce rains, watching the bridge-as if at the deathbed of an old friend, as if by standing guard they might prevent the inevitable. Suddenly, the bridge, built in 1870 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, crumbles into the water and is promptly swept away. While efforts have already been launched to eventually restore the Bartonsville to its proper place and glory, another YouTube video, showing the crumpled-up remains of the bridge where it washed up downstream, makes success seem unlikely. But maybe it's not even so obvious that covered bridges should be preserved at all. "Preservation is transformation," notes Roger McCain, a professor at Drexel University who has done some academic work on the economics of historical preservation, and runs an amateur website on covered bridges. If a bridge still exists with only a fraction of its original wood, is it still the same bridge? McCain believes that sometimes it doesn't even matter. "If you want to preserve something that's attractive and picturesque and lends distinction to your community, because it's either been there for a long or there once was something very much like that was there for a long time, then it makes perfectly good sense to maintain them," he says. Covered bridges can be pleasing to look at even if their historic aura is only a façade. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama has chosen this inauspicious year to "consolidate" 55 highway- and bridge-related programs in the U.S. Department of Transportation into just five stream-lined categories. That means that projects previously funded by the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program will now have to compete for funds against other, admittedly more forward-looking projects under the department's new "Livability" goal. Other programs folded into this awkward category include "Recreational Trails" and "Safe Routes to School." The question begs itself: what politician would vote to divert funds from that latter program to maintain a covered bridge only a few romantics care about? Imagine the TV ad: "Barack Obama wants America's schoolchildren to plunge helplessly off cliffs. Is that change Virginia can believe in?" All the same, Professor McCain believes the impact of the federal preservation program being cut won't be nearly as destructive to the bridges as the recent floods. Besides, he says, it's really a decision local communities will have to make on their own. "A little federal money might encourage a local community to do more than they would do otherwise," he said. "But federal involvement in local issues is always political, and we can't make the whole world a museum." Sam, Jack, and I managed to get slightly lost again trying to find the highway, and were all late for various appointments we had in Montreal later in the afternoon. That didn't really matter. A day out in the country left us refreshed and fortified against whatever aggravations big-city life always promises to have in store. Perhaps even more than finding the bridges themselves, the joy, as ever, was in the hunt. Navigating unknown terrain, meeting unknown characters, turning one another on to good songs and interesting clouds - we agreed that while looking for covered bridges isn't necessarily the only way to see Quebec's countryside, it's as good an excuse as any to get out of the city on a beautiful autumn afternoon. Theoretically, you can just decide to go for an aimless drive in the country on a Sunday afternoon, but realistically, you never will. There's nothing specifically profound about the points on that map of covered bridges in Quebec. It's all about the connections you make in between.

Turkey opens the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in Istanbul, one of the world's biggest suspension bridges.

Six Indonesian provinces have declared states of emergency as forest fires blanketed a swath of Southeast Asia in a smoky haze. Singapore's air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels on Friday as winds blew smoke from fires on Sumatra, where millions of people are already affected by haze, across the city-state and into southern Malaysia. The number of hotspots detected in Sumatra and Borneo by weather satellites has increased in the past month though they are below levels last year when massive fires in Indonesia caused a regional crisis. Singapore's three-hour air pollution index was at 157 by late afternoon, after peaking at 215. Its environment agency doesn't give a health warning with the limited duration index, but on a 24-hour basis it says levels above 100 are unhealthy and above 200 very unhealthy. "The smell of smoke woke me up. I thought something was burning outside," said Singaporean copywriter Lim Jia Ying, who put on a mask for her commute to work. "I'm having a cough and it's getting worse. Luckily, I found a face mask at home," she said. Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation Agency said six provinces which have a combined population of more than 23 million people have declared emergencies, allowing firefighting measures to go into full effect including aerial water drops. The haze is an annual problem for Southeast Asia, but last year's fires were the worst since 1997, straining relations between Indonesia and its neighbors. About 261,000 hectares (644,931 acres) burned, causing billions of dollars in economic losses for Indonesia. Many of the fires are deliberately set by agricultural conglomerates and small-time farmers to clear forests and peatland for plantations. National police chief Tito Karnavian said Friday that 85 people have been arrested this year for starting fires. About 2,800 hectares (6,918 acres) have burned so far this year, according to Indonesia's Forestry Ministry. Separately, Indonesia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a palm oil company PT Kallista Alam that was ordered to pay compensation of 366 billion rupiah ($28 million) for burning peatlands, according to a decision published this month on the court's website. ——— Associated Press writer Annabelle Liang in Singapore contributed to this report.[SEP]SINGAPORE/JAKARTA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Air pollution in Singapore rose to the "unhealthy" level on Friday as acrid smoke drifted over the island from fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said. Every dry season, smoke from fires set to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations in Indonesia clouds the skies over much of the region, raising concern about public health and worrying tourist operators and airlines. The 24-hour Pollution Standards Index (PSI), which Singapore's NEA uses as a benchmark, rose as high as 105 in the afternoon. A level above 100 is considered "unhealthy". The NEA said it planned a "daily haze advisory" as "a burning smell and slight haze were experienced over many areas" in Singapore. Indonesia has been criticised by its northern neighbours and green groups for failing to end the annual fires, which were estimated to cost Southeast Asia's largest economy $16 billion in 2015, and left more than half a million Indonesians suffering from respiratory ailments. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has increased government efforts to tackle the haze, with police doubling numbers of fire-related arrests this year. "Forest and land fires in the Riau area are increasing," Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said in a statement on Friday, referring to aerial surveillance of 67 hotspots and smoke from the area drifting eastward over Singapore. "The smoke billowing from the hotspot locations is quite dense," Nugroho said, adding that 7,200 personnel and several aircraft had been deployed to stop the Riau fires. Pollution levels in neighbouring Malaysia were normal on Friday. Singapore has pushed Indonesia for information on companies suspected of causing pollution, some of which are listed on Singapore's stock exchange. A forest campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace Indonesia, Yuyun Indradi, said the government was struggling to enforce laws to prevent the drainage of peatland for plantations and the setting of fires to clear land. "It has become a challenge for the government to enforce accountability among concession holders, to enforce its directives on blocking canals, and push companies to take part in efforts to restore peatland and prevent fires," Indradi said. "Now is the time for the government to answer this challenge. It is in the law." Greenpeace said, according to its satellite information, there were 138 fires across Indonesia on Friday. (Reporting by Marius Zaharia and Fathin Ungku in SINGAPORE and Fergus Jensen in JAKARTA; Editing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)[SEP]Every dry season, smoke from fires set to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations in Indonesia clouds the skies over much of the region, raising concern about public health and worrying tourist operators and airlines. The 24-hour Pollution Standards Index (PSI), which the NEA uses as a benchmark, rose as high as 105 in the afternoon. A level above 100 is considered "unhealthy". The NEA said it planned a "daily haze advisory" as "a burning smell and slight haze were experienced over many areas" in Singapore. Indonesia repeatedly vows to stop the fires but each year they return. This year, Indonesia has arrested 454 people in connection with the smoke pollution. When heavy, the choking smog closes airports and schools and prompts warnings to residents to stay indoors. Pollution levels in neighboring Malaysia were normal on Friday. Singapore has pushed Indonesia for information on companies suspected of causing pollution, some of which are listed on Singapore's stock exchange. A forest campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace Indonesia, Yuyun Indradi, said the government was struggling to enforce laws to prevent the drainage of peatland for plantations and the setting of fires to clear land. "It has become a challenge for the government to enforce accountability among concession holders, to enforce its directives on blocking canals, and push companies to take part in efforts to restore peatland and prevent fires," Indradi said. "Now is the time for the government to answer this challenge. It is in the law." Greenpeace said, according to its satellite information, there were 138 fires across Indonesia on Friday.[SEP]Acrid smog blanketed Singapore Friday as the city-state was hit by the year’s first major outbreak of haze, an annual crisis sparked by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia. Singapore’s air quality index reached unhealthy levels with conditions deteriorating through the day, marking the worst haze episode in the city since vast parts of Southeast Asia were blanketed in smoke in 2015. Last year’s haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke. The blazes are started illegally to clear land, typically for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, and Indonesia has faced intense criticism from its neighbors over its failure to halt the annual smog outbreaks. Indonesian police said a total of 463 people have been arrested over forest fires so far in 2016. This is more than double the number arrested over the blazes in the whole of 2015 but the data suggest that most of this year’s arrests involved smallholders. Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) said the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) breached “very unhealthy” levels of 215 during the day. PSI levels above 100 are deemed unhealthy and people are advised to reduce vigorous outdoor activity. The NEA added that the smoke was being blown from fires in central Sumatra, the Indonesian island just across the Malacca Strait from Singapore. Visibility from high-rise offices and other vantage points was virtually zero. A photographer said he could hardly see the skyline from one of the city’s highest points at Mount Faber, while haze kits sold out at a drugstore chain by lunchtime. Food server Marcus Tan, 28, who works at a riverside restaurant with outdoor seating, said he was worried the haze would agitate his asthma. “I know I’m supposed to wear a mask so I don’t have another asthma attack. But do you think anyone will want to eat food served by someone wearing a mask?” he said. Smog was also visible in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of neighboring Malaysia, over a few days last week but did not breach unhealthy levels. Singapore last September closed schools and distributed protective face masks as the air pollution index soared to hazardous levels following three weeks of being cloaked in smoke. Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said on its website that the number of hot spots on Sumatra had increased in the past 48 hours. A hot spot is an area of intense heat detected by satellites, indicating a blaze has already broken out or that an area is very hot and likely to go up in flames soon. As of Friday, there were 69 hot spots on Sumatra, up from 43 two days earlier, the agency said. In the Indonesian part of Borneo island — another area where large numbers of smog-belching fires occur every year — there were 31 hot spots as of midnight Thursday local time, it added. However there were far fewer fires than at the peak of last year’s crisis, when hundreds burned out of control.[SEP]JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Six Indonesian provinces have declared states of emergency as forest fires blanket a swath of Southeast Asia in a smoky haze. Singapore’s air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels on Friday as winds blew smoke from fires on Sumatra across the city-state and southern Malaysia. The number of hotspots detected by weather satellites has increased in the past month though they are below levels last year when massive fires caused a regional crisis. Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency says six provinces have declared emergency, allowing firefighting measures to go into full effect. Many of the fires are deliberately set by agricultural conglomerates and small-time farmers to clear forests and peatland for plantations. Last year’s fires were the worst since 1997, with about 261,000 hectares (2,610 square kilometers) burned.[SEP]SINGAPORE -- Acrid smog blanketed Singapore Friday as the city-state was hit by the year's first major outbreak of haze, an annual crisis sparked by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia. Singapore's air quality index reached unhealthy levels with conditions deteriorating through the day, marking the worst haze episode in the city since vast parts of Southeast Asia were blanketed in smoke in 2015. Last year's haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke. The blazes are started illegally to clear land, typically for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, and Indonesia has faced intense criticism from its neighbours over its failure to halt the annual smog outbreaks. Indonesian police said a total of 463 people have been arrested over forest fires so far in 2016. This is more than double the number arrested over the blazes in the whole of 2015 but the data suggest that most of this year's arrests involved smallholders. Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) said the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) breached "very unhealthy" levels of 215 during the day. PSI levels above 100 are deemed unhealthy and people are advised to reduce vigorous outdoor activity. The NEA added that the smoke was being blown from fires in central Sumatra, the Indonesian island just across the Malacca Strait from Singapore.[SEP]Singapore shrouded in smog as haze returns to SE Asia SINGAPORE -- Acrid smog blanketed Singapore Friday as the city-state was hit by the year's first major outbreak of haze, an annual crisis sparked by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia. Singapore's air quality index reached unhealthy levels with conditions deteriorating through the day, marking the worst return of the haze to the city since vast parts of Southeast Asia were affected in 2015. Last year's haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke. The blazes are started illegally to clear land, typically for palm oil and pulpwood plantations, and Indonesia has faced intense criticism from its neighbours over its failure to halt the annual smog outbreaks. Singapore's National Environment Agency said the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was at 165 as of 0400 GMT on Friday. The reading for the 24-hour period, however, was on the higher band of the moderate range. PSI levels above 100 are deemed unhealthy and people are advised to reduce vigorous outdoor activity. A cloud of greyish smoke swept across the island, accompanied by a strong smell of burning foliage. Visibility from high-rise offices and other vantage points was virtually zero. An AFP photographer said he could hardly see the skyline from one of the city's highest points at Mount Faber. Smog was also visible in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of neighbouring Malaysia, over a few days last week but did not breach unhealthy levels. An area in the Malaysian state of Perak had briefly tipped over to the unhealthy range for a few hours last week, according to local media. Singapore last September closed schools and distributed protective face masks as the air pollution index soared to hazardous levels following three weeks of being cloaked in smoke from Indonesia's nearby Sumatra island. Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said on its website that the number of "hotspots" on Sumatra -– which sits across the Malacca Strait from Singapore -– had increased in the past 48 hours. A hotspot is an area of intense heat detected by satellites, indicating a blaze has already broken out or that an area is very hot and likely to go up in flames soon. As of midnight local time on Thursday, there were 68 hotspots on Sumatra, up from 43 two days earlier, the agency said. In the Indonesian part of Borneo island –- another area where large numbers of smog-belching fires occur every year -- there were 31 hotspots as of midnight Thursday local time, it added. However there were far fewer fires than at the peak of last year's crisis, when hundreds burned out of control. Three provinces on Sumatra and three on Indonesian Borneo have in recent months officially declared they are on alert owing to the growing threat from forest fires.[SEP]Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of locally-transmitted Zika virus, mostly among foreign construction workers, and said it expected more cases to be identified. All but seven of those infected have fully recovered, the health ministry and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement on Sunday. Those seven remain in hospital. On Saturday, authorities had confirmed a 47-year-old Malaysian woman living in southeastern Singapore as the city-state's first case of a local transmission of the virus - which in Brazil has been linked to a rare birth defect. The authorities said they tested 124 people, primarily foreign construction workers employed on a site in the same part of Singapore. READ MORE: * Hong Kong confirms first case of Zika virus * Grieving mother urges caution over Zika * Border security key to stopping virus * New Zika cases in Florida * State of Emergency in Puerto Rico over illness That site has been ordered to halt work, and workers' dormitories are being inspected. Seventy-eight people tested negative and five cases were pending. Thirty-four patients had fully recovered. Four Singaporean men had developed symptoms of the virus in the past week and were hospitalised on Saturday. It was not clear where the foreign workers were from or when their cases were detected. Singapore hosts a large contingent of workers from the Asian sub-continent. None of those infected had travelled recently to Zika-affected areas. "This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place," the statement said. The ministry "cannot rule out further community transmission since some of those tested positive also live or work in other parts of Singapore," the statement said. "We expect to identify more positive cases." Singapore, a major regional financial centre and busy transit hub, which maintains a constant vigil against the mosquito-borne dengue virus, reported its first case of the Zika virus in May, brought in by a middle-aged man who had been to Brazil. Singapore deployed around 200 NEA officers to clean drains and spray insecticide in the mainly residential area early on Sunday to counter mosquito breeding grounds, and volunteers and contractors handed out leaflets and insect repellent. Zika, carried by some mosquitoes, was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly - where babies are born with small heads. All medical services in Singapore had been alerted "to be extra vigilant" and immediately report any Zika-associated symptoms to the health ministry. "I'm very scared of mosquitoes because they always seem to bite me, they never bite my husband," Janice, 31, who gave only her first name, told Reuters. "This concerns me because maybe in a couple of years I want to have another (child)." Singapore said there were "ongoing local transmission" cases in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in the region to have detected the Zika virus since 2013 include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives and the Philippines, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Malaysia said on Sunday it stepped up surveillance at main transit points with Singapore - handing out leaflets on Zika prevention and having paramedics ready to handle visitors with potential symptoms of the virus. In Thailand, where close to 100 cases of Zika have been recorded across 10 provinces this year, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) was screening athletes returning from the Olympic Games in Brazil, but was not otherwise changing its prevention measures. "Every country in this region has Zika transmission cases," said Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to the DDC. "Thailand has, however, managed to contain the problem through early detection." A foreign ministry spokesman said Indonesia was "following developments". Oskar Pribadi, a health ministry official, said there had been no recent Zika cases in the country. Vietnam has to date reported three cases of locally-transmitted Zika infection. The current strain of Zika sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean originated in Asia, where people may have built up greater immunity. The WHO has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

Fires in Indonesia burn and blow smoke into Singapore, engulfing the city-state into darkness.

An explosion at a sports center in the southern Belgian town of Chimay early on Friday killed one person and wounded four others, two of them seriously, Belgium's Crisis Center said. "It is probably a gas explosion," an official at the agency told Reuters, adding that there was no indication of it being a militant attack. Local media reported the blast occurred just after midnight local time, 6 p.m. ET, at a sports center known as Le Chalon in Chimay, close to the French border, when five people were still inside the building. Part of the building was destroyed. Belgium and France, along with the rest of Europe, have been on high alert after ISIS-attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past year.[SEP]An explosion has destroyed half of a sports centre in Belgium, with reports at least one person has died and four have been injured, two seriously. The blast happened shortly after midnight at a complex known as Le Chalon in the southern municipality of Chimay, on the border with France. Chimay police chief Pierre Maton said early on Friday that the blast was most likely “a gas explosion,” but an investigation into the cause was ongoing. There was no indication of it being a militant attack, officials said. It is thought there was a total of five people in the building. Several dozen police and firefighters attended the scene and the area had been cordoned off, but the damage was not as serious as initially feared. Windows were blown out of the two-story building, and one corner of the structure was badly damaged but there was no major collapse. The town has a population of 10,000 and lies 120km (75 miles) south of Brussels. A municipal stage of emergency has been declared and police have set up a security perimeter at the scene of the disaster, according to local media reports. Belgium and France, along with the rest of Europe, have been on high alert after Islamic State attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past year.[SEP]One person has been killed and at least four injured in a suspected gas blast at a sports centre near Belgium's border with France. Chimay police chief Pierre Maton said the blast was most likely to have been a gas explosion and an investigation into the cause was continuing. The blast in the town, 75 miles south of the capital Brussels, happened just after midnight local time. The area was cordoned off, but the damage was not as serious as initially feared. Windows were blown out of the two-storey building and one corner of the structure was badly damaged, but there was no major collapse. Firefighters were clearing the rubble and securing the building early on Friday. Police said they believed they had retrieved all the people from the rubble. Chimay has a population of about 10,000 and is known for one of Belgium's most famous breweries.[SEP]CHIMAY, Belgium (AP) - One person was killed and at least four were injured in Belgium in an accidental explosion at a sports center near the French border. Chimay police Chief Pierre Maton said early Friday that the blast was most likely “a gas explosion,” but an investigation into the cause was ongoing. The blast in the town of Chimay, 75 miles south of the capital Brussels, happened just after midnight local time. Several dozen police and firefighters were on the scene and the area had been cordoned off, but the damage was not as serious as initially feared. Windows were blown out of the two-story building, and one corner of the structure was badly damaged but there was no major collapse. Firefighters were on the scene early Friday morning clearing the rubble and securing the building. Police said they believed they have retrieved all the people from the rubble. Chimay has a population of about 10,000.

An explosion at a sports centre in the Belgian town of Chimay kills one person and injures another four. A gas explosion is suspected to be the cause.

Are you in Italy? Are you affected by the earthquake? If it's safe for you to do so, WhatsApp us on +44 7435 939 154 to share your photos, experiences and video. Please tag #CNNiReport in your message. Amatrice, Italy (CNN) Desperately needing food and shelter, more than 2,000 Italians are taking refuge in makeshift camps after this week's powerful earthquake killed at least 281 people and flattened entire villages. Camps have been set up in several affected areas, including Amatrice, the hardest-hit town, where hundreds of people were killed and buildings -- many from the 14th century -- crumbled in the aftershocks. A photo posted by Lauren Moorhouse (@lomoorhouse) on Aug 26, 2016 at 2:14am PDT Italy's civil protection agency told CNN that 2,100 people were living in the camps and said that more would be built to accommodate those in need. Emergency workers and earthquake survivors get food at a field kitchen in Amatrice on Thursday. Images from an Amatrice camp showed displaced people lining up for pasta and an elderly couple sitting on the edge of mattresses on a gym floor, having a meal as those around them hug and console one another. 'So many dead, so many children' At a camp in Sant'Angelo, northeast of Amatrice, people gathered and shared their stories of loss. One woman, Angelina Leone, could not hide her devastation. "There is no hope, too many people dead. And Amatrice doesn't exist anymore. Amatrice has disappeared, and there are so many dead, so many children," she said, holding back tears. At yet another camp, in Accumoli, Anna Maria Volpetti, 52, told CNN she had been visiting her hometown with her family when the quake hit. "We are lucky," she said. "The earthquake was brutal. It came in waves." AnnaMaria Volpetti, 52 was visiting Accumoli with her family. They now live in Tivoli but travel here every summer to the town where her family originally comes from. "We are lucky," she says. "The earthquake was brutal. It came in waves." A photo posted by Lauren Moorhouse (@lomoorhouse) on Aug 26, 2016 at 3:08am PDT Giampiero Antonetti of the civil protection agency in the Abruzzo region said that teams were trying to relocate people out of the camps as the weather in the mountainous area cools. "We will look for places for them to stay -- hotels, with relatives. Yesterday during the night it almost reached freezing, so people cannot be here for a long time." 72-hour window The death toll is steadily creeping up. It is unclear how many people remain trapped under the mounds of concrete, brick and stone. The rescue mission entered its third day Friday -- still within the crucial 72-hour window, after which the likelihood of survival drops. "Rescuers are very much aware they're in a race against time," said CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen, describing the disaster response as swift and well-organized. But officials' hopes of finding more survivors were fading, he said. Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Firefighters help residents recover personal belongings from damaged houses in the village of Rio, Italy, on Sunday, August 28. A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy on Wednesday, killing more than 290 people. The death toll is expected to rise as rescue teams reach remote areas. Hide Caption 1 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Firefighters stand by an excavator in Amatrice, Italy,on August 28, as dangerously damaged buildings and overhanging ledges are pulled down. Hide Caption 2 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A rescued dog receives treatment in a veterinary care unit in Amatrice, Italy on August 28. Hide Caption 3 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Volunteers on motorbikes drive through the town of Villa San Lorenzo a Flaviano, Italy, on August 28 as they bring supplies to smaller villages. Hide Caption 4 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A destroyed house is seen on Saturday, August 27, in Pescara del Tronto, Italy. Hide Caption 5 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Police inspect rubble and debris in Amatrice, Italy, on August 27. Hide Caption 6 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A drone controlled by Italian firefighters flies over damaged houses in San Lorenzo, Italy, on August 27. Hide Caption 7 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Damaged coffins and rubble are seen at the cemetery of Sant'Angelo, Italy, on August 27. Hide Caption 8 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescuers of the Italian Red Cross carry the body of a victim in Amatrice, Italy, on Friday, August 26. Hide Caption 9 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Firefighters and rescue workers stand near the damaged Sant'Agostino church and a destroyed ice cream shop in the Italian village of Amatrice on Friday, August 26. Hide Caption 10 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A woman rests in the courtyard of a convent in Amatrice on August 26. Hide Caption 11 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Firefighters inspect a damaged building from the elevated platform of a firetruck in Amatrice on August 26. Amatrice has been the hardest-hit town, with more than 200 killed there. Hide Caption 12 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy An aerial view shows the damage in the village of Saletta on August 26. Strong aftershocks in the region have rattled residents and emergency crews. Hide Caption 13 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man and woman comfort each other in front of a collapsed house in Amatrice on August 26. Hide Caption 14 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Firefighters cordon off an area around the rubble from a destroyed building in Amatrice on August 26. Hide Caption 15 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Emergency team members set up a tent camp for earthquake victims at a sports field in Arquata del Tronto on August 26. Hide Caption 16 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescuers make their way through destroyed houses in Pescara del Tronto on Thursday, August 25. It's unclear how many people remain trapped under debris. Hide Caption 17 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A field kitchen in Amatrice provides meals for emergency workers and earthquake survivors on August 25. Hide Caption 18 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescue and emergency service personnel use an excavator to search for victims under the remains of a building in Amatrice on August 25. Hide Caption 19 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy An old building in Amatrice is partly damaged after the quake. Hide Caption 20 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy An emergency services helicopter takes off in Amatrice as rescuers continue the search for survivors. Hide Caption 21 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man rests on a bench after spending the night in a makeshift camp set up inside a gym in Amatrice on August 25. Hide Caption 22 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A bird's eye view of Amatrice shows the devastation after the deadly quake struck on Wednesday, August 24. Hide Caption 23 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescuers help a woman from the rubble in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 24 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Search-and-rescue teams survey collapsed houses in Pescara del Tronto on August 24. Hide Caption 25 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man cries as another injured man is helped in Amatrice. Hide Caption 26 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy This woman in Amatrice was wounded during the earthquake. Hide Caption 27 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescuers carry a man through earthquake debris in Amatrice. Hide Caption 28 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rocco Girardi receives treatment after being rescued from the rubble in Arquata del Tronto on August 24. Hide Caption 29 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy The body of a unidentified child lies on a bench in Arquata del Tronto on August 24. Hide Caption 30 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy The quake left this house in ruins in Arquata del Tronto. Hide Caption 31 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Two people hug each other next to damaged houses in Pescara del Tronto. Hide Caption 32 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Two women pass along a stuffed toy in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 33 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Residents take in the damage in Amatrice. Hide Caption 34 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy This aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Amatrice. The quake struck at 3:36 a.m and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy. Hide Caption 35 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy An emergency hospital camp is set up to treat earthquake victims in Arquata del Tronto. Hide Caption 36 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A woman tries to comfort her child in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 37 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Residents survey a collapsed staircase in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 38 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Residents of Pescara del Tronto care for an elderly earthquake victim on August 24. Hide Caption 39 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Search-and-rescue teams look for survivors in Pescara del Tronto. Hide Caption 40 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Survivors sit among the rubble of a house in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 41 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Residents search for victims in Amatrice. Hide Caption 42 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy An injured man is rescued from a collapsed building in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 43 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man leans on a wall in Pescara del Tronto. Hide Caption 44 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A dog searches for people trapped in collapsed buildings in Amatrice. Hide Caption 45 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Rescuers search for victims in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 46 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man is pulled alive from the rubble. Hide Caption 47 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A man surveys damage near a dust-covered car in Amatrice on August 24. Hide Caption 48 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy Two people huddle together in Amatrice after the earthquake. Hide Caption 49 of 50 Photos: Earthquake strikes central Italy A rescue worker drives a truck of rubble as cleanup operations begin in Amatrice. Hide Caption 50 of 50 Aftershocks continue to rattle the region, making the tough rescue mission even more trying. Italian police on Twitter said the first funeral had held for a man named Marco Santarelli, the son of a police official. Other victims will be buried in a state funeral Saturday, with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi attending, the Italian government said. #Terremoto oggi primi funerali vittime. A Roma l'ultimo saluto a Marco Santarelli figlio del Questore di Frosinone pic.twitter.com/Uir2rfgHDK — Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) 26 August 2016 Among the dead were three British nationals. Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement: "We are providing support to the families of Marcos Burnett and Will and Maria Henniker-Gotley following their tragic deaths in the earthquake in Italy. Our thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time. "British Embassy staff will continue working with local authorities regarding any further British nationals that may require our assistance." A reason for hope A firefighter who said he pulled a young girl from the rubble said rescuers "exploded with joy" after finding her alive. Angelo Moroni described to Italian ANSA news agency the moment he and other firefighters rescued a girl that he said was named Giorgia after digging through mountains of debris with their bare hands for hours. "At times like that you don't think, you go on for hours without feeling thirst or tiredness. We were sure she was safe only when we put her on a stretcher and doctors carried her away. Then we exploded with joy for this great result," he said. "The joy was huge." The central Italian town of Pescara del Tronto lies in ruins after Wednesday's deadly quake. The ANSA report said the girl's her older sister, who was next to her, was killed but that the girls' parents were pulled out alive. "I hope Giorgia remembers little of this place, rather I hope she forgets everything," Moroni told ANSA. National police confirmed Friday that Giorgia was not the girl in a widely shared video also being pulled from rubble Wednesday in Amatrice. That girl's name was Giulia, 10, police said, without giving the last names of either girl. JUST WATCHED A girl is pulled from earthquake rubble. Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH A girl is pulled from earthquake rubble. 01:17 The rescues are among the few stories of hope since the 6.2-magnitude quake struck Wednesday. 'The earthquake was brutal' The Italian Council of Ministers approved a state of emergency Thursday for the regions affected by the earthquake, allocating 50 million euros (about $56.5 million) in funding, while the displaced took refuge in the camps. People prepare to spend the night Thursday in a makeshift camp set up in a gym in Amatrice. Residents gathered at a square in Amatrice, some of the women crying and hugging to console each other, with dust still lingering in the air. Men stood in silence, too upset to speak to reporters. A woman holds a dog as she and a man hurry past rubble in Amatrice. One man from Rome, who traveled to Amatrice to check on relatives after the quake, gave a harrowing account of how he and his aunt saw two hands sticking out of the rubble. "This is something I will remember forever," Francesco Miglio said, adding that his aunt identified the woman as her neighbor. "And the thing that I will remember for the rest of my life was she had nice hands. I didn't know the lady, but she had nice hands with nail polish on," he said. JUST WATCHED Italian man rushed to save loved ones in quake zone Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Italian man rushed to save loved ones in quake zone 05:06 He and his aunt called out to the woman to move a finger if she could hear them. "She was gone," he said. Destruction of heritage Central Italy is home to many historic buildings, which are the backbone of the region's tourism industry. Earthquakes here not only bring a tragic loss of life but also leave cultural structures damaged or completely destroyed. CNN affiliate RAI reported damage to 293 pieces of cultural heritage, including 50 that were destroyed. An old building in Amatrice is partly damaged after the quake. A Roman Catholic cathedral in Urbino sustained small cracks in its internal structure. The Monastery of St. Chiara in Camerino, the Basilica of St. Francesco and the church of Sant'Agostino in Amatrice have partially collapsed. Historic buildings and city walls in Nursia and a cathedral in San Giuliano also were damaged. Italy is no stranger to deadly quakes. In May 2012, a pair of temblors killed dozens of people in northern Italy, while in April 2009, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake hit in the central L'Aquila region, leaving more than 300 people dead. Wednesday's quake struck an area close to the scene of the 2009 disaster.[SEP]A 4.7-magnitude aftershock has hit the Italian town of Amatrice as rescuers and emergency teams continue their search of three flattened hilltop towns and Italy declares a state of emergency in the region. With the provisional death toll from Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake standing at 267, including several foreigners, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, authorised a preliminary €50m (£43m) in emergency funding for the stricken zone. The powerful aftershock, the latest of more than 500 since the initial quake, hit the area shortly after dawn on Friday, sending up plumes of thick grey dust, shaking buildings that were still standing and fuelling fears of fresh collapses which could hamper the rescue operation. In a first raft of emergency relief measures, Renzi cancelled residents’ taxes in and around the hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto, between 60 and 90 miles (95-145km) north-east of Rome. Most of the confirmed deaths were in Amatrice, where 193 people had died, includingthree Britons: Marcos Burnett, 14, who was on holiday with his parents and sister, and 55-year-old Will Henniker-Gotley and his wife Maria, 51, from south London. Marco’s parents are being treated for minor injuries in hospital. The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said on Thursday that extra staff had been sent to the region. Six Romanians, a Canadian, a Spaniard and a Salvadoran were also killed. The 2,500-strong population of the medieval hilltop town, voted one of Italy’s most beautiful historic towns last year, was swollen with summer visitors, many from Rome, in anticipation of its popular annual food festival this weekend. But while 215 people had been pulled alive from the rubble since Wednesday and more than 360 were being treated in hospital, questions were mounting as to why there had been so many deaths in an area known for decades to be the most seismically hazardous in Europe. After a 2009 earthquake in nearby L’Aquila left 300 people dead, authorities released €1bn to upgrade buildings in the region, but takeup has been low. Despite eight devastating earthquakes in 40 years, experts estimate 70% of Italy’s buildings do not meet seismic standards. “Here, in the middle of a seismic zone, nothing has ever been done,” Dario Nanni, of Italy’s architects’ council, told Agence France-Presse. “It does not cost that much more when renovating a building to make it comply with earthquake standards. But less than 20% of buildings do.” The culture minister said 293 historical buildings had been damaged or destroyed by the quake and public prosecutors announced an investigation into whether anyone could be held responsible. Meanwhile, Renzi announced plans to help the country prepare better and address poor building standards, saying Italy should “have a plan that is not just limited to the management of emergency situations”. But the prime minister said suggestions that the country could easily construct quake-proof buildings were “absurd”. It was difficult to imagine, he said after a cabinet meeting, that the level of destruction from Wednesday’s quake “could have been avoided simply by using different building technology. We’re talking about medieval-era towns.” In Amatrice and the surrounding small towns and villages hopes of finding more survivors were fading; no one had been recovered alive since Wednesday night. The focus was now on helping the more than 1,200 people left homeless. About 5,400 emergency workers, firefighters, soldiers and volunteers, helped by 50 sniffer dogs, continued to sift through piles of cement, rock and twisted metal, many pointing out that the last survivor from the L’Aquila quake was found 72 hours after it struck. “We will work relentlessly until the last person is found, and make sure no one is trapped,” said one rescue team spokesman, Lorenzo Botti. Some survivors, having slept in their cars or in tent cities set up outside the towns, were allowed to pick up essential items from their homes on Thursday accompanied by rescue workers. “Last night we slept in the car. Tonight, I don’t know,” said Nello Caffini, carrying his sister-in-law’s belongings on his head through Pescara del Tronto, which was almost completely destroyed. Italy’s older buildings are not obliged to conform to anti-seismic building codes, and experts estimate it could cost more than €90bn to reinforce all the country’s historic buildings. Targeted improvement work, though, could be effective. Compounding the problem is the fact that many more modern buildings do not comply with regulations when they are built, and often prove deadlier than older constructions when an earthquake strikes. News reports in Amatrice said investigators were looking in particular into the town’s Romolo Capranica school, which was restored in 2012 using funds provided after the L’Aquila quake. It all but collapsed on Wednesday, while the town’s 13th-century clock tower remained standing. “We are able to prevent all these deaths,” Armando Zambrano, of the national council of engineers, told the Associated Press. “The problem is actually doing it. These tragedies keep happening because we don’t intervene. After each tragedy we say we will act but then the weeks go by and nothing happens.”[SEP]Sniffer dogs and emergency crews continued to scour piles of rubble in Amatrice, a picturesque town popular with tourists which was leveled by Wednesday's quake and where 207 bodies have been retrieved so far. But in nearby villages, such as Pescara del Tronto, rescuers pulled out after all the missing had been accounted for. Italy plans to hold a state funeral for around 40 of the victims on Saturday, which will be held in the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno. A day of national mourning was announced, with flags due to fly at half mast around the country for the dead, who include a number of foreigners. The civil protection department in Rome said nearly 400 people were being treated for injuries in hospitals, 40 of them in critical condition. An estimated 2,500 people were left homeless by the most deadly quake in Italy since 2009. Survivors with nowhere else to go are sleeping in neat rows of blue tents set up by emergency services close to their flattened communities. "It was quite a tough night because you have a significant change in temperature here. During the day, it is very, very hot and at night it is very, very cold," said Anna Maria Ciuccarelli of Arquata del Tronto. "There are still aftershocks preceded by booms and, for those of us who have just lived through an earthquake, it has a great effect, particularly psychologically," she said. More than 920 aftershocks have hit the area since the original 6.2 magnitude quake struck early Wednesday. "We have removed the last bodies that we knew about," said Paolo Cortelli, a member of the Alpine Rescue national service who helped to recover about 30 bodies from Pescara del Tronto. "We don't know, and we might never know, if the number of missing that we knew about actually corresponds to the people who were actually under the rubble." The foreigners who died in the disaster included six Romanians, a Spanish woman, a Canadian and an Albanian. The British embassy in Rome declined to comment on reports that three Britons, including a 14-year-old boy had died. The area is popular with holidaymakers and local authorities were struggling to pin down how many visitors were present when the quake hit. The Romanian Foreign Ministry said 17 Romanians were still missing. Italy has a large Romanian community, and some of the victims were resident in the country. The first funeral of a victim was held in Rome on Friday, for Marco Santarelli, the 28-year-old son of a senior state official, who died in the family's holiday home in Amatrice. "I cannot find the words to describe the grief of a father who outlives his own children. Perhaps there are no words," Marco's father, Filippo Santarelli, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. Hardly a single building was left unscathed in Amatrice, which was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy and is famous for its local cuisine. "Amatrice will have to be razed to the ground," said mayor Sergio Pirozzi. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency for the region, allowing the government to release an immediate 50 million euros ($56 million) for the relief work. He has promised to rebuild the shattered homes and said he would also renew efforts to bolster Italy's flimsy defenses against earthquakes that regularly batter the country. "We want those communities to have the chance of a future and not just memories," he told reporters in Rome on Thursday. Italy has a poor record of rebuilding after quakes. About 8,300 people who were forced to leave their homes after a deadly earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009 are still living in temporary accommodation. Renzi declined to predict when the homeless might be rehoused. "This is not about setting challenges and making promises. We need the pace of a marathon runner," he said. Most of the buildings in the area were built hundreds of years ago, long before any anti-seismic building norms were introduced, helping to explain the widespread destruction. Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini said all 293 culturally important sites, many of them churches, had either collapsed or been seriously damaged. Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. Almost 30 people died in earthquakes in northern Italy in 2012 while more than 300 died in the L'Aquila disaster.[SEP]Hopes of finding more survivors from Italy's powerful earthquake faded on Friday, with the death toll rising to 278 and the rescue operation in some of the stricken areas called off. Three days after the quake struck the mountainous heart of the country, sniffer dogs and emergency crews continued to scour the town of Amatrice, which was levelled in the disaster, but there was no sign of life beneath the debris. "Only a miracle can bring our friends back alive from the rubble, but we are still digging because many are missing," town mayor Sergio Pirozzi told reporters, saying, around 15 people, including some children, had not been accounted for. In nearby villages, such as Pescara del Tronto, rescuers pulled out after all the inhabitants had been accounted for. READ MORE: * Why Italy's earthquake was like Christchurch * Hamilton kindy teacher loses family in Italy earthquake * 'Voices under the rubble' as Italy searches for survivors * New Zealanders in Italy share experiences of earthquake * Drone captures extent of damage in quake-hit Italian town Italy plans to hold a state funeral for around 40 of the victims on Saturday, which will be held in the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno. A day of national mourning was announced, with flags due to fly at half mast around the country for the dead, who include a number of foreigners. The civil protection department in Rome said 388 people were being treated for injuries in hospitals, and 40 of them were in critical condition. An estimated 2,500 people were left homeless by the most deadly quake in Italy since 2009. Survivors with nowhere else to go are sleeping in neat rows of blue tents set up close to their flattened communities. The government has promised to rebuild the region, but some local people feared that would never happen. "I'm afraid our village and others like it will just die. Most people don't live here year round anyway. In the winter time the towns are virtually empty," said Salvatore Petrucci, 77, who came from the nearby hamlet of Trisunga. "We may be the last ones to have lived in Trisunga." More than 1,050 aftershocks have hit the area since the 6.2 magnitude quake early on Wednesday, bringing fresh damage to structures still standing. These included a bridge leading to Amatrice, which had to be closed on Friday, further complicating the rescue operation. The original quake was so strong that the town nearest the epicentre, Accumoli, sank by 20cm, according to Italy's geological institute. By Friday, most of the outlying communities were quiet and empty, buildings lying in crumpled mounds, the innards of private homes exposed to the skies and belongings scattered in the debris. "We have removed the last bodies that we knew about," said Paolo Cortelli, a member of the Alpine Rescue national service who helped to recover about 30 bodies from Pescara del Tronto. "We don't know, and we might never know, if the number of missing that we knew about actually corresponds to the people who were actually under the rubble." The foreigners who died in the disaster included six Romanians, a Spanish woman, a Canadian and an Albanian. Three British holidaymakers, including a 14-year-old boy, also died. The area is popular with vacationers and local authorities were struggling to pin down how many visitors were present when the quake hit. The Romanian Foreign Ministry said 17 Romanians were still missing. Italy has a large Romanian community, and some of the victims were residents in the country. The first funeral of a victim was held in Rome on Friday, for Marco Santarelli, the 28-year-old son of a senior state official, who died in the family's holiday home in Amatrice. "I cannot find the words to describe the grief of a father who outlives his own children. Perhaps there are no words," Marco's father, Filippo Santarelli, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. Later in the day, a funeral service for six other victims, including an 8-year-old boy and two girls aged 14 and 15, was held in their hometown of Pomezia, south of Rome. Officials said 181 of the victims had been identified, including at least 21 children. The youngest was just 5-1/2 months old. The eldest was 93. Hardly a single building was left unscathed in Amatrice, which was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy and is famous for its local cuisine. "Amatrice will have to be razed to the ground," said mayor Pirozzi, who urged youngsters not to leave the area, saying that would mean the end of their community. "No night can last so long that the sun never rises again. I am convinced that Amatrice will rise again. We owe it to the (218) people who died here." Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency for the region, allowing the government to release an immediate 50 million euros (NZ$77.4 million) for the relief work. He has promised to rebuild the shattered homes and said he would also renew efforts to bolster Italy's flimsy defences against earthquakes that regularly batter the country. "We want those communities to have the chance of a future and not just memories," he told reporters in Rome on Thursday. Italy has a poor record of rebuilding after quakes. About 8,300 people who were forced to leave their homes after a deadly earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009 are still living in temporary accommodation. This latest disaster represents a major political challenge for Renzi, who has been in office for two years. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was widely criticised for what was perceived to be a botched response to the L'Aquila calamity. Renzi called for national unity and declined to predict when the homeless might be rehoused. "This is not about setting challenges and making promises. We need the pace of a marathon runner," he said. Insurance association ANIA estimates that less than one percent of Italy's 33 million homes have private quake coverage, meaning the bill for insurance companies was likely to be low. That means that the reconstruction bill will have to be paid by the heavily indebted state. Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio said on Friday he did not think rebuilding costs would reach the 14 billion euros earmarked for L'Aquila. Most of the buildings in the Amatrice area were built hundreds of years ago, long before any anti-seismic building norms were introduced, helping to explain the widespread destruction. Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini said all 293 culturally important sites, many of them churches, had either collapsed or been seriously damaged. Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. Almost 30 people died in earthquakes in northern Italy in 2012 while more than 300 died in the L'Aquila disaster.[SEP]PESCARA DEL TRONTO, Italy, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Hopes of finding more survivors faded on Friday three days after a powerful earthquake hit central Italy, with the death toll rising to 267 and the rescue operation in some of the stricken areas called off. Sniffer dogs and emergency crews continued to scour piles of rubble in Amatrice, a picturesque town popular with tourists which was levelled by Wednesday's quake and where 207 bodies have been retrieved so far. Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said around 15 people, including some children and the local baker, had not been accounted for. "Only a miracle can bring our friends back alive from the rubble, but we are still digging because many are missing," he told reporters. In nearby villages, such as Pescara del Tronto, rescuers pulled out after all the missing had been accounted for. Italy plans to hold a state funeral for around 40 of the victims on Saturday, which will be held in the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno. A day of national mourning was announced, with flags due to fly at half mast around the country for the dead, who include a number of foreigners. The civil protection department in Rome said nearly 400 people were being treated for injuries in hospitals, and 40 of them were in critical condition. An estimated 2,500 people were left homeless by the most deadly quake in Italy since 2009. Survivors with nowhere else to go are sleeping in neat rows of blue tents set up by emergency services close to their flattened communities. The government has promised to rebuild the region, but some local people feared that would never happen. "I'm afraid our village and others like it will just die. Most people don't live here year round anyway. In the winter time the towns are virtually empty," said Salvatore Petrucci, 77, who lived in the nearby small village of Trisunga. "We may be the last ones to have lived in Trisunga," he said. More than 920 aftershocks have hit the area since the original 6.2 magnitude quake struck early Wednesday. By Friday, most of the outlying communities were quiet and empty, buildings lying in crumpled mounds, the innards of private homes exposed to the skies and belongings scattered in the debris. "We have removed the last bodies that we knew about," said Paolo Cortelli, a member of the Alpine Rescue national service who helped to recover about 30 bodies from Pescara del Tronto. "We don't know, and we might never know, if the number of missing that we knew about actually corresponds to the people who were actually under the rubble." The foreigners who died in the disaster included six Romanians, a Spanish woman, a Canadian and an Albanian. The British embassy in Rome declined to comment on reports that three Britons, including a 14-year-old boy had died. The area is popular with holidaymakers and local authorities were struggling to pin down how many visitors were present when the quake hit. The Romanian Foreign Ministry said 17 Romanians were still missing. Italy has a large Romanian community, and some of the victims were resident in the country. The first funeral of a victim was held in Rome on Friday, for Marco Santarelli, the 28-year-old son of a senior state official, who died in the family's holiday home in Amatrice. "I cannot find the words to describe the grief of a father who outlives his own children. Perhaps there are no words," Marco's father, Filippo Santarelli, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. Hardly a single building was left unscathed in Amatrice, which was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy and is famous for its local cuisine. "Amatrice will have to be razed to the ground," said mayor Pirozzi, who urged youngsters not to leave the area, saying that would mean the end of their community. "No night can last so long that the sun never rises again. I am convinced that Amatrice will rise again. We owe it to the 207 people who died here." Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency for the region, allowing the government to release an immediate 50 million euros ($56 million) for the relief work. He has promised to rebuild the shattered homes and said he would also renew efforts to bolster Italy's flimsy defences against earthquakes that regularly batter the country. "We want those communities to have the chance of a future and not just memories," he told reporters in Rome on Thursday. Italy has a poor record of rebuilding after quakes. About 8,300 people who were forced to leave their homes after a deadly earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009 are still living in temporary accommodation. This latest disaster represents a major political challenge for Renzi, who has been in office for two years. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was widely criticised for what was perceived to be a botched response to the L'Aquila calamity. Renzi declined to predict when the homeless might be rehoused. "This is not about setting challenges and making promises. We need the pace of a marathon runner," he said. Most of the buildings in the area were built hundreds of years ago, long before any anti-seismic building norms were introduced, helping to explain the widespread destruction. Cultural Minister Dario Franceschini said all 293 culturally important sites, many of them churches, had either collapsed or been seriously damaged. Italy sits on two fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. Almost 30 people died in earthquakes in northern Italy in 2012 while more than 300 died in the L'Aquila disaster. ($1 = 0.8857 euros) (Writing by Crispian Balmer and Philip Pullella, editing by David Stamp)[SEP](CNN) The scale of damage from Wednesday's earthquake that shook central Italy is becoming clearer as rescue workers continue to dig through rubble to find survivors. One mayor said his town is " no more ." "There is nothing left here," another resident said . Here's a look at the devastation by the numbers: 250: Latest death toll, which is expected to rise It's hard to quantify exactly how many people are still missing or hurt, as many remote towns attract seasonal visitors. The towns are Amatrice, Arquata del Tronto and Accumoli. That's the count for staffers with Italy's Civil Protection Agency. Other outside groups are helping too. 17: Estimated number of hours a girl was trapped under rubble before she was rescued 12: Number of major earthquakes in Italy since 2000 The country's Apennine mountain range sits along a tectonic plate that has been a hotbed for tremors. Most recently in 2009, a 6.3 earthquake struck central Italy and killed 295 people.

A state of emergency is declared in Italy following several strong earthquakes.

A strong aftershock has cut off a key route into the earthquake-stricken Italian town of Amatrice as the death toll from the earthquake rises further. With the death toll now at 278, hope of finding more survivors is fading. Photo: AFP A road bridge on a main route into the town which had been used by emergency crews was badly damaged in the 4.7 magnitude aftershock, one of more than 1000. Sniffer dogs and emergency crews were continuing to scour the town for survivors. The initial earthquake struck regions east of Rome at 3.36am local time on Wednesday. Officials said 181 of the victims had been identified, including at least 21 children. The Italian government declared a day of national mourning, and has scheduled a state funeral ceremony for the victims. On Friday the rescue operation in some of the stricken areas was called off. "Only a miracle can bring our friends back alive from the rubble, but we are still digging because many are missing," Amatrice Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said. "Amatrice will have to be razed to the ground," said Mr Pirozzi, who urged youngsters not to leave the area, saying that would mean the end of their community. Photo: AFP Some 218 of the 278 deaths were in Amatrice, where barely a single building was left unscathed. The town was last year voted one of the most beautiful old towns in Italy and is famous for its local cuisine. "No night can last so long that the sun never rises again. I am convinced that Amatrice will rise again. We owe it to the people who died here," Mr Pirozzi said About 15 people, including children, had not been accounted for, he said. Rescuers in some nearby villages, such as Pescara del Tronto, pulled out of the towns after all the inhabitants had been accounted for. The civil protection department in Rome said 388 people were being treated for injuries in hospitals, and 40 of them were in critical condition. An estimated 2500 people have been left homeless. Survivors with nowhere else to go are sleeping in neat rows of blue tents set up close to their flattened communities. The government promised to rebuild the region, but some local people fear that will never happen. "I'm afraid our village and others like it will just die. Most people don't live here year round anyway. In the winter time the towns are virtually empty," said Salvatore Petrucci, 77, from the nearby hamlet of Trisunga. "We may be the last ones to have lived in Trisunga." The foreigners who died in the disaster included six Romanians, a Spanish woman, a Canadian and an Albanian. Three British holidaymakers, including a 14-year-old boy, also died. The area is popular with tourists and local authorities were struggling to pin down how many visitors were present when the earthquake hit. The Romanian foreign ministry said 17 Romanians were still missing. Italy has a large Romanian community, and some of the victims were Italian residents. - Reuters[SEP]Italian authorities say the death toll in central Italy's devastating earthquake has risen to 278. Civil protection officials gave the updated toll at a briefing Friday afternoon, adding that 238 other people caught up in the quake were rescued. The death toll in the Arquata area of the earthquake zone has stabilized with 49 dead hailing from the region. Firefighting official Bruno Frattasi says there are no more people there unaccounted for, and efforts now were making sure all the dead were returned to their loved ones. The situation remains more uncertain in the Amatrice area, where the vast majority of earthquake dead have come from. The mayor estimates at least 15 more people remain unaccounted for there. Romania says at least 21 of its citizens are still missing in the earthquake zone. Destruction from Italy quake a grave warning for California's old brick buildings Crews find living among the dead as search goes on for survivors of Italy quake that killed hundreds[SEP]ASCOLI PICENO, Italy (AP) — The Latest on the Italian earthquake (all times local): Italian authorities say the death toll in an Italian earthquake has risen yet again as bodies continued to be recovered and now stands at 290. The Civil Protection agency gave the updated figure late Saturday morning just ahead of a state funeral for some of the victims being attended by President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Matteo Renzi. The worst hit town was Amatrice, which now has 230 confirmed deaths. It is there that the death toll has been rising. Elsewhere, 11 were killed in Accumoli and 49 in Arquato del Tronto. Italian authorities say the death toll in an Italian earthquake has risen to 284 people after three more bodies were recovered overnight from the rubble of Amatrice, the hilltop town that bore the brunt of the devastation. The Civil Protection agency gave the updated figure on Saturday morning. There were 224 deaths in Amatrice, with the rest in nearby towns. Italian President Sergio Mattarella has visited Amatrice, a town devastated in the earthquake that hit central Italy this week and the place with the highest death toll. Mattarella was guided by town mayor, Sergio Pirozzi, who showed him the extent of the damage. The president met and thanked rescue workers, who have been working against the clock since early Wednesday to save people trapped in rubble and recover the victims. The president, who will later attend a state funeral for some of the victims, was taken only to the edge of the town, because it is too dangerous to enter the heart of the medieval town due to the extent of the destruction. Residents of an Italian region devastated by an earthquake were rattled by a series of aftershocks overnight, the strongest measuring 4.2, as Italy began a day of national mourning on Saturday. The national mourning will include a state funeral for some of the victims in Ascoli Piceno to be attended by Premier Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella. Ahead of the funeral, caskets were lined up in a gym where mourners have been bidding farewell to loved ones, kneeling, crying and placing their hands on flower-covered caskets. This corrects the first name of Premier Sergio Mattarella[SEP]Death toll rises to 267 as hopes for survivors begin to dim. Strong aftershocks rattled residents and rescue crews alike Friday as hopes began to dim that firefighters would find any more survivors from Italy’s earthquake. The first funerals were scheduled to be observed for some of the 267 dead. Some of hard-hit Amatrice’s crumbled buildings suffered more cracks after the biggest aftershock of the morning struck at 6-28 a.m. The U.S. Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8. The aftershock was preceded by more than a dozen weaker ones overnight and was followed by another nine in the subsequent hour some of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked the seismic area of Italy’s central Apennine Mountains in the two days since the original quake Wednesday. Rescue efforts continued through the night, but more than a day-and-a-half had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Premier Matteo Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued since the quake, civil protection officials reported only a steadily rising death toll that stood early on Friday at 267. Nevertheless, civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione insisted that the rescue effort continued in full, “in search of other people trapped in the rubble.” Italian news reports said the first funerals were to be observed on Friday for some of the victims -- in Rome, for the son of a local police chief; in Pomezia Terme for two grandmothers and their two grandchildren[SEP]The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) confirms on Friday the death of yet other two Romanian nationals in the Italian earthquake, the death toll thus reaching eight. “According to the last information, the MAE regretfully announces that following the earthquake of 24 August in Italy, two other deaths of Romanian nationals were confirmed. The current number of the Romanians’ death toll in Italy tragedy is eight,” the MAE specifies. Considering the complexity of the necessary actions to manage the situation, out of the minister’s order a consular mobile team with the MAE Rapid Reaction Unit trained to intervene from the very debut of the tragedy will take off for Rome, urgently, on Saturday morning to back the mobile teams of the Romanian Embassy in Rome and of the General Consulate of Romania in Bologna, which are already on the spot, the source adds. As for the information regarding the missing Romanian citizens, the number under the MAE attention reaches 19. The attempts to identifying them are under way, as checking are permanently covered in coordination with the Italian competent authorities. The MAE reminds that the affected Romanians can request consular assistance by dialling: (0039) 06 835 233 58, (0039) 06 835 233 56 for the Romanian Embassy; and (0039) 051 5872120, (0039) 051 5872209 for the Consular Office in Bologna; calls will be redirected to the Call and Support Centre for Romanian Abroad (CCSCRS) and taken by call centre operators around the clock. The ministry also extends heartfelt condolence to the families of the Romanian citizens killed in this tragedy and continues to provide full assistance. The Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) confirms on Friday the death of yet other two Romanian nationals in the Italian earthquake, the death toll thus reaching eight. “According to the last information, the MAE regretfully announces that following the earthquake of 24 August in Italy, two other deaths of Romanian nationals were confirmed. The current number of the Romanians’ death toll in Italy tragedy is eight,” the MAE specifies. Considering the complexity of the necessary actions to manage the situation, out of the minister’s order a consular mobile team with the MAE Rapid Reaction Unit trained to intervene from the very debut of the tragedy will take off for Rome, urgently, on Saturday morning to back the mobile teams of the Romanian Embassy in Rome and of the General Consulate of Romania in Bologna, which are already on the spot, the source adds. As for the information regarding the missing Romanian citizens, the number under the MAE attention reaches 19. The attempts to identifying them are under way, as checking are permanently covered in coordination with the Italian competent authorities. The MAE reminds that the affected Romanians can request consular assistance by dialling: (0039) 06 835 233 58, (0039) 06 835 233 56 for the Romanian Embassy; and (0039) 051 5872120, (0039) 051 5872209 for the Consular Office in Bologna; calls will be redirected to the Call and Support Centre for Romanian Abroad (CCSCRS) and taken by call centre operators around the clock. The ministry also extends heartfelt condolence to the families of the Romanian citizens killed in this tragedy and continues to provide full assistance.

The official death toll rises to 278.

Striking miners in Bolivia armed with dynamite seized highways in a protest over mining laws and then kidnapped, possibly tortured and beat to death the county's deputy interior minister in a killing President Evo Morales characterized Friday as a "political conspiracy," officials say. Deputy Minister Rodolfo Llanes had traveled Thursday to the scene of the violent protests in western Bolivia in an effort to negotiate with the strikers. Instead, Illanes was "savagely beaten" to death by miners, Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking. Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a "cowardly and brutal killing" and asked that the body of Illanes, whose formal title is vice minister of the interior regime, be turned over to authorities. Earlier, Romero had said that Illanes had been kidnapped and possibly tortured, but wasn't able to confirm reports that he had been killed by the striking informal, or artisan, miners, who are demanding the right to associate with private companies, among other issues. "This is a political conspiracy," Morales said at a news conference Friday. Calling for three days of official mourning, he criticized the "cowardly attitude" of the protesters and insisted that his government had "always been open" to negotiation. The fatal beating came after the killings of two protesters in clashes with police, deaths that likely fueled the tensions. Illanes had gone to Panduro, 80 miles south of La Paz, to open a dialogue with the striking miners, who have blockaded a highway there since Monday. Thousands of passengers and vehicles are stranded on roads blocked by the strikers. Officials say he was taken hostage by the miners on Thursday morning. At midday, Illanes said on his Twitter account: "My health is fine, my family can be calm." There are reports that he had heart problems. Bolivia's informal miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives. They want to be able to associate with private companies, but are currently prohibited from doing so. The government argues that if they associate with multinational companies, they will no longer be cooperatives. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, strong allies of Morales when metal prices were high, was organized in the 1980s amid growing unemployment in the sector that followed the closure of state mines. Federation members went on an indefinite protest after negotiations over the mining legislation failed. 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The authorities could not for the moment retrieve his body, the minister said. More than 100 arrests had been made, he said. President Evo Morales had been "profoundly affected" by Mr Illanes's death, Mr Ferreira added. While he was being held, Mr Illanes told Bolivian radio that a condition for his release was that the government negotiate with miners over new legislation. The miners have been blocking a highway in Panduro since Tuesday. The National Federation of Mining Co-operatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of President Morales, began what they said would be an indefinite protest after negotiations failed. Protesters have been demanding more mining concessions, the right to work for private companies, and greater union representation. Image copyright AP Image caption Miners have been clashing with police over proposed legislation Image copyright AP Image caption Police have been using tear gas Image copyright EPA Image caption Two miners were killed by live fire on Thursday Image copyright AP Image caption Police have been attempting to remove the protesters[SEP]Illanes was "savagely beaten" to death by the striking miners, Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking. Striking informal miners in Bolivia kidnapped and beat to death the country’s deputy interior minister on Thursday after he traveled to the area to mediate in the bitter conflict over mining laws, officials said. Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a “cowardly and brutal killing” and asked that the miners turn over the body of his deputy, Rodolfo Illanes, who holds the formal title of vice minister of the interior regime. Mr. Illanes was “savagely beaten” to death by the striking miners, Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking. Earlier, Mr. Romero had said that Mr. Illanes had been kidnapped and possibly tortured, but that he could not confirm local media reports that he had been killed by the striking miners, who are demanding more rights, including the right to associate with private companies. The fatal beating follows the killings of two protesters in clashes with police, deaths that likely escalated tensions in the strike. Mr. Illanes had gone to Panduro, where the strikers have blockaded a highway since Monday, to open a dialogue. Thousands of passengers and vehicles are stranded on roads blocked by the strikers. At midday Thursday, Mr. Illanes said on his Twitter account, “My health is fine, my family can be calm.” There are reports the Mr. Illanes had heart problems. Bolivia’s informal or artisan miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives. They want to be able to associate with private companies, which are prohibited. The government argues that if they associate with multinational companies they would cease to be cooperatives. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of President Evo Morales, went on an indefinite protest after negotiations over the mining legislation failed.[SEP]LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Striking miners in Bolivia kidnapped and beat to death the country’s deputy interior minister after he traveled to the area to mediate in the bitter conflict over mining laws, officials said. Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a “cowardly and brutal killing” and asked that the body of deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes be turned over to authorities. Illanes, whose formal title is vice minister of the interior regime, was “savagely beaten” to death by the striking miners, Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking. Earlier, Romero had said that Illanes had been kidnapped and possibly tortured, but wasn’t able to confirm reports that he had been killed by the striking informal miners, who are demanding the right to associate with private companies, among other issues. The fatal beating follows the killings of two protesters in clashes with police, deaths that likely escalated tensions in the strike. Illanes had gone to Panduro, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the La Paz, to open a dialogue with the striking miners, who have blockaded a highway there since Monday. Thousands of passengers and vehicles are stranded on roads blocked by the strikers. Officials say he was taken hostage by the miners on Thursday morning. At midday, Illanes said on his Twitter account: “My health is fine, my family can be calm.” There are reports that he had heart problems. Bolivia’s informal or artisan miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives. They want to be able to associate with private companies, which is prohibited. The government argues that if they associate with multinational companies they would cease to be cooperatives. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of President Evo Morales, went on an indefinite protest after negotiations over the mining legislation failed.[SEP]LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Authorities in Bolivia say striking miners have kidnapped and killed the country’s deputy government minister, who had traveled to the area to mediate in the conflict over mining laws. Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a “cowardly and brutal killing” and asked that the miners turn over the body of deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes. Earlier, Romero and Attorney General Ramiro Guerrero said that Illanes had been kidnapped, but local media reports that he had been beaten to death by the miners had not been confirmed. The strike has turned violent recently with two protesters being killed and riot police failing to clear a highway in a western part of the Andean nation. Illanes had gone to Panduro, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the La Paz, to open a dialogue.[SEP]A Bolivian government minister has been beaten to death by striking mineworkers after being kidnapped, the government said. Rodolf Illanes, deputy interior minister, had gone to talk to protesting workers on Thursday in Panduro, around 160km (100 miles) from the capital, La Paz, but was intercepted and kidnapped. “At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly assassinated,” minister of government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments. The government was trying to recover his body, Romero said. Reymi Ferreira, the defence minister, said that Illanes had been “savagely beaten” to death by the striking miners. He broke down on television as he described how Illanes, appointed to his post in March, had apparently been “beaten and tortured to death”. Illanes’ assistant had escaped and was being treated in a hospital in La Paz, he said. “This crime will not go unpunished. Authorities are investigating ... around 100 people have been arrested,” Ferreira said. Moises Flores, the director of a mining radio station, later told local radio: “We have been able to see close up that vice-minister Illanes was dead. Colleagues told us that he had died of a beating.” Protests by miners in Bolivia demanding changes to laws turned violent this week after a highway was blockaded. Two workers were killed on Wednesday after being shot by police, and the government said 17 police officers had been wounded. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia (Fencomin), once a strong ally of the leftwing president, Evo Morales, began what it said would be an indefinite protest after negotiations over mining legislation failed. Protesters have been demanding more mining concessions, the right to work for private companies, and greater union representation. The vast majority of miners in Bolivia, one of South America’s poorest countries, work in cooperatives, scraping a living producing silver, tin and zinc. There are few foreign-owned mining firms, unlike in neighboring Peru and Chile. Natural gas accounts for roughly half of Bolivia’s total exports. Morales, a former coca grower, nationalised Bolivia’s resources sector after taking power in 2006, initially winning plaudits for ploughing the profits into welfare programs and boosting development. But his government has been dogged by accusations of cronyism and authoritarianism in recent years, and even the unions who were once his core support have soured on him as falling prices have crimped spending.[SEP]LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Striking Bolivian miners kidnapped and beat to death the country’s deputy interior minister in a shocking spasm of violence following weeks of tension over dwindling paychecks in a region hit hard by falling metal prices. The miners were demanding they be allowed to work for private companies, who promise to put more cash in their pockets. The issue has bedeviled President Evo Morales, who began as a champion of the working class and privatized the nation’s mining industry, only to see his support crater amid the downturn. Miners say Morales has become a shill of the rich, and done little to help them make ends meet as the economy slows. Deputy Minister Rodolfo Illanes, whose formal title is vice minister of the interior regime, had traveled Thursday to the scene of the violent protests in an effort to negotiate with the strikers who armed themselves with dynamite and seized several highways. Instead, Illanes was “savagely beaten” to death by miners, Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking. Prosecutor Edwin Blanco Friday said an autopsy showed that Illanes died from trauma to the brain and thorax. Government Minister Carlos Romero on Thursday called it a “cowardly and brutal killing.” Earlier in the day, Romero had said that Illanes had been kidnapped and possibly tortured, but wasn’t able to confirm reports that he had been killed by the striking informal miners, who were demanding the right to associate with private companies, among other issues. “This is a political conspiracy,” Morales said at a news conference on Friday. Calling for three days of official mourning, he criticized the “cowardly attitude” of the protesters and insisted that his government had “always been open” to negotiation. The fatal beating came after the killings of two protesters in clashes with police, deaths that likely fueled the tensions. Illanes had gone to Panduro, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the La Paz, to open a dialogue with the striking miners, who have blockaded a highway there since Monday. Thousands of passengers and vehicles are stranded on roads blocked by the strikers. Officials say he was taken hostage by the miners on Thursday morning. At midday, Illanes said on his Twitter account: “My health is fine, my family can be calm.” There are reports that he had heart problems. Bolivia’s informal or artisan miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives. They want to be able to associate with private companies, but are currently prohibited from doing so. The government argues that if they associate with multinational companies they will no longer be cooperatives. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, strong allies of Morales when metal prices were high, was organized in the 1980s amid growing unemployment in the sector that followed the closure of state mines. Federation members went on an indefinite protest after negotiations over the mining legislation failed.[SEP]Bolivian miners on Thursday during a clash with the police in the town of Panduro hacked the Deputy Interior Minister to death. Interior Minister, Carlos Romero, confirmed on Friday that reports by witnesses indicated that the 55-year-old was beaten to death following clashes between police and miners in the town of Panduro, 165 kilometres south-east of La Paz. Romero said Illanes had been kidnapped by miners after attempting to initiate talks with them at a roadblock. The minister, who spoke of a “cowardly and brutal” murder, added that his aide was also injured and was taken to hospital. He said that one miner was reportedly also killed in the Thursday’s clashes, bringing the death toll in several days of protests against controversial trade union legislation to three. “Two miners were killed on Wednesday. “Around 100 miners were detained after Thursday’s protests,’’ he said. Miners currently represented by independently organized cooperatives have been using street blockades to protest against a law allowing them to join trade unions. The national federation of mining cooperatives (Fencomin) representing some 10,000 miners rejects any trade union influence on Bolivia’s mining sector.[SEP]LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was beaten to death after he was kidnapped by striking mine workers on Thursday, the government said, and up to 100 people have been arrested as authorities vowed to punish those responsible. “At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly murdered,” Minister of Government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments. He said Illanes had gone to talk to protesters earlier on Thursday in Panduro, around 100 miles from the capital, La Paz, but was intercepted and kidnapped by striking miners. The government was trying to recover his body, Romero said, in a case that has shocked Bolivians. Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down on television as he described how Illanes, appointed to his post in March, had apparently been “beaten and tortured to death.” Illanes’ assistant had escaped and was being treated in a hospital in La Paz, he said. “This crime will not go unpunished. Authorities are investigating … around 100 people have been arrested,” Ferreira said. Protests by miners in Bolivia demanding changes to laws turned violent this week after a highway was blockaded. Two workers were killed on Wednesday after shots were fired by police. The government said 17 police officers had been wounded. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of leftist President Evo Morales, began what they said would be an indefinite protest after negotiations over mining legislation failed. Protesters have been demanding more mining concessions with less stringent environmental rules, the right to work for private companies, and greater union representation. The vast majority of miners in Bolivia, one of South America’s poorest countries, work in cooperatives, scraping a living producing silver, tin and zinc. There are few foreign-owned mining firms, unlike in neighboring Peru and Chile. Natural gas accounts for roughly half of Bolivia’s total exports. Ex-coca grower Morales nationalized Bolivia’s resources sector after taking power in 2006, initially winning plaudits for plowing the profits into welfare programs and boosting development. However, his government has been dogged by accusations of cronyism and authoritarianism in recent years, and even the unions who were once his core support have soured on him as falling prices have crimped spending.[SEP]Rodolfo Illanes, the deputy minister of interior, was killed Thursday in Panduro, where he was meeting with miners who had been striking and blockading roads since August 10, according to the attorney general's office. Three miners have died since the beginning of the protests, state-run ABI reported. The miners are protesting for their right to work directly with private companies. Bolivian President Evo Morales described the deputy minister as "a hero of natural resources" and declared three days of national mourning. "It was a cowardly act -- he was kidnapped, tortured and killed," Morales said. "It's unforgivable, and I don't understand how our brothers can hurt us in such a way." Five people, including a leader representing miners, were arrested Friday in relation to the killing. An additional 40 miners are under investigation. Orlando Gutiérrez, president of the Mine Workers Federation of Bolivia, condemned the killing, ABI reported. The autopsy report indicates Illanes was tortured for six to seven hours, and suffered strikes all over his body, according to Ramiro Guerrero, the attorney general of Bolivia. He also had multiple broken ribs and puncturing of his skull, Guerrero said in a statement. Authorities also found "a large quantity of explosives," some buried underground in the area where Illanes' body was recovered. Panduro is about 150 km (93 miles) from La Paz.

Bolivia's deputy interior minister, Rodolfo Illanes, is kidnapped and beaten to death by striking miners.

Armed Czech police fired at a suspect driving a large SUV as it attempted to ram German Chancellor Angela Merkel's motorcade. Merkel was on a visit to Prague when the man tried to break through a security cordon forcing local police to act. Officers fired at the SUV which stopped. While searching the vehicle, officers recovered handcuffs, tear gas and concrete cubes, according to local media. A man attempted to attack the motorcade of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured here with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, right, as she made her way between Prague's airport and the nation's parliament building as part of her one-day working visit Protesters were waiting yesterday outside the Czech parliament building to boo Merkel Merkel, right, held talks with Sobotka, left, during the one-day working visit to Prague The man was driving a black Mercedes SUV when he tried to attack. Police spokesman Jozef Bocan said: '[The man] attempted to join the motorcade as it moved between Prague airport and Czech government headquarters.' Bocan stressed that at no stage had Chancellor Merkel been in any danger. He said: 'While attempting to join the motorcade, he tried to run down police securing the road. The suspect acted alone. He was not armed, but items found in the car could easily have been used as weapons, particularly some cement cubes.' At the same time, protesters held highly offensive banners featuring the German chancellor Merkel spoke with Czech officials about Britain's decision to leave the European Union Bocan revealed officers had been forced to open fire to subdue the suspect who is now under arrest. Merkel held talks Thursday with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and President Milos Zeman focused on the future of the European Union after Britain's June decision to leave the bloc.[SEP]Assassination attempt on German Chancellor Angela Merkel foiled in Czech Republic the capital of Czech Republic, British media reported on Friday. As per details, police have arrested an armed man in a black Mercedes, who allegedly tried to join Merkel’s motorcade in Prague. British media said that Merkel was on her way to Prime Minister’s house in Prague, when a suspected black car entered in her convoy. Police stopped the car and arrested the armed man. Police spokesperson said that the suspect did not stop his car despite warning. The suspect stopped the car when he was given shoot out warning. Police recovered a box of tear gas, handcuffs and baton form his possession.[SEP]An assassination attempt on German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly been foiled in Prague. Czech police arrested a man after he attempted to drive his black Mercedes into the motorcade of visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Prague. The police said the suspect was in custody and that Merkel was not in danger. Local reports claim that officers found a baton, a canister of tear gas, cement blocks, and handcuffs in the man’s black 4x4 Mercedes. The chancellor was in Prague to meet Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. She was travelling from the airport to the city when the suspicious vehicle appeared on the outskirts of the city, The Mercedes driver is reported to have refused to obey orders coming from police cars accompanying the German chancellor. He is alleged to have carried on trying to enter the motorcade and cut off a police vehicle that was trying to stop him. The driver reportedly only stopped and got out of the vehicle after police warned him that they were going to shoot. Merkel is meeting 15 other heads of state this week to create a new agenda after Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. A series of demonstrations have greeted her in Prague, while demonstrators held posters saying “Merkel is killing Europe.”[SEP]Armed Czech police fired at a suspect driving a large SUV as it attempted to ram German Chancellor Angela Merkel's motorcade. Merkel was on a visit to Prague when the man tried to break through a security cordon forcing local police to act. Officers fired at the SUV which stopped. While searching the vehicle, officers recovered handcuffs, tear gas and concrete cubes, according to local media. The man was driving a black Mercedes SUV when he tried to attack. Police spokesman Jozef Bocan said: '[The man] attempted to join the motorcade as it moved between Prague airport and Czech government headquarters.' Bocan stressed that at no stage had Chancellor Merkel been in any danger. He said: 'While attempting to join the motorcade, he tried to run down police securing the road. The suspect acted alone. He was not armed, but items found in the car could easily have been used as weapons, particularly some cement cubes.' Bocan revealed officers had been forced to open fire to subdue the suspect who is now under arrest. Merkel held talks Thursday with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and President Milos Zeman focused on the future of the European Union after Britain's June decision to leave the bloc. Several hundred protesters, including members of anti-Islam groups, rallied in central Prague against Merkel and her decision to open the EU's doors to refugees and migrants last summer.[SEP]German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview on Saturday that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives had “underestimated” the challenge of integrating a record migrant influx. Gabriel is also leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) – the junior coalition partner in Merkel’s government – and his comments to broadcaster ZDF come as campaigning gets under way for a federal election next year. More than a million migrants flocked to Germany from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere last year. Concerns about how to integrate them all into German society and the labour market are now rife and support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) has grown. “I, we always said that it’s inconceivable for Germany to take in a million people every year,” Gabriel said in extracts of an interview released on Saturday. The IAB German labour office research institute says around 16,000 are still arriving each month, compared with more than 200,000 in November. Gabriel also criticised Merkel’s catchphrase “Wir schaffen das”, meaning “We can do this”, which she adopted during the migrant crisis last summer and has repeatedly used since. Merkel used the phrase at a news conference she held in late July after a spate of attacks on civilians in Germany, including two claimed by Isis, that have put her open-door migrant policy in the spotlight. Her popularity has slipped since those attacks. Gabriel said repeating that phrase was not enough and the conservatives needed to create the conditions for Germany to be able to cope, adding that the conservatives had always blocked opportunities to do that.

An assassination attempt against Angela Merkel is foiled by Czech police.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 June) – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte met with leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) late Friday night to discuss peace under his administration but held a separate one-on-one meeting with MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim afterwards. Duterte met with Datu Abul Khayr Alonto of Lanao del Sur, chair of a faction of the MNLF and the MILF delegation led by chair Murad at Jacky’s Restocafe in Hotel Elena. “The group pledged their support and cooperation to the new government and (to) move forward (in) the peace process,” Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Duterte’s Executive Assistant told MindaNews. “One-on-one sila ni Murad,” said Go, who will be incoming Special Assistant and chief of the Presidential Management Staff. President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim spent around 20 minutes to talk peace during a one-on-one meeting Friday night at Hotel Elena in Davao City. Photo contributed to MindaNews He said the Duterte-Murad conversation, which he estimated at 20 minutes, took place after the group meeting. Go, who was in the group meeting, declined to give other details. Murad could not be reached for comment but MindaNews sources who were present said the rest of the delegation left the function room to allow the two leaders to talk but returned later to formally close the meeting. It was the first meeting between the 67-year old Murad and the 71-year old Duterte, who visited the MILF’s Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on February 27 en route to his campaign rally in Cotabato City. Murad was out of the country then and he was received by 1st vice chair Ghazali Jaafar and members of the Central Committee. Two more attempts for a one-on-one meeting before the elections did not push through. MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim amd President-elect Rodrigo Duterte shake hands at the end of their 20-minute one-one-one talk. Photo by KIWI BULACLAC / Davao City Mayor’s Office “Maganda ang nangyari. Very productive,” said a source privy to what Duterte and Murad talked about, but declined to provide details. Expectedly, the fate of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was raised and the source said the discussion was “very positive.” The 16th Congress under the Aquino administration failed to pass the BBL that would have paved the way for the establishment of the Bangsamoro, the new autonomous political entity that would have replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The BBL’s passage is crucial in the peace process as it is tied up with the decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants, as well as the gradual redeployment of the military from the “former conflict areas” during the normalization phase. Earlier, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, Jr., Duterte’s choice for Speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters in Manila that there was “no more need” for a BBL in view of the plan to amend the 1987 Constitution to shift to a federal system of government. “Template” Duterte during the campaign repeatedly said his administration would correct the historical injustices against the Moro people. In his February visit to the MILF’s Camp Darapanan, Duterte spoke about his plan to have the Constitution amended to allow for the shift from the Presidential system to a federal form but “if it takes time, and if only to defuse tension, in my government I will convince Congress to pass the BBL then make it as a template for federal states.” Ghazali Jaafar, 1st Vice Chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (right) introduces the other members of the MILF Central Committee to presidential candidate and Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte during his visit in Camp Darapanan, Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao on February 27, 2016. MindaNews photo by TOTO LOZANO At the Cotabato City plaza, the lone Presidential candidate from Mindanao stressed the need to correct historical injustices committed against the Moro people and vowed that under his administration, “we will try to go federalism. Yang Bagsamoro sa mapa ngayon, wag nang galawin yan. Gawin na lang nating example na makopya sa lahat. Ang mangyayari nito, uunahin ko na lang pakiusapan ko ang Congress na we will pass the BBL (The Bangsamoro on the map now, let’s not touch that anymore. Let’s make it an example for the rest to copy. I will immediately ask Congress to pass the BBL). He said he will also tell MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari “kopyahin na lang natin sila para sa Mindanao at buong Pilipinas” (let’s copy that in Mindanao and in the rest of the Philippines”). Misuari, whom Duterte considers a friend, is founding chair of the MNLF with whom government signed a Final Peace Agreement in 1996 and whose implementation has yet to be fully completed. In the last Presidential Debate in April, Duterte said “nothing will appease the Moro people if you do not give them the BBL.” Asked in a press conference at the “Malacanang of the South” in Panacan on March 31 for clarification on his campaign promise and Alvarez’ plan on the BBL, Duterte replied: “Federalism would recognize the territory you are in now… What Alvarez meant was that we will not adopt the BBL to the exclusion of others… I’m willing to let go of the configuration now, yung boundaries nila, okay ra. But we have to reconfigure the others also. What’s sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose. Liberally construed it means kasali ka in a bigger network, yung federalism. So it will not stand out as a BBL law, it could stand out as a part of a federal set-up. Yun ang ibig sabihin. I’m sure he could not have misconstrued that thing.” The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by government and the MILF on March 27, 2014provides, among others, for the passage of a BBL to pave the way for the creation of a Bangsamoro. In a statement on June 11, Murad said the MILF “maintains its position that a CAB-based Bangsamoro Basic Law needs to be immediately passed into law, not only because it is part of the implementation of the signed agreements, but also because it effectively addresses the peculiarities unique to the Bangsamoro that are not necessarily found in other prospective federal states.” He also cited Duterte’s earlier statements regarding making the BBL a possible template for federalism. Duterte’s meeting with the group on Friday night covered a broad range of concerns such as achieving peace under the Duterte administration, the BBL, the need for a unified approach among the Moro fronts, the shift to federalism, illegal drugs, kidnap-for-ransom. BROTHERS ALL. President-elect Rodrigo Duterte listens as Datu Abul Khayr Alonto (right) of Lanao del Sur, chair of a faction the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) expounds on an issue during a “private meeting” late Friday night at Jacky’s Restocafé in Hotel Elena, Lanang, Davao City. To the left of Duterte are Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, 1st vice chair Ghazali Jaafar and Sammy Al Mansour, chief of staff of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces. Photo by KIWI BULACLAC / Davao City Mayor’s Office Alonto, who was vice chair to Misuari in the early days of the MNLF and who surfaced as MNLF chair in 2014, referred to their meeting with Duterte as a talk of brothers. “Brother talking with brother,” he said. Alonto told ABS-CBN News Channel that the Moro fronts expressed the support of the Bangsamoro people to Duterte as “true son of Mindanao and is a good brother from Mindanao.” He said they took Duterte’s victory at the polls “as a referendum” that the Filipino people are “willing to shift to the federal system of government which could very well have the Bangsamoro government fit well in that system.” Asked by ANC if Duterte gave a timeline for the passage of the BBL, Alonto replied “that will be coming from his office after his oath-taking. “ BROTHER TO BROTHER. President-elect Rodrigo Duterte poses for a souvenir photo with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim (to his right) and Datu Abul Khayr Alonto (to his left), chair of a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) after a “private meeting” late Friday night at Jacky’s Restocafe in Hotel Elena, Lanang, Davao City. Photo by KIWI BULACLAC / Davao City Mayor’s Office He said there will be an “all-comprehensive agreement and position to be presented by the Moro community through the leaders of the MILF and with support of the MNLF (that will be) submitted in due time.” Returning Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, who was not in Friday’s meeting because he was still on his way home from Oslo, Norway after a successful two-day informal talks with the National Democratic Front, told MindaNews on May 30 that he will conduct consultations with various sectors on the Bangsamoro peace roadmap. Inclusive “It will have to be inclusive of all Moro fronts,” Dureza said, referring to the MILF and MNLF. He said he is optimistic of the outcome of the unity talks brokered by the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2010 which led to an agreement between the MNLF and the MILF leaders that eventually led to the creation of the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum (BCF). Only the MNLF under Alonto was represented in Friday’s meeting but the factions under Misuari, Muslimin Sema and several others, were not. Misuari’s spokesperson Randolph Parcasio told MindaNews on Saturday that Duterte was going to meet with Misuari in Sulu “in due time.” Sema told MindaNews also on Saturday that they are waiting for the OIC to convene the but “we are talking with the MILF on the issue of convergence of all signed agreements with the GPH under one autonomy law hinged on the 1976 Tripoli Agreement and 1996 Final Peace Agreement without abandoning the (MILF’s) CAB.” He said he hopes this would be tackled in the next BCF meeting. Sema had earlier proposed a quadripartite talks involving the government, MNLF, MILF and the OIC “and under the present circumstance with the federalist thrust of President Duterte, the quadripartite talks will fit in well.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)[SEP]RANSOM PAID. President Rodrigo Dutere updates reporters on Norwegian kidnap victim Kjartan Sekkingstad, who is being held by the Abu Sayyaf, on August 25, 2016. Photo by Editha Caduaya/ Rappler DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Abu Sayyaf group has received a P50-million ransom payment for its Norwegian hostage, Kjartan Sekkingstad, but the group has not yet released him as it reportedly wants to get even "more" money, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday, August 25. "They kept on postponing it [the release] because of the huge sum of money. Millions. 'Yung Norwegian, bayad na 'yon (Ransom has been paid for the Norwegian)," Duterte told reporters on Thursday morning. Duterte would not respond directly to questions on who paid ransom for Sekkingstad and joked, "Hindi ko alam saang banko (I don't know which bank)." Sekkingstad is the only remaining Abu Sayyaf captive from the group of 4 abducted in Samal Island in Davao del Norte in September 2015. Only one person in that group had been set free, so far – Filipina Marites Flor. Her boyfriend, Robert Hall, and fellow Canadian John Ridsdel were beheaded after the deadline for their ransom payment lapsed in June and April, respectively. The Canadian government is observing a no-ransom policy. On June 25, Norwegian Ambassador Erik Forner went to see Duterte during the release of kidnap victim Flor. The two leaders talked about negotiating for the release of Sekkingstad. On Wednesday Duterte sent the 69th Army battalion to Jolo, Sulu, as part of his vow to "crush" the Abu Sayyaf, after the group beheaded its teenage captive that day. – Rappler.com[SEP]DAVAO CITY — Now that the peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines is moving forward, President Rodrigo Duterte said the government troops will focus on how to solve the perennial problem of illegal drugs trade and extremism in the country. “Wala tayong NPA, MNLF is medyo silent and MILF has agreed to talk. So we have this time to concentrate on the fronts sa drugs pati doon sa extremism. (We do not have the New People’s Army. The Moro National Liberation Front is quite silent and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has agreed to talk. So we have this time to concentrate on the fronts of drugs and extremism),” Duterte said during his speech at the 10th year anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command inside the Naval Station Felix Apolinario in Panacan, here Friday night, August 26. Duterte said the present peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines has presented a “window” of opportunity. He said the government can manage the number of the extremist group, pertaining to the Abu Sayyaf Group. “Definitely the Abu Sayyaf is out of control and there is only one way to do it.” Duterte said he had the respect for the ASG members who we were “fighting for freedom” but unfortunately lost because of the ideology of terrorism that the group espoused. “Tama kayo, there was this historical injustice committed against the Moro people (You were right, there was this historical injustice committed against the Moro people),” Duterte said. “Kayong mga Abu Sayyaf noon, medyo sumasaludo ako. But when you began to slaughter people in front of the camera, and then now you kill an innocent boy, nawala ang respeto ko sa inyo (I somewhat salute Abu Sayyaf members before, but when you began to slaughter people in front of the camera, and then now you kill an innocent boy, you lost my respect),” he said. The ASG reportedly beheaded 18-year-old Patrick Almodovar on Wednesday, August 24, after his family failed to meet the deadline to pay the ransom amounting to P1 million. Duterte said he would not hesitate to order both the military and the police to destroy the Abu Sayyaf Group. “Destroy them because they are criminals,” Duterte said. He added that there will never be peace in the area if the ASG remains. “Even if we grant them autonomy and they remain to be bandits, we will never have peace in that land. So, useless ang ating peace talks,” he said. At least 1,000 soldiers from the 10th Infantry Division here were sent to Jolo, Sulu to step up government’s ongoing campaign against the Abu Sayyaf. The 69th Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion will be part of some 15 battalions to be deployed in the area of Western Mindanao Command. In his fight against illegal drugs, Duterte said he has given the government troops all that they need for the anti-drug campaign. Duterte also agreed for the postponement of the barangay elections to avoid having politicians funded by drug cartels. “Do you know the reason why I also agreed with congress, some Congressman, to postpone the barangay elections? Do you know why? Because I am afraid that the drug money will seep into the electoral process. You will just be adding to our headache, those that are funded by drug money will win,” Duterte said. Given the severity of the problem, Duterte said it would entail a declaration of Martial to eliminate all problems. He, however, stressed that he will not invoke such, but instead vowed to solve the problems within the limit of his powers as President. “At kailangan mo ng mag-Martial Law para to eliminate all. Which I will never do in the first place,” he said. (davaotoday.com)[SEP]When he was campaigning in the President election, naive and ignorant media around the world were competing in tarnishing has image In their wrong prophecy, Rodrigo Duterte was not going to win. There had been dozens of ill-motivated propaganda against him. But we, in Weekly Blitz never got puzzled or misled at all. We knew, patriotic and peace-loving people of Philippine will definitely vote for Mr. Duterte. Because they were tired of the chaotic and corruption plagued democracy. They were tired of bandits like Ferdinand Marcos and his Successors. Filipinos were tired of rampant corruption of politicians, civil servants and members of law enforcement agencies. They were tired of massive spread of narcotics and drugs, which were destroying the society, especially younger generation. Filipinos knew how the local casinos were becoming safe haven of illegal money. How millions and billions of black money were entering Philippines, while the poor were becoming poorer. jobless people were almost compelled in joining drug rackets just for the sake of earning few Pesos for survival. Even bank executives like Maia Santos Deguito had to join hands with international money thieves, may be for a better or ‘comfortable’ future. We do think, Maia Deguito is just a small fry in the stealing of USD 81 million from Bangladesh Bank. There are big fishes inside the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and casinos in Philippine. We strongly believe, more ‘cats’ will be out of the bag soon. Special thanks to The Inquirer newspaper for exposing this story. People ask, will President Rodrigo Duterte be the Mahathir Mohamad of Philippine? With confidence we can say- yes he will be. We also hope, the communist guerrillas will sit for a peaceful settlement as insurgencies won’t bring anything good to them. They should look into the world history to know insurgencies of LTTE (in Sri Lanka) or IRA (in Ireland) had to finally get defeated and eliminated. If communist guerrillas think they have path of destruction and terror and help President Duterte in transforming Philippine as the land of prosperity, peace and smile. President Duterte’s noble battle against corruption, drug & crime is no easy task. Because those evil forces might have used a part of their evil money in buying politicians, rights groups, media and civil-military administration. They have ‘lobbyists’ in various countries in the West, who would try portraying Mr. Duterte’s good battle and noble efforts as ‘cruel’, ‘inhuman’ or they may continue propaganda claiming human rights are being violated in today’s Philippines. They may hire media to show pictures of spouses of drug peddlers crying on the street hugging dead body. But, of course, there are media who wont be purchased and they will support president Rodrigo Duterte and his noble mission. The Philippine authorities need as much information they can as to how drugs (such as ice pill, yaba or meth) are entering the country. Through which route and methods. They also need information on corrupt individuals and trails of their wealth. Weekly Blitz, as an investigative newspaper will continue to look for such information through its contacts around the world and will publish. We call upon everyone to send us information on corruption, black money, drugs, terrorists, militants etc. We always shall keep our sources undisclosed. We also welcome scoops, data and documents from Wikileaks, IFIJ and everyone else around the world. Blitz, as a newspaper shall continue to support genuine statesman and courageous leaders like President Rodrigo Duterte and other. Keep eyes on Weekly Blitz for unbiased, unmolested and exclusive reports and analysis. 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Based in Lanao del Sur’s Butig town, the militants have attacked army troops and beheaded a soldier and two kidnapped workers earlier this year. Before being killed, the two workers were made to wear orange shirts similar to beheading victims of the Islamic State group. A number of Muslim armed groups in the southern Philippines, including some commanders of the violent Abu Sayyaf, have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group. The military has tried to play down their actions, saying there has been no evidence of an active collaboration between the foreign extremists and Filipino militants who are aiming to prop up their image and secure badly needed funds amid years of battle setbacks. President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June, has pursued peace talks with two large Muslim rebel groups, but has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf and other hard-line militants. Troops have continued on-and-off offensives against the Maute militants in Butig in Lanao del Sur, a predominantly Muslim province, about 520 miles south of Manila. A major offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province’s mountainous Patikul town, also in the south, has killed at least 19 militants, including an influential commander, Mohammad Said, who used the nom de guerre Amah Maas, his two sons, and another ranking fighter, Latip Sapie, military officials said. Said, who had severed arms and was among the most senior Abu Sayyaf commanders, had been implicated in the kidnappings of several Filipinos and foreigners.[SEP]Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who recently issued orders to the country's armed forces to eliminate Abu Sayyaf, mistakenly revealed that they paid a ransom to the militant group for the release of Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad. In what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, Duterte said 50m Philippines peso (£816,098, $1m) was paid to Abu Sayyaf. The accidental revelation came when the president was addressing a news conference in his hometown of Davao City on Wednesday (24 August) night. He was answering queries about the recent beheading of an Abu Sayyaf captive in Sulu province. So far, the Filipino government has maintained that it has a policy of not surrendering to kidnappers' demands. However, the latest revelation by the president himself has raised concerns about the country's stand against Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to international terrorist group Islamic State (Isis). Journalists when asked Duterte whether he was aware of the beheading on Tuesday (23 August) in Sulu, he retorted: "If that's the one, then I will accuse the Abu Sayyaf of acting in bad faith. They have been paid 50,000 Philippine Pseso already." He then corrected himself and said the ransom amount was 50m Philippine peso, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Duterte apparently thought that the journalists were referring to the Norwegian hostage who has still not been released by Abu Sayyaf from captivity, while the question actually referred to the beheading of 18-year-old Patrick James Almodovar, who was abducted on 16 July from a village in Jolo Island in southwest Philippines. The boy was kidnapped by the Ajang-Ajang faction of Abu Sayyaf . However, the president soon realised that he had disclosed a piece of information that should have been a secret, and immediately changed the course of the interaction by reasserting his resolve to fight the militant group. "Destroy them. Period," he said. The president declined to divulge any more information about the ransom payment. When asked where the money came from, he only said: "Maybe from my bank."[SEP]When he was campaigning in the President election, naive and ignorant media around the world were competing in tarnishing has image In their wrong prophecy, Rodrigo Duterte was not going to win. There had been dozens of ill-motivated propaganda against him. But we, in Weekly Blitz never got puzzled or misled at all. We knew, patriotic and peace-loving people of Philippine will definitely vote for Mr. Duterte. Because they were tired of the chaotic and corruption plagued democracy. They were tired of bandits like Ferdinand Marcos and his Successors. Filipinos were tired of rampant corruption of politicians, civil servants and members of law enforcement agencies. They were tired of massive spread of narcotics and drugs, which were destroying the society, especially younger generation. Filipinos knew how the local casinos were becoming safe haven of illegal money. How millions and billions of black money were entering Philippines, while the poor were becoming poorer. jobless people were almost compelled in joining drug rackets just for the sake of earning few Pesos for survival. Even bank executives like Maia Santos Deguito had to join hands with international money thieves, may be for a better or ‘comfortable’ future. We do think, Maia Deguito is just a small fry in the stealing of USD 81 million from Bangladesh Bank. There are big fishes inside the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and casinos in Philippine. We strongly believe, more ‘cats’ will be out of the bag soon. Special thanks to The Inquirer newspaper for exposing this story. People ask, will President Rodrigo Duterte be the Mahathir Mohamad of Philippine? With confidence we can say- yes he will be. We also hope, the communist guerrillas will sit for a peaceful settlement as insurgencies won’t bring anything good to them. They should look into the world history to know insurgencies of LTTE (in Sri Lanka) or IRA (in Ireland) had to finally get defeated and eliminated. If communist guerrillas think they have path of destruction and terror and help President Duterte in transforming Philippine as the land of prosperity, peace and smile. President Duterte’s noble battle against corruption, drug & crime is no easy task. Because those evil forces might have used a part of their evil money in buying politicians, rights groups, media and civil-military administration. They have ‘lobbyists’ in various countries in the West, who would try portraying Mr. Duterte’s good battle and noble efforts as ‘cruel’, ‘inhuman’ or they may continue propaganda claiming human rights are being violated in today’s Philippines. They may hire media to show pictures of spouses of drug peddlers crying on the street hugging dead body. But, of course, there are media who wont be purchased and they will support president Rodrigo Duterte and his noble mission. The Philippine authorities need as much information they can as to how drugs (such as ice pill, yaba or meth) are entering the country. Through which route and methods. They also need information on corrupt individuals and trails of their wealth. Weekly Blitz, as an investigative newspaper will continue to look for such information through its contacts around the world and will publish. We call upon everyone to send us information on corruption, black money, drugs, terrorists, militants etc. We always shall keep our sources undisclosed. We also welcome scoops, data and documents from Wikileaks, IFIJ and everyone else around the world. Blitz, as a newspaper shall continue to support genuine statesman and courageous leaders like President Rodrigo Duterte and other. Keep eyes on Weekly Blitz for unbiased, unmolested and exclusive reports and analysis. Please LIKE us @ Facebook and Twitter.[SEP]MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops killed at least 11 Abu Sayyaf militants, including an influential commander, in an assault on the extremists Friday following their beheading of a captive whose family was too poor to pay ransom, the military said. Regional military commander Maj. Filemon Tan said 17 soldiers were wounded when hundreds of army troops surrounded a vast jungle area in Sulu province's mountainous Patikul town and clashed with scattered groups of about 100 militants. Among the 11 dead militants was Amah Maas, a longtime commander of the group who had severed arms and had been implicated in ransom kidnappings, including of European tourists. President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the troops to destroy the militants in their jungle bases after the extremists on Wednesday beheaded a Filipino teenager, Patrick James Aldovar, who was abducted near a police camp in Sulu's main Jolo town last month. "The order of the president is to search and destroy the Abu Sayyaf so that's what we are doing," Tan said, adding more than 1,200 troops, including special forces commandos, were involved in the assaults in Patikul and other Sulu hinterlands. Thousands of reinforcement troops have been flown by C130 cargo planes to Sulu and nearby Basilan island to help in the ongoing offensive. Many of the troops were freed up from other combat zones in the country after Duterte declared an indefinite ceasefire last week with communist rebels, who are engaged in peace talks with the government brokered by Norway. The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the Philippines for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group partly in the hope of obtaining funds. The militants are still holding several foreign and local hostages in their jungle bases, including Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was kidnapped along with two Canadian men and a Filipino woman from a southern marina in September last year. The Canadians were beheaded after huge ransom demands were not met and the woman was freed before Duterte assumed the presidency on June 30. During a news conference Thursday, Duterte suggested the militants may be continuing to hold Sekkingstad despite being paid a 50 million-peso ransom ($1-million) for his freedom. Around the time the ransom was paid, the Filipino captive from the marina, Marites Flor, was instead freed by the Abu Sayyaf, two security officers told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the hostage talks publicly. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the government was not involved with the payment and added the money was raised by "third parties," which he did not identify. The government, he said, maintains a no-ransom policy in resolving kidnappings. "We don't encourage," he said. "If they make negotiations, that is their negotiation."[SEP]Philippine security officials killed six members of militant group Abu Sayyaf on Friday including one involved in the kidnapping of two Canadians who were beheaded in the troubled south, the military said. A military spokesman said soldiers clashed with 100 members of notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang Abu Sayyaf as troops carried out President Rodrigo Duterte's orders to "destroy" the militants. In April and June, the group beheaded two Canadian tourists after ransom demands were not met. They were among four people kidnapped from the southern resort island of Samal last September. "We were able to recover (the six militants') bodies. One of them is a sub-group leader of the Abu Sayyaf who was involved in the Samal kidnapping," regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan told AFP. Tan said 17 soldiers were wounded in the encounter as the military aims to track hostages including a Norwegian who was kidnapped with the Canadians along with a Filipina who was released in June. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding a Dutch birdwatcher abducted in 2012 and Indonesian sailors kidnapped from the high seas in recent months, said Tan. Duterte, who took office on June 30, initially pleaded for peace with the Abu Sayyaf but has since hardened his stance after the group continued kidnapping and beheading hostages. The military said Wednesday the Abu Sayyaf beheaded a 19-year-old Filipino captive after a ransom demand was not met. Police recovered his head in Sulu. Responding to the incident, Duterte vowed on Thursday to annihilate the group. "My order to the police and to the armed forces: seek them out in their lairs and destroy them." The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a few hundred Islamic militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom. Its leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group but analysts say they are mainly focused on lucrative kidnappings.[SEP]DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 August) – President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military and police to seek out the Abu Sayyaf and destroy them. “Seek them out in their lairs and destroy them… Ang mga Abu Sayyaf destroy them, period,” Duterte said in a midnight press conference, hours after the Abu Sayyaf was reported to have beheaded an 18-year-old male resident of Sulu who was kidnapped by the terrorist group on July 16. The Abu Sayyaf had earlier warned they would behead Patrick James Almodovar, son of a court stenographer, by Wednesday, August 24, if the million-peso ransom they demanded was not paid. “That’s why I am sending the troops there and tell them to destroy (the Abu Sayyaf),” Duterte said in a press conference outside a seafood restaurant here after a near midnight dinner Wednesday with soldiers bound for Sulu. “My orders to the police and armed forces against all enemies of the state: Seek out, seek them out in their lairs, whatever and destroy them. Ang mga droga destroy them. Ang mga Abu Sayyaf, destroy them. Period.” Duterte is the fifth Philippine President to attempt to destroy the Abu Sayyaf. Former Presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III had attempted to do the same but the Abu Sayyaf has remained, its kidnapping and other terror acts even worse than before. Asked how different his war against the Abu Sayyaf will be from the previous administrations’, Duterte replied: “I’ll be harsh. But mind you, it’s not just a campaign-campaign. Go out and destroy them. So patay kung ano yan. Wag na kayong magtanong human rights. Even sa drugs.” Duterte initially thought it was the Norwegian kidnap victim, Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was beheaded because if he were, “I would accuse now the Abu Sayyaf of in utter bad faith. Binayaran na yan sila” (They were already paid), he said, citing the figure P50,000 but later corrected to P50 million. Who paid the amount, he did not say. He narrated he has Moro blood, having a Maranao for a grandmother, but abhors what the Abu Sayyaf is doing. MindaNews later asked Duterte at Magsaysay Park after eating durian with the soldiers, how he will destroy the Abu Sayyaf. “My orders for them: destroy. I do not care if you destroy a physical being or a property there or a cement house. Go there and destroy because they have destroyed us,” he replied. “But they are also staying within the communities,” MindaNews asked. “Bahala na. Basta my orders to them, pati yung droga destroy them.” In 2000, then President Joseph Estrada, a former movie actor known for colorful language, waged an “all out war” against the Abu Sayyaf. His battlecry then was “Pulbusin ang Abu hanggang maging abo” (literally: crush the Abu until they turn into ash). Hundreds of troops were deployed to Sulu, transport to and from the island province as well as telecommunications were cut off for several days in September 2000. Thousands of Sulu residents were displaced and the livelihood of thousands of farmers and fisherfolk was adversely affected as they could not farm and fish while the military operations were ongoing. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte unintentionally reveals that a US$1 million ransom was given to the Abu Sayyaf terror group in exchange for a Norwegian hostage.

A South African court has rejected a bid by the state prosecutor to appeal Oscar Pistorius' six-year prison sentence for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The prosecution had argued the decision was too lenient, but Judge Thokozile Masipa said the petition to appeal had no reasonable prospects of success. More to follow.[SEP]Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was jailed for six years for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. By Alon Skuy (Pool/AFP/File) Johannesburg (AFP) - A South African judge on Friday rejected an appeal by state prosecutors against Oscar Pistorius's "shockingly lenient" six-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend. Thokozile Masipa -- the same judge who imposed the punishment on the Paralympic athlete last month -- said she was not persuaded there was a "reasonable prospect of success on appeal". "The application for leave to appeal against the sentence is dismissed with costs," she said in the High Court in Johannesburg. Prosecutors had been pushing for a tougher sentence against the fallen 29-year-old double-amputee sprint star over the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. They now have the option of directly petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal to ask it to extend the term -- which is less than half the minimum 15-year sentence for murder in South Africa. Masipa presided over Pistorius's lengthy trial in the glare of the world's media, and South African law empowers the trial judge to grant or reject applications to appeal their own judgements. "The sentence of six years is shockingly lenient and disturbingly inappropriate," prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued in court. Pistorius shot Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. At his sentencing in July, Masipa listed mitigating factors, including the athlete's claim he believed he was shooting an intruder. The prosecution on Friday again questioned Pistorius's failure to testify during the sentencing hearings, saying it raised the question of whether he had shown remorse. Nel also said the punishment had "resulted in an injustice and had the potential to bring the administration of justice into disrepute". He described it as flawed and that "another court may find that this court misdirected itself". Pistorius is serving his sentence at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the capital Pretoria. - 'Enough is enough' - Masipa had also originally convicted Pistorius of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, in 2014. But an appeals court upgraded his conviction to murder in December last year. Pistorius's defence said it was an "insult" to suggest that the court's sentencing had been flawed and that it was time the case came to a close. "Enough is enough. What does the state want?" defence lawyer Barry Roux said. "This case has been exhausted beyond a point of any conceivable exhaustion," he added, accusing the prosecution of sending Pistorius "like a ping pong ball between courts." However, the prosecution still has recourse to a higher court. "Any party who has to apply to the trial judge for permission to appeal and is unsuccessful, the option is open for them to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal," said Stephan Terblanche, a law professor at the University of South Africa. Terblanche said the Supreme Court would study the grounds of appeal and those opposing the appeal, and make a decision without conducting a hearing. Pistorius, who pleaded not guilty at his high-profile trial, has always denied killing 29-year-old Steenkamp in a rage, saying he was trying to protect her. South African media reports earlier this month said the athlete had been put on suicide watch following mysterious wrist injuries. He said he sustained the injuries after falling from his bed and his family denied that he had tried to kill himself. The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius -- known as the Blade Runner -- became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 Games. The Steenkamp and Pistorius families could not be reached for immediate comment.[SEP]South African judge Thokozile Masipa dismisses an appeal by prosecutor Gerrie Nel for a harsher sentence against Oscar Pistorius on Friday. Nel tells the court that six years is not appropriate for the crime of murdering Reena Steenkamp. Defence advocate Barry Roux argues Pistorius made the ‘mistake of his life’[SEP]A judge in South Africa has refused an attempt by prosecutors to appeal against the six-year jail sentence imposed on Oscar Pistorius for murdering his girlfriend in February 2013. Thokozile Masipa said an application by state prosecutors to appeal against the sentence she imposed in July had no reasonable prospect of success. Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, by firing four bullets from a handgun through a closed toilet door in his luxury home in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The sentence was much lower than many had expected and was widely criticised. Public prosecutors had demanded the mandatory minimum for murder of 15 years. Steenkamp’s family, however, did not actively support their appeal. Critics said Pistorius had received preferential treatment as a wealthy, white celebrity. Gerrie Nel, the lead state prosecutor, told the court on Friday that Pistorius had not shown any remorse and had yet to convincingly explain why he fired the fatal shots. “The respondent fired four shots through the door and never offered an acceptable explanation for doing so,” Nel said, adding that the sentence was “shockingly lenient”. Pistorius has always maintained he fired in the mistaken belief that an intruder was hiding behind the door. His defence argued that his disability – he had his lower legs amputated before his first birthday – and the mental stress that occurred in the aftermath of the killing should be considered as mitigating circumstances. “I see a lot of prejudice against the accused from the state’s side,” Barry Roux, the former athlete’s main defence lawyer, said on Friday. “This trial and this process has been exhausted beyond any conceivable exhaustive process.” During sentencing hearings in June, a clinical psychologist called as a defence witness told the court in Pretoria that Pistorius was “a broken man”. Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison. After an appeal by state prosecutors, he was convicted of murder in December. In her judgment, Masipa said the evidence she had heard convinced her Pistorius was not a violent person, was unlikely to reoffend and had shown remorse. The judge said she had to balance the interests of society, the accused and relatives of the victim. Pistorius, she said, was “a fallen hero who has lost his career and been ruined financially. He cannot be at peace.” Women’s rights activists disagreed. “The judgment is an insult to women. It sends the wrong message,” Jacqui Mofokeng of the African National Congress women’s league, told the Guardian after the sentencing in July. Under South African law, Pistorius will be eligible for parole long before the end of the sentence. The 29-year-old was treated for wrist injuries this month after apparently falling from his bed. Prison officials said he denied trying to kill himself.[SEP]JOHANNESBURG, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A South African judge dismissed on Friday a request by state prosecutors to appeal Oscar Pistorius' six-year murder sentence, the latest twist in a trial that has captured global headlines. The multiple gold medal-winning Paralympian, serving six years for murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day 2013, was not in court on Friday when the judge ruled that the state's petition had no reasonable prospects of success on appeal. Women's rights groups in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women say Pistorius has received preferential treatment compared to non-whites and those without his wealth or international celebrity status. His backers say he did not intend to kill Steenkamp. Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced the Paralympic gold medallist to six years behind bars in July for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013, but the prosecution had said the decision was "shockingly lenient". Pistorius' defence had earlier argued the state was prejudiced and had dragged the case on too long, adding in their court documents that "enough is enough". "I'm not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success on appeal or that another court may find differently," Masipa said in her ruling, dismissing the state's application. Masipa originally sentenced Pistorius in 2014 after he was found guilty of manslaughter, but that conviction was increased to murder by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in December. The subsequent six-year sentence she passed in July was also criticised by women's groups for being too lenient. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who had sought 15 years for Pistorius for the murder conviction, told Reuters he could not comment. Nel has said Pistorius had not shown any remorse and had yet to explain why he fired the fatal shots. "His remorse and or prospects of rehabilitating could not be tested," Nel argued before Masipa's ruling, referring to Pistorius' decision not to testify at the sentencing hearings. It was unclear whether the state would appeal Friday's ruling. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman was not available to comment. Both the Pistorius and Steenkamp families declined to comment following Masipa's ruling. Pistorius, who had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby, says he fired four shots into the toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home in the mistaken belief that an intruder was hiding behind it. His defence has argued that his disability and mental stress that occurred in the aftermath of the killing should be considered as mitigating circumstances. "This trial and this process has been exhausted beyond any conceivable exhaustive process," his main defence lawyer Barry Roux said in a brief rebuttal. The track star was treated in hospital for wrist injuries earlier this month, but prison officials said Pistorius denied trying to kill himself. The incident coincided with the first day of competition in the Rio Olympic Games. Friday's ruling raised further division, with South Africans taking opposite sides on the issue in social media. Legal analysts were equally divided on whether prosecutors would appeal Masipa's ruling to the supreme court. "In my experience over the years, the Supreme Court of Appeal has placed a lot of confidence in our High Courts, and I must say, I would be surprised if they had to accept the petition," said Johannesburg-based lawyer Ulrich Roux. Criminal law attorney Zola Majavu said the state had a chance of success if they appealed to the supreme court. "Remember it was the same SCA that overturned her conviction on culpable homicide. So if I were in Gerrie Nel's shoes I would persist so that the SCA can pronounce on the matter," he said. (Additional reporting by Zimasa Mpemnyama; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Dominic Evans)[SEP]A legal challenge to Oscar Pistorius’ “lenient” six-year murder sentence was today rejected for having “no reasonable prospects of success”. A South African judge refused state prosecutors permission to appeal the Paralympic gold medallist's jail term for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Judge Thokozile Masipa Masipa sentenced Pistorius in July but the prosecution argued that the decision was too lenient. Pistorius' defence argued that the state was prejudiced and had dragged the case on for too long. "I'm not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success on appeal or that another court may find differently," she said in her ruling. "For that reason, I grant the following order: The application for leave to appeal is dismissed with costs." Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who had sought 15 years for Pistorius for the murder conviction, told reporters at the hearing he could not comment. It was not immediately clear whether the state would now directly petition the Supreme Court of Appeal. Nel has said Pistorius, who did not attend Friday's hearing, had not shown any remorse and had yet to explain why he fired the fatal shots. But Pistorius’ backers maintain that he did not intend to kill Steenkamp. Pistorius, who had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby, says he fired four shots into the toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home in the mistaken belief that an intruder was hiding behind it. His defence has argued that his disability and mental stress that occurred in the aftermath of the killing should be considered as mitigating circumstances.[SEP]A legal challenge to Oscar Pistorius’s ‘shockingly too lenient’ six-year jail term for murdering Reeva Steenkamp was today rejected for having ‘no reasonable prospects of success’. A Pistorius family source greeted the news ‘with great relief’ and welcomed the judge’s ‘humanity’ after accusing prosecutors of having ‘a personal vendetta’ against the shamed athlete. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel spent almost an hour arguing against ‘the injustice’ of Pistorius’ prison sentence in the latest round of legal wrangling in pursuit of the runner, which was described as ‘ego driven and unprofessional’ by one of the Blade Runner’s relatives. Mr Nel told Judge Thokozile Masipa that she had misdirected herself in law by handing down a punishment that was less than half of South Africa’s prescribed minimum 15-year sentence for murder. The 29 year-old track star, who was treated for injuries to his wrists two weeks ago in what prison sources claimed was a self-harming incident in his cell, was not in court for the 80 minute hearing. Judge Masipa, who presided over the paralympian’s trial, took a little over an hour to decide that the state’s case was not worthy of referring to her superiors in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal as there would be ‘little chance’ of senior judges arriving at a different punishment for Pistorius. A relative of the runner’s told MailOnline, ‘Judge Masipa is not a sissy, thank god. She can stand up to Nel. She knows the case, she knows the law. She is a serious legal mind and won’t be bullied into changing it.’ Although today’s result will bring some relief to Pistorius and his family, the state may still petition a higher court over the matter. Mr Nel, known as the ‘pitbull’ for his confrontational style of questioning witnesses, told the judge that he had found six ‘misdirections’ in her sentencing of Pistorius for the 2013 murder of Reeva, which resulted in a punishment that ‘induces a sense of shock.’ The prosecutor told the court that the judge had over-emphasised the athlete’s disability, sense of vulnerability and given undue weight to his expression of remorse and led to a ‘disturbingly disproportionate’ punishment. ‘The court failed to take into account that the accused fired four shots through the door and he never offered an acceptable explanation for having done so,’ Mr Nel told the hearing, adding, ‘there was a massive chasm between regret and remorse’. Mr Nel told proceedings that the judge had ignored a string of aggravating factors about the murder of ‘an innocent, defenceless woman’. He said the court should have started at the minimum murder sentence of 15 years when considering its punishment of Pistorius. ‘This induces a state of shock,’ he told the court, bluntly. ‘The deceased died in a horrendous way. That is what bothers Mr Steenkamp [her father].’ Mr Nel concluded his 55 minute argument by stating that Pistorius’ punishment had to be challenged as it set a dangerous precedent for future murder cases. Neither family was in court for the hearing. Reeva’s uncle, Mike Steenkamp, said he was ‘not surprised’ at the judge’s ruling. 'It would be impossible for the judge to allow this to back again to the appeal court. I think Barry and June are resigned to the fact that this is the end of the road in this case. 'We didnt think that it had much chance of success from the start. But we have always gone along with whatever the state thought was the right thing to do. ‘The Reeva Steenkamp Foundation is now up and running and the family are just wanting to devote all our energies to that now, and leave this legal matter behind us. 'We move forward in Reeva’s memory and to do good things for other women, that’s what we need to be doing now, not this.’ Today’s hearing was the State’s second challenge of a ruling by Judge Masipa. It first appealed her finding that Pistorius was guilty of manslaughter, for which she sentenced him for five years in jail. Last year, the judge’s manslaughter verdict was overturned on appeal – but when Pistorius appeared again in her court for sentencing for the more serious crime, Judge Masipa increased his term by just one more year. A family source told MailOnline the athlete was ‘anxious’ about the proceedings, and was convinced Mr Nel was motivated by a personal grudge against him. ‘It’s a personal thing, a vendetta, Nel is driven by his ego, it’s not right or professional the way that he keeps coming back to this again and again. It clearly has to be personal now, ‘ he said. Barry Roux, Pistorius’ defence lawyer, echoed the family’s sentiments when arguing against the application to appeal, telling the court ‘enough is enough’. ‘I see a lot of prejudice against the accused coming from the state,’ Mr Roux said firmly, glancing at his opponent across the High Court in Pretoria. He said the state’s application was an ‘insult’ to the court the state, and their argument did not justify using his client as ‘a ping pong ball’ being sent back and forth between the court houses of South Africa. Prosecutors had an attitude of ‘punish him, punish him, punish him’ towards Pistorius, the sprinter’s lawyer said. ‘This case has been exhausted beyond the point of exhaustion,’ Mr Roux said, asserting that a higher court would not ‘come to a different finding’ on punishment for his client. South Africa’s City Press newspaper reported earlier this month that Pistorius had been put on suicide watch following an incident in his cell which had left him needing hospital treatment for injuries to his wrists. Prison officials told City Press newspaper that the athlete was under 24-hour monitoring, with increased cell visits by warders. Pistorius’ brother Carl denied it was a suicide bid, as sources had claimed. The incident coincided with the first day of competition in the Rio Olympic Games, almost three weeks ago. Inside sources told the paper that razor blades were found in the disgraced athlete's cell, and that his wrist injuries, described as 'severe', were self-inflicted. The double-amputee, who is being held at the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria, had told prison officials he sustained the injuries sliding on his wet cell floor, while moving around on his stumps. According to the newspaper, the injury occurred soon after he had an altercation with prison officials over medication prescribed by state doctors. The Paralympian had refused to take the medication, saying it was 'toxic' and demanded to be given medication prescribed by his private doctor. He alleged that the prison official wanted to kill him and demanded to be transferred to another jail. Warders also raided his cell and found a pair a scissors, prescription drugs and 'toxic pills'. The National Prosecuting Authority said after the judgment, which surprised many legal observers, that it was ‘considering the options’ left available to take the matter further.[SEP]When Oscar plays the Castle stage at Victorious this weekend, the north London native will be able to look over and see where he used to play with his childhood best friend. ‘I’ve never played in Portsmouth, but my childhood best friend, her nan lived in Portsmouth, so I used to go and stay in Portsmouth, I went a few times – we went to the pier and the beach and all that. ‘It’s going to be quite nostalgic.’ Oscar released his debut album Cut and Paste in May this year to great reviews. Recorded mostly in his bedroom, it is an eclectic mash-up of styles, and reflects Oscar’s own wide range of influences from indie rock to synth-pop, dance and hip-hop. Music was a key part of Oscar Scheller’s background – his parents were in new wave act The Regents who scored a hit in 1979 with the song 7Teen. ‘I always looked up to my parents, I always thought they were pretty cool. ‘I was really focused on visual arts – drawing and painting and things like that so I went to art school. ‘I knew music was always going to be part of my life, but I didn’t know how, I didn’t know I would be doing it professionally so it was a nice surprise I think for everybody. I was just totally drawn to the music.’ He has also released a new version of early single Breaking My Phone with up-and-coming rapper Girli, who will be joining Oscar on his autumn tour, which includes a Brighton date. ‘I met Milly (Girli) when she came to a few of my gigs, she started out as a fan, but when she tweeted me I realised she had her own music. ‘I listened to it and really liked it so I asked her to support me at a London show I did and then we met properly. ‘We realised we had a few mutual friends, we’d grown up in the same area, we went to the same school, but she’s a bit younger than me so we’d never connected. ‘ It’s a bit crazy really, and now she’s become one of my best friends, so it made a lot of sense to do a track together.’ So will she be joining him on stage at Victorious? ‘I’m not sure, I need to ask her what she’s up to this weekend – that would be really cool though. I’m trying to get her on stage with me as much as I can.’ Although he plays with a full band at gigs, Oscar put together his debut in classic bedroom-producer fashion. ‘Pretty much all of it was recorded in my room, ‘ he explains, ‘bar the live drums and bass. ‘I went into a studio to record that because I wanted there to be a live presence in there somewhere.’ And he’s already looking at album number two. ‘I’d just finished a demo when you called,’ he tells WOW247. ‘It’s kind of the same process really, just me doing it, but I think I’m going to start working with a producer and to co-write with people and branch out – make it a bit bigger. ‘For me, the most exciting thing about being a recording artist is that you have the potential to progress and discover new things about yourself and your music. ‘For me it’s all about evolution. I wouldn’t want to do the same thing over again as that’s boring, and for me as an artist, that’s not what’s it’s really about.’ Oscar is signed to Wichita Recording, the label that has played host to indie luminaries such as Bloc Party, Yeah, Yeah Yeahs and The Cribs. After coming to the label’s attention, label head Mark Bowen flew in from LA to meet him. ‘I really got on with him. They were fourth or fifth on my list of dream labels to work with before this – obviously that’s changed now,’ he laughs. ‘I think I was quite naive back then. ‘It was total magic as soon as we sat down, we weren’t talking about business, we were talking ’90s acid house and our favourite hip-hop producers, it was a total meeting of minds, and it was very clear that they should be the ones to bring me into it. They’ve been incredibly supportive, they’re like family to me.’ Speaking of the US, has he had the chance to play there yet? ‘I’ve probably played more in America than I have in the UK. I’ve been doing little tours, and I did a bigger tour with Bloc Party and The Vaccines which was pretty mad. ‘I’ve done SXSW and the CMJ twice, I’ve been around the block over there. It’s probably my favourite place to play because it’s so mad.’ But he adds like an old pro: ‘But I reckon Portsmouth could give America a run for its money in term of the vibes...’[SEP]Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was being sent like a ping pong ball between courts and the state’s application for leave to appeal against the five-year sentence should be dismissed with costs. The murder case of Pistorius had been exhausted beyond the point of conceivable exhaustion. Counsel for Pistorius Barry Roux SC made this impassioned plea in the High Court in Johannesburg as he opposed the state’s application to extend Pistorius’ jail term to a possible 15 years. Pistorius was first sentenced to a five-year jail term in 2014 after the High Court in Pretoria found him guilty of culpable homicide for the murder of his girlfriend‚ Reeva Steenkamp‚ on February 14‚ 2013. He served just over a year of that sentence before being released on parole. However‚ the state went to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to get the conviction replaced with the of murder. In December last year‚ the SCA set aside the culpable homicide conviction and replaced it with that of murder. The SCA sent the matter back to Judge Thokozile Masipa to determine a new sentence. Judge Masipa sentenced Pistorius to a six-year jail term last month‚ a decision that the state wants to appeal. Roux accused the state of unnecessarily prolonging the legal process and subjecting Pistorius to continued uncertainty. Roux argued that Pistorius had been sentenced to an effective eight-year jail term if one considered the year Pistorius spent in prison for the culpable homicide conviction and time spent under correctional supervision from October last year until July this year when he was sentenced again for the murder conviction. Roux said Masipa should dismiss the application because eight years was not shockingly inappropriate or lenient — “that is what the state wants”‚ Roux said. In reply‚ prosecutor Gerrie Nel persisted with the contention that the sentence was “shockingly inappropriate” and disputes Roux’s submission that Pistorius had been sentenced to an eight-year jail term.[SEP]JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African judge on Friday dismissed an appeal by prosecutors for a harsher sentence against Oscar Pistorius who was found guilty of murder for killing his girlfriend in 2013. Judge Thokozile Masipa said the state's appeal to extend the six-year sentence against the 29-year-old double amputee Olympic sprinter had a limited prospect of success. "I am not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success for an appeal," she said in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. Pistorius shot Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the early hours of February 14. He claimed he thought she was an intruder. The state charged that he shot her in anger after an argument. Pistorius was found guilty of murder and sentenced by Masipa to six years in prison. The sentence was "shockingly light" and that the judge should have used 15-year minimum as starting point as Steenkamp had suffered a "horrendous death," said prosecutor Gerrie Nel. Pistorius never offered an acceptable explanation for having fired four shots through the toilet door, he said. The fact that Pistorius fired four shots using hollow point bullets that are designed to inflict maximum damage meant the possibility of death was more likely and should have been an aggravating factor, said Nel. The state may appeal Masipa's decision at the Supreme Court of Appeals in the city of Bloemfontein, but is yet to indicate whether it will do so.

The Johannesburg High Court rejects an appeal against the sentencing of Oscar Pistorius.

PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Friday suspended a ban on women wearing full-body “burkini” swimsuits on a Mediterranean town’s beach but the prime minister said the debate was not over, calling the outfit a symbol of a “backwards, deadly Islamism”. The Council of State’s ruling against the resort of Villeneuve-Loubet is expected to set a precedent for the dozens of French towns that have also laid down such bans. It said Villeneuve-Loubet’s ban had “seriously infringed, in a manner that was clearly illegal, fundamental liberties such as the freedom to come and go, religious freedom and individual freedom”. The burkinis did not pose any threat to public order, said the council, which is France’s highest administrative court. The ban had been imposed on the grounds that wearing burkinis contravened French laws on secularism. It followed a series of deadly attacks by Islamist militants in Paris, Nice and elsewhere in the past 20 months that shocked the world but also raised questions about the place of France’s large Muslim and Arab population in its society. Many conservatives and right-wing French supported the burkini ban, with some calling for it to be extended nationwide, while civil liberties campaigners, feminists and Muslims opposed it. The debate was fuelled by footage of police trying to enforce the ban on a woman on the beach in Nice. Reacting to the court ruling on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a Socialist, said that France needed a modern, secular Islam and wearing a burkini clashed with that idea. “The Council of State ruling does not close the debate on the burkini,” Valls said on Facebook. “Denouncing the burkini is not calling into question individual freedom.. .It is denouncing deadly, backwards Islamism.” The issue has filtered into early campaigning for the presidential election in April 2017, making French cultural identity as well as security a hot issue in political debates. A man wears a placard with the message, "Burkini = Liberty" outside the Conseil d'Etat after France's highest administrative court suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits that has outraged Muslims and opened divisions within the government, pending a definitive ruling, in Paris, France, August 26, 2016. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau Former President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday launched his comeback bid on a hardline law and order platform. A LOT OF TENSION “We need a law,” Nice’s conservative deputy mayor Christian Estrosi said on Twitter, calling for a bill that would allow burkini bans. Since conservatives do not have a majority in parliament and such a bill would have no chance of being adopted, Estrosi suggested that Valls come up with a draft law. But Valls’ support for the bans over past weeks has exposed divisions within the government, with several ministers saying they opposed them. While rulings by the Council of State do set precedents, several mayors said they would not suspend their own bans and rights groups said they would bring them to courts, meaning more lawsuits are expected. The Council of State would still have the final word. “There’s a lot of tension here and I won’t withdraw my decree,” Sisco mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni told BFM TV, saying that in his Corsica town the ban would be justified on security grounds. A spokesman for the ruling Socialist Party and the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur welcomed the court ruling and said he hoped it would calm things down. But the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, Lionnel Luca, of Sarkozy’s Les Republicains party, said it would heighten tensions. “We need to decide if we want a smiley, friendly version of sharia on our beaches or if we want the rules of the (French) republic to be implemented,” he said, referring to the Islamic legal and moral code of sharia. Slideshow (6 Images) Hakim, a 42-year-old trader of Algerian origin said that while he welcomed the ruling it did not really reassure him. “It is because of all these problems that I am thinking of leaving France and returning to Algeria after over 30 years here. It was not like this before, France has changed and it is not easy for us,” he said after Friday prayers at Paris’ main mosque.[SEP]France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups. In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a “proven risk” to public order. The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans. The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling as a “victory for common sense”. Police have fined Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the popular tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, sparking controversy in France and abroad. The burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women’s rights and the French state’s strictly-guarded secularism. – ‘Line in the sand’ -Amnesty International welcomed the ruling. “By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, today’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand,” Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said. “French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women,” he said. The CFCM’s secretary general Abdallah Zekri said: “This victory for common sense will help to take the tension out of a situation which has become very tense for our Muslim compatriots, especially women.” The State Council heard arguments from the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group. A court in Nice had upheld the Villeneuve-Loubet ban this week. President Francois Hollande said Thursday that life in France “supposes that everyone sticks to the rules and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatisation”. Anger over the issue was further inflamed this week when photographs in the British media showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf on a beach in Nice as she removed a long-sleeved top. The office of Nice’s mayor denied that the woman had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken. Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday condemned any “stigmatisation” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytising”. “We are not at war with Islam… the French republic is welcoming (to Muslims), we are protecting them against discrimination,” he told BFMTV. But in a sign of the divisions within the Socialist government on the issue, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the “proliferation” of burkini bans “was not a welcome development”. Vallaud-Belkacem, who is of Moroccan origin, took issue with the wording of the ban in Nice which linked the measure to the jihadist truck attack in the resort last month in which 86 people were killed. “In my opinion, there is nothing to prove that there is a link between the terrorism of Daesh and what a woman wears on a beach,” she said, using another term for Islamic State. But Valls contradicted his minister’s claims, saying the bans were necessary to maintain “public order”. – ‘No legal justification’ -The administrative court in Nice ruled Monday that the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was “necessary” to prevent “public disorder” after the Nice attack and the murder of a Catholic priest by two jihadists in northern France. But in its ruling, the State Council said: “In the absence of such risks, the emotion and the concerns arising from terrorist attacks, especially the attack in Nice on July 14, are not sufficient to legally justify a ban.” The so-called burkini bans never actually mention the word burkini, although they are clearly aimed at the garment which covers the hair but leaves the face visible and stretches down to the ankles. The vague wording of the prohibitions has caused confusion. Apart from the incident in the photographs in Nice, a 34-year-old mother of two told AFP on Tuesday she had been fined on the beach in the resort of Cannes wearing leggings, a tunic and a headscarf. France was the first European country to ban the wearing of the Islamic face veil in public in 2010.[SEP](CNN) Mayors do not have the right to ban burkinis, France's highest administrative court ruled Friday. The Council of State's ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit. More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis , which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet. Officials say the ban on the burkini -- worn mostly by Muslim women -- was a response to growing terror concerns Human rights activists argue that such measures are illegal, and that pushes to outlaw the garment are Islamophobic. Authorities in Nice say the officers were simply exercising their duties. Deputy Mayor Christian Estrosi denounced the photos, saying they put the officers in danger. "I condemn these unacceptable provocations," he said. In London, demonstrators created a makeshift beach Thursday outside the French Embassy for a "Wear what you want beach party." Jenny Dawkins, a Church of England priest, told CNN she joined the protest after seeing a photo of the incident in Nice. "I think it's a frightening image," she said. "I find it quite chilling to see an image of a woman surrounded by men with guns being told to take her clothes off." In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban wearing in public the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes. And much like the recent burkini bans, opinion in the country is divided between those who see the laws as an infringement on religious freedom, and those who view the Islamic dress as inconsistent with France's rigorously enforced secularism.[SEP]France’s highest administrative court on Friday suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town after it was challenged by rights groups. In a judgement expected to set a precedent, the State Council ruled that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit was a “proven risk” to public order. The judges said there was no such risk in the case before the court concerning Villeneuve-Loubet, one of around 30 towns to have introduced the bans. The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) hailed the ruling as a “victory for common sense”. Police have fined Muslim women for wearing burkinis on beaches in several towns, including in the popular tourist resorts of Nice and Cannes, sparking controversy in France and abroad. The burkini bans have triggered a fierce debate about women’s rights and the French state’s strictly-guarded secularism. “By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fuelled by and is fuelling prejudice and intolerance, Friday’s decision has drawn an important line in the sand,” Amnesty’s Europe director John Dalhuisen said.“French authorities must now drop the pretence that these measures do anything to protect the rights of women,” he said. The CFCM’s secretary general Abdallah Zekri said, “This victory for common sense will help to take the tension out of a situation which has become very tense for our Muslim compatriots, especially women.” The State Council heard arguments from the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group. A court in Nice had upheld the Villeneuve-Loubet ban this week. President Francois Hollande said yesterday that life in France “supposes that everyone sticks to the rules and that there is neither provocation nor stigmatization”. Anger over the issue was further inflamed this week when photographs in the British media showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf on a beach in Nice as she removed a long-sleeved top. The office of Nice’s mayor denied that the woman had been forced to remove clothing, telling AFP she was showing police the swimsuit she was wearing under her top, over a pair of leggings, when the picture was taken. Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday condemned any “stigmatization” of Muslims, but maintained that the burkini was “a political sign of religious proselytizing”. But in a sign of the divisions within the Socialist government on the issue, Education Minister Najat Vallaud- Belkacem said the “proliferation” of burkini bans “was not a welcome development”. Vallaud-Belkacem, who is of Moroccan origin, took issue with the wording of the ban in Nice which linked the measure to the jihadist truck attack in the resort last month in which 86 people were killed. “In my opinion, there is nothing to prove that there is a link between the terrorism of Daesh and what a woman wears on a beach,” she said, using another term for Islamic State.[SEP]France’s highest administrative court has suspended a ban on the burkini in a Riviera coastal town after a challenge by rights groups. The ruling from the state council suspends a single decree against full-body swimsuits issued by the mayor in the southern resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice. But it is likely to set a precedent for other towns that have banned the swimwear on their beaches. The state council ruled that the mayor did not have the right to issue a burkini ban – stating that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a “proven risk” to public order. It believed that proven risk had not been demonstrated. The bans – made in the form of short-term mayoral decrees – began to be issued in a series of beach spots following the Bastille Day attack in Nice and the murder of a priest in Normandy. They do not explicitly use the word burkini but ban “beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation”, citing reasons such as the need to protect public order, hygiene or French laws on secularism. At a hearing before the state council on Thursday, lawyers for the rights groups in the Villeneuve-Loubet case argued that the bans were feeding fear and infringe on basic freedom. A lower court had ruled on Monday that the Villeneuve-Loubet ban was necessary to prevent public disorder. But the state council found that this did not hold up under French law. The row over burkinis had intensified after a woman in a headscarf was photographed on a beach in Nice removing a long-sleeved top while surrounded by armed police. The city banned the burkini on its beaches last week, following about 15 seaside areas in south-east France where mayors had done the same. The bans have divided France’s government and society and drawn anger abroad. The former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, campaigning for his party’s nomination to run again as president in 2017, used his first public rally this week to call for a nationwide ban on the swimsuits, while the Socialist government has become divided, with the prime minister and one of its leading feminist voices at cabinet-level taking opposing positions. The burkini bans have prompted a row over the French principle of laïcité – secularism – amid accusations that politicians are twisting and distorting this principle for political gain, and using it to target Muslims. The French republic is built on a strict separation of church and state, intended to foster equality for all private beliefs. In theory, the state is neutral in terms of religion and allows everyone the freedom to practise their faith as long as there is no threat to public order.[SEP]France’s top judges have suspended a ban on burkinis on French beaches which sparked worldwide outrage and criticism. The country’s highest administrative court released a statement saying the ban would be suspended pending a definitive ruling. It said the ban "seriously and clearly illegally breached fundamental freedoms to come and go, freedom of beliefs and individual freedom". The Conseil d'Etat gave the ruling following a request from the League of Human Rights to overturn the burkini ban in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet on the grounds it contravenes civil liberties. A human rights lawyer says the decision by France's top administrative court to overturn a ban on burkini swimsuits should set a legal precedent for the whole country. Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that other mayors who have banned burkinis must conform to Friday's decision regarding the town of Villeneuve-Loubet. He also said women who have already received fines can protest them based on Friday's decision. "It is a decision that is meant to set legal precedent," he said. "Today all the ordinances taken should conform to the decision of the Council of State. Logically the mayors should withdraw these ordinances. If not legal actions could be taken" against those towns. "Today the state of law is that these ordinances are not justified. They violate fundamental liberties and they should be withdrawn." But the mayor of Sisco in northern Corsica says he won't lift his ban which was put in place after sunbathers of North African origin clashed with Sisco villagers on the beach earlier in August. He told BFM-TV on Friday: "Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won't withdraw it." A protest against France’s “oppressive” ban on was staged at the country’s embassy in London on Thursday. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women donned burkinis, bikinis and swimsuits to sit on a makeshift beach in a bid to force the French government to repeal the "oppressive" law, under which women on beaches have been ordered to remove religious clothing by armed police. Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case. This page is being updated.[SEP](CNN) Mayors do not have the right to ban burkinis, France's highest administrative court ruled Friday. The Council of State's ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit. More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis , which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet. Officials say banning the burkini -- worn mostly by Muslim women -- is a response to growing terror concerns and heightened tensions after a series of terror attacks. Human rights activists argue that burkini bans are illegal, and that pushes to outlaw the garment are Islamophobic. "By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fueled by and is fueling prejudice and intolerance, today's decision has drawn an important line in the sand," Amnesty International Europe Director John Dalhuisen said in a statement. But it's unclear how other towns with burkini bans will respond to Friday's decision. If mayors continue to enforce and enact such decrees, they could face similar legal challenges. No matter what, battles over the burkini in the court -- and in the court of public opinion -- are far from over. Friday's decision was an initial ruling by the Council of State while it continues to prepare its more detailed judgment on the legal issues in the case. Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said he supports banning burkinis. And former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who plans to run again for the nation's top job, has said he would immediately enact a national ban of the swimsuits. Critics of the bans say they discriminate against the women they claim to protect. "These bans do nothing to increase public safety, but do a lot to promote public humiliation," Dalhuisen said. "Not only are they in themselves discriminatory, but as we have seen, the enforcement of these bans leads to abuses and the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls." Authorities in Nice say the officers were simply exercising their duties. Deputy Mayor Christian Estrosi denounced the photos, saying they put the officers in danger. "I condemn these unacceptable provocations," he said. In London, demonstrators created a makeshift beach Thursday outside the French Embassy for a "Wear what you want beach party." Jenny Dawkins, a Church of England priest, told CNN she joined the protest after seeing a photo of the incident in Nice. "I think it's a frightening image," she said. "I find it quite chilling to see an image of a woman surrounded by men with guns being told to take her clothes off." In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban wearing in public the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes. And much like the recent burkini bans, opinion in the country is divided between those who see the laws as an infringement on religious freedom, and those who view the Islamic dress as inconsistent with France's rigorously enforced secularism.[SEP]A top French court on Friday suspended a ban on full-body burkini swim suits that has angered Muslims, feminists and civil liberties campaigners. The ruling by the Council of State relates to the Mediterranean resort of Villeneuve-Loubet, one of more than a dozen French towns that have imposed such bans. The burkini ban has shone a light on secular France’s long-standing difficulties integrating its Muslim population and dealing with the aftermath of a series of Islamist attacks. The court said in a statement the decree to ban burkinis in Villeneuve-Loubet ‘seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom.’ The lawyer representing the League of Human Rights campaign group which had challenged the ban in Villeneuve-Loubet told reporters the ruling meant all town halls would need to reverse their bans. The group argued the bans contravened civil liberties. But one mayor in Corsica said he would not suspend his own ban, showing that the ruling will not put a quick end to the heated controversy that has already filtered into early campaigning for the 2017 presidential election. ‘There’s a lot of tension here and I won’t withdraw my decree,’ Sisco mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni told BFM TV. The issue has also made French cultural identity a hot-button issue along with security in political debates ahead of next April’s presidential election. Prime minister Manuel Valls robustly defended the burkini ban on Thursday while some ministers criticised it, exposing divisions within the government as campaigning begins. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday he would impose a nationwide ban on burkinis if elected as he seeks to position himself as a strong defender of French values and tough on immigration. ‘This is a slap for the prime minister and a kick up the backside for Sarkozy,’ Abdallah Zekri, secretary general of the French Muslim Council said of the ruling. ‘We’re satisfied with this.’ Socialist Party spokesman Razzy Hammadi told BFM TV he hoped the ruling ‘will put an end to this nasty controversy’.[SEP]Activists protest outside the French embassy during, the "wear what you want beach party" in London on Thursday. The protest is against the French authorities clampdown on Muslim women wearing burkinis on the beach. France's highest administrative court on Friday suspended a ban on full-body burkini swimsuits that has outraged Muslims and opened divisions within the government, pending a definitive ruling, the court said in a statement. The Conseil d'Etat gave the ruling following a request from the League of Human Rights to overturn the burkini ban in the Mediterranean town of Villeneuve-Loubet on the grounds it contravenes civil liberties. Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case.[SEP]France’s top administrative court has overturned a town burkini ban amid shock and anger worldwide after some Muslim women were ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches. The ruling by the Council of State specifically concerns a ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet. Under the French legal system, temporary decisions can be handed down before the court takes more time to prepare a judgement on the underlying legality of the case. The ruling will be binding and will affect at least 30 other coastal towns, mainly in southeast France, that have made similar decrees. Lawyers for two human rights groups challenged the legality of the ban, saying the orders infringe basic freedoms and that mayors have overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches. Mayors had cited concern about public order after deadly Islamic extremist attacks this summer, and many officials have argued that burkinis oppress women. Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that the decision should set a precedent, and that other mayors should conform to it. He also said women who have already received fines can protest against them based on Friday’s decision. Images of uniformed police appearing to require a woman to take off her tunic in Nice, and media accounts of similar incidents, have elicited shock and anger online this week. Some fear that burkini bans in several French towns, based on a strict application of French secularism policies, are worsening religious tensions. The mayor of Sisco, in northern Corsica, said he will not lift his ban on the burkini despite the ruling. Ange-Pierre Vivoni had banned the burkini after an August 13th clash on a beach in Sisco. He told BFM-TV: “Here the tension is very, very, very strong and I won’t withdraw it.” He conceded he does not know whether a woman was actually wearing a burkini the day a clash occurred that set a group of sunbathers of North African origin, from another town, against villagers from Sisco. It took days to untangle the events leading to the violence that many immediately assumed was over a burkini. Divisions have emerged in President Francois Hollande’s government over the bans, and protests have been held in London and Berlin by those defending women’s right to wear what they want on the beach. Critics of the local decrees have said the orders are too vague, prompting local police officials to fine even women wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf and the hijab, but not burkinis.

The France Conseil d'État suspends Villeneuve-Loubet commune's ban on full-body burkini swimsuits.

Zimbabwe police used batons, tear gas and water cannons to crush an anti-government protest in the capital Friday, despite a court order that the demonstration should be permitted. At least 50 people were injured by the police, said former vice president Joice Mujuru, now the head of the People First party and a participant in the demonstration. "The people's anger is very deep. Zimbabweans are beginning to say enough is enough," said another opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at a press conference after the demonstration was dispersed. Another anti-government demonstration will be held next Friday, said the coalition of at least 18 opposition parties and civic organizations that organized Friday's protest. Friday's protest, dubbed the "mega demonstration," was the first time that Zimbabwe's fractured opposition joined in a single action to confront President Robert Mugabe's government since 2007. Water cannons, frequently used to break up anti-government protests in the past two months, were sprayed against demonstrators. Usually bustling with hawkers, the capital's streets Friday were bristling with police wielding batons and tear gas canisters. Police were at the headquarters of the main opposition MDC-T party. Other police mounted roadblocks on roads leading into the city. Many Harare shops closed early while others were looted. At the crowded Copacabana market, stalls were burned as protesters clashed with a group that was chanting pro-government slogans. Tear gas blew into the annual agricultural fair, forcing officials to temporarily close the gates. Some protesters removed the road sign for Robert Mugabe Way and placed it next to a dead puppy. Others burned tires on the streets and threw stones and rocks at the police. "That old man should not be allowed to take the country to the grave with him," shouted one of the protesters in the local Shona language. Home affairs minister Ignatius Chombo on Thursday accused Western countries of plotting the protests. Protests have become a near-daily occurrence in this southern African country ravaged by a tumbling economy and widespread food shortages. Supporters of 92-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from white minority rule in 1980, say he should rule until he dies.[SEP]Protesters brought the centre of Zimbabwe’s capital to a standstill and fought running battles with police on Friday during one of the biggest demonstrations against Comrade Robert Mugabe for decades. The chaotic scenes came after 18 opposition groups and parties called their supporters to march for reform of the country’s widely-discredited electoral system before national elections in 2018. The authorities in Harare tried to block the protest, but it was given the go-ahead by the High Court. Even so, police used tear gas and water cannons against marchers in Freedom Square within 20 minutes of the court order. Shops owned by Vice President were closed to prevent a second round of looting Violence has escalated in Harare. Shops have been looted. Protesters were setting the city on fire. Police run out of water canons, and were spraying ordinary water on protesters. Protesters were not moved at all and kept advancing. Protesters were hunting down and beating police officers Zanu PF Youths (popularly called Youthies) joined the fight, assaulting protesters and charging with their own weapons. The Army has been deployed into the country’s capital as violence escalates soldier has reportedly stoned a protester to death along Jason Moyo, causing a new spate of violence. Reports say the Vice President of Sierra Leone who was visiting Harare was forced to evacuate the country. Protesters refuse to back down even after military is deployed. Direct gestures at helicopters. Protesters have used spikes to deflate tires on police vans, so most police vans are stuck with flat tires. The presidential motorcade has been spotted at high speed heading towards Harare International Airport. Whilst there is no official trip planned, at first reports indicated President Robert Mugabe had left the country.[SEP]HARARE, Aug 26 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe warned protesters on Friday that there would be no "Arab Spring" in Zimbabwe after anti-government demonstrations descended it to some of the worst violence seen in the southern African nation for two decades. Zimbabwean police fired tear gas and water cannon at opposition leaders and hundreds of demonstrators at a protest against Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF in the capital Harare on Friday. (Reporting by Macdonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Joe Brock)[SEP]Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused foreign powers of having a hand in the unrest which saw opposition supporters clash with police in Harare. By Wilfred Kajese (AFP) Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Friday warned that the Arab Spring style of protests would fall flat in Zimbabwe after police fired teargas and beat up protesters staging the latest of a string of highly charged demonstrations. Dozens of police blocked off the site of the opposition rally for electoral reforms by 2018, when 92-year-old Mugabe who has ruled the southern African country for decades will seek re-election. The protesters responded to the clampdown by throwing stones at the police while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down the sign for a street named after Mugabe. "They are burning types in the streets in order to get into power. They are thinking that what happened in the Arab Spring is going to happen in this country, but we tell them that is not going to happen here," said Mugabe in remarks broadcast by state television. "What politics is that when you burn tyres? We want peace in the country," said Mugabe accusing foreign powers of having a hand in the unrest. AFP correspondents saw armed police firing tear gas and water cannon at protesters gathered on the fringes of the central business district who were waiting for the march to start. Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate's court while riot police pursued the protesters and threatened journalists covering the rally. The usually-bustling pavements were clear of street hawkers and some shops were shut, as rocks, sticks and burning tyres were strewn across the streets. Opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls. ZANU-PF youths hurled stones at the opposition activists but were overpowered and their stalls set on fire. The march was organised by 18 opposition parties including the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe People First formed this year by former vice president Joice Mujuru. Opposition leaders condemned the brutal repression of the protest and vowed to increase pressure on Mugabe's regime. "If that was meant to cow us from demonstrating, I want to say we are going to do the same next week Friday," former Mugabe ally and ex-cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa told reporters. Protests "will continue until the day we vote", said Mutasa, a former top member of ZANU-PF who is now a senior member of Mujuru's party. "We have had enough of ZANU-PF misrule." Tsvangirai said the public would not be easily calmed. "The people's anger is very deep. The people's desperation is very deep," he said. "Today's brutal suppression of the people will not stop them from exercising their rights." Tsvangirai said the regime was in its "sunset hour", warning that efforts to suppress the protests would backfire. "Citizens are like a spring: the more they are suppressed, the greater the rebound," he said. Charles Laurie, an analyst with Verisk Maplecroft in London, agreed that the government was on the verge of losing control. "The government is nearing a tipping point in its ability to control a population long used to violence and hardship, and who now have little to lose in putting themselves at risk in forcing political concessions," he told AFP. Police broke up the protest despite a court ordering them not to interfere or disrupt the march. Authorities said the had arrested 67 people, and lawyers said one of them was a journalist. Several foreign diplomatic missions based in Harare called on the authorities to ensure that basic human rights and freedoms are respected during policing. The US embassy expressed "deep concern over reports of violence during some of the protests" and called on government to "exhibit restraint" and respect human rights. And the Canadian embassy also said it was "increasingly concerned with reports of violence and human rights violations in response to public protest" while the Australian mission said the use of violence was "not acceptable under any circumstance". Friday's march was to demand free and fair elections. The last elections in 2013 were won by Mugabe in a vote the opposition said was rigged. Zimbabwe has seen a mounting tide of violent protests in recent weeks, with demonstrators demanding the resignation of Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980. Under his rule, there has been an economic collapse that has caused food and cash shortages, with the country battling to pay public servants.[SEP]More than a hundred police officers in riot gear, backed up by water cannons and armored trucks, occupied the venue that opposition parties planned to use for their march. Mugabe's opponents have become emboldened by rising public anger and protests over an economic meltdown, cash shortages and high unemployment. Mugabe, 92, has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. As opposition supporters arrived for the march, they were told by the police to leave. The officers then fired teargas and a water cannon when parts of the crowd refused to comply, a Reuters witness reported. A few dozen supporters, who earlier chanted anti-Mugabe slogans, threw rocks at the police and burned tyres on the roadside near the square where the protest was due to start. "We are not going anywhere and demonstrating is the only solution left to force the dictator out of office," said Tapfuma Make, an unemployed 24-year-old from Chitungwiza town, south of the capital Harare. Zimbabwe's High Court ruled that police should allow the protest to proceed between 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. (1000-1400 GMT). "We view this as a victory for democracy. The demonstration is going ahead," MDC secretary general Douglas Mwonzora told reporters following the court's decision. Opposition parties leading the protests say the electoral commission is biased in favor of the ruling ZANU-PF and is run by security agencies loyal to Mugabe, charges the commission denies. The protesters want the next vote in 2018 to be supervised by international observers, including the United Nations. They are also calling for Mugabe to fire corrupt ministers, scrap plans to introduce local bank notes and end cash shortages. Opposition leader and head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, and former vice president Joice Mujuru will lead the demonstration, which they expect to draw thousands of supporters. Zimbabwe's police used teargas and a water cannon on Wednesday to break-up a march by MDC youth supporters who were protesting over economic mismanagement and what they say is brutality by security agencies.[SEP]Zimbabwe's opposition supporters set up a burning barricade as they clash with police during a protest for electoral reforms in Harare on August 26, 2016. By Zinyange Auntony (AFP) Harare (AFP) - Riots erupted in Zimbabwe's capital Harare Friday after police fired tear gas and beat protesters who responded by throwing stones in the latest of a string of tense demonstrations. The violence came a day after a High Court judge had ordered police "not to interfere (with), obstruct or stop the march". Dozens of police blocked off the site of an opposition rally to demand electoral reforms before 2018 when 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country for decades, will seek re-election. AFP correspondents saw armed police firing tear gas and water cannon at protesters gathered on the fringes of the central business district who were waiting for the march to start. Demonstrators then began throwing stones at police while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down the sign for a street named after Mugabe. Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate's court while riot police pursued the demonstrators and threatened journalists covering the rally. The usually-bustling pavements were clear of street hawkers and some shops were shut, with rocks, sticks and burning tyres strewn across the streets. Opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls. ZANU-PF youths hurled stones at the opposition activists but were overpowered and their stalls were set on fire. The march was organised by 18 opposition parties including the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe People First formed this year by former vice president Joice Mujuru. Opposition leaders gave a news conference where they condemned the brutal repression of the protest and vowed to increase pressure on Mugabe's regime. "If that was meant to cow us from demonstrating, I want to say we are going to do the same next week Friday," former Mugabe ally and ex-cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa told reporters. Protests "will continue until the day we vote," said Mutasa, a former top member of ZANU-PF who is now a senior member of Mujuru's party. "We have had enough of ZANU-PF misrule." Tsvangirai said the public would not be easily calmed. "The people's anger is very deep. The people's desperation is very deep," he said. "Today's brutal suppression of the people will not stop them from exercising their rights." Tsvangirai said the regime was in its "sunset hour", warning that efforts to suppress the protests would backfire. "Citizens are like a spring: the more they are suppressed, the greater the rebound," he said. Charles Laurie, an analyst with Verisk Maplecroft in London, agreed that the government was on the verge of losing control. "The government is nearing a tipping point in its ability to control a population long used to violence and hardship, and who now have little to lose in putting themselves at risk in forcing political concessions," he told AFP. "If the current anti-government momentum continues, we can expect the imposition of martial law and further draconian steps to re-assert government control." Thursday's court order was issued a day after police violently put down another march by opposition youths, firing tear gas and water cannon and beating them as they staged a protest against police brutality. Police had tried to "discourage" Friday's march, saying the anticipated crowd of around 150,000 would disrupt business and traffic. Foreign diplomatic missions based in Harare called on the authorities to ensure that basic human rights and freedoms are respected during policing. The Australian embassy issued a statement expressing concern over the recent unrest, saying the use of violence was "not acceptable under any circumstance." And the Canadian embassy also said it was "increasingly concerned with reports of violence and human rights violations in response to public protest." Friday's march was to demand free and fair elections. The last elections in 2013 were won by Mugabe in a vote the opposition said was rigged. Top officials have suggested the protests were "Western-sponsored" and aimed at seeking "regime change". Zimbabwe has seen a mounting tide of violent protests in recent weeks, with demonstrators demanding the resignation of Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980. Under his rule, there has been an economic collapse that has caused food and cash shortages, with the country battling to pay public servants.[SEP]Riot police in Zimbabwe fired tear gas, beat up protesters and blocked off the site of an opposition rally in Harare on Friday, the latest in a string of demonstrations to hit the country. The rally -- which was authorised by a court -- was to demand electoral reforms before 2018 when 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country for decades, will seek re-election. An AFP correspondent saw armed police firing tear gas and water cannon at protesters gathered on the fringes of Harare's central business district while waiting for the court ruling to allow the march to go ahead. Demonstrators fought back by throwing stones at police while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down the sign for a street named after Mugabe. Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to an agricultural show nearby, ran for shelter in the magistrate's court building while riot police pursued the demonstrators and threatened journalists covering the rally. The usually bustling pavements were clear of street hawkers while some shops were shut and stones, sticks and burning tyres were strewn across the streets. The opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls. The ZANU-PF youths hurled stones at the opposition activists but were overpowered and their market stalls were set on fire. High court judge Hlekani Mwayera ordered the police and government "not to interfere, obstruct or stop the march" organised by 18 opposition parties including the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the Zimbabwe People First formed this year by former vice president Joice Mujuru. "We view this as victory for democracy," opposition spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said after the court ruling. "The demonstration is going ahead (although) we know the police have already teargassed the venue." The move to seek court backing came a day after police violently put down another march by opposition youths, firing tear gas and water cannon and beating them as they staged a protest against police brutality. Foreign diplomatic missions based in Harare called on the authorities to ensure that basic human rights and freedoms are respected during policing. The Australian embassy said in a statement it "shares the concerns of many Zimbabweans at the violence which has occurred over recent weeks." "The use of violence is not acceptable under any circumstance," it said. The Canadian embassy also said it was "increasingly concerned with reports of violence and human rights violations in response to public protest", and called for calm. Police tried to "discourage" Friday's march, saying the anticipated crowd of around 150,000 would disrupt business and traffic. But the opposition was defiant and resorted to the courts for protection. Former cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa, spokesman for the National Electoral Reform Agenda which groups political parties pushing for the reforms, said the march was to demand free and fair elections. Zimbabwe's last elections in 2013 were won by Mugabe in a vote the opposition said was rigged. Home Affairs Minister Ignatious Chombo warned on Thursday that the government would clamp down heavily on what it termed "Western-sponsored" protests seeking "regime change". Zimbabwe has seen a mounting tide of violent protests over the past weeks, with demonstrators calling on Mugabe to step down. Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, has overseen an economic collapse that has caused food and cash shortages, with the country battling to pay public servants.[SEP]HARARE, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police on Friday fired tear gas at opposition leaders and hundreds of demonstrators as a protest against President Robert Mugabe descended into one of the worst outbreaks of violence in two decades. Opposition head Morgan Tsvangirai and former vice president Joice Mujuru fled the rally in their cars while protesters ran for cover as police firing tear gas and water cannons broke-up the core of the demonstration. Clashes then spread through the streets of Harare as riot police fought running battles with protesters who hurled rocks at officers, set tyres ablaze and burned a popular market to the ground, in some of the worst unrest since food riots in 1998. "Mugabe's rule must end now, that old man has failed us," said one protester before throwing a rock at a taxi. Mugabe's opponents have become emboldened by rising public anger and protests over an economic meltdown, cash shortages and high unemployment. Mugabe, 92, has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. More than a hundred police officers in riot gear, backed up by water cannons and armoured trucks, occupied the venue that opposition parties planned to use for their demonstration. As opposition supporters arrived for the march, they were told by the police to leave. The officers then fired teargas and a water cannon when parts of the crowd refused to comply. Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said she was still to get details on Friday's protest. "Demonstrating is the only solution left to force the dictator out of office," said Tapfuma Make, an unemployed 24-year-old from Chitungwiza town, south of the capital Harare. Zimbabwe's High Court earlier ruled that police should allow the protest to proceed between 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. (1000-1400 GMT) in what Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called a "victory for democracy". MDC secretary general and lawyer Douglas Mwonzora said the police had disregarded the court order and accused ZANU-PF youths of infiltrating the crowd to disrupt the protest. Opposition parties leading the protests say the electoral commission is biased in favour of the ruling ZANU-PF and is run by security agencies loyal to Mugabe, charges the commission denies. The protesters want the next vote in 2018 to be supervised by international observers, including the United Nations. They are also calling for Mugabe to fire corrupt ministers, scrap plans to introduce local bank notes and end cash shortages. The latest demonstrations come nearly two months after the biggest large scale 'stay at home' strike in Zimbabwe since 2007, inspired by social media movements such as #ThisFlag led by pastor Evan Mawarire. Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo on Thursday called opposition leaders "foreign agents" using protests to cause chaos in order to justify international intervention in Zimbabwe's affairs. Zimbabwe's police used teargas and a water cannon on Wednesday to break-up a march by MDC youth supporters who were protesting over economic mismanagement and what they say is brutality by security agencies. (Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia and Toby Chopra)[SEP]Mugabe was a darling of the west until he decided to give land back to the black man of Zimbabwe. When you go back to agreements made upon independence between Mugambe and Britain, just like in Kenya between Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Britain, it was already agreed that the land that colonialists had grabbed from local natives would have to be given back to the owners. So Mugabe was not only giving back land to the rightful owners but unlike Jomo Kenyatta who failed to implement the land redestribution agreement, Mugabe was also implementing a legal agreement which was already know to the Whiteman. Economic crisis that followed Mugabe’s decision occurred because the west did not like Mugabe’s boldness and so they imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe to kill the economy and blame it on Mugabe. They always do this to bring down leaders of countries they don’t like and replace them with puppets of the West. So what’s happening in Zimbabwe is not a sign of the evil of Mugabe but the evil of a whiteman. For close to 30 years the USA and Europe kept in power and funded dictators in Africa as long as they were torturing black people not white people. And they did the same with Mugabe. As long as Mugabe touched no whiteman then he was good. The British Monarchy even knighted Mugabe. He is actually Sir Robert Mugabe, the defender of the British empire(Lol!). But the moment he touched the whiteman, the West including Britain which knighted him told the world Mugabe was evil. Sadly, there is always some people who are weak minded and they believe this lie. But look around. The closest allies of USA include Saudi Arabia and Israel in the Middle East. Is this not a shame? Saudi Arabia sponsors terrorists, is allegedly linked to September 11 2001 Bin Laden strike against USA, stone citizens to death or chop off their hands, etc. And Saudi Arabia is the only country on earth where women are not allowed to drive cars or walk in public any how. These are just a few sins of Saudi Arabia and yet the USA and her western allies are close friends of the Saudi family. Ain’t this hypocrisy? Talk about Israel. How did Israel occupy the land they have? In 1948 when the Jewish State was created by the United Nations, Israel was given a different territory. But later Israel began to expand illegally into Palestine. They annexed Palestinian territory and they bomb Palestine and kill Palestinians anyday Netanyahu is in a bad mood or is just angry with what Iran said that day (lol!). But USA does not punish Israel instead they fund her more. Or see how they reacted towards Russia for annexing Cremea from Ukraine? But what about Israel? Ain’t this hypicrisy? And they came to Africa and say Mugabe is evil and impose sactions on Zimbabweans and we believe that and insult Mugabe?[SEP]PROMISE Mkwananzi has made Harare’s streets his second home along with a host of another activists that have been leading demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe’s 36-year-old rule and it is not very difficult to understand what motivates him. Mkwananzi, the #Tajamuka/Sesijikile movement’s spokesperson believes the end is nigh for the 92-year-old strongman’s tight grip on power. The former MDC-T youth assembly secretary-general was on Friday arrested on allegations of inciting public violence following another demonstration that brought business to a halt in Harare’s central business district. Mkwananzi said he has been arrested countless times in his quest for real freedom for Zimbabweans and says no amount of intimidation will force him to succumb to the intimidation. Before his arrest, he said he has been a fighter all his life and had numerous brushes with the Zanu PF-led government since his days as a student leader before he was expelled from the University of Zimbabwe, while in his final year as a law student. Mkwananzi is also a director of the Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation (ZISO). “Tajamuka has been an idea involving various political players, civil society and other citizens. We needed that platform for inclusivity where all players come together,” he said. “This is a campaign solely for the removal of President Mugabe and not a political party.” Mkwananzi said after the removal of Mugabe they would activate citizens into action and start demanding reforms. “There are so many people in #Tajamuka. We have about 17 political parties and 40 civil society organisations. We are also visible in rural areas. We are not seeking political power in anyway, but we are pushing for reforms,” he said. “It’s a campaign, which will have to fold when that business is accomplished.” Mkwananzi said the fiery group had managed to remove fear in the citizens. “#Tajamuka has grown into a huge campaign than we were expecting and has gone viral across the world and also here in Zimbabwe. Even in rural areas people are talking about #Tajamuka,” he said. “We have removed fear in the people and reactivated the voice of the citizens’ and their participation. “We have held sporadic and spontaneous demonstrations and confronting the regime on many fronts and we will hold our third national shut down soon.” Mkwananzi said #Tajamuka had set August 31, as the deadline for Mugabe to indicate how and when he intended to step down and explain the transitional mechanism, which should be put in place to fill in the vacuum and carry on the outstanding reforms. He denied allegations that they were putting people’s lives in danger through their numerous protests that have turned violent in some instances. “It is the regime putting people’s lives in danger not us. We march under the law and what is criminal is what the government is doing,” he said. “(They do this by) violating the Constitution and assaulting peaceful demonstrators, who are expressing genuine complaints.” Mkwananzi accused Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo of inciting the police to beat up protesters, warning that he would be prosecuted for that in a “new” Zimbabwe. “It’s unfortunate and we really want to warn the police. We want to warn Chombo that he will be prosecuted in the post Mugabe era for inciting violence and instructing the police to act outside the law and brutalise innocent people and committing crimes against humanity,” he said. “He is a candidate for prosecution. His statements are on record and surely he will be prosecuted when change comes.” Mkwananzi also said government was putting police in a very risky position. “They are making police vulnerable to the people and exposing them to hate by the people. That is a very dangerous position because when the police officers go home they will be exposed to danger. Police should not be used as a political junta and they should maintain their credibility,” he said. The #Tajamuka leader said Zimbabweans were tired of Mugabe’s rule. “There is the political backing of the citizens for Mugabe to go. We are really articulating what the citizens are asking. There shouldn’t be a vacuum when Mugabe steps down and there will be a transitional authority,” he said. “However, that transitional mechanism should not undermine the question of legitimacy. “You will know the root cause of the problems in this country to date, is the contested legitimacy of President Mugabe more than anything else and the transitional mechanism and the government that will come must be rooted in the legitimacy of the people.” #Tajamuka and other groups among them #ThisFlag led by exiled Pastor Evan Mawarire, Occupy Africa Unity Square led by Patson Dzamara and Zimbabwe Activists Alliance, have been leading anti-government protests across the country.

Police and protesters clash in Harare after a court ruled that protests against Robert Mugabe can continue.

Dark matter accounts for almost 85 percent mass of the observable universe and yet, we have never actually found the stuff outside of theories that prove it must exist. Even the visible disk of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, is believed to exist within a roughly spherical halo of dark matter that accounts for about 90 percent of the galaxy. In their search for the pervasive-yet-elusive particles of dark matter, astronomers have tried to find galaxies with much higher concentrations of the mysterious substance — it does not interact with visible matter at all, except through gravity, which is how scientists can theorize its existence. And while galaxies believed to be made up almost entirely of dark matter have been discovered before, they are usually quite small, such as VIRGOHI21 — about 50 million light-years away, it appears to contain no visible stars, has 99.9 percent dark matter and is about 10th the size of Milky Way. But now, a team of astronomers has found a galaxy that is comparable in size to ours but with a similar proportion of dark matter as VIRGOHI21. Named Dragonfly 44, it is about 300 million light-years away in the Coma constellation with an estimated mass of about 1 trillion times that of the sun. The discovery was made by astronomers from universities in the U.S. and Canada, who used the W.M. Keck Observatory and Gemini North telescope — both in Hawaii — for their observations. A paper, titled “A High Stellar Velocity Dispersion and ~100 Globular Clusters for the Ultra Diffuse Galaxy Dragonfly 44,” describing their findings was published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters on Thursday. Pieter van Dokkum, an astronomer at Yale University and lead author of the paper, said in a statement: “Very soon after its discovery, we realized this galaxy had to be more than meets the eye. It has so few stars that it would quickly be ripped apart unless something was holding it together.” The researchers measured the velocities of stars in Dragonfly 44 using data from Keck over six nights. “Star velocities are an indication of the galaxy’s mass ... The faster the stars move, the more mass its galaxy will have,” according to the statement. The stars in Dragonfly 44 were observed to be moving much faster than was expected for a galaxy of its brightness, or rather, its lack of brightness. Roberto Abraham of the University of Toronto, co-author of the paper, said: “It means that Dragonfly 44 has a huge amount of unseen mass.” Observations from the Gemini North telescope showed that Dragonfly 44 has “a halo of spherical clusters of stars around the galaxy’s core, similar to the halo that surrounds our Milky Way galaxy.” Abraham said the team had no idea how galaxies like this could have formed. “The Gemini data show that a relatively large fraction of the stars is in the form of very compact clusters, and that is probably an important clue. But at the moment we’re just guessing.”[SEP]But don't cue "Star Wars' " Imperial March theme music or Darth Vader breathing just yet (even if the closeup image looks like a slightly creepy emoji). Although it's massive and mysterious, Dragonfly 44 is really just misunderstood. Dragonfly 44 went unnoticed until last year because, when regarding the darkness of space, this galaxy resembles a virtually indistinguishable blob. But by looking at it with some of the world's most powerful telescopes, including the Dragonfly telescope array designed and built by study authors Pieter van Dokkum and Roberto Abraham, researchers realized something else. It is named for the telescope that found it. Dragonfly 44 is an incredibly large but diffuse and dim galaxy. Encircling its core is a halo made up of clusters of stars, much like what we see in the Milky Way. But this galaxy is only 0.1% stars. The Milky Way has more than a hundred times that. The researchers knew that something had to be holding those few stars in place. "We knew as soon as we discovered the galaxy that it would be so tenuous if it was just made up of stars and no dark matter, that it would quickly disrupt and disappear," said van Dokkum, lead study author and Yale University astronomer. A huge amount of gravity was working to hold those stars in place, and once researchers used star velocity to measure how much mass the galaxy contained, they realized that the other 99.9% is dark matter. To put this in perspective, Dragonfly 44 is comparable in size to the Milky Way, which is 100,000 light-years wide. Mostly it is just unseen because it is cloaked in darkness. "It's very exciting because we thought we had sort of figured out what the relationship is between galaxies and dark matter," van Dokkum said. "This discovery turns that on its head. Now, you can have a hundred times fewer stars in the galaxy with the same amount of dark matter as the Milky Way. That was entirely unexpected, and that means that there is something missing in our description of galaxy formations, and there are physics that we don't yet understand in that process." This newly observed galaxy could hold the secrets to understanding dark matter, the hypothesized ingredient that makes up 90% of the universe. Given the fact that we know next to nothing about it, this find could open the door to our discovery and understanding of the mysterious building block. "One of the things we are after are finding galaxies like this that are even closer to us, ideally 30 or 50 million light-years away so we could study them in detail," van Dokkum said. "We could be looking for the dark matter particle itself. Currently, people are looking at tiny dwarf galaxies that circle the Milky Way to search for the dark matter particle with X-ray and UV telescopes, but nothing has been found yet. These galaxies are a million times more massive, so we have a higher chance of detecting a dark matter signal if we find one close enough to us. "But dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in science. We don't even know if it is a particle or not. It's a bunch of steps from where we are now. For us, it's finding the best candidates. It would be incredibly exciting if it helps the search in that way." The invention and building of the Dragonfly telescope came out of a dinner conversation between the two men, that led to a bet in 2011. It has grown from one lens in a parking lot to an array of 48 lenses with a coating that enables them to do special imaging of these faint galaxies. Abraham, a professor of astronomy at the University of Toronto, is credited with putting the telescope together. Van Dokkum also has a background in photography, which enabled him to help with selecting the lenses. As it happens, in his spare time, he uses his photography skills to capture images of the underappreciated dragonfly. He calls it a "strange confluence of work and hobby," considering the name of the galaxy and telescope. See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter. Using their Dragonfly telescope, van Dokkum and Abraham will continue their research by surveying a random large batch of the sky rather than targeting of particular galaxies or groups of galaxies, as they had been doing. "We built this telescope to try to uncover what's out there," van Dokkum said. "What other things have we missed that are right above us?"

A newly-discovered galaxy known as Dragonfly 44 appears to be made up mostly of dark matter.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The soldiers are said to have been on a routine mission An ambush on a military patrol in Paraguay has left at least eight soldiers dead. The country's interior minister said the soldiers had been on a routine mission when they were attacked with explosives and gunfire. Francisco de Vargas said it was likely the gunmen were part of the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP). The attack took place near the village of Arroyito, some 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Asuncion. Mr de Vargas said the gunmen had placed explosives in the road routinely used by the soldiers. The EPP is estimated to number between 50 and 150 people. The group is a Marxist-inspired rebel group which has been active in the impoverished northern region since 2008. It is thought to have killed about 50 people but says it only targets the country's oligarchy.[SEP]ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Eight soldiers were killed in an attack in Paraguay’s north by suspected members of a little-known rebels group, authorities said Saturday, just days after Colombian officials and guerrillas reached a peace deal to end the longest running insurgency in Latin America. Paraguayan Interior Minister Francisco De Vargas reported the first five deaths from the Saturday attack in Arroyito, a town about 305 miles (490 kilometers) from Asuncion. Dr. Bernardo Jacquet, a physician at Hospital Concepcion, located some 55 miles (90 kilometers) from where the attack occurred, later said that the death toll had risen to eight. Authorities suspect the attack was carried out by a little-known Paraguayan guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People’s Army. Federico Delfino, the country’s prosecutor for anti-kidnapping efforts, says that the attackers got away with eight M4 carbines, bulletproof vests, and the victims’ personal belongings. The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on Wednesday announced the finalization of a peace agreement after more than four years of grueling negotiations in Cuba. A cease-fire in the Colombian conflict that lasted more than a half-century will take effect at midnight next Monday. The Paraguayan government considers members of the Paraguayan People’s Army to be terrorists under an anti-terrorism law. The Paraguayan People’s Army was blamed last year in the killing of a German couple. Their bodies were found after the rebels abducted the pair from their cattle farm and demanded that the owner of a farm pay $300,000 and give food to the poor.[SEP]Aug 28 (Gracenote) - Results and standings from the Paraguayan championship matches on Sunday Saturday, August 27 Guarani 1 General Diaz 0 Rubio Nu 0 Nacional A. 0 Standings P W D L F A Pts 1 Guarani 9 6 1 2 8 6 19 ------------------------- 2 Olimpia 8 5 3 0 13 4 18 3 Sol de America 7 4 1 2 14 9 13 4 Sportivo Luqueno 8 3 3 2 9 9 12 5 Libertad 8 3 2 3 10 9 11 6 Deportivo Capiata 8 3 2 3 7 12 11 7 Cerro Porteno 8 2 3 3 14 11 9 8 Rubio Nu 8 2 3 3 8 8 9 9 General Diaz 9 2 3 4 7 9 9 10 General Caballero 8 1 5 2 7 8 8 11 Nacional A. 9 1 3 5 10 16 6 12 River Plate 8 1 3 4 6 12 6 1: Copa Libertadores Next Fixtures (GMT): Sunday, August 28 Olimpia v Libertad (2110) River Plate v Cerro Porteno (2320) Monday, August 29 General Caballero v Sol de America (2230) Tuesday, August 30 Sportivo Luqueno v Deportivo Capiata (0030)[SEP]Paraguay says eight troops killed in ambush ASUNCION, Aug 27 (Reuters) - An ambush in the north of Paraguay killed eight soldiers, authorities said on Saturday, adding that the attack bore the hallmarks of the guerrilla group known as the Paraguayan People's Army. The Paraguayan People's Army, known locally by its Spanish initials EPP, is a small leftist group formed just over a decade ago. It is loosely modeled on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has said in recent days that it will lay down its arms after half a century of war. The security forces who officials said were attacked on Saturday belong to a unit created by the government in 2013 to combat the EPP. "At about 9am this morning a routine patrol was the object of an attack on a country road in the Arroyito district ... the attackers detonated explosives as the truck passed and then carried out a cowardly armed attack on the wounded soldiers," said the Interior Ministry in a statement. The government said it is investigating the attack, which took place in a rural part of Concepcion, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of capital Asuncion, in an area where the EPP is known to operate. The shadowy EPP sometimes leave pamphlets at the site of attacks. Authorities have not said if anything like that has been found. Interior Minister Francisco de Vargas told a local radio station that the manner of the attack - explosive artifacts by a road - was typical of the EPP. "It is very probable that that is what happened," he said. The EPP has been blamed by authorities for a string of kidnappings, murders and attacks in the remote north of Paraguay, an area of cattle ranches, poor rural laborers, and illegal marijuana plantations. In 2013 it carried out an attack in which five people died, its bloodiest to date. The group is believed to hold three people captive at present: a police agent who has been held for over two years, and two Mennonites, members of a religious sect of European background who have significant dairy farming communities in Paraguay.[SEP]ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Five soldiers have been killed in an attack by suspected rebels in Paraguay's north, the country's interior minister said Saturday. Interior Minister Francisco De Vargas said Saturday that the attack occurred in Arroyito, a town about 305 miles (490 kilometers) from Asuncion. He says two more soldiers were gravely wounded. Authorities suspect that the attack was carried out by a little-known Paraguayan guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People's Army. It comes just days after Colombia and the largest rebel group in that country reached a peace deal to end the longest running insurgency in Latin America.[SEP]ASUNCION: Eight Paraguayan soldiers died Saturday in a roadside explosion, the government said, blaming it on a leftist guerrilla group. Interior Minister Francisco de Vargas said the attack occurred on a rural road near the village of Arroyito, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Asuncion. “They placed explosives in the road where a patrol routinely passes. Because of the manner in which it was done, we believe it was an attack by the known criminal group EPP,” he said, using the Spanish acronym for the Paraguayan People’s Army. De Vargas said eight soldiers died in the attack. Since the guerrilla group first appeared in 2008, it has killed some 50 people in attacks, the majority of them police, soldiers and cattle raisers, according to police. The group has been active in the cattle-raising region where Saturday’s explosion occurred.

At least eight Paraguayan Army soldiers are killed in an ambush by suspected Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) insurgents, near the village of Arroyito, in northern Paraguay.

ANKARA, Turkey -- A Kurdish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint near a police station Friday in southeast Turkey, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, the prime minister said. The attack struck the checkpoint 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria. Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck and the three-story police station gutted from the explosion. Rebels linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party claimed the attack -- the latest in a string of bombings by the group targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. "No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage," he told reporters in Istanbul. "We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve." President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "This attack, which comes at a time when Turkey is engaged in an intense struggle against terrorist organizations both within and outside its borders, only serves to increase our determination as a country and a nation." Turkey has sent tanks across the Syrian border after weeks of deadly attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Islamic State extremist group. The operation aims to help Syrian rebels retake Jarablus, a key Islamic State-held border town, and to contain the expansion of Syrian Kurdish militias linked to the Workers' Party. In a statement on the website of the Workers' Party's military wing, the militant group said the Cizre attack was in retaliation for jailed Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan's "isolation" on a prison island off Istanbul. The rebel leader has been denied visits since April 2015, as a peace process between the Workers' Party and the government began to falter. Violence between the Workers' Party and the security forces resumed last year after the collapse the two-year peace process in July. Hundreds of security force members, militants and civilians have been killed since. At the same time, Turkey has been afflicted by deadly attacks blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southeast Turkey last week that killed 54 people, and an attack on Istanbul's main airport in June that killed 44 people. According to the Sirnak governor's office, three of those wounded in Friday's attack were civilians. Cizre was placed under 24-hour curfew for several weeks earlier this year as the security forces opened operations to root out Kurdish militants. Since hostilities with the Workers' Party resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of Workers' Party militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human-rights groups say hundreds of civilians also have been killed. The Workers' Party is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. Some 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in 1984. The attacks on police come as the country is still reeling from a violent coup attempt July 15 that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the northeast, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said. The rebel statement Friday said the target of the attack was Turkey's security forces, not Kilicdaroglu. Information for this article was contributed by Dusan Stojanovic and Cinar Kiper of The Associated Press.[SEP]ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Suspected Kurdish militants fired rockets at the airport in Turkey’s main southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Saturday, sending passengers and staff scrambling for shelter, Dogan news agency said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Four rockets were fired at a police checkpoint outside the VIP lounge, and passengers and staff were taken inside the terminal building for safety, the private news agency said. The attack happened not long before midnight (5.00 p.m. ET) on Saturday. Broadcaster NTV said the rockets landed on wasteland nearby. There were no casualties and no disruption to flights, Diyarbakir governor Huseyin Aksoy told the news channel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Diyarbakir is the main city in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, where Kurdish militants have waged a three-decade insurgency. The attack comes days after Turkey launched a military incursion into Syria aimed at driving back Islamic State and preventing territorial gains by Kurdish fighters. Rebels supported by Turkey fought Kurdish-backed forces in northern Syria on Saturday, and Ankara said it had launched air strikes against both Kurdish militia fighters and Islamic State. Turkey fears Kurdish militia fighters will fill the void as Islamic State is pushed back. It wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of a continuous stretch of Syrian territory on its frontier, which it fears could deepen the insurgency by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants on its own soil. Diyarbakir airport largely handles domestic flights and is served by carriers including Turkish Airlines. The PKK, which first took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. A ceasefire collapsed just over a year ago, and violence has since surged.[SEP]Kurdish militants on Friday attacked a police checkpoint in southeast Turkey with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, officials and the state-run news agency said. The attack struck the checkpoint 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, for those attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll, saying it was a suicide attack carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to "destroy the terrorists." "No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage," he told reporters in Istanbul. "We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve." Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck. The three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. According to Sirnak governor's office, three of the wounded were civilians. The Health Ministry sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site. Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members, militants and even civilians have been killed since. Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southeast Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul's main airport in June that killed 44 people. Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key IS-held town. Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed. The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. The attacks on police come as the country is still reeling from a violent coup attempt on July 15 that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the northeast, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said.[SEP]A suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast killed at least 11 and wounded dozens on Friday, two days after Turkey launched an incursion against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters in Syria. Prime minister Binali Yildirim said there was no doubt that the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, was responsible for the attack in Sirnak province, which borders Syria and Iraq. The provincial governor’s office said 11 police officers were killed and 78 people, three of them civilians, wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The bombing in the town of Cizre was the latest in a series of attacks since a ceasefire with the PKK collapsed more than a year ago, and comes as Turkey tries to recover from a failed July 15 military coup. More than 1,700 military personnel have been removed for their alleged role in the putsch, including some 40 per cent of admirals and generals, raising concern about the NATO member’s ability to protect itself as it battles Islamic State in Syria and Kurdish militants at home. At a news conference in Istanbul, Yildirim said Turkey had opened a war on all terrorist groups. His deputy, Numan Kurtulmus, said on Twitter that Islamic State, the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were all attacking Turkey to take advantage of last month’s coup attempt. ‘Turkey is in an intense fight against terrorist organisations … The PKK/YPG and Islamic State seized the July 15 coup attempt as an opportunity,’ Kurtulmus wrote. Large plumes of smoke billowed from the blast site in Cizre, footage on CNN Turk showed. The broadcaster said a dozen ambulances and two helicopters had been sent to the scene. Photographs broadcast by private channel NTV showed a large three-storey building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, and surrounded by grey rubble. Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched their first major incursion into Syria on Wednesday in support of Syrian rebels, in an operation president Tayyip Erdogan has said is aimed both at driving Islamic State away from the border area and preventing territorial gains by the YPG. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died since the rebels took up arms in Turkey in 1984. Turkish troops fired on US-backed YPG fighters in northern Syria on Thursday – a confrontation that highlights the cross-cutting of interests of two pivotal NATO allies. Also on Thursday, interior minister Efkan Ala accused the PKK of attacking a convoy carrying the country’s main opposition party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The government has blamed the PKK for a series of attacks this month in the southeast. The group has claimed responsibility for at least one attack on a police station. Last week Erdogan accused followers of a US-based Islamic cleric he blames for the July 15 coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied any involvement in and denounced the coup plot. (Updated)[SEP]Kurdish militants on Friday attacked a police checkpoint in southeast Turkey with an explosives-laden truck, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, officials and the state-run news agency said. The attack struck the checkpoint 50 yards from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria, the Anadolu Agency reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, for those attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll, saying it was a suicide attack carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to "destroy the terrorists." "No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage," he told reporters in Istanbul. "We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve." Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck. The three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. According to Sirnak governor's office, three of the wounded were civilians. The Health Ministry sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site. Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members, militants and even civilians have been killed since. Turkey has also seen a rise of deadly attacks that have been blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southeast Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul's main airport in June that killed 44 people. Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border this week to help Syrian rebels retake a key IS-held town. Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed. The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. The attacks on police come as the country is still reeling from a violent coup attempt on July 15 that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the northeast, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said.[SEP]Turkish tanks have moved rapidly through the Syrian town of Jarablus on Wednesday, ousting Islamic State from one of its last border strongholds – but the most important outcome in Ankara’s eyes was beating the US-backed Kurdish fighters in a race to seize the surrounding area. In a pointed concession to Turkey, the US vice president Joe Biden demanded that Kurdish forces, who had been a central US proxy in the battle against the terrorist group, “move back across the Euphrates river”, to the east of Jarablus. He also said that the Kurds, who have won a series of recent battles against Isis, would be abandoned if they advanced. US jets gave cover to the Turkish push, one of the first times in the war that the two allies have conducted a joint operation. “They cannot, will not, under any circumstance get American support if they do not keep that commitment,” Biden said in Ankara during a visit to reset ties with Turkey, which had been strained since the failed coup attempt in July. The Turkish incursion, which was supported by Syrian rebels, was the largest into Syria in the five-year civil war and came after months of gains by Kurds in the north which had seriously tested relations with Washington and transformed the once-dormant border into one of the war’s most important battle zones. Bystanders throughout much of the war, Kurdish groups in Syria’s north-east had made swift gains after Russia’s intervention to reinforce President Bashar al-Assad. At the same time, the Kurds had been pivotal to US efforts to break the grip of Isis in the area, being used as a proxy force by US trainers and given air support by fighter jets. The development incensed Ankara, which insists that the Kurds were using the war to advance a de facto autonomous region aligned with the aims of a four-decade-long insurrection being waged by Kurdish groups in Turkey’s south-east. Turkish officials have repeatedly pointed to Kurdish manoeuvres along its 500-mile frontier as evidence of a plan to move Arabs from the area and create a buffer allowing the Kurds to consolidate influence in the area. In recent months, Turkey has stepped up its support for Syrian rebels battling both Isis and the Assad regime. The influence of rebel groups in the north had previously waned under Russian airstrikes and the creep of jihadi groups, who had gradually taken the ascendancy in key campaigns, such as the fight for Aleppo. A Turkish move to re-arm Syrian rebels, including jihadis, earlier this month had led to the siege of Aleppo imposed by Assad loyalists being broken and a supply line being reopened. Since then, Turkey has stepped up efforts to deter the Kurds from making further advances and to keep open access to Arab rebel areas. At the same time, Ankara has set aside a feud with Russia, which shares its insistence that Syria’s current borders be preserved. Recent public statements about talking to the Syrian regime give weight to a growing view in the region that Turkey views keeping Syria intact as a higher priority than removing the Syrian leader – a key goal of the Turkish leadership for the past five years. Biden’s demands that the US-backed Kurds go no further is likely to reassure Ankara, which had publicly denounced Washington’s efforts against Isis, even as a Kurdish-led force, comprised of some Arab units, pushed Isis from the city of Minbij earlier this month, splintering a supply line between the town of al-Bab, near Aleppo, and Raqqa to the east, which remains one of the group’s two most important hubs. However, the effect on the US-Kurdish relationship is less clear. The Syrian Kurdish political arm, the PYD, said in response to the campaign that “Turkey will be defeated just like [Isis]”.[SEP]Turkey clearing borders of militants to prevent more migrants - PM ISTANBUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Turkey aims to clear its borders of Islamic State and other militant groups to prevent a new flow of migrants and will continue operations until the nation's security is guaranteed, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday. Yildirim also told a news conference that the outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK was behind Friday's bombing of a police headquarters in Turkey's southeast, the latest in a string of attacks that the authorities have blamed on the group. The attack came two days after Turkey launched an incursion into Syria against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters there.[SEP]It is hard to anticipate whether Turkey’s unprecedented military incursion into Syria this week will change the dynamics of the multiple wars that have ravaged the region and put civilians through hell. If things already seemed complicated in the Middle East, they may have just become even more so. What started on Wednesday ranks as the largest Turkish military operation inside Syrian territory since the civil war began five years ago. A dozen tanks, reportedly followed by a bus transporting Syrian rebels, rolled into northern Syria to drive Islamic State forces from the town of Jarablus, one of their last footholds on the Turkish-Syrian border. Today Turkey sent more tanks in and told the YPG Kurdish armed group it had one week to retreat from the border areas. Western anti-Isis coalition forces facilitated Operation Euphrates Shield with air strikes. It came days after a terrorist attack killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border – highlighting both how exposed Turkey has become to the insurgency and the multiple pressures the Kurds face. Although Turkey carried out this operation with US back-up, its priority – evident in other recent foreign manoeuvrings, such as detente with Russia and overtures to the Syrian president, having previously urged him to quit – is to curtail the territorial ambitions of Kurdish combatants, some of which happen to be US proxies in the war against Isis. Turkey is in effect deploying forces in Syria with US support, with the aim of pushing back Kurdish groups that the US also supports. The US has equipped and trained local forces to fight Isis, under the label “Syrian Democratic Forces”. They are dominated by Kurds, but include anti-Assad rebels. Nuances easily get lost: united against Isis, these groups are less so when it comes to confronting Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Little noticed in Aleppo’s plight is the fact that Syrian Kurdish fighters have played no small role in the siege of the city. The YPG has been more of a problem for the Syrian opposition than for the Assad regime. Turkey’s advance now puts these Kurdish groups under pressure, especially given its warming relations with Russia. Moscow may have qualms about Kurdish groups working tightly with the US and its protest against Turkey’s move into Syria may have less to do with protecting the Kurds than keeping the upper hand in Syria’s quagmire. As the Jarablus operation unfolded, US vice-president Joe Biden was in Ankara to attempt to woo Turkey back from Russia. Relations between the US and its Nato ally have been fraught since July’s coup attempt, but getting them back on track now seems a shared objective. So, having used Kurdish forces to take Manbij and stalk Raqqa, Mr Biden warned the YPG to move back across the Euphrates or lose US support. Syria is racked by multiple wars in which protagonists claiming to share common goals pursue their own distinct priorities. Turkey is part of the anti-IS coalition but wants to fight Kurdish militants in Syria as it does the PKK in its own south-eastern regions. Its role has shrunk from active intervention on multiple fronts to more narrowly defending its border. Even the renewed enthusiasm for Syrian rebels is not about toppling Mr Assad, but ensuring that the Kurds do not prop him up. Russia claims its military involvement is all about combatting Isis but has done much more to ensure the survival of the Assad regime. Syrian Kurdish groups have been “recruited” by the US against Isis, but their ultimate goal is to carve out an autonomous region. Anti-Assad revolutionaries have all along wanted to get rid of a dictatorship but are increasingly associated with radical Islamist groups, largely for a desperate lack of other options. The US has prioritised bombing Isis but at the expense of forging a solution to Syria’s civil war, which has helped Isis grow. With its tanks, Turkey has played one more card in a multi-pronged war that has created immense suffering and has no end in sight.[SEP]ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Kurdish militant suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into a checkpoint near a police station in southeast Turkey on Friday, killing at least 11 police officers and wounding 78 other people, the prime minister said. The attack struck the checkpoint 50 meters (yards) from a main police station near the town of Cizre, in the mainly-Kurdish Sirnak province that borders Syria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which was the latest in a string of bombings targeting police or military vehicles and facilities. Authorities have blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, for those attacks. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the attack was a PKK suicide bombing carried out with an explosives-laden truck. He vowed to "destroy the terrorists." "No terrorist organization can take the Turkish Republic hostage," he told reporters in Istanbul. "We will give these scoundrels every response they deserve." Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border following weeks of deadly attacks by the PKK and the Islamic State group. The operation aims to help Syrian rebels retake Jarablus, a key IS-held border town, and to contain the expansion of Syrian Kurdish militia who are linked to the PKK. Heightened PKK attacks inside Turkey could prompt Turkey to take bolder moves against the Syrian Kurds. On Thursday, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Turkish artillery fired at a group Syrian Kurdish fighters who were seen advancing north toward Jarablus despite Turkish warnings for them to retreat. "This attack, which comes at a time when Turkey is engaged in an intense struggle against terrorist organizations both within and outside its borders, only serves to increase our determination as a country and a nation," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a written statement. Violence between the PKK and the security forces resumed last year, after the collapse of a fragile two-year peace process between the government and the militant group. Hundreds of security force members, militants and even civilians have been killed since. At the same time, Turkey has been afflicted by deadly attacks blamed on Islamic State militants, including a suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding in southeast Turkey last week that killed 54 people and an attack on Istanbul's main airport in June that killed 44 people. Television footage showed black smoke rising from the mangled truck. The three-story police station was gutted from the powerful explosion. According to Sirnak governor's office, three of the wounded were civilians. The Health Ministry sent 12 ambulances and two helicopters to the site. Cizre was placed under 24-hour curfew for several weeks earlier this year, as the security forces launched operations to root out Kurdish militants. A Turkish human rights group said scores of civilians were killed in the operations. Since hostilities with the PKK resumed last summer, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to the Anadolu Agency. Human rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed. The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. Some 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in 1984. The attacks on police come as the country is still reeling from a violent coup attempt on July 15 that killed at least 270 people. The government has blamed the failed coup on the supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and has embarked on a sweeping crackdown on his followers. On Thursday, Kurdish rebels opened fire at security forces protecting a convoy carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the northeast, killing a soldier and wounding two others, officials said.[SEP]Turkey aims to clear its borders of Islamic State and other militant groups to prevent a new flow of migrants and will continue operations until the nation’s security is guaranteed, prime minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday. Yildirim also told a news conference that the outlawed Kurdish militant group PKK was behind Friday’s bombing of a police headquarters in Turkey’s southeast, the latest in a string of attacks that the authorities have blamed on the group. The attack came two days after Turkey launched an incursion into Syria against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters there.

Suspected Kurdish militants fire rockets at Diyarbakır Airport in Diyarbakır, Turkey.

Russia's emergency services said a fire broke out at a warehouse in Moscow, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. The blaze at a printing warehouse occurred early August 27 in the Russian capital’s northeast. "While extinguishing the fire, it was established that the source of fire is on the fourth floor," Dmitry Shirlin, head of the Office for Fire and Rescue Forces of the Moscow Directorate of the Emergency Situations Ministry, told reporters. "The rescuers found the room with no access from outside," Shirlin said. "The wall was broken through and inside the rescuers found 16 dead bodies." Russia's Investigative Committee, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, said a criminal inquiry had been launched into the deaths of the victims of the fire. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter that "those guilty will be found and punished." Abdygany Shakirov, a representative of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Russia, vowed help to families of the victims. "We will provide all possible moral and material assistance. We will never leave our citizens in this difficult time," Shakirov said. Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services, said the fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored. He said the fire rapidly spread through an elevator shaft to the room where those who died were working. Denisov said firefighters found the charred bodies of 16 workers and sent four injured workers to hospital, where one later died. "There is a woman crying, her daughter died, she was only 18," an unidentified witness told Rossia 24. "[They did not escape] because there was no emergency exit." The Kyrgyz nationals who lost their lives in the fire were in Moscow legally, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. Many colleagues of the victims gathered at the site of the fire. Lax fire-safety standards have often been blamed for such incidents in Russia. In January, 12 people died in a fire in a Moscow clothing factory. Some 500,000 citizens from Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished, former Soviet republic, are working in Russia. Based on reporting by TASS, AFP, and Reuters[SEP]A fire in a Moscow printing plant killed 17 people on Saturday, officials have said. A representative of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Russia said all the dead were members of its community. “The incident happened when people were changing shifts at the printing house. It is very hard for us,” Abdygany Shakirov, the Kyrgyz representative told Reuters. Around 500,000 citizens of the impoverished former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan are working in Russia. The two countries belong to a Russian-dominated customs union. The Investigative Committee, which reports directly to president Vladimir Putin, said a criminal inquiry had been launched into the deaths of 17 of the victims of the blaze. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in his Twitter feed that one more person died later in a hospital. Ilya Denisov, an emergencies ministry official, told Rossiya-24 TV station a malfunctioning lamp caused the fire. Lax fire safety standards are often blamed for fatal workplace blazes in Russia. In January, 12 people died in a fire in a Moscow clothing factory.[SEP]MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s emergency services say a fire swept through a printing plant’s warehouse in Moscow, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. The emergency services say Saturday’s fire was caused by a faulty lamp in the warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored.[SEP]At least 16 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan have died in a fire at a warehouse in Moscow, Russian authorities have said. Firefighters arrived at 8am (5am BST) on Saturday at the scene, where a blaze had engulfed 200 sq metres of a warehouse in an industrial zone to the north of the Russian capital. The fire on the fourth floor of the building, which is thought to belong to a printing company, was extinguished at about 10am, officials said. Tass news agency quoted the Russian emergency ministry as saying: “When the fire was being put out, a room that had been cut off by the flames was discovered. Firefighters tore down the wall and found 16 dead.” The head of the Moscow branch of the emergency ministry, Ilya Denisov, said the victims were from the former Soviet republic. An AFP journalist at the scene saw more than 30 migrant workers gathered outside the warehouse, some of whom wept as they waited for news about those who had been in the building when the fire broke out. Denisov said the blaze was believed to have been caused by a broken lamp in a room containing large quantities of flammable liquid and paper products. “The fire spread from the first floor through the elevator shaft to the room in which the people were killed,” Denisov told Interfax news agency. The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said the injured had been taken to a local hospital. City authorities have launched an investigation. “I am certain that those guilty will be found and punished,” Sobyanin tweeted. In a statement, the Moscow branch of the Russian investigative committee said it was looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident.[SEP]Russian emergency services say a fire swept through a printing plant's warehouse in Moscow on Saturday, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. The fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of the warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored, and it spread quickly through an elevator shaft to the room where those who died were working, said Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services. He said firefighters found the bodies of 16 workers and sent four injured workers to the hospital, where one later died. Denisov, whose statements were carried by Russian news agencies, said the dead were all from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, and were believed to be working legally in Russia. U.S. intelligence sees Islamic State as weakened after series of defeats 93,000 people voluntarily left Japan for North Korea after World War II. Or did they? From Vietnam to Los Angeles: Photographer who captured iconic image on one road sees end of another[SEP]MOSCOW (AP) — Russian emergency services say a fire swept through a printing plant's warehouse in Moscow on Saturday, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. The fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored, and it spread quickly through an elevator shaft to the room where those who died were working, said Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services. He said firefighters found the bodies of 16 workers and sent four injured workers to the hospital, where one later died. Denisov, whose statements were carried by Russian news agencies, said the dead were all from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, and were believed to be working legally in Russia.[SEP]At least 16 migrants die in Moscow warehouse fire MOSCOW: At least 16 migrant workers mostly from Kyrgyzstan died in a fire that broke out at a Moscow warehouse early yesterday, Russian authorities said. “When the fire was being put out, a room that had been cut off by the flames was discovered,” TASS news agency quoted the regional branch of the emergency ministry’s press service as saying. “Firefighters tore down the wall and found 16 dead.” Emergency workers arrived at the scene around 0500 GMT to put out a blaze that had engulfed 200 square meters of a warehouse in an industrial zone in the Russian capital’s north. The fire at the four-floor facility, which is thought to belong to a local printing company, was extinguished at around 0700 GMT, authorities said. The head of the Moscow branch of the emergency ministry, Ilya Denisov, told Russian news agencies that the victims of the fire were migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry later confirmed that 14 of the 16 people killed in the fire were Kyrgyz nationals. A representative of the Kyrgyz community in Moscow, Tursunbay Kurbatbekov, told TASS that a 16-year-old girl was thought to be among the dead. An AFP journalist at the scene saw about three dozen migrant workers gathered outside the warehouse, some of whom wept as they awaited news of the people who had been in the building when the blaze broke out. Denisov said the fire was thought to have been caused by a broken lamp in a room containing large quantities of flammable liquids and paper products. “The fire spread from the first floor through the elevator shaft to the room in which the people were killed,” Interfax news agency quoted Denisov as saying. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter that the people injured in the blaze had been taken to a local hospital and that the city would investigate the incident. “I am certain that those guilty will be found and punished,” Sobyanin wrote. The Moscow branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that it was still probing the circumstances surrounding the incident. A criminal investigation was launched to determine whether the blaze erupted due to arson or negligence. — AFP[SEP]MOSCOW (AP) — A fire swept through a Moscow printing plant warehouse on Saturday, killing 17 migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s emergency services said. A representative of the Kyrgyz community said the victims were all young women trapped in a dressing room while changing into their work clothes. The fire was caused by a faulty lamp on the first floor of the warehouse, where many flammable liquids and paper products were stored, and it spread quickly through an elevator shaft to the room where those who died, said Ilya Denisov, who heads the Moscow branch of the emergency services. He said firefighters found the bodies of 16 workers and sent four injured workers to the hospital, where one later died. Denisov, whose statements were carried by Russian news agencies, said the dead were all from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, and were believed to be working legally in Russia. Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that 14 of the dead were Kyrgyz citizens. Abdygani Shakirov, who heads an organization representing the Kyrgyz community in Moscow, said all of the dead were young women. “Most of them were in Moscow to earn money,” he told Russian news agencies. “They were in the dressing room and were unable to get out. The smoke had blocked the exit.”[SEP]Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired two top-ranking generals from the country's Investigative Committee. Major-General Dmitry Shershakov, the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate's Commission for Combating Corruption, and Vitaly Frolov, the First Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee Oversight Commission, were both pushed from their posts on Friday. Russia's Investigative Committee has come under particular scrutiny following the arrest of several top officials on charges of corruption. On July 19, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested several employees of the Investigative Committee's Moscow branch, including its deputy head Denis Nikandrov. Nikandrov currently stands accused of receiving a $1 million dollar bribe in connection with a case against notorious crime boss Shakro Molodoi, or Young Shakro. The branch's Head of Security Mikhail Maksimenko, and his deputy Alexander Lamonov, were also arrested on corruption charges. The chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykhin, condemned the officials as “betrayers,” who had "besmirched" the reputation of colleagues, the Rossiskaya Gazeta newspaper reported at the time. Shakro Molodoi was arrested on June 11 on charges of extorting money from the owner of the Elements restaurant in Moscow, after a violent shootout in December 2015 left two dead. For more on the Denis Nikanorov and Young Shakro arrest, click here.[SEP]A fire in a warehouse at a Moscow printing works killed at least 17 people on Saturday morning, an Emergencies Ministry official told Rossiya-24 TV station. "Sixteen bodies were found in a room, four injured were brought to hospitals in Moscow. The fire was completely put out by 0953 (local time)," he said. The dead are all believed to be migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, AP reported. The ministry said on its website that 12 people were rescued. The TV station said the people, who lived and worked at the depot, were mostly from former Soviet Union countries. The fire was reported to have been caused by a faulty lamp, according to AP. READ MORE: * Fire breaks out at Siberian coal mine with 50 miners underground: reports * Four killed after explosions, gunfire in anti-terror raid in St Petersburg, Russia * Dozens dead in Russian hospital fire Lax fire safety standards have often been blamed for such incidents in Russia.

A fire at a warehouse in Moscow, Russia, kills at least 17 people, all migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan. The Investigative Committee of Russia, which reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, says a criminal inquiry has been launched.

Outgoing chief minister Adam Giles delivers a succinct obituary for his one-term government, which had its 2012 16-seat win cut to two seats This article is more than 3 years old This article is more than 3 years old It was a thumping. Adam Giles described it best, conceding defeat of his Country Liberal party government in a landslide election result in the Northern Territory. The win was called within two hours of polls closing, and just a handful of seats remained in doubt as the next chief minister, Michael Gunner, made his victory speech an hour later. Giles’s central desert seat of Braitling was one yet to be called. Northern Territory election: Adam Giles says he'll 'have a beer' if he loses Read more With more than half the votes counted the CLP had a swing against it of more than 18%. Labor did not pick all that up, gaining 6.4% on the last election. At the time of counting there was a bigger swing towards independents with 8.9%. All predictions had suggested an emphatic Labor victory after four years of an increasingly divisive and controversial term of government, but there were a lot of unknowns. Since the last election in 2012 boundaries had been redrawn and new seats created, and new laws for polling day had been introduced. Territorians had optional preferential voting for the first time, and more than 50,000 took the opportunity to vote early without an excuse. Exclusion zones around polling stations prevented anyone campaigning or handing out how-to-vote cards within 100m. The CLP had won government in 2012 with 16 seats to Labor’s eight, with a solitary independent on the crossbench, but after a series of scandals, fights, reshuffles and coups – both attempted and successful – the party was reduced to a minority of 12. Then on Saturday night that 12 became two. Maybe four at most. “Tonight no doubt is a landslide. It’s a thumping,” said Giles in Alice Springs. “Politically speaking tonight’s result is a lesson in disunity is death in politics. It’s a result of personality before the politics, it’s a lesson in looking after oneself rather than thinking about the people. that message has been heard loud and clear within the candidates and the party of the Country Liberals.” The CLP, the party which had held government for 27 straight years until 2001, would rebuild, he said. “We will remove the disagreements, we will remove the personalities of politics and we will come back bigger and better because one thing is for sure: Labor can’t manage the economy, Labor can’t manage law and order, hence one day in the future the NT will look on us to take leadership, albeit in a more concise, less personality-operated government”. With about 55% of the vote counted, Labor had 15 seats in the bag and another three predicted. The CLP had retained just two. Three independents had won, and it would likely be four. David Tollner, former treasurer and member for Fong Lim, who was not preselected for this election, predicted there would be more independents in parliament than CLP members. The official Labor event, held at the Waratahs sporting club on the outskirts of Darwin’s CBD, was full of Labor faithful as well as city and suburban candidates. Around the corner the CLP gathered in Cullen Bay. The food was better but the mood was sombre. The leader had remained in Alice Springs. Gunner entered the Labor room to shouts and chants of congratulations, and he walked a slow gauntlet of hugs and high-fives, but the audience’s attention waned during his speech and rarely a moment went by without people talking and others shushing them. In one resonating moment, Gunner spoke of his lifetime association with the NT. He is the first territory-born chief minister to be elected since self-governance in 1978. “A boy born in Alice Springs, who grew up in public housing Tennant Creek, who now stands here as chief minister of the Northern Territory,” he said. “In the Northern Territory you can dream big.” The crowd erupted. Gunner said he would work with the independents and CLP opposition, and pledged unity and consultation – two things the electorate had indicated were missing during the CLP term. “You all deserve access to us and we will govern for all Territorians. As Territorians we are stronger when we are united, and we are united in our determination to make our home a better place.” Lynne Walker, member for Nhulunbuy, told Guardian Australia she was humbled by her party’s victory, and excited that as deputy chief minister she would be representing remote and Indigenous Territorians. Northern Territory election: Michael Gunner claims victory for Labor – as it happened Read more The federal opposition leader, Bill Shorten, called Gunner early to congratulate him, and then formally sent out a public statement once the victory speech was over. “Territorians have punished the CLP for four years of scandal and controversy, and rewarded Labor for working hard and listening to people,” said Shorten. “Michael listened to Territorians and offered a positive plan for creating jobs, investing in people, and restoring trust and integrity in government. Territorians have responded to Labor’s plan, making the CLP government the first one-term government in the territory’s history.”[SEP]The outcome of the Northern Territory election has been labelled as extraordinary as Labor goes from being a minority to having a landslide victory. Northern Territory Labor leader Michael Gunner blames the 'chaotic' four years under the scandal-plagued Country Liberal party for the win and promises to live up to the voters' expectations. 'Every single Territorian, thank you for the trust that you have placed in Labor,' he told party supporters following the election on Saturday. 'It is a privilege to stand here today as a servant of the public and as the new chief minister of the NT.' The Labor party could have as many as 18 MPs in the 25-seat parliament, according to the predictions of the ABC election website. The party has already won 15 seats. The CLP, which went into Saturday's election with 11, may end up with only two, while independents could take the remaining three or four seats. Mr Gunner said Territorians were 'good people who deserve good governance and that's what we will give them.' 'They have rejected the chaos of the last four years and they have chosen to place their trust in Labor,' he said. He vowed Labor would provide restore confidence in the Northern Territory. 'We have got a plan to deliver certainty in the NT and to restore confidence in the NT,' 'There is a cost to chaos and there is a reward for stability.' However, he said he would work with the CLP and independents because 'they are not our enemies. They are Territorians and I will work with them.' The win is of historical importance for the party as Labor has only held power in the state for two terms since 1974 - they were consecutive terms from 2001- 2012. The CLP regained power in the 2012 election - and prior to the 2001 election they held it for close to three decades.

The opposition Australian Labor Party defeats the governing Country Liberal Party in a landslide, reducing the CLP to just two seats.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Soldiers arrested eight members of the Maute group last week Eight suspected militants linked to so-called Islamic State (IS) have been freed from jail in the Philippines in an apparently "staged raid". Police said at least 20 fighters from the Maute group had turned up at the Lanao del Sur jail in the southern city of Marawi, but no shots had been fired. A military source told the BBC they believed the men had been allowed to escape. The militants were held last week after being caught with homemade mortars. At least 15 other inmates - who faced murder and drugs charges - also walked free, but it is not clear whether this was agreed. The Maute group has carried out several bombings and kidnappings in the southern Mindanao region. The Philippines has faced Muslim separatist movements for decades in Mindanao, which has a significant Muslim population - the Philippines is mainly Catholic. The Maute group carries the black flag and insignia of IS, and has attacked army troops, beheaded a soldier and beheaded two local workers earlier this year. The militants kidnapped the two workers and made them wear orange shirts similar to those worn by IS beheading victims before they were killed. Several armed groups in the Philippines have pledged allegiance to IS, although the country's military says there is no evidence of active co-operation with foreign militants.[SEP]Islamic extremists supporting Isis freed eight fellow militants in an attack that also allowed 15 other inmates to escape from a provincial jail in the southern Philippines, police said on Sunday. About 20 heavily-armed fighters of the Maute militant group stormed the Lanao del Sur provincial jail in Marawi city before nightfall on Saturday, disarmed the guards and rescued their eight comrades. The attackers also seized two rifles from guards, police said. The eight who escaped were arrested a week ago when they were caught with a homemade bomb in van at a security checkpoint. The others who escaped, apparently to divert the attention of authorities, were facing murder and illegal drugs charges. The Maute group is a new band of armed Muslim radicals, who have pledged allegiance to Isis and use black flags with logos of the Middle East-based extremists. Based in Lanao del Sur’s Butig town, the militants have attacked army troops and beheaded a soldier and two kidnapped workers earlier this year. Before being killed, the two workers were made to wear orange shirts similar to beheading victims of Isis. A number of Muslim armed groups in the country’s south, including some commanders of the violent Abu Sayyaf, have pledged loyalty to Isis. The military has tried to play down their action, saying there has been no evidence of an active collaboration between the foreign extremists and Filipino militants who are aiming to prop up their image and secure badly-needed funds amid years of battle setbacks. President Rodrigo Duterte, who was sworn in in June, has pursued peace deals with two large Muslim rebel groups but has ordered troops to destroy the Abu Sayyaf and other militants.[SEP]CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (AP) — Muslim extremists supporting the Islamic State group have freed eight fellow militants in a daring attack that also allowed 15 other inmates to escape from a provincial jail in the southern Philippines. Police say about 20 heavily-armed fighters of the Maute militant group stormed the Lanao del Sur provincial jail in Marawi city before nightfall Saturday, disarmed the guards and rescued their eight comrades, including three women. The attackers also seized two rifles from guards. Police said Sunday the eight militants were arrested by army troops and police when they were caught with a homemade mortar shell in a van in Lanao del Sur's Lumbayanague town. The Maute group is a new band of armed Muslim radicals, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.[SEP]The jailbreak is just the latest mass escape from poorly secured Philippine jails with the incidents often involving Muslim extremists. Muslim extremists carrying Islamic State group insignia have staged a daring jailbreak in the southern Philippines, freeing 28 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes, officials said Sunday. About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Saturday, freeing eight comrades who had been arrested barely a week ago, police said. Twenty other detainees, held for other offences, also escaped in the raid, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Agustine Tello said. The freed members of the Maute group were arrested on August 22 after soldiers manning an army checkpoint found improvised bombs and pistols in the van they were driving. The Maute group is one of several Muslim gangs in the southern region of Mindanao, the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines. The group has carried out kidnappings and bombings and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the Mindanao town of Butig in February. The fighting there lasted a week, leaving numerous fatalities and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes as helicopter gunships fought off the attackers. The gunmen attacking the jail Saturday were seen carrying black flags of the Islamic State group, and bandanas bearing the jihadists' insignia were later found in their base, the military said. Authorities said they were investigating why the jail's guards did not resist the raid or why security had not been increased after high-risk suspects were brought in. The jailbreak is just the latest mass escape from poorly secured Philippine jails, with the incidents often involving Muslim extremists. In 2009, more than 100 armed men raided a jail in the strife-torn southern island of Basilan, freeing 31 prisoners, including several Muslim guerrillas. © AFP, 2016[SEP]Metro Manila, Philippines (CNN) In an unassuming Quezon City neighborhood, across from a municipal library and around the corner from a police station stands the local jail. A short ride from Manila -- depending on traffic -- the jail isn't an imposing building, or even a particularly large one. Its total floor area is a shade over 30,000 square feet. More than 4,000 inmates -- and counting -- live cheek by jowl in what has to be one of the most densely populated corners of the Philippines. With thousands of arrests made since the beginning of June in the war on drugs, the population of inmates keeps growing. With thousands of arrests made since the beginning of June in the war on drugs, the population of inmates keeps growing. At the beginning of the year, just under 3,600 were incarcerated. In the seven weeks since President Duterte took office, that number has risen to 4,053. At the beginning of the year, just under 3,600 were incarcerated. In the seven weeks since President Duterte took office, that number has risen to 4,053. Many inmates could go home but can't afford the bail, which can be as low as 4,000 to 6,000 pesos ($86 to $129). Many inmates could go home but can't afford the bail, which can be as low as 4,000 to 6,000 pesos ($86 to $129). A rigorous search of those coming in keeps the amount of contraband to a minimum, says the jail's senior inspector. But it's still a jail, he shrugs, suggesting that drugs and other illegal goods do find their way in. A rigorous search of those coming in keeps the amount of contraband to a minimum, says the jail's senior inspector. But it's still a jail, he shrugs, suggesting that drugs and other illegal goods do find their way in. "The food is terrible," says one inmate. "And it's hard to find a space to sleep, especially when it rains." "The food is terrible," says one inmate. "And it's hard to find a space to sleep, especially when it rains." Critics say this overcrowding is a predictable effect of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. Critics say this overcrowding is a predictable effect of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. It's always been packed, guards say, but recently the number of inmates has spiked. It's always been packed, guards say, but recently the number of inmates has spiked. Inmate Ramon Go, who acts as "mayor" for some of the jail's dorms, has been incarcerated for 16 years. He's currently awaiting the verdict of his murder trial, which happened two and a half years ago. Inmate Ramon Go, who acts as "mayor" for some of the jail's dorms, has been incarcerated for 16 years. He's currently awaiting the verdict of his murder trial, which happened two and a half years ago. Originally built in 1953, the country's jail authority suggests it is safe for 800 inmates -- a shade of its current numbers. By U.N. standards, it is fit for 200 inmates. Originally built in 1953, the country's jail authority suggests it is safe for 800 inmates -- a shade of its current numbers. By U.N. standards, it is fit for 200 inmates. Quezon City jail, just outside the capital Manila, is home to over 4,000 inmates. Quezon City jail, just outside the capital Manila, is home to over 4,000 inmates. It's always been packed, guards say, but recently the number of inmates has spiked. Conditions inside are astounding. Every available space is crammed with yellow T-shirted humanity. The men here -- and almost 60% are in for drug offenses -- spend the days sitting, squatting and standing in the unrelenting, suffocating Manila heat. Their numbers are climbing relentlessly. At the beginning of the year, a little under 3,600 were incarcerated. In the seven weeks since Duterte took office and charged his No. 1 cop, Ronald Dela Rosa, with cleaning up the country, that number has risen to 4,053. The Quezon City Jail was built in 1953, originally to house 800 people, according to the country's Bureau of Jail Management and Penology standards. The United Nations says it should house no more than 278. There are only 20 guards assigned to the mass of incarcerated men, some of whom have been living behind these walls for years without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. Dela Rosa earlier told CNN that the criminals in the jails and prisons would just have to squeeze in, gesturing by pulling in his shoulders and arms. Inmates are woken at 5 a.m. before undergoing a head count -- no easy task when you have 4,000-plus men crammed into crumbling, ramshackle cells. 'Safer in here than out on the streets' Alex Beltran, a 29-year-old temp worker, has been here for a month and blames Duterte's crackdown for his imprisonment. "The food is terrible," he says. "And it's hard to find a space to sleep, especially when it rains." Life inside is "harder for the new guys," he says. Fellow inmate Romeo Payhoi, 38, is another newcomer, and while he says he was scared coming in, it hasn't been as bad as he anticipated, just cramped and lacking any privacy. At any rate, he adds, he feels "safer in here than out on the streets," where "the cops could kill you." Many who come into the system are already affiliated with gangs, like Sique-sique Sputnik (935 members incarcerated in the jail), Commando (386), Bahala Na gang (874) and Batang City Jail (740). Around a quarter of those inside the jail have no affiliation. These gangs hold considerable sway inside, and each run sections to which their members naturally gravitate. Colorful murals on the walls proclaim territory, although guards say that out of sheer necessity there is a de facto truce between the groups. Many inmates could go home but can't afford the bail, which can be as low as 4,000 to 6,000 pesos ($86 to $129), according to Joey Doguiles, the jail's senior inspector and chief of operations. A top police chief, when asked what officials did to prepare for the crackdown, said the threat from drugs was so great that there was no time to expand the facility. That would have to come later. Outside the jail as many as 700 relatives of inmates wait patiently in the still morning air to go in to see their brothers, husbands and sons. They'll be waiting for hours before adding to the crush inside -- one guard says that there isn't a specific visiting room; visitors mingle with prisoners, marked with ink stamp to denote their freedom. A rigorous search of those coming from the outside keeps the amount of contraband to a minimum, Doguiles says. But it's still a jail, he shrugs, suggesting that drugs and other illegal goods do find their way in. The main drug here -- as it is across the Philippines -- is shabu, the local name for meth. Bunks stacked at least three high Inside the dormitories -- affectionately called barangays, a Filipino name for neighborhoods -- the men are left to their own devices to find somewhere to sleep. Towels, threadbare curtains and even chipped plywood boards are put up to maintain some semblance of privacy, but it's impossible in such a cramped space. In one room there are 85 inmates in a 200-square foot space. Another one, bigger but not by much, holds 131. It's designed for 30. Bunks are stacked at least three high, and inmates have even crawled under these rickety structures to find a sleeping spot. One sleeps, cocooned, in a hammock suspended from the ceiling. And they don't even have the comfort of knowing that this is a temporary situation. The court system here works at a snail's pace. Ameena-Tara Jance visits six days a week to see her husband, who's been here for six years and counting. He's recovering from a mild stroke, and she says that in the heat some have been known to keel over and die. Her husband is due for another hearing in October, but they both feel there's no end in sight. "There's no justice," she says. The "mayor" of the second-floor dorms, Ramon Go -- an inmate responsible for marshaling and supervising around 900 of his fellow prisoners -- has been there for 16 years. He's one of the few who's had his trial -- on murder charges -- after a police raid led to a cop's shooting death. He was tried 2½ years ago -- after almost a decade and a half of waiting -- and is still stuck inside the walls of the jail in Quezon City, waiting for the verdict to come in. With thousands of arrests made since the beginning of June in the war on drugs, the population of inmates keeps growing. It's an endless wait, made keener by the fact that the inmates can't know when they might regain their freedom. So they wait, watching daily as more caught up in the crackdown are processed and attempt to eke out a space, and a life, in a jail already breaking at the seams.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants break free supporters from a Marawi jail in the Philippines.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The Farc has been fighting since 1964 in a conflict that has displaced millions A ceasefire has come into effect in Colombia between the main leftist rebel group and the government, ending one of the world's longest insurgencies. The ceasefire at midnight local time (05:00 GMT Monday) came after four years of peace talks in Cuba between the Farc and the government. The final agreement on ending the 52-year-old war will be signed next month. Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, known as Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, gave the order to stop firing. "Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,'' Timochenko told journalists. "All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past," he said. Image copyright PA Image caption Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, better known under his alias of Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, announced the start of the ceasefire in Havana Image copyright Twitter Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree earlier to halt military operations against the Farc, also from midnight. "One of the country's most painful chapters" was coming to an end, he said in a tweet on Sunday, calling the ceasefire a "historic step". Crucial milestone: Analysis by Will Grant, BBC News, Havana Image copyright Reuters In one sense, the Farc's announcement of a total ceasefire is purely procedural. In another, it is a historic moment towards a lasting peace. It is procedural in that the bilateral ceasefire had already been agreed and there has in effect been a truce on the ground for several months. But the definitive ceasefire was supposed to come into force the day after the final peace agreement was signed by President Santos and the leader of the Farc, Timoleon Jimenez - an event expected in Cartagena at the end of September. This moves that forward in a gesture of goodwill on both sides. It is historic in that - finally - it brings to an end more than 50 years of conflict which left an estimated 260,000 people dead and millions internally displaced. These milestones are crucial for the Colombian peace process. Perhaps more important is what comes next: a popular vote on the agreement in early October. That will decide the fate of the years of negotiation in Havana and, in the process, the political futures of both President Santos and the Farc. A peace agreement was announced on Wednesday in Havana, at the peace talks. Farc fighters will ratify the accord in September and a Colombian popular vote on the agreement will follow on 2 October. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez reflects on a peace deal after 52 years of conflict Under the terms of the agreement, the Farc (the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) will give up its armed struggle and join the legal political process. In March Colombia announced the start of peace negotiations with the second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), but the rebels have yet to meet the government's precondition of releasing all of their hostages and stop all kidnapping. The Farc's 52-year fight Image copyright Reuters 1964: Set up as armed wing of Communist Party 2002: At its height, with an army of 20,000 fighters controlling up to a third of the country 2008: The group's worst year, when it suffered a series of bitter defeats 2012: Start of peace talks in Havana 2016: Definitive ceasefire Are you in Colombia? Can the ceasefire be maintained? 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A message from the official FARC account at the same time was more restrained: “From this moment on the bilateral and definitive ceasefire begins.” The government’s chief peace negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, grew visibly emotional at a press conference describing how church bells and sirens had rung out in some of the areas hardest hit by the conflict. “It was a war against the civilian population, 80 percent of those who died were civilians,” he said. Sergio Jaramillo, the country’s high commissioner for peace, added: “A lot of human lives are going to be saved with this giant step we are taking today.” “The morning of peace has dawned,” tweeted the FARC’s chief negotiator, Ivan Marquez. The ceasefire is the first in which both sides are committed to a definite end to the fighting. “The ceasefire is really one more seal on the end of the conflict,” said Carlos Alfonso Velazquez, a security expert at the University of La Sabana. The conflict began in 1964 with the launch of the FARC, a Marxist guerrilla group born out of a peasant uprising. It has left 260,000 dead, 45,000 missing and 6.9 million uprooted from their homes. To end the war with the FARC for good, Colombians must now vote in an October 2 referendum on the peace accord hammered out in nearly four years of talks in Cuba. Santos said the exact question that will be put to voters in the referendum would be announced “in the coming days”. “We are on the verge of perhaps the most important political decision of our lives,” he said in a speech on Saturday. Colombia’s Congress on Monday approved the plan to call a referendum. Opinion polls show Colombians are divided ahead of the vote. Santos’s top rival, former president Alvaro Uribe, is leading a campaign to vote “no” to the peace deal. “This is not an agreement: this is the state submitting to the proposals of the narco-terrorist group FARC,” Uribe said at a university forum. He has said a special justice system envisaged for crimes committed during the conflict would give FARC fighters impunity. “I don’t think we can believe them,” said Felipe Giraldo, a 25-year-old unemployed man in Bogota. Others have a high personal stake in the vote. Adelaida Bermudez, 50, hopes it will bring home her daughter, who joined the FARC nine years ago. “I hope we’ll have peace… so the children come home,” she said in Gaitania, in the central region where the FARC was born. Santos and Jimenez are due to sign the peace agreement sometime between September 20 and 30 — possibly at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin. The end of hostilities will be followed by a six-month demobilization process. Starting Monday, the FARC’s estimated 7,500 fighters are to go to collection points to surrender their weapons under UN supervision. Guerrillas who refuse to demobilize and disarm “will be pursued with all the strength of the state forces,” Santos told El Espectador newspaper. Before the demobilization, the FARC will convene its leaders and troops one last time before transforming into “a legal political movement,” according to a statement published on Saturday. The territorial and ideological conflict has drawn in various left- and right-wing armed groups and gangs. Efforts to launch peace talks with a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), have yet to bear fruit. But with the FARC ordering a ceasefire, the conflict appears to be reaching an end. “We wish to express our clear and definite will for reconciliation,” said Jimenez, known by the nom de guerre Timochenko, in Havana. “Today more than ever we regret that so much death and pain has been caused by the war. Today more than ever we wish to embrace (the military and police) as compatriots and start to work together for a new Colombia.” AFP[SEP]The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Sunday issued the order for its fighters to observe the ceasefire from Monday midnight. A historic midnight ceasefire on Sunday is set to end a 52-year-old war between the Colombian state and FARC rebels. Hundreds of thousands of Colombians have died since 1964 as rebel armies and gangs battled in the jungles in what is considered Latin America's last major civil armed conflict. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on Sunday issued the order for its fighters to observe the ceasefire from midnight (0500 GMT Monday). “I order all our commanders and units and each one of our combatants to definitively cease fire and hostilities against the Colombian state from midnight tonight” top FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez said in a declaration before the media in Cuba, where peace talks were held. On the government side, President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday ordered the Colombian national armed forces to halt military operations against the FARC. “We noted with excitement the president's order to the army. Consequently we are proceeding to give the same order to our troops,” Jimenez said Sunday, surrounded by FARC commanders in white shirts. Santos wrote on Twitter: “The end of the conflict has arrived!” The FARC declared a unilateral ceasefire in July 2015. But Sunday night's ceasefire is the first in which both sides have committed to a definitive end to the fighting. “The ceasefire is really one more seal on the end of the conflict. It is the test of fire,” said Carlos Alfonso Velazquez, a security expert at the University of La Sabana. Santos and Timochenko are due to sign a final, full peace agreement sometime between September 20 and 26. The ceasefire and definitive end of hostilities will be followed by a six-month demobilization process. From Monday, the FARC's estimated 7,500 fighters will start heading to collection points to give up their weapons under UN supervision. Guerrillas who refuse to demobilize and disarm "will be pursued with all the strength of the state forces," Santos told El Espectador newspaper. Before the demobilization, the FARC will convene its leaders and troops one last time before transforming into “a legal political movement,” according to a statement published on Saturday. On October 2, Colombians will go to the polls to cast ballots in a referendum that Santos hopes will endorse the peace agreement. “A victory for the 'Yes' vote will be a mandate from citizens for future governments,” Santos was quoting as saying by El Espectador. “The plebiscite will grant the political legitimacy that is needed.” He said the exact question that will be posed to voters in the referendum would be announced “in the coming days.” “We are on the verge of perhaps the most important political decision of our lives,” Santos said in a speech on Saturday. The territorial and ideological conflict has drawn in various left- and right-wing armed groups and gangs. It has left some 260,000 dead, 45,000 missing and 6.9 million people uprooted from their homes. Efforts to launch peace talks with a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army, have yet to bear fruit. But with the country's biggest rebel group, the FARC, ordering a definitive ceasefire, the conflict appears to be reaching an end. “To the soldiers, naval personnel and air force pilots, police and state security and intelligence agencies, we wish to express our clear and definite will for reconciliation,” said Jimenez, known by the nom-de-guerre Timochenko, in Havana. “Rivalries and resentment must remain in the past. Today more than ever we regret that so much death and pain has been caused by the war. Today more than ever we wish to embrace them as compatriots and start to work together for a new Colombia.” © AFP, 2016[SEP]HAVANA — The commander of Colombia’s biggest rebel movement said Sunday its fighters will permanently cease hostilities with the government beginning with the first minute of Monday, as a result of their peace accord ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, made the announcement in Havana, where the two sides negotiated for four years before announcing the peace deal Wednesday. “Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,” said Londono, who also known as Timochenko. “All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past.” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Friday that his military would cease attacks on the FARC beginning Monday. Colombia is expected to hold a national referendum Oct. 2 to give voters the chance to approve the deal for ending a half-century of political violence that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than 5 million people from their homes Top FARC commanders are planning to gather one final time in mid-September to ratify the accord. FARC guerrillas are supposed to turn over their weapons within six months after the deal is formally signed. In return, the FARC’s still unnamed future political movement will be given a minimum 10 congressional seats—five in the lower house, five in the Senate—for two legislative periods. In addition, 16 lower house seats will be created for grassroots activists in rural areas traditionally neglected by the state and in which existing political parties will be banned from running candidates. Critics of the peace process contend that will further boost the rebels’ post-conflict political power. After 2026, both arrangements would end and the former rebels would have to demonstrate their political strength at the ballot box. Not all hostilities are ending under the deal with the FARC. The much-smaller National Liberation Army remains active in Colombia, although it is pursuing its own peace deal with the government.[SEP]A permanent ceasefire is taking effect in Colombia, in the latest step to bring an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country’s biggest rebel group. The commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) announced on Sunday that his fighters would cease hostilities beginning at 12.01am on Monday. as a result of the peace deal reached by the two sides during the week. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos made a similar announcement on Friday, saying the military would halt attacks on the Farc beginning on Monday. Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timochenko, made his announcement in Havana, Cuba, where rebel and government negotiators talked for four years to reach the deal on ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. “Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,” he said. “All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past.” Colombia is expected to hold a national referendum on October 2nd to give voters the chance to approve the accord, which would end political violence that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than five million people from their homes over five decades. Polls say most Colombians loathe the rebel group but are likely to endorse the deal anyway. Top Farc commanders are planning to gather one final time in mid-September to ratify the deal. Under the 297-page accord, Farc guerrillas are supposed to turn over their weapons within six months after the deal is formally signed. In return, the Farc’s still unnamed future political movement will be given a minimum 10 congressional seats — five in the lower house, five in the senate — for two legislative periods. In addition, 16 lower house seats will be created for grassroots activists in rural areas traditionally neglected by the state and in which existing political parties will be banned from running candidates. But critics of the peace process say that will further boost the rebels’ post-conflict political power. After 2026, both arrangements would end and the former rebels would have to demonstrate their political strength at the ballot box. Not all hostilities are ending under the deal with the Farc. The much-smaller National Liberation Army remains active in Colombia, although it is pursuing its own peace deal with the government.[SEP]HAVANA (AP) - The commander of Colombia’s biggest rebel movement said Sunday its fighters will permanently cease hostilities with the government beginning with the first minute of Monday, as a result of their peace accord ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), made the announcement in Havana, where the two sides negotiated for four years before announcing the peace deal Wednesday. “Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,” said Londono, who is also known as Timoshenko. “All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past.” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Friday that his military would cease attacks on the FARC beginning Monday. Colombia is expected to hold a national referendum Oct. 2 to give voters the chance to approve the deal for ending a half-century of political violence that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than 5 million people from their homes After the agreement is signed, FARC guerrillas are supposed to begin handing their weapons over to United Nations-sponsored monitors.

The FARC orders all its fighters to observe a ceasefire from midnight local time (Monday 1 a.m. EDT).

BAGHDAD—Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 50 miles north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi'ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi'ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a "gathering of Shi'ites". Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad's Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 80 km (50 miles) north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi’ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi’ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a “gathering of Shi’ites”. Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad’s Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 80 km (50 miles) north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi’ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi’ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a “gathering of Shi’ites”. Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad’s Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]BAGHDAD—Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 50 miles north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi'ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi'ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a "gathering of Shi'ites". Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad's Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]BAGHDAD—Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 50 miles north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi'ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi'ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a "gathering of Shi'ites". Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad's Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]BAGHDAD—Islamic State has claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 at a wedding party near the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala late on Sunday. Five assailants including the suicide bomber attacked the celebration in Ain al-Tamr, west of Kerbala in southern Iraq, firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, the police said. All the attackers were killed by security forces. The bombing is the first in the Kerbala region since Iraqi forces dislodged Islamic State militants from their stronghold in Falluja, 50 miles north of city. The ultra-hardline Sunni group has been retreating since last year in the face of government forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition and Iranian-supported Shi'ite militias. But it remains in control of parts of northern and western Iraq and continues to claim bombings all over the country, targeting mainly Shi'ite districts and cities. A statement on the Amaq news agency that supports Islamic State said the attack was carried out by four of its suicide fighters against a "gathering of Shi'ites". Initial reports in local media late, citing security sources, blamed the killings on a dispute between two tribes at the wedding party. Islamic State claimed a truck bomb that killed at least 325 people in Baghdad's Karrada shopping street in July, the deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.[SEP]An Iraqi security official says a suicide bomber has struck a wedding south of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people. Lt. Gen. Qais al-Mohammedawi says five suicide bombers took part in the attack in the village of Ein Tamr on Monday, but that the other four were killed by security forces. Ein Tamr is about 40 km (25 miles) west of the Shiite holy city of Karbala.[SEP]BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi security official says a suicide bomber has struck a wedding south of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people. Lt. Gen. Qais al-Mohammedawi says five suicide bombers took part in the attack in the village of Ein Tamer on Monday, but that the other four were killed by security forces. He says they were members of the Islamic State group, which has stepped up attacks on security forces and the country's Shiite majority in recent months as it has suffered a string of battlefield setbacks. Ein Tamr is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the Shiite holy city of Karbala.[SEP](CNN) ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people and injured 16 others at a wedding late Sunday in the central Iraqi city of Karbala. A statement released by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency said four suicide attackers targeted "a Shiite gathering." Iraqi authorities said there were five would-be suicide bombers, and that security members killed four. The attacker who targeted the wedding sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire and threw hand grenades before detonating his suicide vest, officials said. Karbala is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Baghdad and is one of the holiest cities for Shiite Muslims. Developing story - more to come[SEP]Another 16 people were wounded at the wedding Sunday evening in Karbala. A statement released by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency said four suicide attackers targeted "a Shiite gathering." Iraqi authorities said there were five would-be suicide bombers, and that security members killed four. The attacker who targeted the wedding sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire and threw hand grenades before detonating his suicide vest, officials said.

A suicide bombing kills at least 15 people at a wedding in the southern Shiite city of Kerbala.

Migrants fleeing Libya on board a dinghy wait to be rescued by emergency teams, as they sailed in the Mediterranean sea towards the Italian coast, about 17 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on Aug. 28, 2016. More than seven hundred migrants were rescued Sunday morning from seven boats by members of the Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian coast guard.[SEP]Over 3,000 migrants are rescued on Monday off the coast of Libya with the majority of them hailing from Eritrea and Somalia. One of the 20 boats contained over 700 refugees that were rescued 13 miles from Sabratha, Libya. They were rescued by two NGO’s and the Italian navy in the Mediterranean Sea[SEP](CNN) A five-day-old newborn peers out from a pink blanket. His dark, almond-shaped eyes stare directly at the camera, his tiny hand tucked underneath his chin. His short life has been anything but easy. He, his twin brother and his mother were among the 6,500 refugees and migrants rescued over 30 hours while attempting to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean. Italian officers rescue a woman from a crowded wooden boat carrying more than 700 migrants during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya. Medecins Sans Frontieres' ship Dignity 1 and the Spanish humanitarian group Proactiva Open Arms rescued people aboard 15 rubber boats and one wooden boat Monday. BREAKING: The #Dignity1 , alongside @PROACTIVA_SERV , has helped to rescue 15 rubber boats and 1 wooden boat today. pic.twitter.com/ezsYTtV55H MSF found the twins and their mother aboard one of the boats. The three of them were transferred via Medevac for treatment in Italy, according to a tweet from MSF. UPDATE: The 5 day old babies have been transferred for a medevac to Italy, On the same day, MSF, Proactiva Open Arms and crews from the Italian Coast Guard rescued more than 3,000 migrants off the coast of Libya. Most of the rescues took place off the coast of Libya and one was in Maltese waters. Forty different organizations -- including EU's Marine mission "Sophia" which fights smugglers and Frontex, the European Agency tasked with border security -- rescued around 6,500 migrants in a single day, according to the Italian Coast Guard. The rescued migrants are being taken to Italian ports in Calabria and Sicily. The number of people plucked from sea on Monday was much higher than the average. For comparison, the route was used by 2,197 migrants in the week that started August 14, according to the International Organization for Migration. Monday's rate nearly tripled that weekly amount. Most of the migrants rescued this week came from sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the migrants using the central Mediterranean route, which is from Libya or other north African countries to Italy, are from Nigeria, Eritrea and Gambia according to the IOM. The main departure route for refugees from Africa has been Libya, according to the IOM , as migrants take advantage of the country's ongoing political chaos to escape over their mostly open borders. Libya's crisis has helped boost a lucrative smuggling business as African migrants who reach southern Libya are transported through the desert to northern beaches where they board boats bound for Europe. Of those who climbed into boats, 3,165 people have died at sea. Migrants have boarded plastic rafts that deflate and overcrowded wooden fishing boats that have overturned and tossed people overboard. Most of the deaths in 2016 came from people risking this particular route, which is considered dramatically more dangerous. Vessels tend to be more crowded, often carrying 600 or more passengers, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. Many are fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, while others are escaping poverty or repression in Africa. Millions of migrants have been driven toward Europe via the Mediterranean. But as migrant boats and rafts cross the Mediterranean Sea, gateways into Europe are narrowing and many are growing wary.[SEP]OFF THE COAST OF LIBYA (AP) — Spanish and Italian naval ships, along with vessels from non-government groups, are rescuing thousands of migrants off the Libyan coast. Monday's dramatic operation is taking place just 21 kilometers (13 miles) north of the town of Sabratha in Libya. Groups such as Proactiva Open Arms and Doctors Without Borders are helping take on some 3,000 people who had been travelling in some 20 small wooden boats. Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation at the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued Monday morning from more than 20 boats by members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian cost guards and others NGO vessels operating at the zone.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Migrants from Eritrea and Somalia cheered as the rescue boats arrived, with some jumping into the water and swimming toward them while others carefully carried babies onto the rescue ships. Tens of thousands of Africans take the dangerous Mediterranean Sea route as a gateway to a better life in Europe. Libya's chaos and lack of border controls have made it into a transit route. Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation at the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued Monday morning from more than 20 boats by members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian cost guards and others NGO vessels operating at the zone. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation on the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued Monday morning from more than 20 boats by members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian cost guards and others NGO vessels operating at the zone. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jumps into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation at the Mediterranean sea, about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued Monday morning from more than 20 boats by members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO before transferring them to the Italian cost guards and others NGO vessels operating in the zone.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)[SEP]More than 700 migrants fleeing war-torn Libya have been rescued in the Mediterranean sea today. Refugees fleeing the troubled country on small inflatable dinghies were rescued by emergency teams as they sailed toward the Italian coast, about 17 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, earlier this morning. Members of Proactiva Open Arms NGO, a group set up to help rescue migrants at sea, helped pull them from their inflatable boats before handing them over to the Italian coastguards operating in the area. Thousands of migrants try each year to flee Libya and make it to Italy but many drown during the crossing. They cram into boats that are small and unsafe for the 190-mile perilous journey from Libya's shores. A total of 4,027 migrants and refugees have perished since January trying to flee wars and poverty looking for a better life mainly in Europe, the International Organisation for Migration said last week. Of that total, some 3,120 died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, including 120 who drowned off Libya's coastal town of Sabratha at the end of July, it said.[SEP]About 6,500 migrants have been rescued off Libya, the Italian coastguard says, in one of the biggest operations of its kind to date. Some 40 co-ordinated rescue missions took place about 20km (12 miles) off the Libyan town of Sabratha, it added. Video footage shows migrants, said to be from Eritrea and Somalia, cheering and some swimming to rescue vessels, while others carried babies aboard. On Sunday more than 1,100 migrants were rescued in the same area. The instability in Libya has made the country a hub for people-trafficking. Monday’s operations involved vessels from Italy as well as the EU’s border agency Frontex and the NGOs Proactiva Open Arms and Medecins Sans Frontieres. The migrants had set off in overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels with enough fuel to reach waiting rescuers, AP reported. Last year more than 1m migrants – many fleeing the civil war in Syria – arrived in Europe, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people. In March, the EU struck a deal with Turkey to try to stop migrants crossing from Turkey to Greece while Balkan nations closed their borders to migrants, moves that have reduced the number of arrivals using the so-called eastern Mediterranean route. However, migrants from African countries such as Eritrea and Somalia as well as west African nations such as Nigeria and the Gambia are continuing to attempt the crossing from Libya to Italy. About 106,000 people have arrived in Italy so far this year while 2,726 have died in the attempt, according to the International Organization for Migration. The IOM says there are a further 275,000 migrants in Libya waiting to travel. Overall, about 284,000 migrants have entered Europe so far this year through various transit routes across Africa, Asia or the Middle East.[SEP]Startling images have emerged of refugees being rescued off the coast of Libya, showing what has become an everyday occurrence in the southern Mediterranean Sea over the past three years. Photographs show Italian rescuers coming to the aid of asylum seekers on a smuggling boat that was so overcrowded that several had been forced to dangle their legs over the side. During the commotion of the rescue, some leapt into the water to reach safety. The images were taken during the rescue on Monday of approximately 3,000 people, many from Eritrea and Somalia, who had set off in about 20 wooden fishing boats a few hours earlier. The scenes highlight the dangerous tactics of Libyan smugglers, who put so many people on each repurposed fishing trawler that it is highly unlikely the migrants will reach Italy without being rescued by the charity boats and military missions operating in the area. While the numbers migrating between Turkey and Greece has fallen substantially since March, after the completion of an agreement between the EU and Turkey, crossings between Libya and Italy remain at near-record levels. More than 100,000 people have left north Africa for Italy so far this year, on a par with last year’s rate, and only slightly less than the record figures in 2014. Most of the migrants this year are fleeing war and poverty in Nigeria and Ivory Coast, or dictatorships in Eritrea and Gambia. Others are migrant workers who hoped to make a living in Libya, but were forced to flee the country due to the civil war there, and the ensuing breakdown of law and order. Migrants in Libya often work in conditions that amount to slave labour. Others are kidnapped for ransom, and many are tortured. In a recent interview on a Mediterranean rescue ship, aid workers from Médecins Sans Frontières said the wounds that migrants bore were often indescribable. “You can have the biggest imagination in the world, and you can’t imagine the kind of violence they’ve been subjected to,” Paola Mazzoni, an MSF doctor, said in June. Without the money for a plane ticket home, thousands opt to make for Europe instead of journeying back through the Sahara to their countries of origin, in a deadly desert trek that is considered even more dangerous than the voyage across the Mediterranean. Since 2014, charities such as MSF, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station and Save the Children – as well as anti-smuggling missions run by European navies – have attempted to rescue those risking the sea journey. Critics say they are encouraging more migrants to make the journey – but when rescues were suspended in early 2015, more migrants left Libya than ever before, and more migrants drowned. This month, an MSF boat was attacked and raided by the Libyan navy for reasons that remain unclear.[SEP]By Emilio Morenatti, The Associated Press OFF THE COAST OF LIBYA — Italian naval ships and vessels from non-government groups rescued thousands of migrants off the Libyan coast Monday, the latest surge in desperate attempts to flee to Europe driven by war, poverty and human traffickers. The dramatic operation took place just 13 miles north of the town of Sabratha, Libya. Groups such as Proactiva Open Arms and Doctors Without Borders helped take on 3,000 people who had been traveling in about 20 small wooden boats. Migrants from Eritrea and Somalia cheered as the rescue boats arrived, with some jumping into the water and swimming toward them while others carefully carried babies onto the rescue ships. Their boats too weak and technically unequipped for a voyage across the stretch of the Mediterranean to the shores of Italy, the migrants had set off with a bit of gasoline in the crowded vessels, hoping to make it at least 15-20 miles out to sea and reach awaiting rescuers. Tens of thousands of Africans take the dangerous Mediterranean Sea route as a gateway to a better life in Europe, alongside those fleeing wars from Syria to Afghanistan. Libya’s chaos and lack of border controls have made it into a transit route. Since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, the country has sunk into lawlessness, facing myriad militias vying for influence and an emerging Islamic State affiliate. In June, the European Union expanded its anti-smuggling operation in the central Mediterranean to include training Libyan coastal and naval forces.[SEP]Italian naval ships and vessels from nongovernment groups rescued thousands of migrants off the Libyan coast on Monday, the latest surge in desperate attempts to flee to Europe driven by war, poverty, and human traffickers. The dramatic operation took place just 21 km (13 miles) north of the town of Sabratha in Libya. Groups such as Proactiva Open Arms and Doctors Without Borders helped take on some 3,000 people who had been traveling in some 20 small wooden boats. In images and video by The Associated Press, migrants from Eritrea and Somalia cheered as the rescue boats arrived, with some jumping into the water and swimming toward them while others carefully carried babies onto the rescue ships. Tens of thousands of Africans take the dangerous Mediterranean Sea route as a gateway to a better life in Europe, alongside those fleeing wars from Syria to Afghanistan. Libya’s chaos and lack of border controls have made it into a transit route. Since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the country has sunk into lawlessness, facing a myriad of militias vying for influence and an emerging Islamic State affiliate. In June, the European Union expanded its anti-smuggling operation in the central Mediterranean to include training Libyan coastal and naval forces, which are intercepting boats and returning migrants to Libya, where some are being held in abusive conditions. Rights groups and experts estimate that there are about 3,500 migrants held in roughly 20 official detention facilities across Libya. Others are held in informal detention centers controlled by criminal gangs or armed groups.[SEP]Most migrants heading to Italy originate from West Africa and the Horn of Africa, often departing from Libya en masse when the sea is calm and a southern wind can push boats up into international waters. By Yaraq Nardi (Italian Red Cross/AFP/File) Rome (AFP) - Around 6,500 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya, the Italian coastguard said, in one of its busiest days of life-saving in recent years. Dramatic images of one operation showed about 700 migrants crammed onto a fishing boat, with some of them jumping off the vessel in life jackets and swimming towards rescuers. A five-day-old baby was among those rescued along with other infants and was airlifted to an Italian hospital, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which took part in operations. "The command centre coordinated 40 rescue operations" that included vessels from Italy, humanitarian organisations as well as the EU's border agency Frontex, saving 6,500 migrants, the coastguard wrote on Twitter. "We've been particularly busy today," a spokesman for the Italian coastguard told AFP. On Sunday more than 1,100 migrants were rescued in the same area. The total number of arrivals in Italy this year now stands at 112,500, according to the UN's refugee agency and the coastguard, slightly below the 116,000 recorded by the same point in 2015. Almost all of those migrants originate from West Africa and the Horn of Africa, often departing from Libya en masse when the sea is calm and a southern wind can push boats up into international waters. Such days often come one after another, leading to large numbers of boats over a short period. More than 13,000 people were rescued in under a week at the end of May, and 8,300 more at the start of August. The Italian coastguard predicted that weather conditions would encourage the departure of further migrant boats Tuesday. The vessels are often flimsy and overcrowded while some of the migrants set off in such poor health that even if the crossing is calm they cannot survive a day at sea. There are around a dozen vessels run by humanitarian groups that patrol the waters off the Libyan coast, but tensions in the zone have flared recently as rival factions battle to control migrant trafficking. This month an MSF ship taking part in migrant rescue operations came under attack from armed men who shot at the vessel before briefly climbing aboard, the medical charity said. Nobody was hurt in the incident, which took place on August 17, the group said. More than 3,000 migrants have died at sea while trying to reach either Greece or Italy since the start of this year, an increase of some 50 percent on the same period in 2015. Some 204,000 others crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in the first six months of this year, the UN refugee agency said, as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. Last year more than one million migrants made the journey to Europe, with the majority fleeing war in Syria and the Middle East.

The Spanish-based Proactiva Open Arms NGO rescues more than 700 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea about 17 miles north of Sabratha, Libya. The rescued, who are from Nigeria, are transferred to the Italian Coast Guard.

AMATRICE, Italy (Reuters) - Rescuers believe they have found more bodies buried deep in the rubble of the ruined town of Amatrice, five days after a devastating earthquake struck central Italy, killing at least 290 people. Residents of the hill town estimated that up to 10 people were still missing and emergency services said they had located three corpses in Amatrice’s Hotel Roma, which, like much of the historic center, was wrecked by Wednesday’s quake. Deputy Mayor Gianluca Carloni said his uncle’s body had still not been recovered from the hotel, which was particularly busy at this time of year because of a food festival. “It is absolutely vital to finish as soon as possible this initial (search) phase to make sure that there are no more bodies under the rubble,” he said. Museums across Italy donated proceeds from their ticket sales on Sunday to help the rebuilding effort, while top flight soccer teams held a minute’s silence before their weekend matches out of respect for the victims. Pope Francis led prayers for the dead in his weekly address in St Peter’s Square in Rome, saying he wanted to go to the earthquake zone to bring comfort to the survivors. “Dear brothers and sisters, as soon as it is possible, I hope to come and visit you,” he said. Priests in the quake zone held their regular Sunday services in large tents. Amatrice’s municipal website said the town had 100 churches, but every one was damaged by the disaster and many would have to be demolished. FALLEN MASONRY With aftershocks continuing to rattle the region, including a magnitude 4.4 quake centered on the nearby city of Ascoli Piceno, residents were still struggling to absorb the disaster. A rescue worker and a dog search among debris following an earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, August 27, 2016. REUTERS/Ciro De Luca “It took me 20 years to get my house, and then, in just 10 seconds, it was gone, like so many others,” said Ascenzio Attenni, who lived in the hamlet of Sant’Angelo outside Amatrice, where eight people died. “We have to thank God that we are alive,” he said, before breaking down in tears. Rescue operations in most of the area were halted two days ago, but teams were still combing Amatrice, which is 105 km (65 miles) east of Rome. The fire service said it was trying to remove some of the fallen masonry at the Hotel Roma and create a safe path to retrieve the three bodies as soon as possible. The Civil Protection Department lowered the official death toll on Sunday to 290 from a previously given 291. A number of foreigners were among the dead, including 11 Romanians, the foreign ministry in Bucharest said. Many Romanians work in Italy and Bucharest said 14 of its nationals were still unaccounted for. Italy has promised to rebuild the shattered communities and has said it will learn from the mistakes following a similar earthquake in the nearby city of L’Aquila in 2009, where much of the center is still out of bounds. Slideshow (2 Images) The rebuilding effort was stalled following allegations that organized crime groups had muscled in to obtain lucrative contracts. Italy’s anti-mafia chief Franco Roberti said the experience of L’Aquila would serve well this time around, but warned that the government could not lower its guard. “The risks are there and it is pointless to pretend otherwise,” he told la Repubblica newspaper. “Post-quake reconstruction is always very appetising for criminal gangs and their business partners.”[SEP]Death toll in Yemen war rises to at least 10,000-UN SANAA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The death toll in Yemen's 18-month-old civil war stands at about 10,000, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator said on Tuesday, an increase from estimates of more than 6,000 cited by officials and aid workers for much of 2016. Jamie McGoldrick told a new conference in the Yemeni capital that the new figure was based on official information provided by medical facilities in Yemen. He said he believed the toll might be even higher since some areas had no medical facilities, and relatives there often buried loved ones directly. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari, writing by Sami Aboudi, Editing by William Maclean)

Officials report the death toll is at least 290 people with at least 10 others still missing.

(Reuters) - A bus with an unlicensed driver spun out of control near New Orleans on Sunday, killing two people and injuring 41, while taking volunteers to help with Louisiana flood relief, officials said. A private rental bus involved in a multiple car accident which killed two people is seen in a picture released by the Louisiana State Police. Louisiana State Police/Handout via Reuters St. John the Baptist Fire District Chief Spencer Chauvin was among those killed in the early morning crash after the chartered bus slammed into him as he tried to help victims of another accident, Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Melissa Matey told reporters at a news conference. Two other firefighters were injured in the crash, one critically, and a passenger in another vehicle struck by the bus died at the scene, the spokeswoman said. The driver, who was unauthorized to drive a commercial vehicle, was in custody and would be booked on suspicion of negligent homicide, reckless driving and driving without a license, Matey said. “All three firemen were thrown over the guard rail and into the water below,” Matey said. The incident started when a speeding pickup truck spun out of control, bouncing from one side of the road to the other before coming to rest along the right lane and shoulder of Interstate 10 near the community of Laplace, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of New Orleans, Matey said. The firefighters and state police troopers were on scene to investigate when the bus, also out of control, slammed into the fire truck and a Toyota Camry, Matey said. Jermaine Starr, a passenger in the Camry, was pronounced dead at the scene. It was not immediately clear why the bus driver, Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, 37, lost control. Rodriguez, who is from Honduras, was in the United States illegally and Homeland Security officials are assisting the state in its investigation, Matey said. The Acadian Ambulance Service said on Twitter it had taken 38 people to hospitals and that a second ambulance company had transported three to hospitals. Matey said at the news conference that most of the injuries to the 24 people on the bus were minor to moderate. The bus, filled with volunteers to help residents recover from massive flooding in Louisiana earlier this month, was traveling westbound on Interstate 10 when it crashed into the fire truck and another vehicle, the television station and other media reported. As many as 60,600 homes were reported damaged or destroyed in flooding that ravaged 20 parishes, or counties, in the southern part of Louisiana. About 3,000 residents were still living in shelters as of Aug. 22, officials said last week.[SEP](CNN) An undocumented immigrant was piloting a charter bus that he wasn't licensed to drive when it crashed Sunday morning in Louisiana, killing two people and injuring dozens, police said. The bus was full of workers headed to Baton Rouge on Interstate 10 to help with flood cleanup, said Louisiana State Police Trooper Melissa Matey. The driver was Denis Yasmir Amaya Rodriguez, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, Matey said. One of those killed was St. John the Baptist Parish Fire District Chief Spencer Chauvin, Matey said. The wreck happened at 6:40 a.m when the black charter bus came up on a blocked crash scene on Interstate 10 where Chauvin and two firefighters were assisting at a minor accident near LaPlace, Louisiana, west of New Orleans by Lake Pontchartrain. "The bus driver lost control of the bus, struck a fire truck, veered across the right lane, striking other vehicles, then veered and struck three firefighters, who, all three, were thrown over the guardrail," Matey said. While the bus was transporting workers, it was a party bus belonging to Kristina's Transportation LLC/AM Party Bus out of Jefferson, Louisiana, Matey said. Police are still investigating the crash, she said. Police gave this account: Chauvin, 36 of Gramercy, was standing with two firefighters by the interstate guardrail after responding to a crash early that morning. The firefighters had used one of their trucks to block the right lane of the interstate so they, police and the towing company could deal with the crash. A state trooper had his patrol car parked with blue lights flashing to warn early morning drivers. At least two other cars -- a Toyota Camry and a Chevrolet Silverado -- were stopped behind the emergency vehicles. As the 2002 Eldorado National bus, which was speeding, approached the crash scene, it clipped the fire truck, police said. The bus then struck the rear of the Camry, shoving it into the rear of the Silverado and a flatbed trailer. The bus then veered and struck all three firefighters, hurling them into water about 35-feet below, police said. Donna Vicknair, a longtime employee with the St. John the Baptist Parish, said Chauvin comes from a firefighting family. His father, Ivy "Sonny" Chauvin, is a retired fire chief and both his brothers work as firefighters. Vicknair said Chauvin was a volunteer until 2004, when the department went from volunteer to full time and he chose to make firefighting his career. He was married and leaves behind two young children, a boy and a girl. "He will be missed a whole lot around here," she said. "I will always remember Chief Chauvin as a good person." One of Chauvin's brothers, Lance Chauvin, posted his thoughts on his Facebook page: "Never in my life did I expect to lose my brother. Everyone knows how dangerous our job is. We know how dangerous our job is. He gave his life to make other people's lives better. He was doing what he loved. Maybe one day I'll be half the man you are. Fly High Spencer." The other person killed, Jermaine Starr, 21, of Moss Point, Mississippi, was in the backseat of the Camry, police said. Firefighter William Mack Beal, 35, of Gonzales, was taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries, and firefighter Nicholas Saale, 32, of Ponchatoula, was airlifted to New Orleans with critical injuries, police said. "This is a very sad day for all first responders in Louisiana," said Col. Mike Edmonson, Louisiana State Police superintendent. "Louisiana has the 'move over' law in place to protect our first responders on our roadways. Please adhere to this law and slow down when approaching emergency vehicles and disabled vehicles on the road." The Camry driver, Marcus Tate, 35 of Moss Point, was airlifted to Baton Rouge with serious injuries. Two of his passengers, Vontravous Kelly and David Jones, both of Moss Point, were hospitalized. Kelly is in critical condition and Jones is in serious condition, police said. The Silverado contained three adults and two children, all of Kenner, Louisiana, who were taken to local hospitals with minor or moderate injuries, as were at least 24 passengers on the bus, police said. Police initially reported 35-40 people were on the bus and authorities are still trying to identify all the victims, who are at various hospitals, Matey said. It's not known who chartered the bus, she said. The road was wet from light rain, but troopers who are investigating the crash don't know if weather was the main cause of the accident, Matey said. Rodriguez, who was also treated at a hospital, will be booked into the St. John the Baptist Correctional Center and charged with two counts of negligent homicide, reckless operation, and having no driver's license, Matey said.[SEP]St. John the Baptist Fire District Chief Spencer Chauvin died Sunday morning after the charter bus slammed into him as he tried to help victims of another accident, television station WWLTV of New Orleans reported, citing police and parish President Natalie Robottom. Two other firefighters were injured in the crash and a second person, who has not yet been identified, also died, the television station said. "It is a sad day in the St. John the Baptist Parish as we lost one of the bravest and most dedicated firefighters that I know," Robottom said in a statement according to the television station. The bus driver, identified as 37-year-old Denis Amaya Rodriguez, was in custody on suspicion of multiple violations, NBC News reported, citing Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Melissa Matey. Rodriguez, who is from Honduras, was in the U.S. illegally, the network reported, citing Matey. Few details were available Sunday afternoon about the cause of the accident. Matey told NBC that 41 people on the bus suffered minor injuries. A local ambulance company said on Twitter it had transported 38 people to hospitals from the scene of the accident on Interstate 10 near the community of Laplace, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of New Orleans. The company, Acadian Ambulance Service, said that a second ambulance company had transported three additional people to hospitals. The bus, filled with volunteers to help residents recover from massive flooding in Louisiana earlier this month, was traveling westbound on Interstate 10 when it crashed into the fire truck and another vehicle, the television station and other media reported. As many as 60,600 homes were reported damaged or destroyed in flooding that ravaged 20 parishes, or counties, in the southern part of Louisiana. About 3,000 residents were still living in shelters as of Aug. 22, officials said last week.[SEP]NEW ORLEANS (AP) — U.S. Coast Guard officials say one person has been rescued and crews are searching for at least one more after a small plane crashed into a lake near a New Orleans airport. NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune, WWL-TV and WBRZ-TV report that Coast Guard personnel responded to the scene Saturday night after the aircraft crashed in the vicinity of the Seabrook Bridge near Lakefront Airport. The airport is located adjacent to Lake Ponchatrain, about 10 miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Coast Guard officials say the Cessna training flight crashed about 8:30 p.m. The person rescued was transferred to a New Orleans hospital in unknown condition. No further details were immediately available.[SEP]NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana State Police say an out-of-control bus carrying flood recovery volunteers hit a fire truck and firefighters who had responded to an earlier wreck, killing two people and injuring dozens. Trooper Melissa Matey told NOLA.com ' The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/2bKiYW8 ) that the bus driver did not have a commercial license and was not authorized to drive a bus. Matey tells local news media that the dead included a local fire chief and the injured included the 30 to 40 people on the bus. She described them as volunteers heading from New Orleans to Baton Rouge to help flood victims.[SEP]NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Authorities say a woman has been rescued and two men remain missing after a small plane crashed into a lake near a New Orleans airport. New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman Dawne Massey said in a statement early Sunday that department officials responded at 8:53 p.m. Saturday to a report that a Cessna aircraft carrying three people had crashed into Lake Ponchatrain near New Orleans Lakefront Airport. The airport is located about 10 miles northeast of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Massey said one female passenger was picked up by a private yacht and transported to Ochsner Hospital. Her medical condition was not immediately known. Massey said NOPD divers were preparing to deploy in an effort to locate the additional two male passengers and the wreckage. No further details were immediately available.

A bus carrying volunteers crashes into emergency vehicles responding to an earlier accident near New Orleans killing two, including the St. John the Baptist Fire District Chief, and injuring 43 more.

'PROMOTE LIFE.' Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle denounces all forms of murder, from extrajudicial killings and abortion, as he promotes 'integral life.' File photo by Noli Yamsuan MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle condemned all forms of murder, from slaying drug suspects to aborting babies, as he broke his silence on the recent spate of killings in the Philippines. Tagle also denounced the illegal drug trade – a way of "murdering" the youth's dreams – in one of his first public messages on the recent extrajudicial killings. In a conference and interview quoted by Church-run Radyo Veritas on Sunday, August 28, Tagle pushed for the protection of all lives – "buhay ng kahit sino, hindi lamang buhay na gusto nating protektahan" (the lives of anyone, not only the lives we want to protect). "Basta taong may buhay, kahit sino pa siya, ang buhay na 'yun ay sagrado. Alam ko na ngayon na ang malaking usapin ay ang nagiging mga pagpatay – sabi pati raw sa mga hindi guilty, sa mga inosente – pero kahit nga guilty man o hindi guilty, ang buhay ay dapat alagaan at igalang. At kung guilty, bigyan ng bagong buhay – pagkakataong makabangon mula sa lumang buhay," Tagle said. (As long as one is alive, whoever he or she is, that life is sacred. I know that the big issue nowadays is the recent spate of killings – which, they say, afflicts even those not guilty, the innocent – but whether a person is guilty or not, life should be cared for and respected. And if a person is guilty, give him new life – the opportunity to rise from his old life.) Tagle's statement comes as more than 750 people have been killed by police in anti-drug operations while more than a thousand have been slain by shadowy figures. (READ: Duterte offers P2-M bounty for cops into drug trade) Cardinal hits abortion, too Tagle told Radyo Veritas, "Ang Diyos ay Diyos ng buhay kaya dapat alagaan ang buhay. Pero marami worried sa extrajudicial killings. At dapat lang." (God is a God of life so we need to protect life. But many are worried about extrajudicial killings. And rightfully so.) The cardinal continued: "Sana naman worried din tayo sa abortion. Bakit kaunti ang nagsasalita against abortion? Pagpatay din 'yan. Unfair labor practices – isang uri rin 'yan ng pagpatay ng dangal ng manggagawa." (I hope we're also worried about abortion. Why are only a few people speaking out against abortion? That's also murder. Unfair labor practices – that's also a form of murder against the dignity of laborers.) He added, "'Yung tapon tayo ng tapon ng pagkain, kailangan munang nasa basura bago pupulutin ng iba at ipapakain sa pamilya nila, pagpatay din 'yan sa mga batang walang makain." (Those wasting food, those putting food in the garbage can before others pick it up and feed it to their families, that is also a form of murder against children with nothing to eat.) Tagle said: "Bantayan natin ang abortion; ang mga batang hindi pa naisisilang ay walang kalaban-laban. Ang pagtitinda ng bawal na gamot, ang pagtulak sa mga kabataan sa bisyo – 'yan ay isang uri din ng pagpatay ng kanilang pangarap, kaisipan, pagpatay ng kanilang magagandang pakikisama sa pamilya." (Let's guard against abortion; children who haven't been born are helpless. Selling illegal drugs, pushing the youth to go into vices – that's also a form of murder against their dreams, their minds, their good relationships with their families.) Tagle: Promote 'integral life' "Be consistent to promote whole or integral life. Let us not be selective," he said. Tagle, in the past, had been active in other issues involving life. These issues include the Catholic Church's fight against the Reproductive Health Law, a measure that legislates state funding for contraceptives. Tagle now joins a growing number of religious groups and individuals that have criticized the recent killings in the Philippines: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, as a whole, has not issued any statement on the killings since President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30. The last statement on this from the CBCP was against "vigilantism," issued less than two weeks before Duterte began his term. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com[SEP]WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will meet controversial Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte next week, the White House said, despite concerns over a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,000 lives. Since taking office two months ago, Duterte has begun making good on an election pledge to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals, prompting criticism from rights groups who accuse him of inciting vigilante murders. He has also lashed out at the United Nations and described the US ambassador to Manila as a “son of a whore.” However, the White House said Obama would meet the firebrand leader on the sidelines of a summit in Laos, which begins on September 6, with the US president likely to voice disquiet over the bloodshed and Duterte’s abusive remarks. “We absolutely expect that the president will raise concerns about some of the recent statements from the president of the Philippines,” Obama aide Ben Rhodes told reporters in Washington on Monday. “We regularly meet with the leaders of our treaty allies where we have differences, whether it relates to human rights practices or derogatory comments. We take the opportunity of those meetings to raise those issues directly.” Duterte’s war on crime has seen unknown assailants kill more than half the victims, according to police statistics, raising fears that security forces and hired assassins are shooting dead anyone suspected of being involved in drugs. Police have reported killing 756 people they have branded drug suspects, although they have insisted they are only acting in self-defense. The US State Department last week said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of extra judicial killings. The UN’s special rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, also said Duterte’s promise of immunity and bounties to security forces who killed drug suspects violated international law. Duterte responded by threatening to quit the United Nations, saying: “If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you.” He later said his threat to withdraw from the UN was a joke, but continued to repeatedly criticize the international body. And after garnering more bad headlines overseas for calling the US ambassador “gay” and a “son of a whore,” Duterte refused to apologize. The Philippines, a former US colony, was regarded as one of the United States’ most loyal allies in Asia until Duterte took office. The two nations are bound by a mutual defense pact. AFP[SEP]MANILA, Philippines — On the day he was sworn into office, President Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to “go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.” Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users lay dead as morgues continue to fill up. Faced with criticism of his actions by rights activists, international bodies and outspoken Filipinos, including the top judge, Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work. According to a survey early last month, he has the support of nearly 91 percent of Filipinos. The independent poll was done during his first week in office, and no new surveys have come out since then. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate hearing this week that police have recorded more than 1,900 dead, including 756 suspected drug dealers and users who were gunned down after they resisted arrest. More than 1,000 other deaths are under investigation, and some of them may not be drug-related, he said. Jayeel Cornelio, a doctor of sociology and director of Ateneo de Manila University’s Development Studies Program, said he suspects only a few of Duterte’s supporters are disillusioned by the killings and his rhetoric because voters trust his campaign promise to crush drug criminals. They also find resonance in his cursing and no-holds-barred comments. Duterte’s death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humor have enamored Filipinos living on the margins of society. He overwhelmingly won the election, mirroring public exasperation over the social ills he condemns. Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings “may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good,” a sentiment echoed by a deluge of comments by Duterte supporters in social media deriding his critics and defending the brutal war on drugs. “The killings are OK so there will be less criminals, drug pushers and drug addicts in our society,” said Rex Alisoso, a 25-year-old cleaner in Manila. He said people have gotten used to the way Duterte talks and voted for him knowing his ways. Kim Labasan, a Manila shopkeeper, said she does not like Duterte’s constant swearing, his “stepping on too many toes,” and his decision to allow late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery. But she supports the anti-drug war despite the rising death toll because, she said, she has personally seen the effects of drugs. Addicts in her hometown north of Manila have ended up with “poisoned brains” and even robbed her family’s home. “A battle of moralities is being waged right now by this administration — before, if you were a human rights advocate you are a hero of the country, now you are seen as someone who can destroy the country,” Cornelio said. He said that Duterte fosters “penal populism” — identifying a particular enemy, a criminal, and then hunting him down to death. Because the results are visible, tangible and people feel it, “it becomes more important than many other things to the ordinary person.” Duterte has said drugs were destroying the country. In his State of the Nation Address last month, he said “human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy the country.” He also lashed out at U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, calling him gay in derogatory terms, after he criticized Duterte’s rape comments during the presidential campaign. He threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations because of U.N. comments condemning extrajudicial killings, saying he did not “give a s---” about the consequences. The following day, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said the Philippines was not leaving the U.N. and Duterte made the comment only because he was tired, angry and frustrated. Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, said Duterte “is steamrolling the rule of law and its advocates both at home and abroad.” The killings suggest his aggressive rhetoric advocating extrajudicial solutions to criminality has found a receptive audience, Kine said. “His supporters are cheering him on, but wait till one of them is killed,” said Ferdie Monasterio, a driver of a ride-sharing company who doesn’t support Duterte. “He is no different from Marcos and it looks like he wants to establish a dictatorship.” Cornelio said the death toll is not the clincher in turning public sentiment against Duterte, because a lot of people look at them as justified killings. He said that Dutere’s first year will be crucial since he promised quick action. “I think the threshold has to do with the delivery of the promises,” he said.[SEP]Duterte takes war on drugs to the stage MANILA, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Philippine police, heavily criticised by rights groups for killing hundreds of drug dealers and users, are using a comedy puppet of Rodrigo Duterte to get the president's war on drugs message across to Manila school children. The Philippine National Police began the show, which also features a puppet of police chief Ronald dela Rosa, in Manila schools this month, the latest step in the anti-drug drive of Duterte, nicknamed "the Punisher", who won the presidency in May based on a platform of wiping out narcotics. "I hate drugs, don't do drugs because you are the hope of the country," the Duterte puppet told children at an impoverished community near a large landfill in Manila. Police have also employed a smiling, dancing mascot that looks like dela Rosa to spread the message at other youth events in the Filipino capital, with a comic book also commissioned to encourage children to stay away from drugs. "This is part of our programme to convince and maintain the safety of our people, especially those who have not been subjected to vices," Remigio Sedanto, the police community relations chief, said of the drive. More than 1,900 people have been killed, according to police figures, in the anti-drug drive since Duterte came to power with the president saying there would be no let up in the fight during a National Heroes Day speech on Monday. Students from Manila theatre group U.P. Repertory are also using theatre to show their objection to Duterte's approach by re-enacting the death of a local college student, who they said was gunned down by police in one of their drug operations. Participants were blindfolded and seated inside a dimply lit room to simulate what happens inside a drug den, while actors hit items on the ground to mimic gunshots. "We want to show what is really happening to the youth, to those who are affected by these killings under the new president," said Gio Potes, the show's head writer. The United States, a close ally of the Philippines, said last week it was "deeply concerned" about the reports of extra-judicial drug killings and it urged Duterte's government to ensure that law-enforcement efforts "comply with its human rights obligation". (Reporting by Peter Blaza and Ronn Bautista; Writing by Patrick Johnston; Editing by Nick Macfie)[SEP]MANILA, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday promised rewards running to tens of thousands of dollars for information leading to the capture of police officers protecting drug syndicates and warned corrupt officials they would face "a day of reckoning". In a National Heroes Day speech, Duterte said there would be no let-up in a "war on drugs" in which - according to police figures - more than 1,900 people have been killed since he came to power two months ago. Police say the toll of about 36 people a day is a result of drug dealers resisting arrest or gang feuds. Duterte railed against critics who have complained that the poor who trade drugs to make a living are being targeted by the police, but added that army generals, city mayors, governors and police involved in the drug trade must also be stopped. "I consider the fight against drugs a war, there is a crisis in this country, it is drugs ... it has infected every nook and corner," he said in the speech to retired and serving soldiers, government officials and foreign diplomats. Singling out corrupt policemen known as "ninjas", who take pay-offs from drug lords, Duterte said he was placing a 2 million peso ($43,000) bounty on their heads, telling their colleagues to "squeal on your friends". Duterte, who won a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs and dealers, last month named about 160 officials, judges, police and soldiers who he said were protecting drug traffickers or selling drugs in their communities. The United States, a close ally of the Philippines, said last week it was "deeply concerned" about the reports of extra-judicial drug killings and it urged Duterte's government to ensure that law-enforcement efforts "comply with its human rights obligation". The crackdown and some strongly worded criticism Duterte has made of the United States since coming to power present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. This month, two U.N. human rights experts urged Manila to stop the extra-judicial executions and killings. Duterte responded by threatening to leave the United Nations. In his speech on Monday Duterte scoffed at accusations that he was trampling on human rights and said law enforcers should not worry about criminal liability while acting on his campaign. In the early hours of Monday a suspected drug lord and his wife were shot dead by a gunman as they stepped off a ferry in the central province of Iloilo, national police spokesman Dionardo Carlos said. Police said the man, Melvin Odicta who was also known as "Dragon", was returning from Manila where last week he had met the interior minister to deny accusations that he was the region's top drug dealer. National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa said on Friday he did not believe Odicta, telling officers: "Who are they fooling?" In a speech to thousands of drug users and pushers the previous day, dela Rosa encouraged them to kill drug lords because they were getting rich at the expense of the poor. "You want to kill them, then kill them, you can kill them because you are their victims here. You know who are the drug lords here, go to their houses, pour gasoline, set it on fire, show them you are angry at them." He later apologised for the comments. (Reporting by Karen Lema and Manuel Mogato; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Robert Birsel)[SEP]Addict risks everything in Duterte’s drug war – ‘It’s scary because I could be next’ MANILA: Pedicab driver Reyjin dives into a neighbor’s house for a quick meth fix, fearful of taking a bullet to the head in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs but unable to quit. More than 2,000 people have died violent deaths since Duterte took office two months ago and immediately implemented his scorched-earth plans to eradicate drugs in society, ordering police to shoot dead traffickers and urging ordinary citizens to kill addicts. The bloodbath has seen unknown assailants kill more than half the victims, according to police statistics, raising fears that security forces and hired assassins are roaming through communities and shooting dead anyone suspected of being involved in drugs. Armed police constantly circle in Reyjin’s Manila slum community, but he continues to snort the fumes of the highly addictive methamphetamine known as “shabu” that Duterte has warned is destroying the lives of millions of poor Filipinos. “It’s scary because I could be next,” said the gaunt, gap-toothed 28-year-old, speaking to AFP on the condition his identity not be revealed for security reasons. The father-of-three said two masked motorcycle gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle had shot dead a woman who sold small amounts of drugs to him and other residents. “She was sitting in the alley when she took two bullets to the head,” he said. Such riding-in-tandem murders are one of the most common forms of killings by the shadowy assassins. Often a piece of cardboard, with “drug peddler” or “drug addict” written on it, is placed on the corpse. This has led to the war on crime becoming known as “cardboard justice”. Meanwhile, police have reported killing 756 people they have branded drug suspects. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa has repeatedly defended his officers, insisting they only kill when their own lives are in danger. However two policemen have been charged with murder over the jailhouse deaths of a father and son, who autopsies showed to have been beaten so badly before being shot that their limbs were broken. The United Nations, the US government and human rights groups have expressed alarm at the bloodshed, with some critics warning the Philippines is in the midst of a reign of terror as authorities act with no regard for the law. Duterte and Dela Rosa have repeatedly insisted they are acting within the boundaries of the law, while accusing their critics of siding with the drug traffickers and ignoring the devastating consequences of what they describe as a national shabu crisis. They say most of the unexplained deaths are being carried out by drug syndicates waging war on each other. Yet on the day he was sworn into office, Duterte gave a speech to a crowd in a Manila slum in which he called on them to kill drug addicts in their own community. And in an address to a group of drug addicts who had surrendered to police last week, Dela Rosa called on them to kill their suppliers and burn down their homes. Dela Rosa later apologized for the comments, saying they were made because he was angry, but they nevertheless added to an atmosphere of a dramatic breakdown in the rule of law. In Reyjin’s Manila slum, the violence and security presence has slowed the drug trade and made shabu more expensive. But lots is still available, in what could be a worrying sign for Duterte who vowed during the election campaign that he could completely wipe out the trade within six months. “If you want to buy, you just go stand there on the street and somebody will approach you,” said Reyjin, who took his first hit of shabu when he was 13. “You hand over the money and he will tell you to wait and have somebody else deliver the drugs to you.” Even the shabu “dens”, in which people rent out their huts for addicts to take a hit, are still operating, according to Reyjin. Reyjin said he earned about 400 pesos ($8.50) a day, taking passengers on short pedicab trips and occasionally doing odd jobs. He said he was spending about one quarter of his earnings on shabu. It used to be a 50-peso-a-day habit, but the price of shabu had doubled because of the drug war, according to Reyjin. Neighbors told AFP the eldest of Reyjin’s three children, a grade-schooler, looked malnourished and often went to school hungry. The two other siblings looked dirty and were forced to wear hand-me-down clothes in their one-room house, they added. The neighbors said they also suspected him of stealing small items from their homes to fund his habit. Reyjin said he was aware of the toll his habit took on his family. But, even compounded by the threat of his children being orphaned in the drug war, he said he could not stop taking shabu. “Sometime I tell myself I have to stop,” he said. “But my body craves it.” – AFP[SEP]MANILA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade, has reached around 2,000, according to data released on Tuesday. There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close ally of Manila. As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against on narcotics, the Philippine National Police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1 to August 20. That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day. Last week the police said 1,100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated. No new number for that category was given on Tuesday but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to around 2,000. Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs. Two U.N. human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Duterte, who threatened to pull h is country out of the United Nations. His foreign minister later rowed back on the threat. Duterte's communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that a 30-second advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would be aired over the next week by commercial and public TV stations and by movie theatres. "The government is not spending a single centavo on these ads and TV stations are carrying them for free," Andanar told reporters at an event in a Manila hotel. He said his office would also publish a 40-page pamphlet to explain the rising body count. This would be issued on the president's first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos. "Some people abroad have to understand why many people are getting killed in the anti-drug campaign. They must understand, this is a war and there are casualties," Andanar said. "The pamphlet will inform and explain that the government was not killing people at random, that these killings are not extrajudicial in nature but as part of the anti-crime campaign. Some of those killed were police officers who are involved in criminal activities." The White House said on Monday that U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to meet Duterte in Laos on Sept. 6, and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns. Duterte's crackdown on drugs and some strongly worded criticism he has made of the United States present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. There have been few signs in the Philippines itself of a backlash against the war on drugs. However, on Tuesday a newly formed group called the "Stop the Killings Network" announced a #Lightforlife campaign that would start with simultaneous candle-lighting events on Wednesday evening at six venues across Manila.

The Archbishop of Manila Luis Antonio Tagle condemns the extralegal killings and murders under Rodrigo Duterte.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s ruling Communist Party appointed a new senior official on Sunday to run Tibet, considered one of the country’s most politically sensitive positions due to periodic anti-Chinese unrest in the devoutly Buddhist Himalayan region. The official Xinhua news agency named Wu Yingjie as Tibet’s next party secretary. New leaders were also appointed in two other key provinces, part of a broad reshuffle ahead of an important party meeting next year. Wu has worked almost his entire career in Tibet, according to his official resume, having previously served as a deputy governor and propaganda chief, among other roles. Wu, like his predecessor Chen Quanguo, belongs to China’s majority Han Chinese ethnic group. Xinhua said Chen would be taking another position, without giving further details. Communist troops marched in and took control of Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a “peaceful liberation”. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese. China says its rule has bought prosperity and stability, rejecting claims from Tibetan exiles and rights groups of widespread repression. Xinhua said new party bosses had also been appointed to serve in the strategically located southwestern province of Yunnan and the populous southern province of Hunan. In Yunnan, which sits of the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, Chen Hao replaced Li Jiheng, while in Hunan, Du Jiahao has assumed the party’s top job, Xinhua said. Both Chen and Du worked with President Xi Jinping when he ran China’s commercial capital, Shanghai, as its Communist Party chief for a year in 2007, according to their resumes. The party will hold a once-every-five-years congress next autumn where Xi is expected to further cement his hold on power by seeking to appoint close allies into the party’s ruling inner core, the politburo and the politburo standing committee. The year leading up to that will see Xi appoint more new people into major provincial and government positions, sources with ties to the leadership say. (Story refiles to fix typo in fourth paragraph, drops the word ‘rather’.)[SEP]The Chinese Communist leadership has reshuffled senior posts in key regions after its annual closed-door meeting in the seaside town of Beidaihe, putting a new cadre in control in the politically sensitive region of Tibet, as well as Yunnan and Hunan. Wu Yingjie has been named as Tibet’s next Communist Party secretary, the official Xinhua news agency reported, while his predecessor Chen Quanguo is reportedly on his way to the restive region of Xinjiang in the far west. Both men belong to the majority Han Chinese ethnic group. In both Tibet and Xinjiang, members of local ethnic groups, the Tibetans and the Uighurs respectively, chafe against rule by the Han. Mr Wu (59) has been deputy party chief in the Himalayan region since 2011, and has been based there since 1974. He worked on farms and at a power plant there before doing his university degree in the provincial capital Lhasa. His appointment comes ahead of a key party congress next year, which takes place once every five years, during which President Xi Jinping will further cement his hold on power. It marks the end of his first five-year period in office and the retirement of some of his political rivals from the seven-man Standing Committee of the Politburo. Mr Xi is expected to put his allies into key positions on both the 25-person Politburo and the Standing Committee at the meeting. Beijing has run Tibet with a firm hand since People’s Liberation Army troops marched into the overwhelmingly Buddhist Himalayan region in 1950. The Chinese say they were liberating the Tibetan serfs from a theocracy until the god-king Dalai Lama fled into exile in India after a failed uprising in 1959, and they accuse the Dalai Lama of agitating for independence from there. Tibet has seen sporadic outbreaks of violence and nearly 150 people have set themselves on fire since 2009 in acts of self-immolation to protest rule by Beijing and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. Beijing says it is bringing prosperity to a traditionally impoverished area and rejects claims by Tibetan exile groups of widespread repression. State media has also been giving high profile of late to public appearances by the 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, the second most powerful figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama chose a six-year-old child, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, to be the 11th Panchen Lama, after the 10th Panchen Lama died in 1989. However, Gyaltsen Norbu, who was also six years of age, was imposed by Beijing, and the young Gedhun disappeared and has not been seen since. Xinhua said that Du Jiahao had replaced Xu Shousheng as secretary of the Hunan party, while Chen Hao had replaced Li Jiheng as party secretary in Yunnan, which borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

Du Jiahao becomes Communist Party Secretary of Hunan, replacing Xu Shousheng.

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Supporters of Gabon’s President Ali Bongo and his chief rival both said on Sunday they were set to win a presidential election that poses the most serious challenge yet to the Bongo family’s half-century rule in the tiny, oil-rich nation. Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba votes during the presidential election in Libreville, Gabon, August 27, 2016. REUTERS/Gerauds Wilfried Obangome Backers of the president and his main challenger, Jean Ping, also traded accusations of fraud allegedly committed during Saturday’s vote, raising the prospect of increased tension in the wake of an uncharacteristically bitter campaign. At a large gathering of supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital, Ping, 73, distributed figures showing him handily beating Bongo. “The general trends indicate we’re the winner of this important presidential election,” Ping told backers and reporters. “Despite numerous irregularities ... you have managed to thwart this regime’s congenital traps of fraud.” Interior Minister Pacôme Moubelet-Boubeya, who had already warned candidates that giving results before the official declaration was against the law, condemned Ping’s announcement. “The candidate Jean Ping has just carried out an attempt to manipulate the democratic process,” he said in a statement distributed late on Sunday. Official results are expected on Tuesday. Bongo, 57, who first won election after his father Omar died in 2009 after 42 years in office, has benefited from being the incumbent in a country with a patronage system lubricated by oil largesse. Gabon’s one-round election means the winner simply requires more votes than any other candidate. In 2009, Bongo won with 41.73 percent of the vote. Addressing Ping’s declaration, Bongo warned his rival against pre-empting the result by claiming victory before an official announcement. “You must not sell the skin of the bear before you’ve killed him,” he said, speaking at one of his campaign offices in Libreville. “In any case, I am confident.” FRAUD? Minutes earlier, his spokesman Alain Claude Bilie By Nzé told journalists that Bongo was leading in five of Gabon’s nine provinces. In comments broadcast overnight on state-owned television, the spokesman went even further, stating that Bongo was poised to win another term in office. “Even if no figure can or should be given at this stage, we are, in light of information we are receiving, able to say that our candidate ... will claim victory,” he said. Bilie By Nzé also said “massive fraud” had been observed during the vote, particularly in polling stations located in opposition strongholds. The interior ministry on Sunday acknowledged fraud had been noted in some polling stations. But it offered little detail and said that the process remained “satisfactory and positive”. An oil producer with a population of less than two million, Gabon is one of Africa’s richest countries. Opposition presidential candidate Jean Ping votes during the presidential election in Libreville, Gabon, August 27, 2016. REUTERS/Erauds Wilfried Obangome However, declining oil output and falling prices have resulted in budget cuts and provided fodder for opposition claims that the average person has struggled under Bongo’s leadership. His re-election bid was also hobbled by a series of high-profile defections from the ruling party. Ping, one of 10 candidates contesting the poll, is a former foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, who was a close ally of Omar Bongo. Some opposition supporters have called into question Bongo’s Gabonese nationality, claiming he was adopted from eastern Nigeria as a baby, a charge that risks fuelling xenophobic sentiment and which the president denies.[SEP]Gabon's President Ali Bongo said Sunday that he is "calmly" waiting for the result of the country's presidential election to be published, after his rival Jean Ping claimed victory following Saturday's vote. "We respect the law... so we are waiting calmly for Cenap (the national election commission) to announce the results of the election," Bongo told a crowd of supporters in his first public remarks since the poll. Official results are not due out until Tuesday and some voters voiced fears of a repeat of the violence seen after a disputed 2009 election.[SEP]Both sides in Gabon poll predict win as votes are counted LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Election officials compiled results in Gabon on Sunday as representatives of the incumbent president and his most prominent challenger predicted victory. President Ali Bongo Ondimba is vying for a second seven-year term. Bongo became president after the death of his father, who ruled for more than 40 years. His strongest challenger is Jean Ping, a former chair of the African Union Commission. Bongo's spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze said late Saturday that the president was "en route to a second term." He also said fraud had been noted in some polling stations where opposition representatives were first to arrive, though he did not provide details. However Ping's supporters said their candidate was clearly the winner and accused Bongo's team of trying to create instability.[SEP]A poster of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba is seen as supporters of opposition candidate Jean Ping rally in Libreville on the last day of the presidential election campaign on August 26, 2016. By Marco Longari (AFP/File) Libreville (AFP) - Gabon's President Ali Bongo and his only serious rival have both claimed victory in this weekend's presidential election, and accused each other of cheating. Barely had the last ballots been cast Saturday evening before the incumbent's spokesman declared: "Bongo will win... we are already on our way to a second mandate." Bongo, 57, has been in power since a disputed election held in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-rich Central African country for 41 years. On Sunday, the campaign manager of Bongo's rival Jean Ping told reporters that the former head of the African Union Commission had won 60 percent of votes counted so far, just under half of the total, against 38 percent for the president. He also accused Bongo of "trying to push his way through," with the backing of the army. "That's totally crazy," countered Bongo's spokesman. "It's tight, but we are ahead." All of this was said in defiance of Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya, who has insisted only results from the election commission validated by his ministry had any validity. Before polling began Boubeya said everything was "in place to guarantee a transparent and impartial election". The poll will be decided by a simple majority and results are expected on Monday. African Union and the European Union observers said that aside from some delays, the poll itself, in which some 628,000 people were eligible vote, passed off without serious incident. But the acrimony that had marked the campaign period continued into the weekend with each of the main rivals accusing the other of mischief. "We have observed massive fraud, in particular in areas where opposition representatives arrived in polling stations first," said Bongo's spokesman. As he cast his own ballot Saturday morning Ping told reporters, "We know the other side is trying to cheat. It is up to you to be vigilant." His team had said that a Friday court ruling would allow soldiers, who tend to support Bongo, a former defence minister, to "vote several times in several polling centres". On Sunday, the streets of the capital, Libreville, were almost deserted. Fearing a repeat of the violence that followed Bongo's victory in 2009, many residents, who had stocked up on food, stayed indoors. Even those shops and stalls usually open on Sundays were shuttered. "There is no trouble in this district for now but we want to get the results soon," said Honore, a watchman. "We'll see how the candidates react. I hope it won't be like last time," he added. In the clashes that followed the 2009 victory, several people were killed, buildings were looted and the French consulate in Port Gentil, which saw the words of the violence, was torched. Until shortly before polling day, Bongo was the clear favourite, with the opposition split by several prominent politicians vying for the top job. But earlier this month, the main challengers pulled out and said they would all back Ping. Both candidates have promised to break with the past. Faced with repeated charges of nepotism, Bongo has long insisted he owes his presidency to merit and years of government service. His extravagant campaign made much of the slogan "Let's change together", and of roads and hospitals built during his first term. Ping described Bongo's attempts to diversify the economy away from oil as window dressing. One third of Gabon's population lives in poverty, despite the country boasting one of Africa's highest per capita incomes at $8,300 (7,400 euros) thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. There has been growing popular unrest in recent months, with numerous public sector strikes and thousands of layoffs in the oil sector.[SEP]LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general is urging political stakeholders in Gabon to avoid making statements on the outcome of Saturday's presidential election until results are announced. Opposition candidate Jean Ping has said early results show he will win in the oil-producing central African country. Ping is trying to unseat President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who came to power in 2009 after the death of his father, longtime ruler Omar Bongo. The Bongo family dynasty stretches back to the 1960s. Gabon's interior ministry said Sunday it is illegal to make a proclamation before the electoral commission announces results, which are expected Tuesday. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's statement on Monday says Gabon's elections were peaceful. Bongo's victory in 2009 sparked clashes between protesters and security forces.[SEP]GABON opposition candidate Jean Ping called on President Ali Bongo on Monday to “acknowledge his defeat” in a weekend presidential election, telling reporters in the capital Libreville that unofficial tallies give him a clear edge. Bongo’s camp said on Sunday that it was set to win the single-round contest and accused Ping’s supporters of fraud, charges that could presage confrontation between the two sides. The Central African oil producer’s interior minister called Ping’s move to pre-empt an official announcement of the poll results, which is expected on Tuesday, by declaring victory an attempt to manipulate the democratic process. “Based on nearly all the affidavits … we are able to affirm that I am the winner of the presidential vote,” Ping said. “I encourage Ali Bongo to submit to the verdict of the ballot box.” He also called upon the Gabonese people to “defend their choice throughout the country and overseas”. Ping said he had told the American and French ambassadors in Libreville that he intended to guarantee the security of Bongo and his family, who have ruled the nation of some two million people for nearly 50 years. Bongo, 57, first won election after his father Omar died in 2009 after 42 years in office. Declining oil output and falling prices have resulted in budget cuts in recent years, however, providing fodder for opposition claims that average Gabonese have struggled under his leadership.-Reuters[SEP]Gabon’s main opposition candidate Jean Ping said Sunday he had won a presidential election, beating the incumbent Omar Bongo. Official results of Saturday’s vote are due out on Tuesday. “I have been elected. I am waiting for the outgoing president to call to congratulate me,” Ping told journalists and his supporters in the capital Libreville. The central African country’s interior minister has repeatedly stated that only results released by the electoral commission and confirmed by his ministry are valid. Both of the two frontrunners had already predicted their own victory and accused the other of cheating. Shortly after polling ended on Saturday, the president’s spokesman said, “Bongo will win… we are already on our way to a second mandate.” In his comments Sunday, Ping, 73 added, “as I speak, the trends show we have won.” Ping said alleged attempts by Bongo’s camp to commit fraud had been foiled and that “we will finally see off the regime.” Bongo, 57, has been in power since a disputed election held in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-rich Central African country for 41 years. Earlier, Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet said official results would be released around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Tuesday and that it was “illegal to release results ahead of the official announcement by the competent authorities.”[SEP]Gabon opposition candidate calls on President Bongo to "acknowledge his defeat" LIBREVILLE, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Gabon opposition candidate Jean Ping on Monday called on President Ali Bongo to "acknowledge his defeat" in a weekend presidential election, telling reporters in the capital Libreville that unofficial tallies give him a clear edge. The Central African oil producer's interior minister called Ping's move to pre-empt an official announcement of the poll results, which is expected on Tuesday, by declaring victory on Sunday an attempt to manipulate the democratic process. (Reporting By Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Joe Bavier and Toby Chopra)[SEP]Libreville – Gabon voted on Saturday in a poll posing the biggest challenge yet to President Ali Bongo, whose family has run the central African nation for half a century. Bongo, 57, is likely to be returned, seven years after winning his first election following the death of his father Omar, who ruled for 42 years. Polls closed at 7 p.m., an hour late to allow people were still waiting to vote to do so. Voting was mostly calm, although witnesses said a few scuffles broke out in one area as tempers flared in long queues to cast ballots. Results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday, although partial results may start trickling out on Sunday. Land and sea borders were shut on Saturday until 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). Bongo faced nine other candidates – compared with 22 in the last poll – but his main rival was veteran diplomat Jean Ping. “The day of glory has arrived and we are preparing as you can see to celebrate victory,” Ping, 73, said shortly after voting in Martine Oulabou school, in the capital Libreville. Ping faces an uphill struggle, not least because Gabon’s one-round system means the winner doesn’t need a majority, just more votes than any other candidate. “I have laid out the change achieved and the change to come in the future. For that reason, I’m confident,” Bongo, wearing a blue suit, said after voting. Bongo has made saving Gabon’s unique wildlife, including pristine equatorial rainforest and elephants, a priority, but voters complain they have more pressing worries. Ping, meanwhile, has harnessed discontent over the lack of a significant rise in living standards in the population of just under two million, despite its oil riches. “The Gabonese are suffering. We are not well paid, our children don’t live in good conditions. That’s why I voted for change,” Marie Ange N’no, 40, a civil servant, said outside a polling station in Libreville. She declined to say for whom she had voted. Gabon has just rejoined OPEC after two decades and has a GDP per capita of 10,000 dollars a year, making it one of Africa’s richest countries, yet much of that wealth is concentrated in the hands of the elite. About a fifth of Gabonese live on less than two dollars a day and nearly a third live below its own national poverty line, according to the latest available data, from 2005. But Gabon faces a financial squeeze owing to a long-term decline in oil output — which shrunk GDP per capita by nearly a fifth between 1980 and 2014, according to the United Nations Development Programme — and a sharp fall in the price of crude over the past two years. Efforts to diversify into agriculture and tourism have yet to bear much fruit. Oil wealth has flowed mostly to the elite – for a period Gabon was the world’s top per capita importer of champagne – and has trickled down slightly only via its bloated civil service. During his father’s rule, Gabon was a pillar of “La Francafrique”, an intricate, shadowy web of diplomacy, commerce and French military might that kept African autocrats in power and gave French companies privileged access to them. Bongo has tried to shake off this legacy by presenting a modern face with a development programme run by technocrats. “As (Omar Bongo’s) son, it is difficult to present yourself as something new and technocratic when the whiff of corruption hangs over from the last administration,” said Anthony Goldman, head of West Africa-focused PM Consulting. The mixed-race son of a wealthy Chinese trader, Ping is a former foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman who was once close to Omar Bongo and even had a relationship with his daughter, Pascaline, fathering two children by her. That limits how much leverage he can get out of dissatisfaction with the Bongo family. Ping fell out with “Bongo Junior”, as Gabonese call the president, leaving the ruling party in 2014 to become an outspoken critic. Opposition campaigners have questioned whether Bongo is really Gabonese or an adopted child from eastern Nigeria, something he denies.[SEP]Gabon’s main opposition candidate Jean Ping claimed Sunday he had been elected president, unseating Ali Bongo as leader of the oil-rich Central African country. Official results are not due out until Tuesday and some voters voiced fears of a repeat of the violence seen after a disputed 2009 election. “I have been elected. I am waiting for the outgoing president to call to congratulate me,” said Ping, 73, in the capital Libreville, prompting jubilation from hundreds of his supporters. “You have foiled the congenital fraud of this regime which we are finally going to see off,” the veteran politician told them. Bongo, 57, has been in power since the 2009 election held after the death of his father, Omar, who had ruled Gabon for 41 years. Ping, like the current president, worked for many years in Omar Bongo’s administration. Both frontrunners had already predicted victory and accused the other of cheating. Shortly after polling ended on Saturday, the president’s spokesman said: “Bongo will win… we are already on our way to a second mandate.” Bongo’s camp has acknowledged the election is “tight, but we are ahead”. Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya has said official results would be released around 1600 GMT on Tuesday and stressed it was “illegal to declare results before the relevant authorities do.” The head of the Pan-African Democracy Observatory, an NGO based in Togo, played down the significance of Ping’s declaration. “We should not be surprised if one or the other declares victory. It’s all part of the game,” Djovi Gally told reporters. Fearing a repeat of the violence that followed Bongo’s victory in 2009, many residents, who had stocked up on food, stayed indoors. The streets of Libreville were deserted with even shops and stalls that are usually open on Sundays shuttered. The French embassy warned its citizens not to travel within the country unless absolutely necessary for the time being and to keep themselves informed. “There is no trouble in this district for now but we want to get the results soon,” said one citizen, who gave his name as Honore. “We’ll see how the candidates react. I hope it won’t be like last time,” he added. Back then, several people were killed in the clashes, buildings were looted and the French consulate in Port Gentil, which saw the worst of the violence, was torched. Ping’s campaign coordinator, Jean Gaspard Ntoutoume Ayi, claimed that Bongo would attempt to retain power by force. “Ali Bongo has decided to ignore the election and to stay in power. We know from reliable sources that the army is ready to be deployed in Libreville and Port Gentil and all across the country as early as tonight,” said Ayi. “This is the situation which we are entering: the election is over, the coup d’etat has started.” Bongo’s camp has dismissed such claims as “totally crazy.” Emmanuel Edzang, a voter in Libreville, said the capital had the feeling of a “powder keg.” “It could go off at any given moment if things don’t go well. There are really strong fears regarding people’s behaviour,” said Edzang. Until shortly before polling day, Bongo was the clear favourite, with the opposition split by several prominent politicians vying for the top job. But earlier this month, the main challengers pulled out and said they would all back Ping. Both candidates have promised to break with the past. Faced with repeated charges of nepotism, Bongo has long insisted he owes his presidency to merit and years of government service. His extravagant campaign made much of the slogan “Let’s change together”, and of roads and hospitals built during his first term. Ping described Bongo’s attempts to diversify the economy away from oil as window dressing. One third of Gabon’s population lives in poverty, despite the country boasting one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes at $8,300 (7,400 euros) thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. There has been growing popular unrest in recent months, with numerous public sector strikes and thousands of layoffs in the oil sector.

Both President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Jean Ping, say they won yesterday's election for a seven-year term as president. Official results are expected Tuesday.

The Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), a sounding rocket (research rocket) with a solid booster carrying advanced scramjet engines, was successfully flight-tested from the launch pad of the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre, also known as Sriharikota Range (SHAR), at Sriharikota on Sunday. This first experimental mission of Indian Space Research Organisation is aimed at the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System which uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the atmosphere air as the oxidiser. The mission had a smooth countdown of 12 hours as the ATV with scramjet engines weighing 3277 kg lifted off at 6 a.m. ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar and SHAR director P. Kunhikrishnan along with a host of space scientists were present at Sriharikota on the occasion. The ATV vehicle, which touched down in the Bay of Bengal approximately 320 km from Sriharikota after a flight of 300 seconds, was successfully tracked during its flight from the ground stations at Sriharikota. With this, the ISRO had successfully demonstrated its capabilities in critical technologies like ignition of air breathing engines at supersonic speed, air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems. Technological challenges handled by ISRO scientists during the development of the scramjet engine include the design and development of hypersonic engine air intake, the supersonic combustor, proper thermal management and ground testing of the engines. With this, India became the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of a scramjet engines. This mission is a milestone for ISRO’s future space transportation system. The scientists said that all the important flight events such as the burn out of booster rocket stage and functioning of scramjet engines for 5 seconds followed by burn out of the second stage took place exactly as planned. (ISRO's ATV rocket lifts off with two scramjet engines from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Sunday. Photo: ISRO) 10 things to know about ISRO's scramjet engine launch[SEP]BENGALURU: Joining a select club of nations, India on Sunday successfully test fired its futuristic Scramjet Rocket Engine using oxygen from the atmosphere that could cut the cost of the launches several fold and help in ISRO’s bid to design advanced air breathing engines. The first experimental mission of Scramjet Engine was successfully conducted from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 6 am, Indian Space Research Organisation said. It described the mission as a “modest” yet important milestone in its bid to design and develop advanced air breathing engines, including ones for its future space transport system. India is the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of Scramjet Engine after the US, Russia and European Space Agency. After a smooth countdown of 12 hours, the solid rocket booster Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) carrying the Scramjet Engines lifted off at 6 am and ending a 300 seconds-flight, touched down in the Bay of Bengal, about 320 kms from Sriharikota, the city-headquartered ISRO said. The important flight events — burn out of booster rocket stage, ignition of second stage solid rocket, functioning of Scramjet engines for 5 seconds followed by burn out of the second stage — took place exactly as planned, ISRO said. The vehicle was successfully tracked during its flight from the ground stations at Sriharikota. ISRO said it was the maiden “short duration experimental test” of Scramjet engine with a hypersonic flight at Mach 6, and the ATV, an advanced sounding rocket carrying the engines, weighed 3277 kg at lift-off. The space agency said with this flight, critical technologies such as ignition of air breathing engines at supersonic speed, holding the flame at supersonic speed, air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems have been successfully demonstrated. It said Scramjet engine designed by ISRO uses Hydrogen as fuel and the Oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidizer. Usually rocket engines carry both fuel and oxidiser on board for combustion, but these newly developed engines with air-breathing propulsion system will use oxygen from the atmosphere thereby reducing the lift-off mass of the vehicle. It will also help in bring down launch costs substantially. The Scramjet engine will also be used eventually to power ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle at hypersonic speed. ATV is a two-stage spin stabilised launcher with identical solid motors (based on Rohini RH560 sounding rocket) as the first as well as the second stage (booster and sustainer), ISRO said. The twin Scramjet engines were mounted on the back of the second stage. Once the second stage reached the desired conditions for engine “Start-up”, necessary actions were initiated to ignite the Scramjet engines and they functioned for about 5 seconds, it said adding that today’s ATV flight operations were based on a pre-programmed sequence. President Pranb Mukherjee, who is in Bengaluru, congratulated ISRO for the successful test.[SEP]While conventional rocket engines need to carry both fuel and oxidiser on board for combustion to produce thrust, scramjet engines obtain oxygen from the atmosphere by compressing the incoming air before combustion at hypersonic speed. The test-flight of the indigenously-developed supersonic combustion ramjet engine took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 6 a.m. ISRO on Sunday successfully test-fired a newly-developed Scramjet Rocket Engine, DDNews reported. The air-breathing propulsion experiment involves its RH-560 rocket fitted with a supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet) engine. The test-flight of the indigenously-developed scramjet engine took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 6 a.m., according to news agencies. The test was to have been done on July 28, 2016 but the search by the Indian Air Force and the Navy for the IAF’s transport aircraft An-32, which disappeared over the Bay of Bengal has delayed it by a month. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has developed the engines to be used in a two-stage RH-560 rocket. Named Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), the test platform comprises a scramjet engine hitched to the RH- 560 rocket. “The vehicle has been characterised and is being fabricated at the VSSC and the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri,” VSSC Director K.Sivan had told The Hindu during preparations for the launch of the PSLV-C34. Space agencies across the world are focussing on the development of scramjet technology because it contributes to smaller launch vehicles with more payload capacity and promises cheaper access to outer space. While conventional rocket engines need to carry both fuel and oxidiser on board for combustion to produce thrust, scramjets obtain oxygen from the atmosphere by compressing the incoming air before combustion at hypersonic speed. The scramjet engine can also liquefy the oxygen and store it on board.[SEP]The Indian Space Research Organisation joined an elite club when, on Sunday, it successfully launched a rocket using a scramjet engine that was developed indigenously. This is ISRO’s first major step towards developing an air breathing propulsion system. The scramjet engine functioned for around six seconds. There are many reasons why the use of a scramjet engine is so attractive. A scramjet engine uses oxygen present in the atmospheric air to burn the hydrogen fuel. As a result, the amount of oxygen required to be carried on board would be reduced considerably as atmospheric oxygen is utilised to burn the fuel in the first stage. In general, propellant accounts for nearly 85 per cent of the weight of a rocket, and oxygen accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the weight of the propellant. Scramjet-powered rockets also have several times greater thrust compared with rockets powered by liquid fuel or even cryogenic fuel. Since about half of the propellant is required for the first stage to achieve the required velocity, a rocket using a scramjet engine would be significantly lighter and smaller and, therefore, cheaper. Alternatively, rockets fired by scramjet engines will be able to carry more payload. Sunday’s test flight, which attained six times the speed of sound (Mach 6) and was able to achieve ignition and maintain stable combustion even at such high velocity for about six seconds, is a big technological achievement. This is akin to “lighting a matchstick in a hurricane condition and sustaining the flame” for six seconds. The air intake mechanism and fuel injection systems were also successfully demonstrated during the maiden test flight. Since it relies on oxygen present in the atmosphere, the trajectories of scramjet engine-powered rockets are vastly different from conventional ones — rockets with scramjet engines should remain in the atmosphere for a longer period than normal rockets. Typically, scramjet rockets climb to a certain altitude and remain in the atmosphere for as long as possible to achieve the required velocity. It will take many years before a commercial rocket powered by a scramjet engine takes to the sky as there are several challenges to be overcome. One challenge will be to test the engine at higher Mach speeds and prolong the period of combustion. Since the scramjet comes into play only when the rocket goes beyond Mach 5, an engine that initially works at subsonic speed (as a ramjet) and later as a scramjet has to be developed. But as in the case of the successful test flight of a reusable vehicle, the first experimental flight using a scramjet engine is a technological demonstration of ISRO’s capability and will go a long way in redefining its position as one of the leading space agencies in the world.[SEP]The Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully tested its scramjet engine on Sunday in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The rocket took off at 6 am after reports confirmed that the wind speeds were conducive for the launch. The scramjet engine, used only during the atmospheric phase of the rocket’s flight, will help in bringing down the launch cost by reducing the amount of oxidiser to be carried along with the fuel. Meanwhile, the launch of the Indian weather satellite, INSAT-3DR, which was slated for Sunday has now been postponed to September 8. Queried about the change in launch plan Krishnan said: "While carrying out the tests there was a technical issue found with a satellite component. It has been sorted out now and hence the delay." He said the GSLV rocket that would carry the weather satellite INSAT-3DR is fully assembled. The weather satellite will be mounted on to the rocket in three to four days. According to officials, the ISRO will launch ScatSat -- a weather monitoring and forecasting satellite -- with polar satellite launch vehicle end of next month. The Indian satellite will be a co-passenger to an Algerian satellite. Both the satellites will be put into different orbits. So the fourth engine of the rocket will be switched off after ejecting ScatSat first. Then after a gap of around 30 minutes, the engine will be switched on and put the Algerian satellite into its intended orbit.

The Indian Space agency ISRO successfully tests its Scramjet engines. Two scramjet engines were mounted alongside of a two-stage, solid fueled rocket called Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), which is an advanced sounding rocket. Scramjet engines were then ignited when ATV achieved a speed of Mach 6 (7350 km/hr) at an altitude of 20 km.

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 54 people when he drove a car bomb into a militia compound in Aden on Monday, the health ministry said, in one of the deadliest attacks claimed by Islamic State in the southern Yemeni port city. The director general of Yemen’s health ministry in Aden, al-Khader Laswar, told Reuters that at least 67 other people were wounded in the attack in the city’s Mansoura district. The militant Islamic State group said in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency one of its suicide bombers carried out the bombing. “Around 60 dead in a martyrdom operation by a fighter from Islamic State targeting a recruitment center in Aden city,” the statement said, without giving further details. A security source said the attack targeted a school compound where conscripts of the Popular Committees, forces allied to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were gathered for breakfast. Related Coverage Islamic State claims Yemen suicide bombing, says about 60 militia recruits killed Witnesses said the suicide bomber entered the compound behind a truck that had brought breakfast for the conscripts, who had queued for the meal. Ambulance sirens wailed throughout the morning as they ferried casualties to a hospital run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which was overwhelmed by the number of casualties. An MSF spokesperson said the hospital received at least 45 bodies and more than 60 wounded people. Islamist militants, including Islamic State, have exploited an 18-month-old civil war between the Houthi movement and Hadi’s supporters, attacking senior officials, religious figures, security forces and compounds of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition which supports Hadi. Last month, the governor of the southern Yemeni city of Aden survived a car bomb attack targeting his convoy, the latest attempt on the city’s top official. In May, a suicide bomber killed at least 40 army recruits and injured 60 others when he rammed a booby-trapped car at recruits lined up to enlist for military service at a compound in Aden. Slideshow (5 Images) Hadi’s supporters, who accuse former President Ali Abdullah Saleh of using Islamist militants to target the internationally-recognized president, have launched a series of raids in recent weeks to try to stem the violence, seizing dozens of people suspected of involvement in attacks across the city. In eastern Yemen, forces loyal to Hadi, backed by troops from the United Arab Emirates, drove members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from the city of Mukalla in a military operation in May.[SEP]ADEN: The Islamic State group claimed responsiblity Monday for a suicide bombing against Yemeni army recruits in Aden that killed at least 60 people, the IS-linked Amaq news agency said. “Around 60 killed in a martyrdom operation carried out by an Islamic State fighter that targeted a recruitment centre in Aden,” Amaq said in a statement published on Twitter.[SEP]ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 54 people when he drove a car bomb into a militia compound in Aden on Monday, the health ministry said, in one of the deadliest attacks claimed by the Islamic State terror group in the southern Yemeni port city. The director general of Yemen’s health ministry in Aden, al-Khader Laswar, told Reuters that at least 67 other people were wounded in the attack in the city’s Mansoura district. The Islamic State said in a statement carried by its Amaq news agency one of its suicide bombers carried out the bombing. “Around 60 dead in a martyrdom operation by a fighter from Islamic State targeting a recruitment center in Aden city,” the statement said, without giving further details. A security source said the attack targeted a school compound where conscripts of the Popular Committees, forces allied to the internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were gathered for breakfast. The blast rocked the area and sent debris flying and residents fleeing, one witness said. Islamist terrorists have exploited an 18-month-old civil war between the Houthis and Hadi’s supporters and launched a series of attacks targeting senior officials, religious figures, security forces and compounds of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition which supports Hadi.[SEP]At least 15 bodies taken to Aden hospital after suicide bombing- hospital source ADEN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - At least 15 bodies were transferred to a hospital run by Medicins Sans Frontieres in the southern Yemen city of Aden on Monday, a source at the hospital said, after an attack on a building used by local militias. A security official and witnesses said a suicide bomber drove a car into the building in north Aden. It was used by the Popular Resistance, a local force that had helped drive Iran-allied Houthis out of the city last year. They said at least four people were killed and 11 were wounded in the attack, while a source at the medical charity said between 15 and 20 bodies had been brought into the hospital.[SEP](IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – An ISIS suicide bomber crashed an explosives-laden car into an army recruiting center in Aden, Yemen, on Monday, killing 71 people, claimed the militant outfit in a statement published in its media wing Al Amaq. “The attacker drove through a gate that had been opened for a delivery vehicle. It rammed directly into a gathering of recruits,” informed security officials. “Some recruits were buried under rubble when a roof collapsed after the blast,” officials further said, adding, “Medical sources could not immediately verify whether all those killed in the attack were army recruits or had some other persons as well.” Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its hospital in Aden had received 45 dead and at least 60 wounded following the explosion. It may be mentioned here that Aden is the temporary base of Yemeni government, which was forced into exile after parts of the country were seized by Sana’a- an insurgent group backed by Iran.[SEP]ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing that killed dozens of recruits at a military training camp Monday in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, according to a statement by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency which was widely circulated on social media. At least 45 people were killed in the attack and sixty others wounded, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) communications manager Malak Shaher told CNN. The car bomb exploded inside a training camp for forces allied to Saudi-backed Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, according to two senior security officials in Aden. The explosion occurred at 8:15 a.m. local time (1.15 a.m. ET) while recruits were waiting in line to be enrolled among troops heading to battle at the Saudi-Yemeni border, the officials said.[SEP]ADEN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people when he drove a car laden with explosives into a compound run by local militias in Aden on Monday, Medecins Sans Frontieres said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the southern Yemeni port city. The official said at least 60 other people were brought into a nearby hospital run by the medical charity in Aden's Mansoura district. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but it resembled previous suicide bombings which Islamic State said it carried out in the city. A security source said the attack targeted a school compound where conscripts of the Popular Committees, forces allied to the internationally recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were gathered for breakfast. The blast rocked the area and sent debris flying, sending residents fleeing, one witness said. Islamist militants have exploited an 18-month-old civil war between the Houthis and Hadi's supporters and launched a series of attacks targeting senior officials, religious figures, security forces and compounds of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition which supports Hadi. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf, writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh; editing by Dominic Evans)[SEP]ADEN: An Islamic State group militant rammed his explosives-laden car into an army recruiting center in Aden yesterday, killing 71 people in the deadliest jihadist attack on the Yemeni city in over a year. The army, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, is training young recruits to join its nationwide war against Houthi rebels and their allies, as well as other militants. Aden is the temporary base of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which was forced into exile after Iran-backed insurgents seized Sanaa and other parts of the war-torn country. Security officials told AFP the attacker drove the car bomb into a gathering of recruits at a school in the north of the port city. The recruits were among 5,000 newly enrolled soldiers being trained to fight the Houthi rebels in the north along the border with Saudi Arabia, military sources said. Although the complex was locked as recruits registered inside, the attacker drove in when the gate was opened for a delivery vehicle, officials said. Witnesses said some recruits were buried when a roof collapsed after the blast which left a gaping hole on the building’s facade. Debris was scattered around the complex and nearby buildings were damaged. The assault killed at least 71 people and wounded 98, medical sources told AFP. They could not immediately verify whether all those who died were army recruits. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Twitter that its hospital in Aden “received 45 dead and at least 60 wounded” following the explosion. Aden has experienced a wave of bombings and shootings targeting officials and security forces. Attacks in the city are often claimed by jihadists from either Al-Qaeda or IS, which have both taken advantage of the chaos in Yemen to make gains in the south and southeast. IS claimed yesterday’s bombing on its official propaganda outlet, Amaq. Earlier this month, a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a large group of army reinforcements sent from Aden to fight jihadists in neighboring Lahj, killing five soldiers, military officials said. No group has claimed that attack. But on July 20, four policemen were killed in a bombing attack in Aden that was claimed by IS. And in May, twin suicide bombings in Aden claimed by IS killed at least 41 people. Yemeni authorities have trained hundreds of soldiers in the city over the past two months as part of operations to retake neighbouring southern provinces from jihadists. Earlier this month, government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition entered Abyan’s provincial capital of Zinjibar. Troops retook other towns across Abyan but have been met by fierce resistance in the key Al-Qaeda stronghold of Al-Mahfid, security sources said. The militants still have a presence in areas surrounding the recaptured towns and control large parts of neighboring Shabwa province, the sources say. The Arab coalition battling the rebels and their allies in Yemen has also been providing troops with air cover throughout their war against the jihadists. The United States has carried out numerous drone strikes against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operatives in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March last year and have helped government forces push the rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since July 2015. The war in Yemen has also impacted security in Saudi Arabia, where shelling from the kingdom’s impoverished neighbor killed three Saudi children and wounded nine other people on Sunday. Cross-border attacks from Yemen have intensified since the suspension in early August of UN-brokered peace talks between the rebels and the Saudi-backed government. A plane chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) landed at Sanaa airport yesterday, carrying insulin for thousands of people suffering from diabetes. “Yemen’s health sector is in a terrible state,” said the head of the ICRC in Yemen, Alexandre Faite. “Less than 30 percent of the required medicines and medical supplies have entered Yemen in 2015,” he added. – AFP[SEP]SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suicide attacker set off a massive car bomb in Yemen's southern city of Aden on Monday, killing at least 45 pro-government troops who had been preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia to fight Houthi rebels in Yemen's north, officials said. The men were at a staging area near two schools and a mosque where they were registering to join the expedition. The Saudis hope to train up to 5,000 fighters and deploy them to the Saudi cities of Najran and Jizan, near the border, Yemeni security officials said. Over 60 wounded were being taken to three area hospitals, they added. Aid group Doctors Without Borders reported on social media that their hospital in Aden had received 45 dead, while the Yemeni officials earlier put the figure at 25 but said it was likely to rise. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists. Yemen is embroiled in a civil war pitting the internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite rebels, who are allied with army units loyal to a former president. The fighting has allowed al-Qaida and an Islamic State affiliate in Yemen to expand their reach, particularly in the country's south. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. The U.N. and rights groups estimate at least 9,000 people have been killed since fighting escalated in March 2015 with the start of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their allies. Some 3 million people have been displaced inside the country, the Arab world's poorest.[SEP]Drives a car laden with explosives into a compound run by local militias. A suicide bomber killed at least 54 people when he drove a car laden with explosives into a compound run by local militias in Aden on Monday, Medicins Sans Frontieres said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the southern Yemeni port city. The official said at least 60 other people were brought into a nearby hospital run by the medical charity in Aden's Mansoura district. Meanwhile, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing and said the attack killed about 60 new recruits, according to the group's Amaq news agency. A security source said the attack targeted a school compound where conscripts of the Popular Committees, forces allied to the internationally recognised President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were gathered for breakfast. The blast rocked the area and sent debris flying, sending residents fleeing, one witness said. Islamist militants have exploited an 18-month-old civil war between the Houthis and Mr. Hadi's supporters and launched a series of attacks targeting senior officials, religious figures, security forces and compounds of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition which supports Mr. Hadi.

The death toll of a suicide bombing in the southern Yemeni city of Aden rises to at least 71. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility.

This story is from August 30, 2016 Security forces patrol a deserted street in Srinagar. (AFP photo) Pak oppn against Sharif's K-team NC vows free legal aid to protesters SRINAGAR/ NEW DELHI: For the first time in 52 days, curfew was lifted from the entire Kashmir valley, barring three police stations, on Monday, setting the stage for the visit of an all-party delegation to the state on September 4. However, curfew was reimposed in some parts at night after fresh tension. Home minister Rajnath Singh will lead the delegation in a bid to explore dialogue as part of a political process to bring peace to the valley.The team will meet a cross-section of individuals and outfits in Srinagar on September 4 and 5. The visit could be extended by a day if it goes to Jammu as well.While there is no official word on the entities the team will talk to, indications are that it will limit itself to the brief followed by the team which went to the state in 2010. Then, LJP member and now food minister Ram Vilas Paswan had met some Hurriyat leaders separately . This time too, the team may not talk to secessionists but members will be free to interact with anybody they wish to. The opposition has demanded a political ou treach since violent protests broke out in the valley. The timing of the delegation's visit seems to have been worked out during J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti's meetings with home minister Rajnath Singh in Srinagar and PM Narendra Modi in Delhi.Singh also held a discussion with BJP chief Amit Shah, finance minister Arun Jaitley and MoS in PMO Jitendra Singh, an MP from the state, in what was described as a stock-taking exercise. It was decided at this meeting that an all-party delegation should go to Srinagar as soon as possible. The Centre has informed other political parties about the visit.Meanwhile, J&K resumed a shadow of normalcy on Monday even though a few clashes were reported from a number of places in Srinagar and parts of Budgam district. Nobody was hurt in these incidents, police said.The areas that fall under three police stations -Nowhatta and Maharaj Gunj in Srinagar, and Pulwama -remained under curfew. Miscreants emerged on the streets in these areas and tried to create trouble.Rioters pelted stones on private vehicles, erected barricades and also threw stones at vehicles of security forces, leading to clashes at multiple places. Following the clashes, the authorities imposed restrictions in these areas. Intense clashes in the interiors of Batamaloo, Srinagar, led to the authorities reportedly reimposing curfew in the area. Police said there was “minor“ stone-pelting in some areas.The 22 lawmakers nominated by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif as envoys to highlight the Kashmir issue in key nations have no credentials to do so, the nation's opposition parties said on Monday. Ex-cricketer Imran Khan's PTI and former president Asif Ali Zardari-led PPP have also rued the lack of opposition representation on the team. PTI's Asad Umar asked how the team would highlight the issue when most didn't even attend parliamentary debates.J&K opposition party National Conference said on Monday it would provide free legal assistance to youngsters arrested during the current spell of unrest in the valley. “The legal cell of NC in every district will provide free legal assistance to youths arrested on fictitious charges by the present government,“ party general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said. He added that an atmosphere of “lawlessness“ was being created in J&K.In Video: Curfew lifted from some parts of Kashmir after 51 days[SEP]Indian officials lift curfew from most of Kashmir SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Authorities on Monday lifted a curfew imposed in most parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir as part of a 52-day security lockdown, although most shops and businesses remained closed due to an ongoing strike called to protest Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region. Government forces on Monday removed steel barricades and coils of barbed wire from the roads across the region, but officials said the curfew would continue in some parts of the old quarters of Kashmir's main city of Srinagar and in the southern Pulwama area. Public transport was off the roads in Srinagar but some private vehicles were seen on the streets. The curfew, a series of communication blackouts and a tightening crackdown have failed to stop some of the largest protests against Indian rule in recent years, triggered by the killing of a popular rebel commander on July 8. Since then, tens of thousands of people have defied security restrictions, staged protests and clashed with government forces on a daily basis. At least 68 civilians have been killed and thousands injured, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotguns at rock-throwing protesters. Two policemen have been killed while hundreds of government forces have been injured in the clashes. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Most Kashmiris want an end to Indian rule and favor independence or a merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people have been killed since rebel groups began fighting Indian forces in 1989 and in the subsequent Indian military crackdown.[SEP]The decision to lift curfew was taken at a high level security meeting on Sunday evening, sources said. Authorities on Monday lifted curfew from Kashmir after 51 days since the ongoing unrest began on July 9, officials said. “Curfew has been lifted from the entire Valley. But, it will remain in force in Pulwama town and in areas under the jurisdiction of Nowhatta and M.R. Gunj police stations in Srinagar,” a senior police official told IANS. The decision to lift curfew was taken at a high level security meeting on Sunday evening, sources said. An all party delegation comprising senior leaders of political parties is slated to visit Kashmir on September 3. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to accompany the delegation. Meanwhile, separatists here continued their protest shutdown despite lifting of the curfew. In a statement issued last week, the separatists have asked people to continue the shutdown until September 1. All senior separatist leaders have been placed under detention in Srinagar city. A total of 71 people — 68 civilians and three policemen — have been killed in this present bout of violence that started on July 9, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight. Over 11,000 others including civilians and security personnel were injured during this period.[SEP]An all-party delegation led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Jammu and Kashmir on September 4 and is expected to interact with a cross section of people as part of efforts to bring peace in the Valley which has been witnessing unrest. The delegation will visit Jammu and Kashmir on September 4 and the home minister will lead it, a home ministry spokesperson said. The delegation is expected to meet a cross section of people, individuals and organisations in its efforts to bring peace in KashmirValley which has been witnessing unrest after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. The home minister on Sunday had a hour-long meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh and discussed with them the modalities of the all-party delegation. Sources said the meeting discussed the possible individuals and groups with whom the delegation may interact during its tour of the troubled state. The government has sounded out different political parties to convey the names of their functionaries who will be part of the team. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about the Kashmir situation in his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme. "Ekta (unity) and Mamata (affection) was the crux of all interactions I had recently on Kashmir situation," he had said. Modi said those pushing youth towards stone pelting in Kashmir will some day have to answer them. He also said that all political parties spoke in one voice on Kashmir, sending out a strong message to the world as well as separatists. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had met the prime minister on Saturday. IMAGE: Rajnath Singh and Mehbooba Mufti address a press conference, in Srinagar on August 25, 2016. Photograph: PIB[SEP]To successfully reach out to Kashmiris, and establish good faith, the Central government needs to address the symbolism that drives the separatist quarter Over the past one and a half months, a host of institutions and individuals in India have impressed upon the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-led Central government to reach out to Kashmiris to bring a peaceful end to the crisis in the Valley. Parliament discussed it at length, participants in an all-party meeting urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a political solution, and even a senior Army general has indirectly hinted at the need to talk to ‘all stakeholders’ in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). And yet, the BJP leadership has summarily failed to act on such advice and normalise the Valley. The BJP continues to approach the Kashmir issue either using a Pakistan angle (insisting that the Kashmir uprising is propped up by Pakistan) or from a Hindu-Muslim perspective. Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s attempts to blame the unrest entirely on Pakistan and rope in Delhi-based Muslim clerics to reach out to Kashmiris are indicative of these flawed approaches. The reality is that neither do Indian Muslims have anything to do with what happens in Kashmir nor is the ‘azadi’ struggle in Kashmir a purely Islamic movement. This shocking inability of the BJP to meaningfully resolve or sensibly respond to the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir is not merely a result of the arrogance of power or sheer political ignorance. At a very fundamental level, this is the result of a clash that exists between the BJP’s politics of symbolism and what Kashmir’s ‘azadi’ movement symbolises. While some of the demands made and positions taken by both the BJP leadership and the Kashmiri dissidents are indeed substantive, if not entirely useful, the fact is that there are thick layers of symbolism that surround these substantive arguments, with the latter almost clouding the former. The Kashmir issue is as much symbolic as it is substantive. Hence one cannot address the substantive issue of conflict resolution in Kashmir without addressing the symbology of the ‘azadi’ movement. In the BJP’s (and Sangh Parivar’s) hyper-nationalist cosmology, Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and the separate flag and constitution which symbolise that special status of J&K in the Indian Union, run counter to their idea of Indian nationalism. Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s evocative slogan “Ek vidhan, ek nishan aur ek samvidhan” (one country, one emblem and one constitution) forms the BJP’s political approach to Kashmir. In reality though, the J&K flag and its constitution are not privileged over the Indian national flag or Constitution, and Article 370 of the Constitution has lost all meaning over the years. In other words, while in the Kashmiri political imagination, the flag, constitution and whatever is left of Article 370 form a crucial part of Kashmiri nationalism and even its ‘azadi’ demand, the BJP, a party that rides high on exclusivist political symbolism, finds it hard to accept it. For the Kashmiri nationalist, abolition of Article 370 would be symbolic of complete ‘Indian occupation’; for the BJP and the Sangh, it would be in line with bringing Kashmir into the Indian mainstream. What about the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA? To Kashmiris, draconian laws like AFSPA are symbolic of Indian oppression in Kashmir, whereas for the BJP, withdrawing AFSPA would be a symbolic defeat at the hands of Kashmiri separatists. The reality, however, is that revoking AFSPA from a few districts in Kashmir or even partially amending it would be a symbol that Kashmiris would find greatly encouraging. Moreover, doing so would hardly affect the Indian Army’s operational capability there. The same logic applies to the withdrawal of Central forces from the residential areas of the Valley. Having put itself on a ‘better than thou’ nationalistic pedestal, the BJP finds it difficult to heed to such demands, which the Congress party could if it willed it. However, doing so would make a great deal of difference to Kashmiris since, for them, the gun-totting soldier frisking Kashmiri civilians, day after day, represents Indian oppression. The only BJP leader who played to the Kashmiri nationalist symbolism, if not do anything about it, was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who by merely uttering the magic mantra that every BJP leader takes refuge in today — ‘Kashmiriyat, jamhooriyat, insaniyat’ — transformed the discourse on the relationship between New Delhi and Srinagar. His wise words did not lead to any action: the word was the act, and it made a difference. Moreover, the BJP managed to form a coalition government in the Valley with the ‘soft-separatist’ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), despite declaring in its manifesto that it would abrogate Article 370, precisely because it managed to not only go back on its hardline positions but also address some of the key symbols of Kashmiri nationalism in its ‘Agenda of Alliance’ with the PDP. The United Progressive Alliance regime, on the other hand, was adept at symbolically playing to Kashmiri demands. Most of its Kashmir initiatives from 2004 to 2011 show that it cleverly used symbolism with an occasional sprinkling of substance: Manmohan Singh engaged the separatists without any hesitation (unlike the BJP), organised Round Table Conferences in Kashmir, set up Working Groups on key themes linked to the ‘azadi’ question, and, after the 2010 agitation, sent a group of interlocutors to Kashmir who went out of their way to meet all key separatists in the Valley. While nothing came out of any of these initiatives, Dr. Singh managed to convey to Kashmiris that he was willing to engage them in an ‘out of the box’ manner without riding high on aggressive nationalism. The India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir is a substantive issue pertaining primarily to the State’s territoriality, and yet there are strong symbolic aspects of the dispute that can indeed transcend the substantive claims. Armed with the unavoidable realisation that a territorial change of the Kashmir border is impossible due to a variety of reasons, Pakistan has been looking for an ‘honourable exit route’ from the Kashmir quagmire, a conflict that has had immeasurable adverse implications for its own society and polity. This explains the thought-process behind the so-called Musharraf formula on Kashmir, a solution that hinges on resolving the bilateral Kashmir dispute without changing its currently existing borders. Dr. Singh understood the symbolism behind the Musharraf formula and offered to work with the Pakistani leader to ‘make borders irrelevant’ in Kashmir. Both proposals were full of symbolism, with hardly any substantive territorial transformation in it. Dr. Singh was able to pursue it precisely because the symbolism behind his politics, and that of the Congress party, did not clash with the proposed solution. How fundamental is Kashmir to Pakistan’s identity? There was a time when Kashmir was bandied about as the “jugular vein of Pakistan”. They continue to do so, but of late, there is a recognition in the country that it needs to focus more on its own internal conflicts rather than Kashmir though the current stand-off may help reverse it. Pakistan also regularly refers to the UN Resolutions on Kashmir, but that is essentially to put New Delhi on the mat rather than being reflective of its seriousness about the Resolutions which would require Pakistan to first vacate the J&K territory under its control. In short, it is not impossible for India to address Pakistan’s claims on Kashmir, if preceded by a proper peace process. The BJP, however, due to its hyper-nationalist baggage and puritanical claims about Kashmir, may find it hard to address Pakistan’s need for a ‘symbolic resolution’ of the Kashmir dispute. The BJP’s inability to resolve the Kashmir issue also stems from its domestic political compulsions. Having often termed the Kashmiri separatists as ‘Pakistan-backed terrorists’, and then ‘successfully’ sold this line to its loyal constituency at home and on social media, it has become difficult for the BJP to proactively reach out to the separatists. No wonder then Mr. Modi took more than a month to even make a reluctant statement about the ongoing uprising in Kashmir, and Rajnath Singh failed to reach out to the separatists despite two visits to the Valley. More importantly, the BJP’s Kashmir policy will continue to be dictated by electoral compulsions. Its electoral campaigns tend to ride high (along with the developmental promises) on nationalist symbols, national pride, national power, civilisational greatness, etc. Such high-octane symbolism does not go well with attempts at negotiating with the Kashmiri ‘terrorists’ supported by Pakistan especially when the party is bracing for Assembly elections in crucial States such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. Kashmir’s contemporary ‘azadi’ struggle is a powerful concoction of hatred towards New Delhi, a desire to be free from Indian ‘occupation’, lived experiences of daily humiliation represented by the presence of the Indian armed forces there, a historical sense of victimhood and betrayal symbolised by centuries of being ruled by ‘outsiders’, New Delhi’s inability to keep promises, and a disturbing amount of religious influence. Sure, there is a substantive political basis to the ‘azadi’ demand. However, most of these expressions of ‘azadi’ can be addressed by a number of measures, mostly symbolic in nature, as pointed out above. In other words, addressing Kashmir’s symbolic needs then is perhaps key to the heart of the conflict in Kashmir. However, as Amitabh Mattoo, a renowned academic currently based out of Kashmir, points out, “The Kashmir issue is as much symbolic as it is substantive, but the more you wait to address the symbolic aspects of it, the less you would be able to address the substantive aspects.” Insurgencies are almost always waged, and fought, with a great deal of symbolism. However, the use of excessive counter-symbolism by the state to defeat the separatist/insurgent narrative, without catering to the insurgent’s symbolic needs, can often have the obverse effect of strengthening the separatist narrative. Therefore, if New Delhi wishes to get to the heart of the problem in Kashmir, it needs to address the very symbols of Kashmir’s ‘azadi’ movement. Happymon Jacob is an Associate Professor of Diplomacy and Disarmament Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.[SEP]A nearly two-month curfew in the troubled Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was partially lifted on Monday only to be largely re-imposed after fresh violence erupted in several parts of the capital, Srinagar. For many people the easing of the curfew had been the first opportunity in 52 days to move freely outside their homes. The former Himalayan kingdom has been wracked by protests in the wake of the killing of a popular young militant separatist by security forces on 8 July. The death of Burhan Wani, a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group, tipped Kashmir into one of its worst crises in years. At least 68 people have been killed to date and up to 10,000 injured during the clashes. The saga has soured relations between Pakistan and India, who have been engaged in a decades-long dispute over the region. Authorities announced the partial lifting of the curfew after declaring an improvement in the security situation. But in many areas residents swiftly came out to hurl stones at government forces and shout slogans demanding freedom from Indian rule. Weeks of mobile phone network blackouts and movement restrictions have hit the poorest of Kashmir the hardest, with many people struggling to get hold of basic supplies from relief committees established across Srinagar. Raja Begum, a 62-year-old widow living in a small home in downtown Srinagar, lost her daily earnings of 150 rupees a day selling clothes on the street. “I tried to venture out of my house several times to get medicines but each time I was stopped by paramilitary forces,” said Begum, whose health has deteriorated without the drugs she needs. Even without the curfew, shops remained closed after a strike was called by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an umbrella group of separatist parties, many of whose leaders have been arrested in recent weeks. “People will not start their usual business until Delhi says it is open to full talks with the three parties – India, Pakistan and the resistance leaders,” said Hamida Nayeem, an academic at Kashmir University and an activist. On 15 August, Islamabad extended a formal invitation to India for fresh bilateral talks on the Kashmir dispute. But the offer was rebuffed by India, with Delhi saying it would discuss cross-border terrorism, which it blames on clandestine support by Pakistan. The lifting of the curfew allowed Nayeem to visit injured protesters recovering at Srinagar’s main hospital, many of them from serious pellet injuries to the eyes caused by shotguns used by security forces to disperse crowds. She said she had seen more than 100 such patients on Monday, many of whom either had been blinded or had undergone multiple operations to try to salvage some of their eyesight. “India has achieved new depths of degradation with this policy of aiming guns at people’s eyes,” she said. “They treat us as enemies rather than citizens.” India has flooded even more security forces into a region that is already home to 500,000 soldiers. Many of the reinforcements have taken over schools for use as temporary bases. The government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, initially played down the crisis in Kashmir, but it has faced increasing pressure, including from army chiefs, to open a dialogue with separatist leaders. In a radio address on Sunday, Modi expressed sadness at the loss of life in Kashmir but criticised “those trying to disturb peace in Kashmir by putting small children in the front and hiding behind them”. India and Pakistan have fought three conflicts over the Muslim-majority region, which Pakistan believes should have been included inside its territory when the subcontinent became independent from Britain in 1947. Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, announced over the weekend that he had appointed 22 parliamentarians as “special envoys” who would attempt to raise the issue internationally in the hope that foreign governments would exert pressure on India. The violence in Kashmir has undermined Sharif’s dream of overseeing an improvement in relations with India. Doubts are growing over whether Modi will attend a meeting of heads of government of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation due in the Pakistani capital on 9 November.[SEP]Authorities lifted a curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir after 52 days of lockdown amid deadly violence, but street clashes broke out again Monday between protesters and security forces. Restrictions were lifted throughout most of the tense Kashmir Valley including the main city of Sringar "following improvement in the situation", police said in a statement late Sunday. It was unclear whether the relaxation of restrictions would continue in the northern Himalayan region, where 68 civilians and two police officers have been killed since the unrest erupted last month. Schools and businesses remained closed on Monday and many streets in Srinagar were largely deserted as troops in riot gear patrolled on foot. Hundreds of residents rallied in other parts of Srinagar and in the northern town of Bandipora after the curfew was lifted, throwing stones at security forces who fired live rounds into the air and tear gas to disperse them, witnesses and an AFP photographer said. The current violence, the worst to hit the region since 2010, was triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel leader, Burhan Wani, in a gunbattle with soldiers. Several rebel groups including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen have for decades fought some 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm in the region on the weekend, criticising those responsible for encouraging youngsters to become involved in the recent unrest. Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since the armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1989.[SEP]A fter 50 days of curfew in the Kashmir Valley, the Central and State governments finally appear to be coming together on how to engage with the conflict and all the stakeholders involved. Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visits to Srinagar appear to have, at least temporarily, calmed the air. A panel set up by the government is now looking at alternatives to the pellet guns used by the security forces: they have proved to be unacceptably lethal, and should have been abandoned already. An all-party delegation is expected to visit Srinagar in an attempt to reach out to people and kick-start a political dialogue. The process of normalcy can only begin once the restrictive curfew is lifted — but the government cannot sit back and wait for calm; it needs to foster it. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the gravity of the situation and sought to reach out by saying that each person who dies in the Valley is “one of our people”, there needs to be an actionable checklist to demonstrate the sincerity of the outreach. It is perhaps for all these reasons that after her meeting with Mr. Modi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called for the next step, a three-pronged action plan that would include talks with Pakistan and with the separatist leaders, many of whom are currently in prison. While all of these steps are welcome and necessary, the government must recognise that they only address the violence, and not the deeper problem of alienation in Kashmir. They are but leaves out of the playbook used in 2008 and 2010, to bring the Valley back from the edge after street protests: visits to Srinagar by senior national leaders and all-party delegations, words of restraint for security forces, and words of empathy to Kashmiris. In the current round of violence, Mr. Modi must do better than ‘reinvent the wheel’. To chart a new course, he and Ms. Mufti must work on a sustained plan for dialogue in the State, even as he builds a consensus on how to deal with Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s grand diplomatic plans to internationalise the Kashmir issue may be unlikely to meet with much success on the international stage, and will probably be countered at the UN with India’s new pitch for Pakistan to vacate “all of Kashmir”. But such grandstanding hardly addresses the real issues at hand. The bilateral stand-off should not blunt the internal dialogue. What is important right now is not what India does outside its borders, but inside them, in a carefully considered, positive and sustained manner. For, the absence of violence is not peace; it is merely an enabling condition for the pursuit of lasting peace.[SEP]'Burhan Wani’s killing served as a spark for the anti-establishment fire that has been raging in the minds of Kashmiris ever since the Centre stopped engaging them for their political future.' '... before the upsurge the Hurriyat had begun to feel isolated and marginalised, many had begun to term them as irrelevant. But they are now back in the game.' 'The cardinal weaknesses shown in use of pellet shotguns are clearly due to lack of training on their use.' IMAGE: Protestors throw stones on the police which fired tear gas shells during a clash in Srinagar. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo Nearly two months since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in an encounter with the security forces, the Kashmir Valley remains shrouded in grief, anger and frustration. As dawn breaks everyday, mobs armed with sticks, stones and molotov cocktails emerge from homes to take on the collective might of a flailing administration for the cause of 'azadi'. But beyond the bold headlines and blaring prime time news shows, not much has really emerged from the Ground Zero of protest. To clear the air, Vipin Vijayan/Rediff.com reached out to Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, who has been part of the track II process which seeks to reach out to members of the civil society in the Valley to understand the ground reality and provide inputs to the government. Air Vice Marshal Kak is a former deputy director of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and the founding additional director of the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. In recent years, he has represented India in a number of Track II conferences on international security and strategic issues, and been part of many initiatives on the India-Pakistan peace process and conflict resolution in Jammu and Kashmir. The highly-decorated officer says the onus for restoring normalcy in the Kashmir Valley lies with the Centre and the state government together reaching out to all the stakeholders. Burhan Wani's killing seems to have touched a raw nerve with the Kashmiris. Help us make sense of the sudden spurt in anti-establishment sentiment. Or has it been that this sentiment has been simmering for a while now and simply boiled over upon the militant's killing? The latter part of the question itself provides the answer. Burhan Wani’s killing served as a spark for the anti-establishment fire that has been raging in the minds of Kashmiris ever since the Centre stopped engaging them for their political future. The last such effort was the interlocutors report of 2011 which has been gathering dust in North Block (which houses the PMO, home ministry, etc) ever since. This was the unanimous opinion of a large body of civil society comprising University teachers, lawyers, traders, manufacturers and sundry professionals I interacted with during two visits to Kashmir in the last three weeks. My second foray was as part of a 8-member delegation comprising a political leader, journalists, social activists, and a security analyst among others. How did Burhan Wani turn into an inspirational figure for the Kashmiri? Burhan Wani gave up studies to join militancy in 2011 when he was just 17. He soon gained a poster-boy image, and became a symbol of ‘new militancy’, in which educated, technology-savvy, social media-adept teenagers from relatively affluent families, who are ready to die, acquire iconic status. Sometime last year, a photograph of 10 militants, including Burhan Wani, all in jungle fatigues and bearing AK 47s, went viral on the social media. Professors at the Kashmir University told our delegation that militants spearheading the current upsurge are 12 to 16 years of age, fearless and ready to die. And we were told elders have lost control over the young. Worryingly enough, there is a growing cult of martyrdom. As a journalist-friend rightly averred, "there is an ecstasy in confrontation that borders on a love affair with death." There are reports that the writ of the government has stopped functioning in South Kashmir. Is there any truth in these claims? If so, in what manner? In a situation of what I term 'curfewed neo-normalcy', continuing protests over 48 days, 50-60 people getting injured daily in stone-pelting and counter actions by police, there is obviously pressure on the writ of the government, more so in South Kashmir, the centre of gravity of current upsurge. Notwithstanding the monumental challenge, the Mehbooba Mufti-led government, ably supported by the Centre, has not been found wanting in timely delivery of goods and services to public. The security forces are fully in control of the situation; yet they are restrained enough to let the youth let go the anger steam. Despite attendance in offices being restricted to about 10 per cent, the top civil and police administration is performing its functions admirably. Calls of Azadi have been heard across the Valley over the last 45 days. What's the premise of this demand? In general, anger against the Narendra Modi-led central government and support for Azadi stretches all across the Valley. There are small numbers who seek sovereign independence or merger with Pakistan, the latter demand having been consistently advocated by the hard line All Party Hurriyat Conference leader Ali Shah Geelani. In the entire spectrum of civil society, our delegation interacted with over three days, there was unanimity that they would not wish to join Pakistan. But they were equally vehement on their grievance that the special status accorded to J&K state under India's Constitution had been severely eroded ever since the arrest of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953. One gathers the impression that genuine autonomy as an alternative to sovereign independence would be an option that would resonate among the majority of Kashmiris with suitable devolutionary checks and balances provided to the people of Jammu and Ladakh. With violence continuing unabated and the toll rising by the day, where does Kashmir go from here? How do you see this situation being resolved? The immediate priority should be restoration of a modicum of normalcy progressively improving the same so people can get onto routine workaday living. The onus for this lies with the Centre and state government together reaching out to all the stakeholders. Expression of remorse on excessive use of force and the consequences it had on young teenagers by way of deaths and serious injuries, immediate ban on use of pellet guns, promise of selective revocation of AFSPA from a few districts, opening of official and non-official dialogue channels with the separatists and others and announcement of CBMs that would serve as a balm for the wounds in the minds of Kashmiris could be measures that would help resolve he situation. IMAGE: A policeman fires tear gas towards protesters during a protest against the recent killings in Kashmir, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters The government alleges that the separatists have been fuelling the protests in Kashmir. What's your take on this? The protests were spontaneous. But once these reached a critical mass, not only the separatists but even Pakistan leveraged the opportunity that came their way. The protestors do not fully adhere to the shut-down calendars announced by separatists. In fact, before the upsurge the Hurriyat had begun to feel isolated and marginalized, many had begun to term them as irrelevant. But they are now back in the game. And a dialogue by the Centre with them has to be a way point on the forward pathway. Kashmiri leaders allege that the use of pellet shot guns by security forces has been a catalyst to the protests. But the troops on the ground claim there's no other way to respond to the threat from large mobs that pelt stones. Opening fire could further antagonise the mob, they say. Negotiations aside, how should the security forces deal with the protestors on the ground? One does not want to appear cynical. Even one death is one too many. But as far higher casualties in conflicts elsewhere in the world suggest, 70 deaths in 48 days of mass upsurge are the result of restraint shown by both the stone pelters as also police forces. Doubtless, in some situations, possibly due to panic, police and the Central Reserve Police Force did use excessive force. But the cardinal weaknesses shown in use of pellet guns are clearly due to lack of training on their use. Because firing these at point blank ranges caused devastating injuries, including 200 cases of eye/retinal damage. Somewhere between 60-100 youth may be blinded in one or both eyes forever. The home minister has promised alternatives to pellet shotguns, options which need to be explored on priority. More robust crowd control and stone-pelting countermeasures training have to be imparted to the police and the CRPF deployed in the state. These are all a reflection of our non-professional and chalta hai approach. There is a near-unanimous agreement in Kashmir that the media has not being reporting the entire truth on the ground. Kashmiris claim television channels have kept peddling lies as news. So what is the entire truth? What is the message that the Kashmiri on the streets of Srinagar wants to convey to the rest of the nation? The Kashmiris, through our delegation, collectively conveyed a precise and unambiguous message, pointedly referring to three television channels -- "They lie through their teeth, they misrepresent us, call us terrorists." One television anchor, whose name can easily be guessed, is a unanimous object of hate throughout the valley. Would I be wrong when I say that agencies in Pakistan have no role to play in fuelling protests in the Valley? Many believe that it is in Pakistan's interest to keep the Valley in a state of permanent unrest. You are not wrong. Pakistan had no role in fuelling the mass upsurge. After Wani's killing in South Kashmir, the wave of sympathy and outrage was all pervasive and immediately spread to the entire Valley. The fact that nearly 2 lakh mourners held about 40 ceremonies in his memory over a 12 hour period after his body was handed over to the family is indicative of his cult following. Pakistan was clearly not involved in all this. It is also true that the so-called deep state in Pakistan has a huge stake in keeping the Kashmir pot on the boil to distract Pakistani people from the calamitous internal problems. Although cases of successful cross LoC infiltration are on the rise (there have been 85 cases in six months of 2016), the level of casualties because of cross border terrorism have been in a steep continuous decline from 2002 onwards. Perhaps the time has come to initiate a serious dialogue not the least because such a move would help impart greater acceleration to the New Delhi-Srinagar dialogue which must commence first. What should the Narendra Modi government do to assuage the people of Kashmir? The prime minister's promises at the all-party meeting -- after a 45-day silence which deeply hurt the civil society cross-section we met -- and Rajnath Singh's second visit to Kashmir presage encouraging political initiatives in the short term for the agitators to respond appropriately. In the medium term, initiation of a creative and innovative peace process involving multi-track dialogue with multiple stake-holders, as also a dialogue with Pakistan could lead to a political resolution acceptable to India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. My own view is that greater devolution of political power with cross-LoC trade and people-to-people linkages envisaged in the so-termed 4-point mutually agreed between Musharraf-Vajpayee and Musharraf-Manmohan Singh during 2003-2007 -- the so-called golden period in India-Pakistan and Centre-Srinagar/Jammu relations -- appropriately repackaged, is a viable way forward. It would be a long haul, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to make the effort sincerely and resolutely. REDIFF RECOMMENDS[SEP]They discuss composition of all-party delegation that is to visit the State soon A day after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called for a panel of eminent persons to be sent to the Valley for a dialogue, Home Minister Rajnath Singh discussed the Kashmir situation with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State (MoS) Jitendra Singh and BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday. A Home Ministry official said the Ministers reviewed the ongoing unrest in the Valley and deliberated on the composition of the all-party delegation, which is expected to visit the State in the first week of September. The meeting continued for two hours at the residence of the Home Minister. Emerging out of the meeting, MoS, PMO Jitendra Singh said, “We had come here for margdarshan (guidance). He [Rajnath Singh] is a senior leader and that is why we came here.” “The Ministers also discussed the salient points discussed between the Prime Minister and the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister,” said the official. Amid Prime Minister Modi’s overtures to the people of Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, the government is all set to announce a Rs. 2,000-crore package for displaced people of PoK living in the country.

A curfew has ended in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir after 52 days of protest allowing for an all-party delegation to visit the state on Sunday.

Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 83. His nephew said in a statement, “We understand for all the emotional and physical challenges this situation presented we have been among the lucky ones — this illness-pirate, unlike in so many cases, never stole his ability to recognize those that were closest to him, nor took command of his central-gentle-life affirming core personality. The decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn’t vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him “there’s Willy Wonka,” would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or trouble and causing delight to travel to worry, disappointment or confusion. He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world. He continued to enjoy art, music, and kissing with his leading lady of the last twenty-five years, Karen. He danced down a church aisle at a wedding as parent of the groom and ring bearer, held countless afternoon movie western marathons and delighted in the the company of beloved ones.” He had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1989. The comic actor, who was twice Oscar nominated, for his role in “The Producers” and for co-penning “Young Frankenstein” with Mel Brooks, usually portrayed a neurotic who veered between total hysteria and dewy-eyed tenderness. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.” Habit or not, he got a great deal of mileage out of his persona in the 1970s for directors like Mel Brooks and Woody Allen, leading to a few less successful stints behind the camera, the best of which was “The Woman in Red,” co-starring then-wife Gilda Radner. Wilder was devastated by Radner’s death from ovarian cancer in 1989 and worked only intermittently after that. He tried his hand briefly at a sitcom in 1994, “Something Wilder,” and won an Emmy in 2003 for a guest role on “Will & Grace.” His professional debut came in Off Broadway’s “Roots” in 1961, followed by a stint on Broadway in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover,” which won him a Clarence Derwent Award as promising newcomer. His performance in the 1963 production of Brecht’s “Mother Courage” was seen by Mel Brooks, whose future wife, Anne Bancroft, was starring in the production; a friendship with Brooks would lead to some of Wilder’s most successful film work. For the time being, however, Wilder continued to work onstage, in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1963 and “Dynamite Tonight” and “The White House” the following year. He then understudied Alan Arkin and Gabriel Dell in “Luv,” eventually taking over the role. Wilder also worked in television in 1962’s “The Sound of Hunting,” “The Interrogators,” “Windfall” and in the 1966 TV production of “Death of a Salesman” with Lee J. Cobb. He later starred in TV movies including “Thursday’s Game” and the comedy-variety special “Annie and the Hoods,” both in 1974. In 1967 Wilder essayed his first memorable bigscreen neurotic, Eugene Grizzard, a kidnapped undertaker in Arthur Penn’s classic “Bonnie and Clyde.” Then came “The Producers,” in which he played the hysterical Leo Bloom, an accountant lured into a money bilking scheme by a theatrical producer played by Zero Mostel. Directed and written by Brooks, the film brought Wilder an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. With that, his film career was born. He next starred in a dual role with Donald Sutherland in “Start the Revolution Without Me,” in which he displayed his fencing abilities. It was followed by another middling comedy, “Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx,” also in 1970. In 1971 he stepped into the shoes of Willy Wonka, one of his most beloved and gentle characters. Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was not an immediate hit but became a children’s favorite over the years. The same cannot be said for the 1974 Stanley Donen-directed musical version of “The Little Prince,” in which Wilder appeared as the fox. He had somewhat better luck in Woody Allen’s spoof “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex,” appearing in a hilarious segment in which he played a doctor who falls in love with a sheep named Daisy. Full-fledged film stardom came with two other Brooks comedies, both in 1974: Western spoof “Blazing Saddles” and a wacko adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous book entitled “Young Frankenstein,” in which Wilder portrayed the mad scientist with his signature mixture of hysteria and sweetness. Working with Brooks spurred Wilder to write and direct his own comedies, though none reached the heights of his collaborations with Brooks. The first of these was “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” (1975), in which he included such Brooks regulars as Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman. It was followed by 1977’s “The World’s Greatest Lover,” which he also produced. Wilder fared better, however, when he was working solely in front of the camera, particularly in a number of films in which he co-starred with Richard Pryor. The first of these was 1976’s “Silver Streak,” a spoof of film thrillers set on trains; 1980’s “Stir Crazy” was an even bigger hit, grossing more than $100 million. Wilder and Pryor’s two other pairings, “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You,” provided diminishing returns, however. While filming “Hanky Panky” in 1982, Wilder met “Saturday Night Live” comedienne Radner. She became his third wife shortly thereafter. Wilder and Radner co-starred in his most successful directing stint, “The Woman in Red” in 1984, and then “Haunted Honeymoon.” But Radner grew ill with cancer, and he devoted himself to her care, working sporadically after that and hardly at all after her death in 1989. In the early ’90s he appeared in his last film with Pryor and another comedy, “Funny About Love.” In addition to the failed TV series “Something Wilder” in 1994, he wrote and starred in the A&E mystery telepics “The Lady in Question” and “Murder in a Small Town” in 1999. He also appeared as the Mock Turtle in a 1999 NBC adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” He last acted in a couple of episodes of “Will and Grace” in 2002-03 as Mr. Stein, winning an Emmy. He was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee and began studying acting at the age of 12. After getting his B.A. from the U. of Iowa in 1955, Wilder enrolled in the Old Vic Theater school in Bristol, where he learned acting technique and fencing. When he returned to the U.S. he taught fencing and did other odd jobs while studying with Herbert Berghof’s HB Studio and at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg. Wilder’s memoir “Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art” was published in 2005. After that he wrote fiction: the 2007 novel “My French Whore”; 2008’s “The Woman Who Wouldn’t”; a collection of stories, “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” in 2010; and the novella “Something to Remember You By: A Perilous Romance” in 2013. Wilder was interviewed by Alec Baldwin for the one-hour TCM documentary “Role Model: Gene Wilder” in 2008. The actor was also active in raising cancer awareness in the wake of Radner’s death. He is survived by his fourth wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991 and his nephew. His sister Corinne, predeceased him in January 2016. Before Radner, Wilder was married to the actress-playwright Mary Mercier and Mary Joan Schutz (aka Jo Ayers).[SEP]LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in “The Producers” and the deranged animator of “Young Frankenstein,” has died. He was 83. Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans. “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world,” Walker-Pearlman said. Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on “The Producers,” ”Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced “Frahn-ken-SHTEEN” — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder. “One of the truly great talents of our time,” Mel Brooks tweeted. “He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.” With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in “Young Frankenstein” or bilking Broadway in “The Producers.” Brooks would call him “God’s perfect prey, the victim in all of us.” But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy gunslinger in “Blazing Saddles” or the charming candy man in the children’s favorite “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” His craziest role: the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex.” He was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas — Wilder uptight, Pryor loose — were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films: “Silver Streak,” ”Stir Crazy,” ”See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You.” And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to “act black” as they tried to avoid police in “Silver Streak.” In 1968, Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his work in Brooks’ “The Producers.” He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled “Springtime For Hitler” and plan to flee with the money raised for the show’s production. Matthew Broderick played Wilder’s role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show. Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theater. Wilder was in a play with Brooks’ then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963. Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1935. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. When he was 6, Wilder’s mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career. He started taking acting classes at age 12 and continued performing and taking lesson through college. In 1961, Wilder became a member of Lee Strasberg’s prestigious Actor’s Studio in Manhattan. That same year, he made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. He won the Clarence Derwent Award, given to promising newcomers, for the Broadway work in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover.” He used his new name, Gene Wilder, for the off-Broadway and Broadway roles. He lifted the first name from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Back, Homeward Angel,” while the last name was clipped from playwright Thornton Wilder. A key break came when he co-starred with Bancroft in Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage,” and met Brooks, her future husband. “I was having trouble with one little section of the play, and he gave me tips on how to act. He said, ‘That’s a song and dance. He’s proselytizing about communism. Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.’ And he was right,” Wilder later explained. Before starring in “The Producers,” he had a small role as the hostage of gangsters in the 1967 classic “Bonnie and Clyde.” He peaked in the mid-1970s with the twin Brooks hits “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable “Hanky-Panky,” he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner. They were married in 1984, and co-starred in two Wilder-penned films: “The Lady in Red” and “Haunted Honeymoon.” After Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder spent much of his time after promoting cancer research. He opened a support facility for cancer patients called “Gilda’s Place.” In 1991, he testified before Congress about the need for increased testing for cancer. Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991.[SEP]In this March 16, 2005 file photo, actor Gene Wilder speaks about his life and career at Boston University in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) In this April 9, 2008 file photo, actor Gene Wilder listens as he is introduced to receive the Governor's Awards for Excellence in Culture and Tourism at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) Actor and author Gene Wilder autographs copies of his new book 'The Woman Who Wouldn't' at Barnes & Noble Bookstore at The Grove on March 17, 2008 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images) Gene Wilder and his wife Karen Boyer watch as Shahar Peer of Israel takes on Anna Chakvetadze of Russia during day ten of the 2007 U.S. Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 5, 2007 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) Actor Gene Wilder poses as he signs copies of his autobiography "Kiss Me Like A Stranger", at Waterstone's, Oxford Street on June 7, 2005 in London, England. (Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images) This file photo taken on September 7, 1984 shows US actor and director Gene Wilder of the movie "The Woman in Red" during the 10th American Film Festival of Deauville. / AFP PHOTO / Mychele DANIAUMYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images LOS ANGELES -- Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in "The Producers" and the deranged animator of "Young Frankenstein," has died. He was 83. Wilder's nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer's disease. Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans. "He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world," Walker-Pearlman said. Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein." The last film -- with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced "Frahn-ken-SHTEEN" -- was co-written by Brooks and Wilder. "One of the truly great talents of our time," Mel Brooks tweeted. "He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship." With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in "Young Frankenstein" or bilking Broadway in "The Producers." Brooks would call him "God's perfect prey, the victim in all of us." But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy gunslinger in "Blazing Saddles" or the charming candy man in the children's favourite "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." His craziest role: the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex." He was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas -- Wilder uptight, Pryor loose -- were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films: "Silver Streak," "Stir Crazy," "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" and "Another You." And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to "act black" as they tried to avoid police in "Silver Streak." In 1968, Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his work in Brooks' "The Producers." He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled "Springtime For Hitler" and plan to flee with the money raised for the show's production. Matthew Broderick played Wilder's role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show. Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theatre. Wilder was in a play with Brooks' then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963. Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1935. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. When he was 6, Wilder's mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career. He started taking acting classes at age 12 and continued performing and taking lesson through college. In 1961, Wilder became a member of Lee Strasberg's prestigious Actor's Studio in Manhattan. That same year, he made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. He won the Clarence Derwent Award, given to promising newcomers, for the Broadway work in Graham Greene's comedy "The Complaisant Lover." He used his new name, Gene Wilder, for the off-Broadway and Broadway roles. He lifted the first name from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe's "Look Back, Homeward Angel," while the last name was clipped from playwright Thornton Wilder. A key break came when he co-starred with Bancroft in Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage," and met Brooks, her future husband. "I was having trouble with one little section of the play, and he gave me tips on how to act. He said, 'That's a song and dance. He's proselytizing about communism. Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.' And he was right," Wilder later explained. Before starring in "The Producers," he had a small role as the hostage of gangsters in the 1967 classic "Bonnie and Clyde." He peaked in the mid-1970s with the twin Brooks hits "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein." He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable "Hanky-Panky," he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner. They were married in 1984, and co-starred in two Wilder-penned films: "The Lady in Red" and "Haunted Honeymoon." After Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder spent much of his time after promoting cancer research. He opened a support facility for cancer patients called "Gilda's Place." In 1991, he testified before Congress about the need for increased testing for cancer. Wilder guest-starred on two episodes of NBC's "Will & Grace" in 2002 and 2003, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor on a comedy series for his role as Mr. Stein, the boss of Will Truman, played by Canadian Eric McCormack. Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991.[SEP]Gene Wilder, the star of such comedy classics as “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles,” has died. He was 83. Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in “Young Frankenstein” or bilking Broadway in “The Producers.” But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in “Blazing Saddles” and as the charming candy man in the children’s favorite “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” In this April 9, 2008 file photo, actor Gene Wilder listens as he is introduced to receive the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Culture and Tourism at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. Wilder, who starred in such film classics as "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "Young Frankenstein" has died. He was 83. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) In this April 9, 2008 file photo, actor Gene Wilder listens as he is introduced to receive the Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Culture and Tourism at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. Wilder, who starred in such film classics as "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "Young Frankenstein" has died. He was 83. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)[SEP]Mel Brooks has led the tributes to Hollywood acting and writing partner Gene Wilder . His death was confirmed today by his nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman saying he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. The news of his death led to an outpouring of grief from Hollywood with his friend Mel Brooks leading the tributes. The director said: “Gene Wilder - one of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.” Rob Lowe wrote: “Gene Wilder as one of my earliest heroes. Blazing Saddles, Willy Wonka, are CLINICS on comic acting. Sad to hear of his passing.” Russell Crowe said: “I saw Blazing Saddles 7 times at the cinema with my school friends . George St. Cows outside. Gene Wilder, you were a genius. Rest in Peace.” Oscar-nominated Juliette Lewis added: “Thank you for the beautiful words”. Britain’s own funnyman Ricky Gervais simply used one of the star's most famous quotes from Willy Wonka writing on Twitter: “Good Day Sir!’ RIP Gene Wilder.” The frizzy-haired actor was often cast as characters who showed signs of neurotic or hysteric behaviour. “My quiet exterior used to be a mask for hysteria,” he told Time magazine in 1970. “After seven years of analysis, it just became a habit.” • Celebrity deaths in 2016: The famous faces gone too soon - from Gene Wilder to Prince and Alan Rickman Twice nominated for an Oscar, his glittering career faltered after the death of his wife Gilda Radner, who he starred alongside in The Woman in Red, which left him devastated. Friends say he never really got over her passing from ovarian cancer in 1989 and Wilder only worked infrequently after she died. He married again in 1991 to Karen Boyer. He returned briefly to television in the US with the sitcom “Something Wilder,” in 1994 and won an Emmy in 2003 for a guest role on “Will & Grace.” • Gene Wilder still has twinkle in his eye 44 years after playing Willy Wonka Born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in June 1933, he began acting at the age of eight when his mother was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. The family’s doctor told the then schoolboy to "try and make her laugh” to take her mind off the pain she suffered. After studying drama for two years when he turned 13 his mother Jeanne Silberman felt her son's potential was not being fully realised and sent him instead to Black-Foxe, a military institute in Hollywood. Following his graduation after studying Communication and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa, he was accepted at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol in 1955. But his time in the UK was short lived after he was drafted into the army the following year. He adopted Gene Wilder for his professional name at the age of 26, explaining, "I had always liked Gene because of Thomas Wolfe's character Eugene Gant in Look Homeward, Angel and Of Time and the River. And I was always a great admirer of Thornton Wilder.” Following a short stint off-Broadway in 1961 Wilder won critical acclaim in Graham Greene’s comedy The Complaisant Lover. It saw him awarded the Clarence Derwent Award as most promising newcomer but more importantly brought him to the attention of Mel Brooks. When Wilder performed with the director’s future wife Anne Bancroft in Mother Courage it became the start of a long and famed friendship between the two men. It led to the actor being cast in the 1967 film The Producers, in which he played the hysterical Leo Bloom, an accountant lured into a money making scam by a theatrical producer played by Zero Mostel. Directed and written by Brooks, the film brought Wilder an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor spring-boarding him into more Hollywood roles. In 1971 he stepped into the shoes of Willie Wonka. Based on the children’s book by Roald Dahl, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was not an immediate hit but became a children’s favourite over the years. Now established in Hollywood Wilder achieved further stardom in two other Brooks comedies, both in 1974. Western spoof “Blazing Saddles” and a wacko adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous book entitled “Young Frankenstein,” in which Wilder portrayed the mad scientist with his signature mixture of hysteria and sweetness both enjoyed box office success. The 1980’s movie Stir Crazy starring Richard Pryor became the then biggest grossing movie earning more than $100 million. Wilder is survived by a daughter, Katharine whom he adopted in 1967 when he married her mother Mary Joan Schute.[SEP]LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in “The Producers” and the mad scientist of “Young Frankenstein,” has died. He was 83. Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans. “He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world,” Walker-Pearlman said. Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on “The Producers,” ”Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced “Frahn-ken-SHTEEN” — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder. “Gene Wilder, one of the truly great talents of our time, is gone,” Brooks wrote in a statement Monday. “He blessed every film we did together with his special magic and he blessed my life with his friendship. He will be so missed.” With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in “Young Frankenstein” or bilking Broadway in “The Producers.” Brooks would call him “God’s perfect prey, the victim in all of us.” But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozing gunslinger in “Blazing Saddles” or the charming candy man in the children’s favorite “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” His craziest role: the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex.” “The greatest comedic mind of my childhood is now gone,” actor Josh Gad wrote on Twitter. “#RIP #GeneWilder & thank you 4 your pure imagination. This one hits hard.” Tweeted Jim Carrey: “Gene Wilder was one of the funniest and sweetest energies ever to take a human form. If there’s a heaven he has a Golden Ticket.” Wilder was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas — Wilder uptight, Pryor loose — were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films: “Silver Streak,” ”Stir Crazy,” ”See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You.” And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to “act black” as they tried to avoid police in “Silver Streak.” But Wilder would insist in a 2013 interview that he was no comedian. He told interviewer Robert Osborne it was the biggest misconception about him. “What a comic, what a funny guy, all that stuff! And I’m not. I’m really not. Except in a comedy in films,” Wilder said. “But I make my wife laugh once or twice in the house, but nothing special. But when people see me in a movie and it’s funny then they stop and say things to me about ‘how funny you were.’ But I don’t think I’m that funny. I think I can be in the movies.” In 1968, Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his work in Brooks’ “The Producers.” He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled “Springtime For Hitler” and plan to flee with the money raised for the show’s production. Matthew Broderick played Wilder’s role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show. Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theater. Wilder was in a play with Brooks’ then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963. Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. When he was 6, Wilder’s mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career. He started taking acting classes at age 12 and continued performing and taking lesson through college. In 1961, Wilder became a member of Lee Strasberg’s prestigious Actor’s Studio in Manhattan. That same year, he made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. He won the Clarence Derwent Award, given to promising newcomers, for the Broadway work in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover.” He used his new name, Gene Wilder, for the off-Broadway and Broadway roles. He lifted the first name from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Back, Homeward Angel,” while the last name was clipped from playwright Thornton Wilder. A key break came when he co-starred with Bancroft in Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage,” and met Brooks, her future husband. “I was having trouble with one little section of the play, and he gave me tips on how to act. He said, ‘That’s a song and dance. He’s proselytizing about communism. Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.’ And he was right,” Wilder later explained. Before starring in “The Producers,” he had a small role as the hostage of gangsters in the 1967 classic “Bonnie and Clyde.” He peaked in the mid-1970s with the twin Brooks hits “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable “Hanky-Panky,” he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner. They were married in 1984, and co-starred in two Wilder-penned films: “The Woman in Red” and “Haunted Honeymoon.” After Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder spent much of his time after promoting cancer research and opened a support facility for cancer patients. In 1991, he testified before Congress about the need for increased testing for cancer. That same year, he appeared in his final film role: “Another You” with Pryor. Wilder worked mostly in television in recent years, including appearances on “Will & Grace” — including one that earned him an Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor — and a starring role in the short-lived sitcom “Something Wilder.” In 2015, he was among the voices in the animated “The Yo Gabba Gabba! Movie 2.” As for why he stopped appearing on the big screen, Wilder said in 2013 he was turned off by the noise and foul language in modern movies. “I didn’t want to do the kind of junk I was seeing,” he said in an interview. “I didn’t want to do 3D for instance. I didn’t want to do ones where there’s just bombing and loud and swearing, so much swearing… can’t they just stop and talk instead of swearing?” Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine, from whom he was estranged. This story has been corrected to show that Gene Wilder was born in 1933, not 1935. Also Gilda Radner and Wilder co-starred in “The Woman in Red,” not “The Lady in Red.” AP film writers Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles and Jake Coyle in New York and former AP reporter Larry McShane contributed to this story.[SEP]In this April 9, 2008, file photo, actor Gene Wilder listens as he is introduced to receive the Governor's Awards for Excellence in Culture and Tourism at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. Gene Wilder, the star of such comedy classics as Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, has died. He was 83. Wilder's nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer's disease. The frizzy-haired actor was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Mel Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in Young Frankenstein or bilking Broadway in The Producers. But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy sheriff in Blazing Saddles and as the charming candy man in the children's favorite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.[SEP]Gene Wilder, whose kinky curls and startling blue eyes brought a frantic air to roles in the movies Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, died on Monday at the age of 83, his family said. Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1935. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. READ MORE: * REVIEW: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory * The star of TV series Mr Ed dead at 96 * Why the long face? Our mane man bridles at new phone directory * Coronation Street creator Tony Warren dies * Everybody Loves Raymond star memorialised in NYC Wilder, whose best work came in collaborations with director-writer Mel Brooks and actor Richard Pryor, died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's disease, the family said in a statement. Wilder's nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, said the actor had chosen to keep his illness secret so that children who knew him as Willy Wonka would not equate the whimsical character with an adult disease. "He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world," Walker-Pearlman said. Wilder's barely contained hysteria made him a go-to lead for director-writer Mel Brooks, who cast him in "Blazing Saddles," "Young Frankenstein" and "The Producers" in the 1960s and '70s. Besides his classic collaborations with Brooks, Wilder paired memorably with comedian Richard Pryor in hits "Silver Streak" and "Stir Crazy." Wilder also was active in promoting ovarian cancer awareness and treatment after his wife, "Saturday Night Live" comedienne Gilda Radner, whom he married in 1984, died of the disease in 1989. He helped found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founded Gilda's Club, a support organisation that has branches throughout the United States. Brooks noted Wilder's death by tweeting, "Gene Wilder-One of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship." Born Jerome Silberman to Russian immigrants in Milwaukee, Wilder studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre in Bristol, England, and then studied method acting at the Actors Studio. A leading role in a play that also starred Anne Bancroft, who was dating her future husband Brooks, led to Wilder becoming a top member of Brooks' stock company of crazies, some of whom branched out with Wilder into other film ventures. Wilder's first movie role was a small part as a terrified undertaker who was abducted by Bonnie and Clyde in Arthur Penn's 1967 film of the same name. The following year he was panic-stricken Leo Bloom to Zero Mostel's conniving Max Bialystock in Brooks' The Producers, picking up an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. While it initially got a tepid response, the movie with its over-the-top song Springtime for Hitler, went on to become a cult favorite and, years later with a different cast, a monster hit on Broadway. Wilder was a last-minute fill-in as the "Waco Kid" in Brooks' Blazing Saddles in 1974, and with Brooks wrote the screenplay for Young Frankenstein released later that year, also to big box office returns. The two were nominated for best screenplay Oscars, but lost to Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo for The Godfather Part II. With Brooks alumni Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman, Wilder made his directorial debut with 1975's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, and directed several other movies with uneven results. Wilder's title role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory earned him a Golden Globe nomination in 1971, and he was nominated again in that category in 1976 for Silver Streak. He won an Emmy in 2003 for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for appearances on Will and Grace. Wilder's memoir, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art, was released in 2005 and he collaborated with oncologist Steven Piver on the book Gilda's Disease in 1998. He was hospitalised in 1999 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma but was said to be in complete remission in 2005. Wilder lived in Stamford in a house built in 1734 that he had shared with Radner, writing and painting watercolours with his wife Karen Boyer, whom he married in 1991.[SEP]Gene Wilder, the blue-eyed, frazzle-haired actor who elevated panic to a comic art form in frequent collaboration with Mel Brooks (The Producers, Young Frankenstein) and Richard Pryor (Silver Streak, Stir Crazy), died on Sunday in Stamford, Conn., from complications from Alzheimer’s disease. His family confirmed the news to the AP. Wilder was 83. Wilder perhaps is most fondly remembered as the captivating candy man and “Pure Imagination” crooner of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Blazing Saddles, helmed by Brooks and co-written by Brooks and Pryor, and Bonnie and Clyde are two other classics among Wilder’s roughly three dozen TV and film credits. Though associated with funnymen Brooks and Pryor — he worked on three movies in all with Brooks and co-starred opposite Pryor in four — Wilder was quietly adamant that he was not a comic. “I am really not — except in a comedy film,” Wilder said in 2013. Maybe because others perceived him as an actor first as well, Wilder was the rare comedy star who was made welcome at the grownup table. He was twice nominated for an Oscar: a Best Supporting Actor nod for The Producers and a screenplay nod for his and Brooks’s Young Frankenstein. Wilder was previously married to Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner, and in the wake of her death in 1989, he became a leading proponent of ovarian cancer screening and research. He’s survived by his fourth wife, Karen Webb. Born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933, in Milwaukee, the future star became a comic actor almost from the start — and for a tragic reason: His mother suffered from heart disease, and since it was feared stress would kill her, laughter was demanded. Wilder, who went on to be one of the screen’s leading neurotics, would trace his own neuroses to the experience. “My mother was suffering every day of her life, and what right did I have to be happy if she was suffering?” Wilder told the Washington Post in 2005. “So whenever I got happy about something, I felt the need to cut it off, and the only way to cut it off was to pray. ‘Forgive me, Lord.’ For what, I didn’t know.” Wilder’s mother survived into his early 20s; she died, as Radner would decades later, of ovarian cancer. By the time of his mother’s death, Wilder was already a veteran actor, having been drawn to the stage as a teen. His early life took the familiar course of the draft-era young man: college (University of Iowa, then England’s Bristol Old Vic Theatre), then the Army, then back to civilian life. The former Jerome Silberman marked his return with a new name: Gene, depending on the source, chosen either in honor of a Thomas Wolfe character or his late mother, Jeanne; Wilder, for the author Thornton Wilder. Wilder began to appear on the Broadway stage in the early 1960s. The 1963 play Mother Courage and Her Children paired him with Anne Bancroft and brought him into the orbit of her then-boyfriend Mel Brooks. Four years later, in 1967, and a few months after he’d made his film debut in Bonnie and Clyde, Wilder starred in Brooks’s The Producers. (Because the future classic was a slow starter, to put it mildly, The Producers was not released in New York and Los Angeles until 1968.) In Bonnie and Clyde and The Producers, Wilder played mild-mannered types driven to hyperventilation by bank robbers (the former) and a scheming Broadway impresario (the latter). The parts arguably were his destiny: “When God saw Gene Wilder,” Brooks was quoted as saying, “He said, ‘That is prey. And we’ll put him on Earth and everybody will chase him and have some fun.'” In his mid-30s, and amid the “New Hollywood” revolution, Wilder was suddenly a leading man. He was not, however, suddenly everywhere, in everything. “I was always very selective,” Wilder said of his movie choices. “No, selective isn’t the right word.” “Egomaniacal,” he decided, was what he was looking for. For the choosy Wilder, Willy Wonka, a musical rendering of the Roald Dahl children’s book about greed, chocolate, and one good kid, was just his fifth film. At the time of its release, in 1971, and for a few years after, it was portrayed as a flop because, box-office-wise, it was. For a time, even Wilder spoke of Willy Wonka as being one of the films that “ended” the first part of his movie career. “I started all over again with Woody Allen in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex,” Wilder said in 1976. True enough, Wilder was a comic star anew for playing a doctor who falls in love with a sheep in Allen’s anthology. Then he reteamed with Brooks for Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, both released in 1974, and he was a comic superstar. While Brooks wrote and directed the Old West spoof Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein was Wilder’s baby. He started with the title and worked it into a full-blown, homage/parody of the black-and-white Universal horror classics. Brooks would end up directing that movie too, as well as rewriting the script with Wilder. “While we were making Blazing Saddles, we worked on the second draft of Young Frankenstein,” Wilder recalled. Wilder and Brooks never collaborated in any significant way after Young Frankenstein. There was no falling out; there were just different styles. “Our ideas of comedy are quite different,” Wilder told UPI in 1977. “Mel likes the fall-down stuff. I favor romantic humor.” Wilder began directing himself, in 1975’s The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother, and 1977’s The World’s Greatest Lover, and found a new comedy partner in Pryor, starting with the 1976 heist comedy Silver Streak. “At the end of a take,” Wilder recounted to the New York Daily News of his first day shooting with Pryor, “we burst into the same song at the same time. … From then on, we began trusting each other in a way I haven’t experienced with any actor.” Silver Streak was a hit, as was the prison-set, Sidney Poitier-directed Stir Crazy, released in 1980, months after Pryor’s life- and career-changing self-immolation suicide attempt. It would be almost a decade before Wilder and Pryor teamed up again, in 1989’s See No Evil, Hear No Evil. In the interim, Wilder had acquired another screen partner: Radner. The two met on the 1982 crime comedy Hanky Panky, also directed by Poitier. Wilder and Radner married in 1984 and went on to work together in 1984’s The Woman in Red and 1986’s Haunted Honeymoon, both directed by Wilder. Then Radner began to not feel right — it would take doctors months to deliver the grim diagnosis: stage 4 ovarian cancer. For nearly three years, until her death at age 42 in 1989, Radner was in and out of treatment, and in and out of hospitals. “Gilda went through the tortures of the damned, and at the end, I felt robbed,” Wilder told People in 1991. “All along I kept hearing Gilda saying, ‘Don’t just sit there, dummy, do something!'” Wilder would go on to testify before Congress about the importance of screenings and knowledge of family health history and co-found Gilda’s Club, a cancer-support organization that started (and remains) in New York City and spawned numerous chapters. Wilder, who was married and divorced twice before his union to Radner, wed Webb, a hearing specialist he’d worked with on Hear No Evil, See No Evil, in 1991. Wilder would work in only a handful more TV and film projects, including one last comedy with Pryor, 1991’s Another You. The movie was panned and, worse, showed Pryor in marked physical decline from the multiple sclerosis that would claim him in 2005. In 1999, Wilder was diagnosed with lymphoma, but by the time he went public with his health, in 2000, he was already said to be in remission. Wilder began a low-key retirement after winning a Primetime Emmy for a 2003 guest-starring turn on TV’s Will & Grace. Away from Hollywood, Wilder said he enjoyed his life, his wife, his writing, and no longer having to deal with the business of show business. Along the way, Wilder’s old flop Willy Wonka became considered a children’s fantasy classic. The 2005 Johnny Depp-Tim Burton take, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, of which Wilder was famously no fan, served only to make the older version ever more relevant. In the end, Wilder, who could do panic like few others onscreen, sounded serene. “I’ve become pretty philosophical about a lot of things, including death. It doesn’t get to me,” Wilder told London’s Telegraph in 2005. “At this point, the way I feel, if it’s over, it’s over.”[SEP]US actor Gene Wilder, remembered by many for his lead role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died at the age of 83, his family confirmed. The comic actor also starred in classic films such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Mr Wilder frequently collaborated with writer and director Mel Brooks as well as stand-up comedian Richard Pryor. The two-time Oscar-nominated actor was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989. Mr Wilder’s nephew confirmed the actor died on Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. The star first made waves on Broadway before transitioning to the silver screen for a brief role as a kidnapped undertaker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Mel Brooks then cast Mr Wilder as Leo Bloom, an anxious accountant in the 1968 comedy, The Producers. In 1971, he took on the role of one of his most beloved characters, Willy Wonka, in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Mr Wilder’s other well-known roles included the Waco Kid in the 1974 cult classic Blazing Saddles and Doctor Ross in Woody Allen’s 1972 film, Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid to Ask. For more on this story go to: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37215553

Gene Wilder, known for his role as the title character in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and for his collaborations with Mel Brooks, dies at the age of 83.

The Latest on tropical weather systems (all times local): Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is closing some areas at the end of the day as a major hurricane hurtles west toward Hawaii Island. Park officials said Tuesday that the coastal lava viewing area will close by Wednesday morning. Some camping areas are closing, but guests staying at Kilauea Military Camp and Volcano House may shelter in place. The closures will remain in effect until the storms pass. Hawaii’s Big Island is under a hurricane warning as category 3 Madeline approaches. The National Weather Service warned that hurricane conditions are expected on the Big Island within the next 36 hours. Hawaii’s Big Island is under a hurricane warning as category 3 Madeline approaches. The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that hurricane conditions are expected on the Big Island within the next 36 hours. Forecasters are urging residents and visitors to rush through preparations to protect their lives and property. Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt says she has boarded up windows in her brother’s oceanfront home. She says she and her neighbors are hoping their roofs stay intact and their houses don’t float away. Neighbors are stocking up on food and water to prepare for power outages. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Oahu this week. The White House is tracking the weather developments closely, but it doesn’t anticipate changing Obama’s schedule. Forecasters have issued a hurricane watch for parts of Florida stretching from northwest of Tampa to an area east of Panama City. The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued the watch for an area of the Gulf coast from the Anclote River to Indian Pass. An area to the west of Indian pass on the Panhandle is under a tropical storm watch. The watches are related to a tropical depression churning in the Gulf about 345 miles (55 kilometers) west of Key West. Forecasters say they expect the system to turn to the northeast toward Florida on Wednesday. It’s also expected to become a tropical storm by Wednesday. Residents of Hawaii’s Big Island are bracing for what could be the first hurricane to make landfall in that state in decades. Meteorologist Chevy Chevalier said Tuesday that Pacific hurricane Madeline, now a major Category 3 storm, is expected to weaken but likely to remain a hurricane as it passes the state. The forecaster says Madeline is expected to pass just south of the Big Island early Thursday morning. But if the storm’s track shifts slightly to the north, it could hit land. Chevalier says the last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which hit Kauai Island. A second Pacific hurricane called Lester is still far from Hawaii. Lester is expected to be a tropical storm by the time it passes the state. Federal regulators say offshore operators have temporarily evacuated workers from some oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico because of a tropical depression. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington said in an emailed statement that personnel were taken off nine platforms by midday Tuesday, or from just a fraction of the 750 manned platforms in the Gulf. It adds workers also were evacuated from one rig and a total of seven rigs had been re-positioned away from the expected path of the storm. The regulatory agency says its hurricane response team has been activated and is working with offshore operators and other agencies “until operations return to normal and the storm is no longer a threat to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas activities.” The emailed statement didn’t say exactly how many workers were evacuated. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center says a hurricane watch is in effect for the Big Island of Hawaii, warning major Hurricane Madeline could pass “dangerously close.” At 5 a.m. HST (11 a.m. EDT) Tuesday, Madeline was a powerful Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph). The center adds that the storm is centered about 445 miles (715 kilometers) east of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west at 10 mph (17 kph). The Center’s advisory predicted the storm would pass near Hawaii’s Big Island Wednesday and Wednesday night and residents could experience hurricane-force winds, heavy rain and high surf. But it added that some weakening is forecast through late Wednesday. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to restock their emergency kits, create evacuation plans and secure outdoor furniture. Forecasters say a tropical weather system off the North Carolina coast is expected to pass near the Outer Banks by the evening. An 11 a.m. update on Tuesday from the National Hurricane Center says the tropical depression could become a named storm later in the day. Its center is also expected to pass near the North Carolina barrier islands in the afternoon or evening. Top sustained winds were 35 mph (55 kph) with higher gusts, and the storm was centered about 70 miles (115 kilometers) south of Cape Hatteras. A tropical storm warning is in effect for much of the Outer Banks. In the Gulf of Mexico another tropical depression was about 340 miles (550 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida. Forecasters expect it to become a tropical storm later Tuesday and make a turn to the northeast toward Florida the next day. A slow stream of cars is heading north on the main highway off Hatteras Island in North Carolina as crowds of visitors thin ahead of the approach of a tropical weather system. Dozens of cars with tags from places including Maryland, New York and Ohio were seen headed Tuesday morning toward a bridge to the mainland. There was light, intermittent rain and mostly cloudy skies. A tropical depression off the Atlantic Coast is expected to become a tropical storm and bring rain and wind to North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it passes by early Wednesday. A public beach near Rodanthe was nearly empty, save for two parents enjoying the morning with their 11-year-old son. Joe and Kelley Walker of Virginia say they plan to stay through the weather and watch movies inside when it gets rainy. A tropical depression that threatens the North Carolina coast has turned north-northwestward in the Atlantic. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the depression is expected to later curve north and then northeast on Wednesday. Its forecast track shows its center will be near North Carolina’s Outer Banks by Tuesday afternoon or evening. The depression’s maximum sustained are near 35 mph (55 kph) and forecasters say it could become a tropical storm later in the day. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says a hurricane hunter aircraft has been sent to investigate a tropical depression nearing the North Carolina coast. The depression’s maximum sustained winds remain near 35 mph (55 kph) Tuesday morning but forecasters say it could become a tropical storm later in the day. The depression is centered about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is moving northwest near 6 mph (9 kph). Meanwhile, another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week. Officials say a potential tropical storm is already forming off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It’s expected to bring up to 45 mph winds and heavy rain that could flood low-lying areas. The tropical depression was about 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras on Tuesday morning with top sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph). Officials say it’s expected to become a tropical storm in coming hours but not grow any stronger. Beachgoers, boat captains and business owners warily waited for the storm to wash out one of the summer’s last busy weeks. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami also say another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week and possibly head toward the Atlantic coast.[SEP][SEP]Hawaii Island is under a hurricane warning as officials prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Madeline. The warning means hurricane conditions are expected Wednesday into early Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. As of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Hawaii County was considering opening emergency shelters. Ed Teixeira, county interim civil defense director, said shelters could be opened as early as Tuesday if the call is made. Asked what his main concern is, Teixeira said: “It’s not weakening fast enough.” Madeline remained a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. It was 370 miles east of Hilo and moving west at 10 mph as of 11 a.m. The weather service said it expects Madeline to slowly weaken as it encounters vertical wind shear but remain a “dangerous hurricane” as it passes just south of the island late Wednesday and early Thursday. The hurricane is forecast to have maximum sustained winds of 105 mph Wednesday morning and 80 mph Thursday morning. Hurricane Lester was 1,275 miles east of Hilo as of 11 a.m. with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. It’s forecast to pass the island to the north Saturday.[SEP]The National Weather Service issued a hurricane watch Monday for Hawaii Island as Hurricane Madeline continues to intensify. A watch means that hurricane conditions are possible in the next 48 hours. The weather service also issued a flash flood watch for the island for Wednesday and Thursday. As of 11 a.m. Monday, Madeline was a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. It was located 630 miles east of Hilo. Madeline is forecast to pass south of the island Wednesday and Thursday. Landfall remains a possibility. By Thursday, the cyclone is expected to weaken to a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. Farther to the east, Hurricane Lester continues to churn toward the island as a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. It was 1,610 miles east of Hilo as of 11 a.m. Monday. Lester is forecast to pass the island Saturday to the north, though a direct hit remains possible. It’s also expected to weaken to a category 1 hurricane as it nears the island, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.[SEP]HONOLULU (AP) — The Central Pacific Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for the Big Island of Hawaii as Hurricane Madeline closes in on the island. Forecaster Derek Wroe says the storm should be near or over the Big Island by Wednesday. Madeline was a Category 3 hurricane at midday Monday and may strengthen over the next 12 to 24 hours. But it's expected to weaken Tuesday because of upper atmosphere conditions. The Center's advisory on Madeline says Big Island residents could experience hurricane force winds, heavy rain and high surf on Wednesday. Madeline was 630 miles east of Hilo on Monday and moving west northwest at 10 mph. The hurricane had sustained winds near 115 mph.[SEP]Hawaii stands in the path of Hurricane Madeline, which could slam into the Big Island some time tomorrow, potentially derailing a proposed visit by President Obama. The US National Weather Service (NWS) said Madeline, a Category 3 hurricane, was expected to pass 'dangerously close' to Big Island, carrying heavy rain and strong winds. The hurricane, which has sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, was 575 miles east of Hilo at 0300 GMT on Tuesday. It is expected to dump up to 15 inches of rain on Hawaii. 'This rainfall may lead to dangerous flash floods and mudslides,' said an NWS Central Pacific Hurricane Center spokesman. The Big Island, officially known as Hawaii, is home to only 185,000 people, compared to Oahu - which includes the capital Honolulu - which has almost a million people. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to stock up with food, water, flashlights, batteries and first aid supplies. Hurricane Lester, a Category 4 storm with winds of 130 miles per hour, is currently 1,000 miles east of Madeline, also heading for Hawaii but it is expected to lose strength before it reaches landfall. The president is due to arrive on Thursday to give a keynote speech at the opening of the World Conservation Congress, a major meeting of thousands of delegates, including heads of state, scientists and policy makers. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature stages the congress every four years at a different location around the globe and unfortunately it is set to take place this week, from Thursday until Saturday. Obama, who was born and grew up in Hawaii, is also expected to travel to Midway Atoll - scene of a famous World War II battle - where he established the world's largest marine reserve last week, home to thousands of rare sea creatures. Hawaii is rarely affected by storms but in 1982 Hurricane Iwa devastasted the islands, with wind gusts of 100 miles per hour, it damaged 2,345 buildings, leaving 500 people homeless.[SEP]People stock up, board up as hurricane hurtles toward Hawaii HONOLULU (AP) — Residents of Hawaii's Big Island were evacuating animals and stockpiling water Tuesday, bracing for what could be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in decades. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning as the major Category 3 storm dubbed Madeline hurtled west toward the island, urging residents to rush through preparations to protect themselves and their property and expect hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours. "Hopefully our roofs stay on, and our houses don't float way or get blown away," said Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt, who boarded up walls of glass windows at her brother's oceanfront home. "It's like, 'Oh my God, are we going to get flattened or what?'" Bettencourt, who lives in a subdivision called Kapoho Vacationland, manages several vacation rental properties and has her own home to worry about, which sits a few blocks from the ocean. She and her neighbors were stocking their pantries, stowing away lawn furniture and preparing for power outages. "If they're not prepared now, they should get prepared fast," said Chevy Chevalier, a meteorologist with the weather service. Hurricane Madeline is expected to weaken but likely will remain a hurricane as it passes the state, Chevalier said. Forecasters are expecting Madeline to pass just south of the Big Island around 2 a.m. Thursday. But if the storm track shifts slightly to the north, the eye of the storm could pass over land. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which hit Kauai, Chevalier said. A second Pacific hurricane, called Lester, is still far from Hawaii, and it is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it passes the state, Chevalier said. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Oahu this week. The White House is tracking the weather developments closely, but it doesn't anticipate changing Obama's schedule. The islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai were under a tropical storm watch, but there were no alerts for Oahu or Kauai. On the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was closing some areas Tuesday, and park officials planned for the coastal lava viewing area to close by Wednesday morning. Some camping areas were closing, but guests staying at Kilauea Military Camp and Volcano House were allowed to shelter in place. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to restock their emergency kits with a flashlight, fresh batteries, cash and first-aid supplies. It recommended that residents create evacuation plans and secure outdoor furniture. Hawaiian Airlines said customers holding tickets to or from Hawaii's Big Island from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 would be allowed a one-time reservation change without a fee. Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.[SEP]Hawaii's Big Island is bracing itself as Hurricane Madeline, a category 3 storm, approaches. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning for Big Island on Tuesday. Hurricane-force winds can thus be expected to sweep the island within 48 hours, according to the Weather Channel. Residents in Big Island are stocking up on food and water and bracing themselves in power outages. A second storm, Hurricane Lester, is following in Madeline's path. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Oahu on Thursday to give a keynote speech at the opening of the World Conservation Congress - a major meeting of thousands of delegates, including heads of state, scientists and policy makers. The White House is tracking the weather developments closely, but it doesn't anticipate changing Obama's schedule. Forecasters are urging residents and visitors to prepare promptly in order to protect their lives and property. Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt has boarded up windows in her brother's oceanfront home. She and her neighbors are hoping their roofs stay intact and their houses don't float away. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to stock up with food, water, flashlights, batteries and first aid supplies. Hurricane Madeline, which has sustained winds of 125 mph, was 370 miles east of Hilo, Hawaii Tuesday evening. It could bring up to 15 inches of rain on the Big Island, with chances of flash flooding and mudslides. Madeline is expected to weaken but likely to remain a hurricane as it passes the state, meteorologist Chevy Chevalier said Tuesday. This would be the first time Big Island has been hit by a hurricane. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which hit Kauai Island, according to Chevalier. The Big Island, officially known as Hawaii, is home to only 185,000 people, compared to Oahu - which includes the capital Honolulu - which has almost a million people. A second Pacific hurricane called Lester is still far from Hawaii. Lester is expected to be a tropical storm by the time it passes the state. But it could bring back possible hurricane conditions during the weekend, according to a warning by the National Weather Service on Tuesday evening. Hurricane Lester, a category 4 storm with winds of 130 mph, is currently 1,300 miles east of Hilo, also heading for Hawaii.[SEP]Hurricane churns toward Hawaii; people stock up, board up HILO, Hawaii (AP) — Preparing for what could be the first hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii in years, residents on the Big Island are stocking up on food and water and seeking shelter for their animals. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning as the storm dubbed Madeline churned west Tuesday toward the island, urging residents to rush through preparations to protect themselves and their property and expect hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours. Peggy Beckett, a retiree and beekeeper, stopped at a Hilo supermarket to pick up some onions bagels, cheese, cold cuts and salad to add to her canned food at home. She has a cooler with ice in it plus a portable burner and batteries to get her through the storm. "There's always a lot of disbelief on the island that the storms will really be as big and bad as forecast," Beckett said. The Keaau resident and her partner made sure to put extra rocks on their beehives to protect them from the storm. Noting the lines of people inside the supermarket, Beckett said she thought people were getting prepared but weren't panicking. Hurricane Madeline, which was downgraded from Category 3 to 2 Tuesday, was weakening as it approached the islands. But it's expected to remain a hurricane as it passes the state, Chevalier said. Forecasters are expecting Madeline to pass just south of the Big Island around 2 a.m. Thursday. But if the storm track shifts slightly to the north, the eye of the storm could pass over land. "Hopefully our roofs stay on, and our houses don't float way or get blown away," said Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt, who boarded up walls of glass windows at her brother's oceanfront home. "It's like, 'Oh my God, are we going to get flattened or what?' " Bettencourt, who lives in a subdivision called Kapoho Vacationland, manages several vacation rental properties and has her own home to worry about, which sits a few blocks from the ocean. She and her neighbors were stocking their pantries, stowing away lawn furniture and preparing for power outages. "If they're not prepared now, they should get prepared fast," said Chevy Chevalier, a meteorologist with the weather service. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which hit Kauai, Chevalier said. A second Pacific hurricane, called Lester, is still far from Hawaii, and it is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it passes the state, Chevalier said. Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation for both storms, which will allow the state to quickly spend money to alleviate disasters. "I urge you to take immediate steps to protect your families, loved ones, employees and property," Ige said in a statement. The state Department of Education announced public schools would be closed Wednesday and Thursday in anticipation of severe weather, and about a dozen schools were turned into emergency shelters. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Oahu this week. The White House is tracking the weather developments closely, but it doesn't anticipate changing Obama's schedule. The islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai were under a tropical storm watch, but there were no alerts for Oahu or Kauai. On the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was closing some areas Tuesday, and park officials planned for the coastal lava viewing area to close by Wednesday morning. Some camping areas were closing, but guests staying at Kilauea Military Camp and Volcano House were allowed to shelter in place. The U.S. Coast Guard asked crews of barges and ships to prepare to leave Hilo Harbor and told ocean-going vessels to seek sheltered waters until storm conditions subside. Captain Mike Long said he expected to close Hilo Harbor to all traffic by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to restock their emergency kits with a flashlight, fresh batteries, cash and first-aid supplies. It recommended that residents create evacuation plans and secure outdoor furniture. Hawaiian Airlines said customers holding tickets to or from Hawaii's Big Island from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 would be allowed a one-time reservation change without a fee. Bussewitz reported from Honolulu. AP writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.[SEP]Residents of Hawaii's Big Island were evacuating animals and stockpiling water Tuesday, bracing for what could be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in decades. The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning as the major Category 2 storm dubbed Madeline hurtled west toward the island, urging residents to rush through preparations to protect themselves and their property and expect hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours. "Hopefully our roofs stay on, and our houses don't float way or get blown away," said Big Island resident Mitzi Bettencourt, who boarded up walls of glass windows at her brother's oceanfront home. "It's like, 'Oh my God, are we going to get flattened or what?' " Bettencourt, who lives in a subdivision called Kapoho Vacationland, manages several vacation rental properties and has her own home to worry about, which sits a few blocks from the ocean. She and her neighbors were stocking their pantries, stowing away lawn furniture and preparing for power outages. "If they're not prepared now, they should get prepared fast," said Chevy Chevalier, a meteorologist with the weather service. Hurricane Madeline, which was downgraded from Category 3 to 2 Tuesday, was weakening as it approached the islands. But it's expected to remain a hurricane as it passes the state, Chevalier said. Forecasters are expecting Madeline to pass just south of the Big Island around 2 a.m. Thursday. But if the storm track shifts slightly to the north, the eye of the storm could pass over land. The last hurricane to make landfall in Hawaii was Hurricane Iniki in 1992, which hit Kauai, Chevalier said. A second Pacific hurricane, called Lester, is still far from Hawaii, and it is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it passes the state, Chevalier said. Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation for both storms, which will allow the state to quickly spend money to alleviate disasters. "I urge you to take immediate steps to protect your families, loved ones, employees and property," Ige said in a statement. The state Department of Education announced public schools would be closed Wednesday and Thursday in anticipation of severe weather, and about a dozen schools were turned into emergency shelters. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Oahu this week. The White House is tracking the weather developments closely, but it doesn't anticipate changing Obama's schedule. The islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai were under a tropical storm watch, but there were no alerts for Oahu or Kauai. On the Big Island, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was closing some areas Tuesday, and park officials planned for the coastal lava viewing area to close by Wednesday morning. Some camping areas were closing, but guests staying at Kilauea Military Camp and Volcano House were allowed to shelter in place. The U.S. Coast Guard asked crews of barges and ships to prepare to leave Hilo Harbor and told ocean-going vessels to seek sheltered waters until storm conditions subside. Captain Mike Long said he expected to close Hilo Harbor to all traffic by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Hawaii County, which covers the Big Island, urged residents to restock their emergency kits with a flashlight, fresh batteries, cash and first-aid supplies. It recommended that residents create evacuation plans and secure outdoor furniture. Hawaiian Airlines said customers holding tickets to or from Hawaii's Big Island from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 would be allowed a one-time reservation change without a fee.

A hurricane watch is issued for the island of Hawaii as Hurricane Madeline approaches.

Washington, DC - Researchers at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) recently identified compounds that potentially can be used to inhibit Zika virus replication and reduce its ability to kill brain cells. These compounds now can be studied by the broader research community to help combat the Zika public health crisis. NCATS is part of the National Institutes of Health. Using NCATS’ drug repurposing screening robots, researchers identified two classes of compounds effective against Zika: one is antiviral, and the other prevents Zika-related brain cell death. The compounds include emricasan, an investigational drug currently being evaluated in a clinical trial to reduce liver injury and fibrosis, and niclosamide, a U. S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for use in humans to treat worm infections. In addition, the researchers identified nine cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors. CDK usually is involved in regulation of cellular processes as well as normal brain development, but the Zika virus can negatively affect this process. NCATS’ work was a collaborative effort with Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, (JHU) and Florida State University, Tallahassee, (FSU), and the study results were published in the August 29 issue of Nature Medicine. The NCATS screening effort builds on the initial research by JHU and FSU scientists, who discovered that the Zika virus infects brain cells early in development. Infection by the Zika virus may be related to fetal microcephaly, an abnormally small head resulting from an underdeveloped and/or damaged brain. The Zika virus has been reported in 60 countries and territories worldwide; currently, there are no vaccines or effective drug treatments. The virus is spread primarily through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and in addition, can be transmitted from mother to child and through sexual contact. It also is associated with neurological diseases such as Guillain-Barré syndrome in infected adults. “The Zika virus poses a global health threat,” said Anton Simeonov, Ph.D., NCATS scientific director. “While we await the development of effective vaccines, which can take a significant amount of time, our identification of repurposed small molecule compounds may accelerate the translational process of finding a potential therapy.” NCATS researcher Wei Zheng, Ph.D., and his team led the drug repurposing screen to test three strains of Zika: Asian, African and Puerto Rican. The scientists first developed an assay (test) using caspase 3, a protein that causes brain cell death when infected by the virus. The next step was screening 6,000 FDA-approved and investigational compounds, which resulted in the identification of more than 100 promising compounds. The team then evaluated the protective effect of these compounds in brain cells after Zika virus infection. Three lead compounds, emiracsan, niclosamide and a CDK inhibitor known as PHA-690509, were identified as reducing neuronal cell death caused by Zika virus infection. These compounds were effective either in inhibiting the replication of Zika or in preventing the virus from killing brain cells. For example, emricasan prevents cell death, and niclosamide and the nine CDK inhibitors stop the virus’ replication. The team also found that emricasan, when combined with one of the CDK inhibitors, prevented both cell death and virus replication. In addition, the team noted that the CDK inhibitors may be useful in treating non-pregnant patients who face an increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome and other conditions sparked by Zika infection. The researchers cautioned, however, that the use of emricasan and niclosamide during pregnancy for Zika infection will need to be evaluated in pre-clinical toxicology studies and clinical trials. “Using the NCATS drug repurposing platform for emerging infectious diseases can help rapidly identify potential treatments for urgent needs such as the Zika virus,” Zheng said. “While identifying promising compounds is a first step, our goal at NCATS is to facilitate the translation of these findings for evaluation in the clinic. The release of all the compound screening data in this publication and in the public PubChem database opens the door to the research community to do just that.” NCATS’ screening effort enabled the broader research team to quickly translate their earlier discoveries toward work to develop treatments for Zika virus infection. JHU is working on a mouse model to study the neuroprotective effects of the compounds identified from the screen and studying the mechanism of action of the lead compounds. FSU is testing the efficacy of these compounds in a Zika virus mouse model and is also studying the mechanism of action of the lead compounds. In addition to NCATS, FSU and JHU, the research was supported by Emory University, Atlanta; the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, Columbia; NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke through grants NS048271 and NS095348, NS047344 and NS097206; and NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through grant AI119530.[SEP]SINGAPORE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Singapore confirmed 26 more cases of locally-transmitted Zika infections on Tuesday, bringing the tally to 82, local media reported, citing the health ministry and National Environment Agency. Of these, five cases were detected in parts of Singapore outside the Aljunied area where all the previous cases were found, media reported. The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. (Reporting by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)[SEP]Hong Kong (CNN) The Zika virus is on a rampage in Singapore, with 82 locally-transmitted cases confirmed late Tuesday by the country's Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH warns that the figures are likely set to rise, but why is Zika spreading so fast in the city state? "The proportion of our population that are immune to the Zika virus is likely to be low in Singapore and if you don't have the immunity to provide the roadblocks, then it's likely that the virus will spread fast," Ooi Eng Eong, the deputy director of the Emerging Infectious Disease program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, told CNN. Everything you need to know about Zika Everything you need to know about Zika 01:42 Everything you need to know about Zika The majority of reported cases are among foreign construction workers based in the residential Aljunied Crescent neighborhood in Singapore. Though cases were limited to this area on Monday, by late Tuesday the MOH reported 26 new cases that showed how the Zika virus had spread to nearby residential areas, raising concerns that the virus could travel even further afield. While Malaysia and Indonesia announced they would be implementing additional passenger screening procedures at its airports, foreign ministries in the US, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea have all issued alerts, advising pregnant women against traveling to Singapore. Singapore is known to suffer widely from dengue virus, a mosquito-borne tropical disease that triggers high fevers, headaches, vomiting and skin rashes in those infected. In 2016, the MOH announced that it expected as many as 30,000 cases in the country. Ooi explained that the Zika virus' rapid spread in Singapore was likely down to its similarities with the dengue virus. "Zika is very closely related to dengue. It has all the genetic traits that would allow it to spread where dengue thrives -- the virus can infect and spread through the same Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread dengue virus," said Ooi. With its 5.7 million-strong population packed mostly in crowded urban areas, containing Zika's spread in Singapore is a challenge. "In Singapore, many people live in densely packed apartment blocks so it's easy for high numbers of people to get infected even if there are only a few mosquitoes flying around," explained Ooi. As of August 29, Singapore's MOH had screened roughly 5,000 premises out of an estimated 6,000 in the Aljunied Crescent neighborhood to check for mosquito breeding grounds. So far, the agency has detected and destroyed 39 breeding habitats. The MOH is also urging local residents to play an active role in stopping Zika's spread by distributing information leaflets and advising residents to apply repellent as a precaution. Jaspar Fuk-Woo Chan, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, supported the MOH's efforts to reduce Zika's spread in Singapore. "The government are making information on the Zika virus' spread readily available. They've also reacted very quickly to the first local cases by collecting information on the infected people," Chan told CNN. He added, however, that it would take several weeks to grasp the extent of the outbreak. In the meantime, efforts to curb Zika's spread in the city state, he said, hinged on all citizens using insect repellent and making sure there were no potential mosquito breeding areas around their residential areas. 'Repellents are flying off the shelves' In a joint statement released Wednesday, Singapore's MOH and the the Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) advised all pregnant women with symptoms of Zika, or with Zika-positive male partners to be tested for the infection. But not every woman is letting the recent outbreak get to them. "I'm conscious that I have to be more careful now," Su San, a 30-year-old mother trying for a second child, told CNN. "I'm applying ointments so that I don't get bitten, but I haven't put my plans to have another child on hold." Rather than locking herself indoors, San said she would avoid areas like parks where mosquitoes were likely to be, and spend recreational time in libraries and museums instead. For others, the Zika outbreak in Singapore has become an unlikely boon. Theodore Khng, CEO of mosquito repellent startup Theo10, told CNN that sales of his natural deet-free product had tripled in the last three days. Khng initially manufactured his product to combat mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus, but admitted that the recent Zika scare had boosted sales. "People who have used the products before have been buying in bulk for others," said Khng. "The repellents are flying off the shelves."[SEP]Moving from Africa to French Polynesia to Central and South America, the disease is now active in the US and Asia, and is likely to continue to spread. Zika arrives in a country via the bloodstream of hundreds of globe-trotting vacationers and business people, all returning home from areas where Zika is actively circulating. It's not like you can stop it -- four out of five people with Zika have no symptoms, so most of those passengers are unaware they carry the virus in their blood. Everything you need to know about Zika Everything you need to know about Zika 01:42 Everything you need to know about Zika No country is immune from a potential outbreak, as long as the mosquitoes capable of spreading the virus -- Aedes aegypti and the Aedes albopictus -- live there. Some have called Zika the world's newest STD. Why it's serious Scientists have learned a lot about Zika in the last year. For one, the virus appears to have mutated as it has spread across the world. When it first emerged, inconspicuously, from Uganda's Zika forest in 1947, the effects of infection were mild, nothing worse than a mild cold or flu. While that's still true for many today, for others, the consequences of Zika are devastating. Babies are being born with life-altering brain damage to women infected with Zika during their pregnancies; immune-compromised adults are dying of complications, and a Zika-triggered auto-immune disorder called Guillain-Barré attacks the nervous system, causing temporary paralysis, and even death. Vaccine on the way? No vaccine currently exists. Even though several private and governmental agencies have various versions in the works, the likelihood of having a vaccine ready for public consumption is a year or two away -- possibly even more. How long those trials may take, says Fauci, is determined by the number of Zika infections in a community when the vaccine is ready. "If it's explosive in an area, then you can get an answer within one and a half years," Fauci adds, "but if the cases slow down it might take us additional three to four years to determine if it works." With a vaccine only a promise on the horizon, researchers are also looking at ways to treat the virus while it's circulating in the blood. A number of groups are screening thousands of existing drugs, already approved for human use by the Food and Drug Administration, to see if any might be effective against the Zika virus. "Because [it] is blocking the multiplication of the viral genetic material, the compound is equally effective even when added several hours after the cells are exposed to the virus," Tang adds. While scientists scramble to vaccinate and treat, mosquito control officials are doing their utmost to tackle the virus at its source: the mosquitoes themselves. Traditional control techniques emphasize removing standing water, spraying pesticides and larvicides, and encouraging home owners to keep screens on their doors and windows. That, along with the widespread use of air-conditioning, make it much easier for developed countries like the US to keep outbreaks contained -- it's much harder in poor, economically disadvantaged countries. Another factor straining traditional control efforts is the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, who is primarily responsible for this global spread. A crafty creature, she is an aggressive daytime biter, who prefers to live close to her favorite blood meal, humans. Over the centuries, she has adapted to urban environments, preferring stagnant water and small containers such as plastic cups, potted plants and discarded tires to lay her eggs. A 'sip feeder,' this blood sucker likes to bite multiple people, taking just a 'sip' of blood each time, thus increasing the number of people she can infect in just one feeding. A tiny creature, her bite is almost painless. Once you add that to her tendency to sneak up on victims, often biting on ankles and the back of elbows, you can see how easy it might be for her to feed without a life-threatening slap. That's the worry for Brazil and other South and Central American countries, currently experiencing a drop in Zika cases during the drier winter months. When the rains begin again this fall, those eggs will hatch and cases could begin to rise, along with the associated risk to pregnant women and their undeveloped fetuses. In the meantime, Zika continues its travels, hitch hiking in traveler's blood and via the occasional mosquito hidden in an industrial shipment of goods. Whether the virus will take hold in a country depends on the local environment and a country's ability to combat the threat. The first case of locally-transmitted Zika in the US was a surprise. Instead of occurring from a mosquito bite, the virus was sexually transmitted by a man recently returned from a country with an active outbreak. Then in mid-July a Miami mosquito bit a returning traveler, processed the virus, and began spreading it in Wynwood, a 1-square-mile Miami neighborhood. Despite massive control efforts, one or two cases also popped up in Miami Beach and in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. To date, there are 43 cases of locally transmitted Zika in Florida. That number pales in comparison to hard-hit Puerto Rico, which has over 13 thousand cases of the virus, with more than a thousand of those affecting pregnant women. An economic downturn, failing health care system, and inadequate financial support from the mainland makes it difficult for Puerto Rico to fight their epidemic. Other Caribbean countries also continue to battle Zika as their outbreaks continue. The WHO says Martinique currently has 10 cases of microcephaly, while just this week the first babies with microcephaly were reported in Haiti, one, and the Dominican Republic with three cases. Brazil continues to be the country hardest hit by Zika, with thousands infected and over 1800 babies diagnosed with microcephaly. That number doesn't count the babies with normal sized heads that might develop vision, hearing and developmental issues from their Zika exposure as they grow. Other Central and South American countries are also struggling with the fallout from the virus. Columbia reports 29 cases of microcephaly in newborns, Panama has 5 cases, El Salvador 4, French Guiana 3, Paraguay 2, while Honduras and Costa Rica report one case each. The good news for South America is that colder winter weather and dry skies have reduced the number of new Zika cases. In fact the WHO just announced no laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika related to the Olympics, which ended on August 21 in Brazil, and Chile hasn't reported a new case of Zika this year. So far, Europe has been spared much of Zika's devastation. Despite a number of imported cases from returning travelers, only Slovenia and Spain report cases of microcephaly --one each -- says WHO. Southeast Asia has been hard hit by Zika, and officials worry numbers are vastly under reported. Singapore just announced 41 cases of locally acquired Zika infection, but the WHO also lists Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam as "countries with possible endemic transmission or evidence of local mosquito-borne Zika infections in 2016." Cambodia has reported cases in the past, but the WHO has the country on its list of countries where the outbreak has either been "terminated" or is "without documentation" in 2016. Other countries that fit that positive category include French Polynesia, the site of a large outbreak in 2013, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Cook Islands, the Maldives, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Cape Verde, a small island located 350 miles off the western coast of Africa, is reporting 9 cases of microcephaly. Other than that, Africa, the birthplace of Zika, is not reporting any outbreaks of Zika at this time. CNN has compiled the full list of countries and territories with current outbreaks of Zika, according to the CDC and WHO. Those affected are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kosrae (an Island of the Federated States of Micronesia), Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mexico, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, United States of America*, U.S. Virgin Islands, Venezuela, Vietnam, American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga and Cape Verde.[SEP]Hong Kong (CNN) The Zika virus is on a rampage in Singapore, with 82 locally-transmitted cases confirmed late Tuesday by the country's Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH warns that the figures are likely set to rise, but why is Zika spreading so fast in the city state? "The proportion of our population that are immune to the Zika virus is likely to be low in Singapore and if you don't have the immunity to provide the roadblocks, then it's likely that the virus will spread fast," Ooi Eng Eong, the deputy director of the Emerging Infectious Disease program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, told CNN. Everything you need to know about Zika Everything you need to know about Zika 01:42 Everything you need to know about Zika The majority of reported cases are among foreign construction workers based in the residential Aljunied Crescent neighborhood in Singapore. Though cases were limited to this area on Monday, by late Tuesday the MOH reported 26 new cases that showed how the Zika virus had spread to nearby residential areas, raising concerns that the virus could travel even further afield. While Malaysia and Indonesia announced they would be implementing additional passenger screening procedures at its airports, foreign ministries in the US, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea have all issued alerts, advising pregnant women against traveling to Singapore. Singapore is known to suffer widely from dengue virus, a mosquito-borne tropical disease that triggers high fevers, headaches, vomiting and skin rashes in those infected. In 2016, the MOH announced that it expected as many as 30,000 cases in the country. Ooi explained that the Zika virus' rapid spread in Singapore was likely down to its similarities with the dengue virus. "Zika is very closely related to dengue. It has all the genetic traits that would allow it to spread where dengue thrives -- the virus can infect and spread through the same Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that spread dengue virus," said Ooi. With its 5.7 million-strong population packed mostly in crowded urban areas, containing Zika's spread in Singapore is a challenge. "In Singapore, many people live in densely packed apartment blocks so it's easy for high numbers of people to get infected even if there are only a few mosquitoes flying around," explained Ooi. As of August 29, Singapore's MOH had screened roughly 5,000 premises out of an estimated 6,000 in the Aljunied Crescent neighborhood to check for mosquito breeding grounds. So far, the agency has detected and destroyed 39 breeding habitats. The MOH is also urging local residents to play an active role in stopping Zika's spread by distributing information leaflets and advising residents to apply repellent as a precaution. Jaspar Fuk-Woo Chan, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, supported the MOH's efforts to reduce Zika's spread in Singapore. "The government are making information on the Zika virus' spread readily available. They've also reacted very quickly to the first local cases by collecting information on the infected people," Chan told CNN. He added, however, that it would take several weeks to grasp the extent of the outbreak. In the meantime, efforts to curb Zika's spread in the city state, he said, hinged on all citizens using insect repellent and making sure there were no potential mosquito breeding areas around their residential areas. 'Repellents are flying off the shelves' In a joint statement released Wednesday, Singapore's MOH and the the Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) advised all pregnant women with symptoms of Zika, or with Zika-positive male partners to be tested for the infection. But not every woman is letting the recent outbreak get to them. "I'm conscious that I have to be more careful now," Su San, a 30-year-old mother trying for a second child, told CNN. "I'm applying ointments so that I don't get bitten, but I haven't put my plans to have another child on hold." Rather than locking herself indoors, San said she would avoid areas like parks where mosquitoes were likely to be, and spend recreational time in libraries and museums instead. For others, the Zika outbreak in Singapore has become an unlikely boon. Theodore Khng, CEO of mosquito repellent startup Theo10, told CNN that sales of his natural deet-free product had tripled in the last three days. Khng initially manufactured his product to combat mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus, but admitted that the recent Zika scare had boosted sales. "People who have used the products before have been buying in bulk for others," said Khng. "The repellents are flying off the shelves."[SEP]Adult female mosquitoes can pass the Zika virus along to their offspring, new research reveals. Experts warn this means the virus will be much harder to control than previously thought. The finding makes clear the need for pesticide programs that kill both adult mosquitoes and their eggs. Current methods are not adequate, warns study co-author Dr Robert Tesh of the University of Texas. 'Spraying affects adults, but it does not usually kill the immature forms - the eggs and larvae,' he said. 'Spraying will reduce transmission, but it may not eliminate the virus.' The findings were published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on Monday. Scientists were comforted by the similarities they found between Zika and well-understood viruses like dengue and yellow fever. Like Zika, those two infections can be transmitted from female mosquitoes to their offspring. But more extreme measures will have to be taken to tackle Zika since it is new to the US and very few - if anyone - have build up resistance to the virus. Although Zika generally causes mild disease in adults, it is a major threat to pregnant women because it has been shown to cause the severe birth defect known as microcephaly and other brain abnormalities. The ongoing Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. Aedes aegypti, the mosquitoes that carry Zika, lay eggs in small containers of water. Homeowners have been advised to dump out containers of water on their properties. When the water is dumped, the eggs cling in a ring around the water line, where they remain dormant until the next rain, when they can hatch. Scientists studying Zika wanted to find out whether some of the offspring from these tropical mosquitoes might carry the virus, helping to perpetuate an outbreak during dry seasons. To find out, researchers injected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes raised in a laboratory with Zika. They were then fed, and within a week, they laid eggs. The team collected and cared for the eggs until they hatched into adult mosquitoes, and counted the ones that carried the Zika virus. They found the virus present in one out of every 290 mosquitoes tested. 'The ratio may sound low,' Tesh said, 'but when you consider the number of Aedes aegypti in a tropical urban community, it is likely high enough to allow some virus to persist, even when infected adult mosquitoes are killed.' Tesh said the next step is to show that mosquitoes are actually passing Zika to their offspring in the wild. Experts fighting Zika in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami have announced aerial spraying campaigns using pesticides that kill both adult mosquitoes and mosquito larvae. For homeowners in affected areas, Tesh advised people to dump standing water from containers on their property and scrub them thoroughly to remove eggs and larvae. They should also remove any objects from their yards that could collect water. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ZIKA The Zika (ZEE'-ka) virus was first discovered in monkey in Uganda in 1947 - its name comes from the Zika forest where it was first discovered. It is typically transmitted through bites from the Aedes species of mosquitoes. They are aggressive feeders, commonly biting multiple people in quick succession, fueling the spread of the virus. They are most active during mid-morning and then again between late afternoon and nightfall. Scientists have found Zika can be transmitted sexually - from both men and women. Couples should abstain or wear condoms for eight weeks if either partner has traveled to a country with a Zika outbreak, regardless of whether they have symptoms. A mother can pass the virus to her unborn baby during pregnancy. There are two ways this can happen: through the placenta, and through the amniotic sac. Since the virus can live in the womb lining, there is a chance the baby can become infected during birth. The majority of people infected with Zika virus will not experience symptoms. Those that do, usually develop mild symptoms - fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes - for no more than a week. There is no specific treatment for the virus and there is currently no vaccine. CAN THE SPREAD BE STOPPED? Individuals can protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellents. They could also wear long sleeves and long pants - especially during daylight, when the mosquitoes tend to be most active, health officials say. Eliminating breeding spots and controlling mosquito populations can help prevent the spread of the virus.[SEP]Inspector Sharon Nagel drops larvicide granules into a drainage area as she helps the county fight to control the Zika virus, July 30, in Miami. Joe Raedle / Getty Images[SEP]A drug currently used to treat tapeworms could beat the Zika virus, according to a groundbreaking new study. In a series of experiments, researchers found the existing medication is highly effective at stopping the deadly virus from replicating in the body. The discovery was made by a team of researchers from Florida State University (FSU), Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health. It has been hailed as a medical breakthrough as federal regulators race to find treatment for the infection, which is spreading through the US. Professor Hengli Tang, of FSU, said: 'We focused on compounds that have the shortest path to clinical use. 'This is a first step toward a therapeutic that can stop transmission of this disease.' Profossor Tang and his colleagues identified two different groups of compounds that could potentially be used to treat Zika. One stops the virus from replicating, and the other that stops the virus from killing foetal brain cells, also called neuroprogenitor cells. One of the identified compounds is the basis for a drug called Niclosamide - an approved drug that showed no danger to pregnant women in animal studies. It is currently available as a treatment for tapeworm. Researchers said the drug could be prescribed by a doctor today, although further tests are still needed to determine a specific treatment regime for the infection. Although the Zika virus was first discovered in 1947, little was known about how it worked and its potential health implications - especially among pregnant women - until last year's outbreak in South America. The virus can cause abnormally small heads in unborn babies, known as microcephaly, leading them to be born with severe birth defects. Professor Tang said: 'It's so dramatic and irreversible. 'The probability of Zika-induced microcephaly occurring doesn't appear to be that high, but when it does, the damage is horrible.' Researchers around the world have been working to better understand the disease - which can be transmitted both by mosquito bite and through a sexual partner - and also to develop medical treatments. Earlier this year, Professor Tang's team was the first to show that the Zika virus caused cellular phenotypes consistent with microcephaly. They subsequently screened 6,000 compounds that were either already approved or were in the process of a clinical trial because they could be made more quickly available to people infected by Zika. Professor Hongjun Song, of Johns Hopkins University, said: 'It takes years if not decades to develop a new drug. 'In this sort of global health emergency, we don't have time. So instead of using new drugs, we chose to screen existing drugs. 'In this way, we hope to create a therapy much more quickly.' Now the researchers are continuing to work on the compounds and hope to begin testing the drugs on animals infected with Zika in the 'near future.' The latest findings were published by the journal Nature Medicine. The Zika (ZEE'-ka) virus was first discovered in monkey in Uganda in 1947 - its name comes from the Zika forest where it was first discovered. It is typically transmitted through bites from the Aedes species of mosquitoes. They are aggressive feeders, commonly biting multiple people in quick succession, fueling the spread of the virus. They are most active during mid-morning and then again between late afternoon and nightfall. Scientists have found Zika can be transmitted sexually - from both men and women. Couples should abstain or wear condoms for eight weeks if either partner has traveled to a country with a Zika outbreak, regardless of whether they have symptoms. A mother can pass the virus to her unborn baby during pregnancy. There are two ways this can happen: through the placenta, and through the amniotic sac. Since the virus can live in the womb lining, there is a chance the baby can become infected during birth. The majority of people infected with Zika virus will not experience symptoms. Those that do, usually develop mild symptoms - fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes - for no more than a week. There is no specific treatment for the virus and there is currently no vaccine. CAN THE SPREAD BE STOPPED? Individuals can protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellents. They could also wear long sleeves and long pants - especially during daylight, when the mosquitoes tend to be most active, health officials say. Eliminating breeding spots and controlling mosquito populations can help prevent the spread of the virus.[SEP]Washington, DC - Researchers at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) recently identified compounds that potentially can be used to inhibit Zika virus replication and reduce its ability to kill brain cells. These compounds now can be studied by the broader research community to help combat the Zika public health crisis. NCATS is part of the National Institutes of Health. Using NCATS’ drug repurposing screening robots, researchers identified two classes of compounds effective against Zika: one is antiviral, and the other prevents Zika-related brain cell death. The compounds include emricasan, an investigational drug currently being evaluated in a clinical trial to reduce liver injury and fibrosis, and niclosamide, a U. S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for use in humans to treat worm infections. In addition, the researchers identified nine cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors. CDK usually is involved in regulation of cellular processes as well as normal brain development, but the Zika virus can negatively affect this process. NCATS’ work was a collaborative effort with Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, (JHU) and Florida State University, Tallahassee, (FSU), and the study results were published in the August 29 issue of Nature Medicine. The NCATS screening effort builds on the initial research by JHU and FSU scientists, who discovered that the Zika virus infects brain cells early in development. Infection by the Zika virus may be related to fetal microcephaly, an abnormally small head resulting from an underdeveloped and/or damaged brain. The Zika virus has been reported in 60 countries and territories worldwide; currently, there are no vaccines or effective drug treatments. The virus is spread primarily through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and in addition, can be transmitted from mother to child and through sexual contact. It also is associated with neurological diseases such as Guillain-Barré syndrome in infected adults. “The Zika virus poses a global health threat,” said Anton Simeonov, Ph.D., NCATS scientific director. “While we await the development of effective vaccines, which can take a significant amount of time, our identification of repurposed small molecule compounds may accelerate the translational process of finding a potential therapy.” NCATS researcher Wei Zheng, Ph.D., and his team led the drug repurposing screen to test three strains of Zika: Asian, African and Puerto Rican. The scientists first developed an assay (test) using caspase 3, a protein that causes brain cell death when infected by the virus. The next step was screening 6,000 FDA-approved and investigational compounds, which resulted in the identification of more than 100 promising compounds. The team then evaluated the protective effect of these compounds in brain cells after Zika virus infection. Three lead compounds, emiracsan, niclosamide and a CDK inhibitor known as PHA-690509, were identified as reducing neuronal cell death caused by Zika virus infection. These compounds were effective either in inhibiting the replication of Zika or in preventing the virus from killing brain cells. For example, emricasan prevents cell death, and niclosamide and the nine CDK inhibitors stop the virus’ replication. The team also found that emricasan, when combined with one of the CDK inhibitors, prevented both cell death and virus replication. In addition, the team noted that the CDK inhibitors may be useful in treating non-pregnant patients who face an increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome and other conditions sparked by Zika infection. The researchers cautioned, however, that the use of emricasan and niclosamide during pregnancy for Zika infection will need to be evaluated in pre-clinical toxicology studies and clinical trials. “Using the NCATS drug repurposing platform for emerging infectious diseases can help rapidly identify potential treatments for urgent needs such as the Zika virus,” Zheng said. “While identifying promising compounds is a first step, our goal at NCATS is to facilitate the translation of these findings for evaluation in the clinic. The release of all the compound screening data in this publication and in the public PubChem database opens the door to the research community to do just that.” NCATS’ screening effort enabled the broader research team to quickly translate their earlier discoveries toward work to develop treatments for Zika virus infection. JHU is working on a mouse model to study the neuroprotective effects of the compounds identified from the screen and studying the mechanism of action of the lead compounds. FSU is testing the efficacy of these compounds in a Zika virus mouse model and is also studying the mechanism of action of the lead compounds. In addition to NCATS, FSU and JHU, the research was supported by Emory University, Atlanta; the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, Columbia; NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke through grants NS048271 and NS095348, NS047344 and NS097206; and NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through grant AI119530.[SEP]WHO emergency panel on Zika to convene on Sept 1 GENEVA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that its Emergency Committee on Zika would meet on Thursday to review the outbreak's evolution and neurological birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne virus. The panel of independent experts led by Dr. David Heymann, which last met on June 14, convenes every three months to assess progress in the fight against the disease and malformations including microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. Singapore on Monday confirmed 15 new cases of locally transmitted infections, taking the tally to 56 as authorities step up efforts to contain the outbreak. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Dominic Evans)

The number of Zika virus infected in Singapore rises above 40.

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte wants his fiercest critic in the legislature, Senator Leila De Lima, to step down. "Dapat ka mag-resign (You should resign), you resign," said Duterte, addressing De Lima during a short speech on Monday, August 29, in Tacloban City. Not one to mince words, Duterte even said that if he were in her place, he would take his own life. "If I were De Lima, ladies and gentlemen, I will hang myself. The innermost of your core as female being serialized every day," said the President. He was referring to De Lima's private affairs, including her supposed romantic relationship with her driver, that are now public knowledge largely due to the President's announcement during the Philippine National Police service anniversary. Duterte, who previously blasted De Lima for "immorality," said the lady senator would make a bad example for women. "Pinapakita mo 'yan, you resign. Ano'ng pakita mo sa mga babae, 'Follow me,' sabihin mo? (You are showing that, you resign. What are you showing women, 'Follow me,' you will say?) This is how to be a woman of the world," said Duterte. Last week, Duterte made public a matrix supposedly showing personalities involved in the New Bilibid Prison illegal drug trade. Senator De Lima and former Pangasinan governor Amado Espino Jr, now Pangasinan 5th District representative, are the two highest public officials in the matrix. (READ: De Lima denies Duterte drug matrix: 'It's garbage') – Rappler.com[SEP]President Rodrigo Duterte’s scathing attacks on Sen. Leila de Lima are far from over. On Monday, the President said his nemesis should hang herself or resign from her post. “If I were de Lima, ladies and gentleman, I’ll hang myself. Your life, as well as the innermost of your core as a female, is being serialized everyday,” Duterte said when interviewed in Samar where he visited the wake of PO1 Gary Cabaguing, who was killed during an anti-drug operation. Duterte earlier slammed de Lima for being “immoral” for having an affair with her married driver, saying the latter profited from the illegal drug trade. Yesterday, the President said de Lima should resign from her Senate post because she is no role model for women. “Mag resign ka (You should resign). Wala kang ipakita…anong ipapakita mo sa mga babae (You have nothing to show. What are you going to tell women, follow me? [That] this is how to be a woman of the world?” Duterte said. He admitted that his bad blood with de Lima started when she, as the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, investigated Duterte’s links to the Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group that killed suspected criminals in Davao City where Duterte served as mayor from 1998 to 2016. Duterte said DDS stands for Davao Development System. “That is what’s tough. When I was the mayor, she said she would prove that Duterte is the leader of the DDS. Why do you have to interpret it the wrong way?” the President said. “Sino bang gustong pumatay (Who really wants to kill?) You think it is very easy to kill a fellow human being? You build the nation on the bones of your countrymen?” he added. Neither weak nor guilty But de Lima rejected Duterte’s advice. While she admitted that she considered resigning because of the vicious attacks against her, she chose not to. “After much reflection resignation at this point will be an admission of guilt and a sign of weakness and I’m neither weak nor guilty,” de Lima stressed. The senator said she has no intention to attend the hearing of the House of Representatives on the alleged proliferation of drugs at the National Bilibid Prison during her term as Justice secretary. “I have been adjudged guilty already by the President and do you think that House inquiry will be anything near fair to me?” de Lima said. “I’m finished in so far as the President is concerned that is why he wants me to resign and then I will show up in that hearing? I won’t have any respect left for myself if I do that,” the senator added. De Lima earlier said that she is willing to resign if the President can prove her alleged links to illegal drugs.[SEP]Philippines senator vows to press on in battle with 'The Punisher' MANILA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A Philippines senator who is leading an inquiry into the spate of killings unleashed by President Rodrigo Duterte's 'war on drugs' has vowed to press on despite bizarre accusations and insults raining on her from the country's leader. Leila de Lima told Reuters on Monday she has no fears for her own life because it would be clear who was to blame if anything happened to her, but she has been warned by people close to Duterte to stop questioning the extra-judicial killings. "Some of my closest friends, some of my family are pleading with me 'you better stop already, stop it, stop it, keep quiet or just quit so they leave you alone'. But I cannot do that," the 57-year-old lawyer and politician said in her Senate office. More than 1,900 people have been killed in Duterte's war on drugs since he came to power two months ago, according to police figures. Police say the toll of about 36 people a day is a result of drug dealers resisting arrest or gang feuds. De Lima set up a Senate inquiry into the killings and held the first two hearings last week. On Thursday, Duterte accused de Lima of taking bribes from jailed drug lords. He has also said she is having an affair with her driver and at a news conference declared she was "finished". On Monday he attacked her again, saying de Lima had lost face as a woman and that if he were her he would hang himself. "What they are doing to me is even worse than death. The honour, especially my womanhood, my reputation," said de Lima, who denies all the allegations Duterte has made against her. Duterte, sometimes known as 'The Punisher', won a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs and dealers. But there has been an outcry from human rights groups over the sheer number of deaths that followed Duterte's victory and over his incendiary rhetoric, which they say encourages police to feel they can kill with impunity. There have been cases when police officers have killed suspected drug dealers who were in handcuffs and in custody, civil rights lawyers have said. There have also been hundreds of killings by anonymous gunmen. De Lima said witnesses had told her about one case involving a group of men dressed as civilians and wearing masks. "From all indications, based on the account of those who witnessed it, those were actually police," she said. "Are these death squads? Who are they, and under whose direction are they doing that?" She said despite Duterte's promises to go after drug syndicates and kingpins, it is mostly the poor who are dying. "The ones being targeted are the powerless, the voiceless, the defenceless, because they are so poor. Where is the justice there, there's so much injustice," she said. She said her Senate committee, which is due to hold another hearing on Thursday, was seeking facts - but it had no power to accuse or pursue any individual. De Lima is hoping the hearings will speed the passage of legislation that has been stuck in Congress that would make extra-judicial killing a special crime with harsh penalties. She also wants to bolster the independent Commission on Human Rights (CHR) so it has more capacity to investigate violations. De Lima said that the CHR and the police's internal affairs service were both overwhelmed and could only do so much, and a climate of fear meant people were reluctant to speak out. "It's only the president who can stop all of this," she said. "I call this madness really." (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)[SEP]Before the time he is ready to step down from office on June 30, 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte must have appointed 12 of the 15 justices of the Supreme Court. The number could even be higher at 13 if rumors that a powerful cabal moving within the Court and the Congress to oust Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno proved true — allegedly, and ironically, on charges of tax evasion. If Sereno keeps her position, however, three of the six Supreme Court justices appointed by two predecessors of Duterte will be in the Court when he ends his term. The rest will have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, and replaced by Duterte by then. It would be a unique opportunity for a President who is both anti-elite and an outsider from the country’s traditional ruling class, to mold the Supreme Court, and therefore our legal system, according to his own unusual, pro-poor view of the world. The Supreme Court, even by design, has really been one of the bastions of elite rule, although there, indeed, have been unique cases when the Court defied the elite, as in its ruling that the Hacienda Luisita agrarian reform was fake. (It cost its Chief Justice Renato Corona his job, and tragically I have to say, even his life.) But not only that, the reality of the legal community is that with Duterte picking 12 justices in the next six years, about two justices per year, he has in effect the means to ensure that the judicial system consisting of Sandiganbayan, the Appellate Court, and the Regional Trial judges support him, even in what would likely be his controversial moves. Traditionally, and perhaps logically, (until President Aquino basically broke the practice and appointed mediocre legal academics like Chief Justice Sereno), justices of the Supreme Court are picked from the most experienced pool of judges and justices from the country’s advanced courts, mainly from the special anti-graft courts Sandiganbayan, the Court of Appeals and Regional Trial Courts. It would be human nature, of course, for even these judges to aspire to the highest court of the land, which would be the pinnacle of their legal careers. While they would do so by seeking connections to the President, or to those close to him, the one thing they can do to increase their chances is not to cross the President in cases in which his policies and programs are put on the line. The Commission on Human Rights and Senator Leila de Lima should kiss any plans of bringing to the courts their claims of extrajudicial killings goodbye. Following is the schedule of retirements at the Supreme Court during Duterte’s term: In contrast, Aquino was able to appoint only six Supreme Court justices, although Presidents Ramos and Arroyo did install 14 and 21 justices, respectively, but sadly failed to mold the Court to their world-views. Or did they? De Lima should resign Sen. Leila de Lima should start thinking of giving up her Senate seat. Her position has become untenable, even as President Duterte, who has emerged as an extremely popular and powerful president, is undoubtedly out to bury her — and the scenario seems to be unfolding at this time when his political capital is at its height. And for all of De Lima’s playing of the woman card, she has not at all denied that she has had intimate and sexual relationship with her subordinate Ronnie Dayan, her former bodyguard-driver. Shortly after his first de Lima slam, Duterte went for another strike by announcing in a televised comment that the senator has taken another lover, an MMDA motorcycle escort, after she apparently got tired of Dayan. While we live in a liberal age, a senator having a relationship with her married subordinate, and allegedly gifting him with houses and even vehicles, create a dent on the integrity of the entire Senate, which is supposed to be a model of uprightness for citizens, and especially the youth. If proven that she did gift her lover with houses, the obvious question is where could she have made the money for this when she had been in government for only 12 years since President Arroyo’s term, as head of the Commission on Human Rights? What makes her position untenable is that she was Justice Secretary for six years, the Republic’s prime law-enforcement officer. Yet in her six years in office, just like his boss President Aquino, she had hardly alerted the nation to the rapid proliferation of illegal drugs and the monstrous social menace that has created. She hadn’t undertaken even a fraction of the scale of operations against it that the present administration has lunched in just two months. It is difficult to believe that she had been largely ignorant of the illegal drug industry’s proliferation in this country. It is as difficult to believe that she simply closed her eyes to this while it was happening, free of any blame. Now we are all shocked that illegal drugs use has been uncovered as a plague upon the nation, with 10 percent of our adult population dependent on them, and that the industry has become a main generator of corruption and crime in our society. What could be a clearer indictment of an incompetent justice secretary than the fact that the Bilibid National Prison, which was under her supervision, had become not only the command center of drug lords, but also their distribution point and even manufacturing facility? Had the extent of the illegal drug problem been disclosed during the last elections, there is no doubt de Lima would not have been elected as senator, and would have even landed in the lowest rungs. A senatorial contest for a non-incumbent senator has been estimated to cost at least P500 million. From where and how could de Lima have raised such kind of money? In the final analysis, de Lima as senator is a fraud, having been elected on a completely false premise that she did her job as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, and if the allegations by President Duterte against her turn out to be correct, she even probably raised campaign funds from the very criminals she was supposed to put in jail. On the other hand, what value can she add to the Senate when her purported qualification for the post, that of basically being a former justice secretary, proves to be spurious? Never before has such a sitting senator been exposed to so much public scrutiny for allegations of being a fraud. De Lima should spare the country, and herself, from such ignominy. She should scour deep in her heart to find some patriotism, and resign her post in what is often referred to in a cliché, but in a fervent wish, as the country’s august body.[SEP]THE Senate committee on ethics and privileges has deferred action on a complaint filed against Senator Leila de Lima by a taxpayer who wanted her expelled from the chamber. Senator Vicente Sotto 3rd, chairman of the committee, said members of the panel were furnished copies of the complaint on Tuesday. “We have decided to keep it confidential because it might be premature publicity. So therefore, in fairness to everyone, to all concerned, we’d rather keep it confidential,” Sotto said in an interview after the organizational meeting of the committee. Sotto added that the panel agreed to call for a general counsel to assist them in studying the complaint. Sotto refused to disclose details of the complaint but in an interview last week, the senator hinted that some of the issues raised by the complainant were based on the allegations of President Rodrigo Duterte, particularly on her alleged involvement in illegal drug operations and immorality. Asked if the committee will proceed with the investigation if the allegations were based on the actions of de Lima when she was not a senator, Sotto said they will have to study the issue on jurisdiction. “That is why it is not easy for us to just take over jurisdiction or to dismiss because of the underlying factors,” he explained. In his two-page complaint, Abelardo de Jesus said de Lima “miserably” failed to uphold the attributes of a public officer as secretary of the Department of Justice and as a senator, which is tantamount to betrayal of public trust. De Jesus based his complaint on the August 17, 2016 speech of the President during the 115th Police Service Anniversary in Camp Crame wherein he accused de Lima of “collecting money through her driver’ from the narco-inmates at the National Penitentiary to finance her Senate electoral campaign. The complainant said there is no reason to doubt the veracity of the allegation, considering that it was made by no less than the President. “Thus, I plead the Senate Ethics Committee to request the Office of the President for these evidentiary matters to warrant and justify the penalty sought to be imposed against Respondent,” de Jesus said in his complaint. The complaint charged de Lima with betrayal of public trust, gross misconduct, serious misrepresentation and grievous negligence. De Jesus said de Lima should be expelled from the Senate. Harassment De Lima dismissed the complaint as part of the harassment tactics against her. “I have not seen yet any such complaint so I’d rather that I wait first for whatever action, initial or otherwise, that the ethics committee would be taking on that matter,” de Lima said. “They’re trying to break my spirit but they will never succeed. That will not happen,” she added. She expressed confidence that members of the ethics panel will study the matter thoroughly. “I respect them as my colleagues. I know that they know what to do,” de Lima said.

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte calls on critic senator Leila de Lima to resign and "hang herself".

[SEP]PRESIDENT Duterte said on Monday his bloody antidrug campaign that has left nearly 1,800 people dead does not amount to genocide, but that he’s ready to go to jail to defend his men from lawsuits. Mr. Duterte drew a line between the widespread killings sparked by his antidrug war and the brutality under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the atrocities committed by Islamic State group extremists. “Genocide? Who did I kill? I did not kill any child. I did not drop barrel [bombs] just likeal- Assad,” President Duterte said in a speech to mark the Philippines’s National Heroes’ day before war veterans, ambassadors and top officials. “I’m fighting…criminals.” Referring to Islamic State group militants, whom he called “idiots,” Mr. Duterte said, “I do not burn women because they refuse to have sex.” At least 1,779 drug suspects have been killed in President Duterte’s campaign, including 712 who were gunned down in clashes with the police, with the rest being slain in still-unclear circumstances, the national police chief told a Senate inquiry last week. At least 3.7 million Filipinos have become addicted to methamphetamine, a prohibited stimulant known locally as shabu, with about 600,000 drug users and dealers surrendering to authorities, Mr. Duterte said. Human-rights groups have expressed alarm over the spate of killings, and United Nations (UN)-appointed human-rights experts warned steps should be taken to halt the violence, adding that the government and law enforcers could be held responsible. “Claims to fight the illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international legal obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings,” UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions Agnes Callamard said in a statement this month. The 71-year-old President Duterte built a name with his deadly crime-busting style as a longtime mayor of southern Davao City. He described his campaign against drugs as a harsh war that would involve the military because the problem has worsened into a crisis and claimed the lives of law enforcers. “We might still end up like the South American countries and their fractured governments. I am declaring war,” he told an audience at a national heroes’ cemetery on Monday, which included ambassadors, war veterans and security officials. The drug menace, he said, “has infected every nook and corner of this country involving generals, mayors, governors, barangay [village] captains” and policemen. Pressing his campaign, Mr. Duterte announced bounties of P2 million ($42,000) for information that would help the government identify any police officer protecting drugs syndicates. He repeated his pledge to defend the police and military, but warned law enforcers against conniving with criminals. “In the pursuit of law and order, pursuant to my directions, you do not have to worry about criminal liability,” he said. “I will go to the prison for you. I take full legal responsibility, you just do it according to the books.” “But for those in the government, the police, the corrupt police and the corrupt judges and the corrupt prosecutors, there will be a day of comeuppance, there will always be a day of reckoning,” Duterte said.[SEP]PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday brushed aside the possibility of being hauled into international courts over mounting deaths in his war against illegal drugs, daring his critics to send him to jail for it. But Duterte, in his National Heroes’ Day speech, pointed out that he should not be compared with the murderous Islamic State or Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who are accused of various atrocities and crimes against humanity. “Did I kill a child? Did I drop bombs like Assad and those other idiots? Did I burn women who refuse to have sex?” the President said at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig. “I will take full legal responsibility. I will be happy to join them in prison. I will not ask for a special room. I’d just ask for a bed, foam, and something to read. Do not scare me with [these cases of]genocide,” he said. Duterte again argued that his war against the illegal drug trade would be for the “law-abiding, God-fearing citizens to be comfortable, period, that they are not molested, their children can walk the streets and come home safe and sound.” Last week, the Philippine National Police told a Senate investigation 756 drug suspects have been killed in police operations nationwide. A total of 1,160 deaths were also recorded “outside police operations,” likely perpetrated by vigilantes or drug syndicates out to cover their tracks. On August 18, UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and Dainius Pūras called on the Philippine government to stop the wave of killings of people linked to illegal drugs, saying that going after drug traders won’t exempt “state actors” from international legal obligations. Callamard said Duterte’s supposed directives to kill drug suspects and drug users who don’t surrender were “irresponsible in the extreme and amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law.” “It is effectively a license to kill,” she said. Bounty Duterte ignored the rapporteurs’ warning against encouraging impunity, and threatened to put a P2-million bounty on policemen involved in the illegal drug trade. He even urged law enforcers to rat on their colleagues. “I consider the fight against drugs a war. I am declaring war. It has infected every nook and corner of this country, involving generals, mayors, governors, barangay (village) captains, and so many of the ‘ninjas’ [as]we call them … these are the police who are into it,” Duterte said in Taguig. “I might be inclined to place a reward on their head, the members of the police who are protecting the drug syndicates in this country. I am placing, per head, P2 million,” he said. Duterte pointed out that there are now 3.6 million drug dependents in the country based on data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. These drug dependents are not mere “users” given their sheer number, he claimed. “You can just imagine a country with three million addicts and they say they are just users. My God! If you are a user, you are [also a]pusher. You have to [establish]connect[ion][with]somebody to finance the [drug]fix,” he claimed. Drawback Duterte was unfazed by the killings and said his intensified anti-drug campaign won’t spare anybody, including the poor. “They (critics) would want to make it appear that just because this guy is poor, therefore, he should not be made accountable to law but placed in a hospital,” he said. “In this planet, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. If you see drugs as a viable livelihood, there will always be a drawback,” the President said.

Duterte rejects claims that he is inciting genocide with his anti-drug campaign.

The incident happened just after 2 a.m. local time on Monday when a loud explosion was heard at the complex in Neder-Over-Heembeek, which is located in the northern part of the City of Brussels. A fire broke out at the scene. There were no injuries as a result of the explosion, but residents in the surrounding neighborhood reported being shaken by the blast. Firefighters extinguished the fire that engulfed the car and caused damage in the vicinity. No one was injured. Belgian media initially reported that the incident was caused by an explosives-laden vehicle that was rammed through gates at the facility before being detonated, but officials later said that no explosives were found. Instead, the fire was likely caused by fuel that was set on fire. "It's probably not terrorism. It's a criminal act," Ine Van Wymersch, a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office, told the Associated Press news agency. This is a breaking news alert. Please check back or follow @BNONews on Twitter as details become available. If you want to receive breaking news alerts by email, click here to sign up. You can also like BNO News on Facebook by clicking here. Les pompiers sont toujours sur place #Belga #Nederoverheembeek pic.twitter.com/KVuxyuX9wx — Angèle Olivier (@AngeleOlivier) August 29, 2016 Click here for reuse options! [SEP]Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption A vehicle was used to break through barriers before it was destroyed by fire Attackers rammed a car through the gates of a Brussels crime laboratory before starting a fire to destroy forensic evidence, prosecutors say. Prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said a car broke through fences at about 02:00 (00:00 GMT). She said there was "sensitive material" inside the laboratories, but it is not yet clear what if anything was destroyed in the fire. Five people arrested nearby were later released without charge. Initial reports in Belgian media said a bomb had exploded. But Ms Van Wymersch said that while a bomb was unlikely to have detonated, it was impossible to fully rule out that scenario. "The location was not chosen randomly," she said. "It's an important site, that includes sensitive documents relating to current investigations." "The possibility of a terrorist act is not confirmed. It goes without saying that several individuals may have wanted to destroy evidence related to their legal cases," Ms Van Wymersch added. The case was being treated as arson, she said. Image copyright Reuters Some 30 firefighters helped put out the fire at the National Institute of Criminology, which Ms Van Wymersch said caused damage but caused no casualties. Forensic analysis linked to criminal cases is carried out at the site, but while it is not the only laboratory of its kind linked to the police, it is the most important forensic test centre in Belgium. Images submitted to broadcaster RTL by nearby residents showed flames and heavy smoke rising into the night sky. The independent institute, linked to Belgium's federal justice body, is in Neder-Over-Heembeek, a suburb in the north of Brussels. Belgium's terror alert level remains high since bomb attacks on Brussels airport and the city's metro, claimed by so-called Islamic State, that killed 32 people in March.[SEP]BRUSSELS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at the Brussels Institute of Criminology in the north of the Belgian capital on Monday but the building was empty and no one was wounded, broadcaster RTL said. Brussels prosecutors confirmed that there had been an explosion at the institute and that there had been no casualties but said the cause had still not been determined. A car rammed through the barriers at about 3 a.m. local time and one or more attackers exploded a bomb near the laboratories which caught fire, RTL said. The institute is linked to the Belgian ministry of justice and carries out forensic investigations in criminal cases, it says on its website. Europe has been on high alert after Islamic State attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past year. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Nick Macfie)[SEP]Five held over fire at Brussels criminology institute - prosecutors BRUSSELS, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Five people were being held and questioned on Monday over a fire at Brussels' criminology institute, a spokeswoman for the city's prosecutors said. Arsonists set fire to Belgium's National Institute of Criminology in Brussels earlier on Monday, causing an explosion but no casualties. "Five people were detained in the vicinity and are being heard," the spokeswoman, Ine Van Wymersch, told a news conference. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska)[SEP]A bomb has reportedly gone off at the Brussels Institute of Criminology. It happen at about 2.30am loncal time, according to Belgian media. A car reportedly rammed three fences to get near the institute’s building, where the bomb was detonated. No casualties were reported Brussels airport and metro were the targets of an Islamic State bomb attack that killed 32 people in March. Belgium remains on a high terror alert.[SEP]A bomb has exploded at the Brussels Institute of Criminology in the north of Brussels but the building was empty and no one was wounded, according to local media. A car rammed through the barriers at about 3am local time on Monday and one or more attackers exploded a bomb near the laboratories which caught fire, broadcaster RTL said. State broadcaster RTBF said no one was injured but that damage at the site was significant. Police have been deployed in force and sealed off the area. The institute is in Neder-Over-Hembeek, a suburb north of Brussels. It is linked to the Belgian ministry of justice and carries out forensic investigations in criminal cases. Belgium has been on high alert since March when attacks on the the city’s airport and subway killed 32 people. Days before the Brussels attacks, Salah Abdeslam, one of the leaders of the terror attacks on Paris in November 2015, was arrested in the Molenbeek area of Brussels after a four-month international manhunt. This is a developing story, please check back for updates.[SEP]Arsonists set fire to Belgium’s National Institute of Criminology in Brussels on Monday, causing an explosion but no casualties, a Brussels prosecutor said. Ine Van Wymersch said there were no immediate indications that the fire at the institute, which was empty at the time, was a militant attack although nothing had been ruled out. Europe has been on high alert after Islamic State attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past year. “It was arson, deliberate arson at the laboratory of the federal police,” she said. “With a fire you get explosions, but it’s not that explosives were thrown inside or installed.” “It is a path we are looking down,” she said, referring to the possibility of militant involvement. “But certainly not the first one we are thinking about. We are thinking more of deliberate arson by organised crime. We have no indications that it was terrorism,” she said. The institute is linked to the Belgian ministry of justice and carries out forensic investigations in criminal cases, according to its website. The attack was carried out by more than one person, Ms van Wymersch said. Two people had been detained, although they were not necessarily the perpetrators. Belgian broadcaster RTL said that a car rammed through barriers at the centre at about 3am local time.[SEP]Nobody hurt in blast outside Brussels criminology institute BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian media say unidentified attackers have detonated a bomb outside Belgium's criminology institute in the capital, Brussels, but the building was empty and nobody was injured. State broadcaster RTBF and other outlets reported Monday that a car drove through a security barrier at the site about 2 a.m. (0000 GMT), followed by an explosion that caused significant damage to the facility on Brussels' north side. Police have deployed in force and sealed off the area. The institute assists and advises Belgium's justice authorities in carrying out their investigations. Belgium has been on high alert since coordinated March 22 suicide bomb attacks on the Brussels airport and subway killed 32 people.[SEP]A bomb has exploded at the Brussels Institute of Criminology in the north of Brussels. A car rammed through the barriers at about 3am and one or more attackers exploded a bomb near the laboratories which caught fire, RTL said. The blast hit the empty building on Monday morning and no one was wounded - it is not clear what happened to the bombers. There was significant damage at the site and police have sealed off the area. State broadcaster RTBF said a car with two people on board accessed the site before scaling a ladded and launching a bomb at the building. They are then said to have torched their vehicle. The institute, which is in the Neder-Over-Hembeek suburb of northern Brussels, assists and advises Belgium's justice authorities in carrying out their inquiries. Eyewitnesses reported seeing thick black smoke coming from the building before fire crews descended on the scene in the early hours of the morning. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack. Fire service spokesman, Pierre Meys, said: 'it was probably not accidental. 'The explosion was extremely powerful. Windows of the lab were blown out dozens of metres away.' He said about 30 firefighters were called to the scene. Belgium has been on high alert since a March 22 attack on the Brussels airport and tube network killed 32 people. Those attacks were claimed by ISIS, which controls large areas of territory in Iraq and Syria and has claimed numerous terror atrocities in Europe in recent months.[SEP]BRUSSELS (AP) - Reports of a bomb outside Belgium’s criminal institute early Monday are probably false, the Brussels prosecutor’s office said, adding that the incident is much more likely an arson attack on a crime lab. “It’s probably not terrorism. It’s a criminal act,” said spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch. “I cannot confirm that there was any bomb.” State broadcaster RTBF and other outlets reported that a car drove through a security barrier at the site about 2 a.m., followed by an explosion that caused significant damage to the facility on Brussels’ north side. Nobody was injured. The institute assists and advises Belgium’s justice authorities in carrying out their investigations. Belgium has been on high alert since coordinated March 22 suicide bomb attacks on the Brussels airport and subway killed 32 people.

Multiple individuals rammed a van into the entrance of the Brussels National Institute of Criminology building, setting its laboratories on fire. No casualties have been reported. At least five people are arrested.

Voters cast their ballots at ChiArts High School on March 15 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson / Getty Images[SEP]Washington (CNN) Hackers have breached databases for election systems in Illinois and Arizona, according to state election and law enforcement officials. In Illinois, hackers accessed a database for the Illinois Board of Elections, compromising up to 200,000 personal voter records according to Ken Menzel, General Counsel for the board. The FBI is investigating the hack, which initially occurred in late June and was discovered in July. It was first reported by Yahoo . Officials with the Board of Elections are "highly confident they (the hackers) weren't able to change anything, although the investigation is still going on" according to Menzel. Investigators believe the hackers are likely based overseas, according to a law enforcement official. The Illinois database included voters' names, addresses, sex and birthdays in addition to other information. Some of the records include either last four digits of a voter's social security number or drivers' license numbers. The database is comprised of records for 15 million individuals and is 10 years old. Not all outdated information has been purged, according to Menzel, so some of those records likely include information for deceased voters or those who have subsequently moved. According to Matthew Roberts, director of communications for the Arizona secretary of state, in late May, Arizona officials took the statewide voting registration system offline after the FBI alerted the Arizona Department of Administration that there was a credible cyber threat to the voter registration system. Although The Washington Post reported that Roberts attributed the database breach directly to a Russian hacker, when pressed by CNN, he said that the Arizona secretary of state's office learned of Russian involvement from internal IT and cyber security staff. "We indirectly heard that the credential and username posted online was from a known Russian hacker," Roberts said. When they took the system offline to review any vulnerabilities, they discovered that a county election official's username and password had been posted online publicly. It's believed that a worker may have inadvertently downloaded a virus which exposed the username and password. In this instance, the username and password information posted would only give individuals access to a localized, county version of the voting registration system, and not the entire state-wide system. Roberts says there is no evidence that any data within the system was compromised and there was no evidence of malware present in the database. The breaches are causing concern among election officials because of the voter personal information that could have been stolen, not because of any fear that an election could be stolen, law enforcement officials say. States have a variety of systems -- some better than others -- but the voting machines and tabulating systems are generally not connected to the Internet, which would be the vulnerability hackers would use to compromise the electoral system. The Department of Homeland Security is unaware of any specific credible threat to the electoral systems, according to a law enforcement official. Election databases are attractive targets to hackers because they contain personal information that can be cobbled together with other data to help criminals steal money. DHS has offered to help states increase security of their systems, but states have rebuffed federal help and largely believe their systems are secure. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson held a conference call recently to discuss whether DHS should declare electoral systems as critical infrastructure , which triggers more involvement from the federal government. States have resisted those moves. Asked about the intrusions while speaking at the Symantec Government Symposium in Washington, FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday he didn't want to comment on a specific case but said the bureau is always looking at ways to counteract cyberattacks. "We take very seriously any effort by any actor -- including nation states, especially nation states that move beyond the collection of information about our country and offers the prospect of an effort to influence the conduct of affairs in our country -- whether it is an election or something else," Comey said. Illinois officials say it's been a challenge to identify everyone whose records were compromised as they have to sort through the 109 jurisdictions that may have been affected. According to Menzel, they are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to figure out who was responsible. Menzel says the board is not concerned about the integrity of the voting system and does not expect the breach to impact the upcoming general election. Illinois voting machines are not connected to the internet in any way, according to Menzel. Most voters in Illinois use an optical scan ballot but some jurisdictions do have touch screen machines to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. In some large counties, such as Cook County, at the end of the voting day, early unofficial voting results are reported back and sent via cell phone signal but they have encryption protection. Arizona largely uses paper ballots and also has touch screen machines.[SEP]Washington (CNN) Hackers have breached databases for election systems in Illinois and Arizona, according to state election and law enforcement officials. In Illinois, hackers accessed a database for the Illinois Board of Elections, compromising up to 200,000 personal voter records according to Ken Menzel, General Counsel for the board. The FBI is investigating the hack, which initially occurred in late June and was discovered in July. It was first reported by Yahoo . Officials with the Board of Elections are "highly confident they (the hackers) weren't able to change anything, although the investigation is still going on" according to Menzel. The Illinois database included voters' names, addresses, sex and birthdays in addition to other information. Some of the records include either last four digits of a voter's social security number or drivers' license numbers. The database is comprised of records for 15 million individuals and is 10 years old. Not all outdated information has been purged, according to Menzel, so some of those records likely include information for deceased voters or those who have subsequently moved. According to Matthew Roberts, Director of Communications for the Arizona Secretary of State, in late May, Arizona officials took the statewide voting registration system offline after the FBI alerted the Arizona Department of Administration that there was a credible cyber threat to the voter registration system. When they took the system offline to review any vulnerabilities, they discovered that a county election official's username and password had been posted online publicly. It's believed that a worker may have inadvertently downloaded a virus which exposed the username and password. In this instance, the username and password information posted would only give individuals access to a localized, county version of the voting registration system, and not the entire state-wide system. Roberts says there is no evidence that any data within the system was compromised and there was no evidence of malware present in the database. The breaches are causing concern among election officials because of the voter personal information that could have been stolen, not because of any fear that an election could be stolen, law enforcement officials say. States have a variety of systems -- some better than others -- but the voting machines and tabulating systems are generally not connected to the internet, which would be the vulnerability hackers would use to compromise the electoral system. The Department of Homeland Security is unaware of any specific credible threat to the electoral systems, according to a law enforcement official. Election databases are attractive targets to hackers because they contain personal information that can be cobbled together with other data to help criminals steal money. In a statement, FBI spokesperson Jillian Stickels said, "While we cannot comment on specific alerts, what I can say is that in furtherance of public-private partnerships, the FBI routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators observed during the course of our investigations. This data is provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals." Illinois officials say it's been a challenge to identify everyone whose records were compromised as they have to sort through the 109 jurisdictions that may have been affected. According to Menzel, they are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to figure out who was responsible. Menzel says the board is not concerned about the integrity of the voting system and does not expect the breach to impact the upcoming general election. Illinois voting machines are not connected to the internet in any way, according to Menzel. Most voters in Illinois use an optical scan ballot but some jurisdictions do have touch screen machines to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. In some large counties, such as Cook County, at the end of the voting day, early unofficial voting results are reported back and sent via cell phone signal but they have encryption protection. Arizona largely uses paper ballots and also has touch screen machines.[SEP]The FBI believes that the infiltration in late June of Arizona voter-registration databases may be linked to foreign hackers who stole data from an Illinois election site, Yahoo News reported on Monday. Michael Isikoff, Yahoo's chief investigative correspondent, reported that he'd obtained an FBI warning about cyberattacks on elections databases in two states. He confirmed through a source that the states were Illinois and Arizona. The online article received nationwide attention on Monday, even though much of the story had already been reported. Isikoff's story, based on a disturbing FBI alert about the two attacks, touched nerves that were already frayed following the bombshell leak last month of Democratic National Committee e-mails, a debacle that resulted in the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Arizona Secretary of State's Office revealed news of the hack back in late June and early July, reporting that it was a serious attack, the FBI was investigating, and that no data had been stolen. The Illinois hack, which shut down the Illinois voter registration for nearly two weeks, was covered by the news media when it happened in mid-July. Isikoff's story reveals that hackers had penetrated and copied voter information for about 200,000 Illinois residents. The events in Arizona and Illinois sparked so much concern that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson spoke with state elections officials in a conference call on August 15, trying to assuage fears of a massive Election Day cyberattack and offering up federal experts who could visit election sites and make recommendations for security improvements. Three days after the phone call, Isikoff reported, the FBI issued its bulletin. Entitled "Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems," the alert stated that the FBI was investigating two computer attacks and listed eight IP addresses — unique numbers assigned to every computer and device using the internet — that were linked to the hacks. One of those IP addresses was used in both attacks. "The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected," the alert states. "Attempts should not be made to touch or ping the IP addresses directly." One of the IP addresses "has surfaced before in Russian criminal underground hacker forums," according to an expert quoted in Isikoff's article. The hacks in Illinois and Arizona should be seen as a "wake-up call" for elections officials, Tom Hicks, the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, told Isikoff. The FBI won't comment on specific alerts but does acknowledge that it reveals information to "private industry" of cyber threats, says Matthew Reinsmoen, a special agent with the agency's Phoenix office. "This data is provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals," reads a statement Reinsmoen sent to New Times on Monday. "As you may know, in July, we confirmed that the FBI's Cyber Crimes Unit did alert the state to a potential computer compromise. Due to the sensitive nature of these investigations we will not elaborate further on the matter." Matt Roberts, spokesman for Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, said media outlets around the world was calling to find out what was going on, but that the story was actually old news. Because the FBI won't comment, officials can't be certain Arizona is one of the two states mentioned in the alert, he said. But a serious breach did occur, apparently tied to Russian hackers. FBI officials notified the Arizona Department of Administration in late June of a serious threat to voter-registration records — an "eight" on a scale of one to ten as threats go, Roberts said. Malicious software was downloaded onto a Maricopa County Elections Department computer, where it apparently recorded the keystrokes of the computer user and gleaned the user's password-protected login information. The hacker put the county employee's username and password on the internet. Not long after, the information was used to gain access to the voter information. But the county uses two levels of computer security for access to that information, and the hacker was unable to get past that second level. Roberts declined to discuss the details of that second-level security. The FBI's revelation of a breach in June spurred the state to take its online voter-registration apparatus offline for almost a week while the system was inspected. "We wanted to make sure that info wasn't being corrupted if there was a bug in it," Roberts explained. Users wouldn't have noticed, because all the new registrations went into a queue that was processed when the system was put back online. The shutdown affected a page on the Secretary of State's website where Clean Elections candidates can solicit $5 contributions that allow them to collect public money to run their campaigns. Roberts said the inspection proved the malware hadn't infected any other computers at Maricopa County Elections, and that the state's voter-registration database hadn't been violated. Reagan took prompt action in June upon hearing from the FBI, he says. "When Secretary Reagan hears the words 'Russian hacker,' and 'credible Russian hacker' from the FBI, she's going to pay attention to that," he said. Isikoff's story says federal officials aren't sure if the attacks came from foreign agents bent on changing U.S. elections or from criminals who want to sell voter information for a quick buck.[SEP]Hackers targeted voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona, and the FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russians were behind the assault on the election system in that state. The bureau described the threat as "credible" and significant, "an eight on a scale of one to 10," Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan (R), said Monday. As a result, Reagan shut down the state's voter registration system for nearly a week. It turned out that the hackers had not compromised the state system or even any county system. They had, however, stolen the user name and password of a single elections official in Gila County. Roberts said FBI investigators did not specify whether the hackers were criminals or employed by the Russian government. Bureau officials on Monday declined to comment. The Arizona incident is the latest indication of Russian interest in U.S. elections and party operations, and follows the discovery of a high-profile penetration into Democratic National Committee computers. That hack produced embarrassing emails that led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and sowed dissension on the eve of Hillary Clinton's nomination as the party's presidential candidate. The Russian campaign is also sparking intense anxiety about the security of this year's elections. Earlier this month, the FBI warned state officials to be on the lookout for intrusions into their elections systems. The "flash" alert, which was first reported by Yahoo News, said investigators had detected attempts to penetrate election systems in several states and listed Internet protocol addresses and other technical fingerprints associated with the hacks. In addition to Arizona, Illinois officials discovered an intrusion into their elections system in July. Although the hackers did not alter any data, the intrusion marks the first successful compromise of a state voter-registration database, federal officials said. "This was a highly sophisticated attack most likely from a foreign (international) entity," said Kyle Thomas, director of voting and registration systems for the Illinois State Board of Elections, in a message that was sent to all election authorities in the state. The Illinois hackers were able to retrieve voter records, but the number accessed was "a fairly small percentage of the total," said Ken Menzel, general counsel for the Illinois elections board. State officials alerted the FBI, he said, and the Department of Homeland Security also was involved. The intrusion in Illinois led to a week-long shutdown of the voter registration system. The FBI has told Illinois officials that it is looking at foreign government agencies and criminal hackers as potential culprits, Menzel said. At least two other states are looking into possible breaches, officials said. Meanwhile, states across the nation are scrambling to ensure that their systems are secure. Until now, countries such as Russia and China have shown little interest in voting systems in the United States. But experts said that if a foreign government gained the ability to tamper with voter data - for instance by deleting registration records - such a hack could cast doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections. "I'm less concerned about the attackers getting access to and downloading the information. I'm more concerned about the information being altered, modified or deleted. That's where the real potential is for any sort of meddling in the election,"said Brian Kalkin, vice president of operations for the Center for Internet Security, which operates the MS-ISAC, a multistate information-sharing center that helps government agencies combat cyberthreats and works closely with federal law enforcement. James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, has told Congress that manipulation or deletion of data is the next big cyberthreat - "the next push on the envelope." Tom Hicks, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ward off attempts to manipulate data. For example, if a voter's name were deleted and did not show up on the precinct list, the individual could still cast a provisional ballot, Hicks said. Once the voter's status was confirmed, the ballot would be counted. Hicks also said the actual systems used to cast votes "are not hooked up to the Internet" and so "there's not going to be any manipulation of data." However, more than 30 states have some provisions for online voting, primarily for voters living overseas or serving in the military. This spring, a DHS official cautioned that online voting is not yet secure. "We believe that online voting, especially online voting in large scale, introduces great risk into the election system by threatening voters' expectations of confidentiality, accountability and security of their votes and provides an avenue for malicious actors to manipulate the voting results," said Neil Jenkins, an official in the department's Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. Private-sector researchers are also concerned about potential meddling by Russians in the U.S. elections system. Rich Barger, chief information officer at ThreatConnect, said that several of the IP addresses listed in the FBI alert trace back to a website-hosting service called King Servers that offers Russia-based technical support. Barger also said that one of the methods used was similar to a tactic employed in other intrusions suspected of being carried out by the Russian government, including one this month on the World Anti-Doping Agency. "The very fact that [someone] has rattled the doorknobs, the very fact that the state election commissions are in the cross hairs, gives grounds to the average American voter to wonder: Can they really trust the results?" Barger said. Earlier this month, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson held a conference call with state elections officials, offering his assistance in protecting against cyberattacks. Johnson said that DHS was "not aware of any specific or credible cybersecurity threats relating to the upcoming general election systems," according to a readout of the call. It was not clear whether he was aware at the time of the FBI's investigations in Arizona and Illinois.[SEP]Hackers targeted voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona, and the FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russian hackers were behind the assault on the election system in that state. The bureau told Arizona officials that the threat was “credible” and severe, ranking as “an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10,” said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. As a result, Secretary of State Michele Reagan shut down the state voter registration system for almost a week. It turned out that the hackers did not succeed in compromising the state system or even any county system, but rather had managed to steal the user name and password for one Gila County elections official. • August 15, 2016 Hotels in 10 states, including Colorado, and D.C. may have been hit by hackers Nonetheless, the revelation comes amid news that the FBI is investigating suspected foreign hacks of state election computer systems, and earlier this month warned states to be on the alert for intrusions. In Illinois, officials discovered an intrusion into their state voter registration system in July. The FBI’s Aug. 18 warning follows heightened concern over Russian hacks of Democratic Party organizations and possible meddling in the presidential election. Although the hackers did not alter any data, the intrusion into the Illinois database marks the first succesful compromise of a state election database, federal officials said. Until now, countries such as Russia and China have shown little interest in voting systems in the United States. But experts said that if a foreign government gains the ability to tamper with voter data, for instance by deleting registration records, such a hack could cast doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections. Meanwhile, the recently discovered hacks have state officials across the country scrambling to ensure that their systems have not been compromised. At least two other states are looking into potential breaches, officials said. “This was a highly sophisticated attack most likely from a foreign (international) entity,” said Kyle Thomas, director of voting and registration systems for the Illinois State Board of Elections, in a message that was sent to all election authorities in the state. In July, officials in that state discovered the intrusion, in which hackers were able to retrieve voter records. The amount accessed was “a fairly small percentage of the total,” said Ken Menzel, general counsel for the Illinois elections board. State officials alerted the FBI, he said. The Department of Homeland Security also got involved, he said. The intrusion led the state election board to shut down the voter registration system for a week. In June, the Arizona Secretary of State’s office shut down part of its website after the FBI found a potential threat to its state voter registration system, according to the Arizona Republic. Following those breaches, the FBI issued its “flash” alert, which listed Internet protocol addresses and other technical fingerprints associated with the hacks. “The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected,” said the FBI alert, which was first reported by Yahoo News. The FBI declined official comment other than to note it “routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators” it turns up in investigations. The bureau has told Illinois officials that they’re looking at possible foreign government agencies as well as criminal hackers, Menzel said. The technical details in the alert were gathered by the MS-ISAC, a multi-state information-sharing center that helps state, local and tribal government agencies combat cyber threats and that works with federal law enforcement agencies. “I’m less concerned about the attackers getting access to and downloading the information,” said Brian Kalkin, vice president of operations for the Center for Internet Security, which operates the MS-ISAC. “I’m more concerned about the information being altered, modified or deleted. That’s where the real potential is for any sort of meddling in the election.” And James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, has told Congress that ma­nipu­la­tion or deletion of data is the next big cyber threat–”the next push on the envelope.” But Tom Hicks, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ensure efforts at ma­nipu­la­tion will be unsuccesful. For one, he said, if a voter’s name does not show up on the list, the individual can still cast a provision ballot and once his or her status is confirmed, the ballot will be counted. Also, he said, in general the voting systems themselves “are not hooked up to the Internet” and so “there’s not going to be any ma­nipu­la­tion of data.” Nonetheless, more than 30 states have some provisions for online voting, primarily for voters living overseas of serving in the military. An official at the Department of Homeland Security cautioned this spring that online voting is not yet secure. “We believe that online voting, especially online voting in large scale, introduces great risk into the election system by threatening voters’ expectations of confidentiality, accountability and security of their votes and provides an avenue for malicious actors to manipulate the voting results,” Neil Jenkins, an official in the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security, Some private-sector researchers say some of the information released by the FBI points to a potential Russian link, but they caution that their work is preliminary. Rich Barger, chief information officer at ThreatConnect, said that several of the IP addresses trace back to a website-hosting service called King Servers that offers Russia-based technical support. He also said that one of the methods used was similar to a tactic in other intrusions suspected of being carried out by the Russian government, including one this month on the World Anti-Doping Agency. “The very fact that [someone] has rattled the doorknobs, the very fact that the state election commissions are in the cross-hairs gives grounds to the average American voter to wonder: Can they really trust the results?” said Barger. On Aug. 15, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson held a conference call with state election officials, offering the Department of Homeland Security’s assistance in protecting against cyberattacks. He said that DHS was “not aware of any specific or credible cybersecurity threats relating to the upcoming general election systems,” according to a readout of the call. It was not clear whether he was aware at the time of the FBI’s investigation into the Arizona and Illinois intrusions.[SEP]WASHINGTON -- The FBI is investigating a series of suspected foreign hacks of state election computer systems and websites, and has warned states to be on the alert for intrusions. The Aug. 18 warning, issued after two states sustained intrusions into their systems, comes amid heightened concern over Russian hacks of Democratic party organizations and possible meddling in the presidential election. The FBI "flash" alert, which is not intended for general public release, listed Internet Protocol addresses and other technical fingerprints associated with the hacks. "The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected," said the FBI alert, which was first reported by Yahoo News. The warning did not name the states that were targeted. In Arkansas, Chris Powell, spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin, said his office has had "no indications of this kind of activity in Arkansas" but that it is "monitoring news reports closely." Two states have reported threats to its systems in recent months. In June, the Arizona Secretary of State's office shut down part of its website after the FBI found a potential threat to its state voter registration system, according to The Arizona Republic. And in July, the Illinois Voter Registration System suffered a cyberintrusion in which hackers were able to retrieve a number of voter records, according to a message from the Illinois State Board of Elections. The intrusion led the state election board to shut down the voter registration system for a week. "This was a highly sophisticated attack most likely from a foreign [international] entity," Kyle Thomas, the Illinois board's director of voting and registration systems, said in the message. The FBI declined to comment other than to note it "routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators" it turns up in investigations. Meanwhile, some private sector researchers say some of the information released by the FBI suggests a Russian link, though they caution their work is preliminary. Rich Barger, chief information officer at ThreatConnect, said that several of the IP addresses trace back to a website hosting service called King Servers that offers Russia-based technical support. He also said that one of the methods used was very similar to a method used in other intrusions suspected of being carried out by the Russian government, including one this month on the World Anti-Doping Agency. "If this is the Russians, we can start to think through worst-case scenarios as to how they might sow doubt over our electoral process at election time," Barger said. The reported intrusions so far do not appear to have involved manipulation of data -- a key concern of U.S. intelligence officials. But, Barger said, "the very fact that [someone] has rattled the doorknobs, the very fact that the state election commissions are in the crosshairs gives grounds to the average American voter to wonder -- can they really trust the results?" On Aug. 15, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson held a conference call with state election officials, offering the Department of Homeland Security's assistance in protecting against cyberattacks. He said that Homeland Security was "not aware of any specific or credible cybersecurity threats relating to the upcoming general election systems," according to a readout of the call. It was not clear if he was aware at the time of the FBI's investigation into the Arizona and Illinois intrusions. Information for this article was contributed by Brian Fanney of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.[SEP]The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election databases in recent weeks, prompting the bureau to warn election officials across the country to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, according to federal and state law enforcement officials. The FBI warning, contained in a “flash” alert from the FBI’s Cyber Division, a copy of which was obtained by Yahoo News, comes amid heightened concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about the possibility of cyberintrusions, potentially by Russian state-sponsored hackers, aimed at disrupting the November elections. Those concerns prompted Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to convene a conference call with state election officials on Aug. 15, in which he offered his department’s help to make state voting systems more secure, including providing federal cyber security experts to scan for vulnerabilities, according to a “readout” of the call released by the department. Johnson emphasized in the call that Homeland Security was not aware of “specific or credible cybersecurity threats” to the election, officials said. But three days after that call, the FBI Cyber Division issued a potentially more disturbing warning, entitled “Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems.” The alert, labeled as restricted for “NEED TO KNOW recipients,” disclosed that the bureau was investigating cyberintrusions against two state election websites this summer, including one that resulted in the “exfiltration,” or theft, of voter registration data. “It was an eye opener,” one senior law enforcement official said of the bureau’s discovery of the intrusions. “We believe it’s kind of serious, and we’re investigating.” The bulletin does not identify the states in question, but sources familiar with the document say it refers to the targeting by suspected foreign hackers of voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois. In the Illinois case, officials were forced to shut down the state’s voter registration system for ten days in late July, after the hackers managed to download personal data on up to 200,000 state voters, Ken Menzel, the general counsel of the Illinois Board of Elections, said in an interview. The Arizona attack was more limited, involving malicious software that was introduced into its voter registration system but no successful exfiltration of data, a state official said. The FBI bulletin listed eight separate IP addresses that were the sources of the two attacks and suggested that the attacks may have been linked, noting that one of the IP addresses was used in both intrusions. The bulletin implied that the bureau was looking for any signs that the attacks may have been attempting to target even more than the two states. “The FBI is requesting that states contact their Board of Elections and determine if any similar activity to their logs, both inbound and outbound, has been detected,” the alert reads. “Attempts should not be made to touch or ping the IP addresses directly.” “This is a big deal,” said Rich Barger, chief intelligence officer for ThreatConnect, a cybersecurity firm, who reviewed the FBI alert at the request of Yahoo News. “Two state election boards have been popped, and data has been taken. This certainly should be concerning to the common American voter.” Barger noted that that one of the IP addresses listed in the FBI alert has surfaced before in Russian criminal underground hacker forums. He also said the method of attack on one of the state election systems — including the types of tools used by the hackers to scan for vulnerabilities and exploit them — appear to resemble methods used in other suspected Russian state-sponsored cyberattacks, including one just this month on the World Anti-Doping Agency. The FBI did not respond to detailed questions about the alert, saying in a statement only that such bulletins are provided “to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals.” Menzel, the Illinois election official, said that in a recent briefing, FBI agents confirmed to him that the perpetrators were believed to be foreign hackers, although they were not identified by country. He said he was told that the bureau was looking at a “possible link” to the recent highly publicized attack on the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations, which U.S. officials suspect was perpetrated by Russian government hackers. But he said agents told him they had reached no conclusions, and other experts say the hackers could also have been common cyber criminals hoping to steal personal data on state voters for fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining bogus tax refunds. Still, the FBI warning seems likely to ramp up pressure on the Department of Homeland Security to formally designate state election systems as part of the nation’s “critical infrastructure” requiring federal protection — a key step, advocates say, in forestalling the possibility of foreign government meddling in the election. Such a formal designation, which would allow state election officials to request federal assistance to protect their voting systems, “is under consideration,” a Homeland Security spokesman told Yahoo News. Federal and state election officials say that the prospect of a full-blown cyberattack that seriously disrupts the November elections is remote, but not out of the question. About 40 states use optical-scan electronic-voting machines, allowing voters to fill out their choices on paper. The results are tabulated by computers. These are “reasonably safe” because the voting machines are backed up by paper ballots that can be checked, says Andrew W. Appel, a Princeton University computer science professor who has studied election security. But six states and parts of four others (including large swaths of Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in this year’s race) are more vulnerable because they rely on paperless touchscreen voting, known as DREs or Direct-Recording Electronic voting machines, for which there are no paper ballot backups. “Then whatever numbers the voting computer says at the close of the polls are completely under the control of the computer program in there,” Appel wrote in a recent blog post entitled “Security Against Election Hacking.” “If the computer is hacked, then the hacker gets to decide what numbers are reported. … All DRE (paperless touchscreen) voting computers are susceptible to this kind of hacking. This is our biggest problem.” Another area of concern cited by Appel and other experts is the growing number of states that allow overseas and military voters to cast their ballots online. In his conference call this month with state election officials, Johnson urged them to guard against potential intrusions by taking basic precautionary steps, such as ensuring that electronic voting machines are not connected to the Internet while voting is taking place. The FBI bulletin addresses additional potential threats, such as the targeting of state voter registration databases comparable to the attacks in Arizona and Illinois. “This is a wake-up call for other states to look at their systems,” said Tom Hicks, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency created by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to protect the integrity of elections and which helped distribute the FBI alert to state election officials last week. Hackers could conceivably use intrusions into voter registration databases to delete names from voter registration lists, although in most states, voters can request provisional ballots at the polls, allowing time for discrepancies to be resolved, an official of the National Association of Secretaries of State told Yahoo News. Still, according to Barger, the cybersecurity expert, such attacks can be used to create havoc and sow doubt over the election results. As a result, the FBI alert urges state officials to take additional steps to secure their systems, including conducting “vulnerability scans” of their databases. In addition, the bulletin urges officials to sharply restrict access to their databases. “Implement the principle of least privilege for database accounts,” the FBI alert reads. It adds that “any given user should have access to only the bare minimum set of resources required to perform business tasks.”[SEP]SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Illinois elections officials are confident no voter data were compromised this summer when a hacker was able to see information on about 200,000 registered voters. Ken Menzel is general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections. He says the online voter-registration system was shut down July 13 when officials noted an unusually high amount of traffic. Security was improved. The FBI warned state officials Monday to boost their security. State election websites in Arizona and Illinois experienced hack-related shutdowns earlier this summer. Menzel says the Illinois system's hacker was able to get information that could include driver's license or portions of Social Security numbers. Each affected voter will be notified after a complete accounting. He says the data accessed are not tied to vote-counting software so election results could not be altered.[SEP]NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI is warning state officials to boost their election security in light of evidence that hackers breached related data systems in two states. In a confidential "flash" alert from its cyber division, first reported by Yahoo News and posted online by others, the FBI said it's investigating the pair of incidents and advised states to scan their systems for specific signs of hacking. The FBI said Monday that it doesn't comment on specific alerts, but added that it routinely sends out advisories to private industry about signs of cyber threats that it comes across in its investigations. FILE - This Feb. 3, 2012, file photo shows FBI headquarters in Washington. The FBI is warning state officials to boost their election security in light of evidence that hackers breached the election systems of a pair of states. The Aug. 18, 2016, warning came just days after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson hosted a call with secretaries of state and other state elections officials to talk about cybersecurity and the election infrastructure. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) The FBI didn't name the states that were breached. State election websites in Arizona and Illinois experienced hack-related shutdowns earlier this summer. In both cases, the parts of the websites attacked involved online voter registration. The FBI's Aug. 18 warning also came just days after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson hosted a call with secretaries of state and other state election officials to talk about cybersecurity and election infrastructure. In that call, Johnson said that while DHS isn't aware of any particular cyber threat against election-related computers, it's "critically important" to make sure that election systems are secure amid a rapidly changing threat landscape, according to a DHS summary of the call. Federal officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the possibility that hackers, particularly those working for Russia or another country, could breach U.S. elections systems and wreak havoc on the November presidential election. Some experts, along with Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign, believe that Russia was behind the embarrassing email hack of the Democratic National Committee right before its national convention last month. The hacked emails showed an apparent lack of neutrality in the primary race between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, with some party officials disparaging Sanders. Follow Bree Fowler at https://twitter.com/APBreeFowler. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/bree-fowler.

U.S. officials are investigating the hacking of election system databases in Illinois and Arizona. The FBI alerted all election officials nationwide about this issue earlier this month.

Lucy, our renowned hominin relative, died some 3.18 million years ago after plummeting from a tree, according to researchers from the University of Texas at Austin. A new analysis of the fossil—conducted more than 40 years after its discovery in what is now Hadar, Ethiopia—has revealed a pattern of distinctive fractures that, the scientists claim, points to a fall from great heights. “I have taught this fossil since I was a grad student in the 1980s,” says John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the study, which was published Monday in Nature. “I knew these fractures were there, I just never thought to ask what had caused them. No one, as far as I know, has ever put out a theory of how she died.” This theory, however, is already provoking controversy. Some researchers remain unconvinced, arguing that the cracks in Lucy’s bones formed long after her death. “The kind of breakage that we are looking at on these bones is consistent with the kind of bone damage on almost all of the other fossils at Hadar—elephant fossils, rhino fossils, monkey fossils,” says Donald Johanson, a paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University who is credited with discovering and naming Lucy. “And they are undoubtedly the result of geological forces acting on the bones after they are buried during the process of fossilization.” Breaking Bad Lucy, a member of the species Australopithecus afarensis, was discovered in 1974. About 40 percent of the skeleton had been preserved, making her one of the most complete hominin fossils ever found. At the time of discovery, the researchers noted a considerable amount of damage to the bones—which they attributed to weathering and other fossilization processes—but they had inadequate evidence to speculate on the cause of death. “There is one small tooth mark on Lucy’s pelvis that was obvious from the beginning,” says Johanson, “but there were no carnivore marks on the rest of the skeleton.” View Images Each one of Lucy's bones was scanned, producing 35,000 detailed images. Photograph by Marsha Miller, UT Austin But in 2008, Kappelman and his team were able to get their hands on the rock star fossil while she was on tour at museums in the United States. They conducted CT scans of each of the bones, and, in a protracted process that lasted the next eight years, his team meticulously analyzed the 35,000 digital slices the scans generated. “It was looking at those scans and the way that her skeleton was built that these unusual fractures came to light,” says Kappelman. According to Kappelman, while bones break naturally over time postmortem, they usually fracture across the bone—analogous to a dry stick being snapped in half. A closer examination of Lucy, however, revealed fractures that he claims are far more common in living bone. For example, the researchers observed hinge, or greenstick, fractures, in which one side of the bone breaks while the other remains intact; similar to what happens when you try to snap a small healthy tree branch. The scientists also noticed that tiny bone fragments that splintered during the fracture remained lodged in the bone cracks. This finding, Kappelman argues, provides additional evidence that the fractures took place in living tissue, since breaks in dried bone likely would have dispersed these tiny fragments on the ground nearby. And because these fractures showed no signs of healing, the team concluded that Lucy sustained these injuries in a fatal traumatic event. View Images With 40 percent of her skeleton recovered, Lucy is one of the most complete hominin fossils ever found. She is named Lucy after the well-known Beatles song, which her discoverers were listening to the day she was found. Photograph by Jenny Vaughan, AFP/Getty Up On High Additional evidence points to a scenario of a terrifying fall. Notably, her right shoulder has distinctive compression fractures that are characteristic of someone extending their arms as they plummet to the ground. “I showed the evidence to an orthopedic surgeon, who immediately said it is a fracture caused by a fall from considerable height—there was no question at all,” says Kappelman. “I have now had nine surgeons look at this who all agree.” Kappelman and his team then scrupulously examined fractures in the rest of Lucy’s skeleton, creating 3-D models to digitally dissect or recreate certain components. Their analysis revealed a cohesive pattern in her ankle, knee, shoulders, and wrist that they are convinced points to a fall from a significant height that would provide the force necessary to break her bones. Based on studies of fossilized mammals and pollen, as well as geology in Lucy’s environs, the researchers knew that the area probably had been grass-covered woodland on a flat floodplain with plenty of large trees capable of facilitating the fateful accident. Kappelman and his colleagues speculated that small hominins like Lucy, who stood a mere one meter (three and a half feet) tall and weighed around 27 kilograms (60 pounds), likely nested in the trees at night to protect themselves from potential predators. By analyzing previous studies of chimpanzee nesting patterns, the team showed that Lucy would probably have climbed around 14 meters (45 feet) out of harm’s way—which, for us, would be equivalent to ascending a four to five story building. According to their calculations, a fall from this height could result in speeds exceeding 37 miles (60 kilometers) an hour, which, when combined with Lucy’s weight, would produce a force sufficient enough to be fatal. The researchers have “come up with what strikes me as the most plausible explanation for the breakage—mainly a fall from considerable height onto a very solid surface,” says David Pilbeam, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University who advised Kappelman on his dissertation 30 years ago. Not everyone, however, is convinced that the evidence points to this scenario. In particular, some scientists fault Kappelman for failing to consider other possible explanations. “These authors make no effort to test the alternative hypothesis that these cracks and other breaks were made during the processes of fossilization and erosion,” says Timothy White, a paleoanthropologist and professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. “In fact, the authors appear to have focused only on the cracks that they could attribute to an imagined fall, ignoring the additional abundant cracks on Lucy and other fossils.” Johanson is likewise skeptical. “My reticence about the [study] is that in some ways it is a narrative, a just-so story,” he says. “Something that you can’t verify and you can’t falsify and is therefore unprovable.” Ape and Human Features If Kappelman’s research were to become widely accepted, the findings could help settle a long-standing debate: Were hominins like Lucy tree climbers? Australopithecus afarensis displays both ape and human features, leading some paleoanthropologists to believe that Lucy probably spent time both in the trees and on the ground. For example, her curved fingers and long arms are specialized for tree climbing while her shoulder blades are oriented for overhead movement of the arms that are reminiscent of apes. Yet she also displays several features seen in early humans, including an anatomy clearly suited for upright walking, leading other researchers to conclude that she spent all of her time on the ground. Lucy’s theoretical fall could indicate that her species wasn’t suited to climb trees or that she was, at least, semiarboreal. “It doesn’t strike me as particularly surprising that Australopithecus was using trees even if they weren’t optimally designed to do so, nor is it very surprising that they occasionally fell out of them,” says Pilbeam. “Chimps fall out of trees, gibbons fall out of trees. The notion that apes and monkeys are perfectly adapted to life in the trees is not correct.” “I think that there is some evolutionary baggage left over from arboreal life and that we are catching a species in transition,” says Johanson. “I wouldn’t think it’s impossible that they went into the trees to collect fruit or maybe even to build nests to sleep at night, but in terms of their primary mode of locomotion, these guys were essentially terrestrial.” For his part, Kappelman will continue to analyze other aspects of Lucy’s skeleton and may even look for her fracture pattern in different fossils found in the area. In the meantime, he says, the research has made him see Lucy in a new way. “At one point, I had all these bones out and this idea just finally crystalized—I could see the fall, the position of her body when she hit, the impact,” says Kappelman. “For the very first time, I saw her as an individual and this wave of empathy hit me. For the first time she was not just an isolated box of broken bones. I could actually picture how she died.”[SEP]Scans of the world's most-famous fossil have been released in an effort to establish how the ape-like human relative perished 3.18 million years ago. The fossil, known fondly as Lucy, was discovered by researchers in Ethopia back in 1974. She was named after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which was on heavy rotation on the radio at the time. Around 40% of Lucy's skeleton was recovered at the time, making her one of the most complete australopithecine fossils ever found. She is the closest primate to the homo genus. Homo Sapiens began walking the earth around 200,000 years ago. Her skeletal remains are kept in a National Museum in Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa and her plasticreplica is kept in the public for tourists to observe. Scans of the hominin creature's arm, shoulder and knee bones are now available to download in accompaniment to a paper from Nature alleging that Lucy died after falling from a tree. • Who is Lucy the Australopithecus? Google honours 41st anniversary of skeletal discovery The team hope the public will 3D print the bones from the scans to test the hypothesis. “It’s one thing for me to describe it in detail in paper, but it’s another thing to hold these things, to be able to print them out, look at them and put them together,” team leader John Kappelman, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin told Nature . Lucy's remains were first scanned during 2008 over a 10 day period in Austin. Examination of the bone fractures revealed extensive damage to her left shoulder, pelvis, right ankle and knee, suggesting a fall from a tree taller than 10 metres. The bones linked to her right shoulder also sustained a series of clean breaks which echoed those orthopaedic surgeons saw as a result of patients attempting to break a fall with an outstretched arm. • Google Doodle: 5 things you didn't know about the Lucy Australopithecus fossil “Here’s the most famous fossil on the planet, the centre of the debate over arborealism in human evolution, and we think it’s most likely she died from a fall out of tree,” said Mr Kappelman. Marc Meyer, a palaeoanthropologist at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, refutes the claim. Had Lucy fallen from a tree, she would have sustained a broken spine in the same way chimpanzees do when falling from a comparable height, he said. The research team who discovered Lucy believed her bones were broken after she had already died.[SEP]Fall from a tree may have caused death of 'Lucy' the famed fossil AUSTIN, Texas, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Lucy, one of the best known ancestors of humans to ever roam the earth, may have died after a fall from a tree, University of Texas researchers said on Monday after studying her 3.18-million-year-old fossilized remains. A high resolution X-ray CT (computed tomography) study of Lucy, a female hominid, indicates she suffered fractures to her right humerus not typically seen in fossils. There were also less severe fractures on the left shoulder and other compressive fractures throughout the skeleton, they said. The injuries were consistent with those "caused by a fall from considerable height when the conscious victim stretched out an arm in an attempt to break the fall," according to the research from John Kappelman, a University of Texas anthropology and geological sciences professor, who consulted with Stephen Pearce, an orthopedic surgeon at Austin Bone and Joint Clinic. "This compressive fracture results when the hand hits the ground during a fall, impacting the elements of the shoulder against one another to create a unique signature on the humerus," Kappelman said in a statement. Lucy's skeleton was unearthed in 1974 in Ethiopia and since then researchers around the world have been looking at the fossil of the hominid to find its links to modern humans. Kappelman speculated Lucy, who was about 3 feet, 6 inches (107 cms) in height, foraged and sought nightly refuge in trees. Her injuries indicate she fell from a height of about of more than 40 feet (12 meters). University of Texas researchers, including Kappelman, in 2009 completed the first high resolution CT scan of Lucy when the fossil toured the United States. The study resulted in some 35,000 CT electronic slices, which were then studied by university researchers. "When the extent of Lucy's multiple injuries first came into focus, her image popped into my mind's eye, and I felt a jump of empathy across time and space," Kappelman said. "Lucy was no longer simply a box of bones but in death became a real individual: a small, broken body lying helpless at the bottom of a tree." (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Gregorio)[SEP]LOS ANGELES -- The famous human ancestor known as Lucy walked the Earth, but it was her tree climbing that might have led to her demise, a new study suggests. An analysis of her partial skeleton reveals breaks in her right arm, left shoulder, right ankle and left knee -- injuries that researchers say resulted from falling from a high perch such as a tree. Lucy likely died quickly, said John Kappelman, an anthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin, who published the findings Monday in the journal Nature. "I don't think she suffered," Kappelman said. But several other researchers, including Lucy's discoverer, disagree. They contend most of the cracks in Lucy's bones are well documented and came after her death from the fossilization process and natural forces such as erosion. How Lucy met her end has remained a mystery since her well-preserved fossil remains were unearthed more than four decades ago. Her discovery was significant because it allowed scientists to establish that ancient human ancestors walked upright before evolving a big brain. Lucy was a member of Australopithecus afarensis, an early human species that lived in Africa between about 4 million and 3 million years ago. The earliest humans climbed trees and walked on the ground. Lucy walked upright and occasionally used her long, dangling arms to climb trees. She was a young adult when she died. Tim White, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley, called the study's conclusion a "misdiagnosis." The Texas researchers "appear to have focused only on the cracks that they could attribute to an imagined fall, ignoring the additional abundant cracks," White said in an email. The split highlights the difficulty of pinpointing a cause of death from fossilized remains. Scientists rarely know how early humans died because skeletons are incomplete and bones tend to get crushed under sand and rocks. Over the years, Lucy's discoverer Donald Johanson has tried to solve the mystery. Lucy's skeleton, which is 40 per cent complete, was recovered in Ethiopia in what was an ancient lake near fossilized remains of crocodiles, turtle eggs and crab claws. "There's no definitive proof of how she died," said Johanson of Arizona State University. The Texas team examined Lucy's bones and used high-tech imaging. Kappelman said the scans revealed multiple broken bones and no signs of healing, suggesting the injuries occurred around the time of death. He reconstructed her final moments: The 3-foot-6-inch (1.06-meter) Lucy fell from at least 40 feet and hit the ground at 35 mph. She landed on her feet before twisting and falling. Such an impact would have caused internal organ damage. Fractures on her upper arms suggest she tried to break her fall. Kappelman theorized that Lucy's walking ability may have caused her to be less adept at climbing trees, making her more vulnerable to falling from heights. Not everyone agrees that her tree-climbing skills were lacking. Other scientists point out that there have been documented falls by chimpanzees and orangutans, which spend more time in trees than Lucy's species. "Without a time machine, how can one know that she didn't just get unlucky and fall?" William Harcourt-Smith of the American Museum of Natural History said in an email.[SEP]The ancient human ancestor known as Lucy may have met her death more than 3m years ago when she tumbled out of a tree and crashed to the woodland floor, a team of US researchers claim. A fresh analysis of the “grandmother of humanity” points out a number of cracks in the fossil bones that the scientists say match traumatic fractures seen in humans who suffer serious injuries from high falls on to hard ground. “The consistency of the pattern of fractures with what we see in fall victims leads us to propose that it was a fall that was responsible for Lucy’s death,” said John Kappelman, an anthropologist who led the study at the University of Texas in Austin. “I think the injuries were so severe that she probably died very rapidly after the fall.” But the claims, published in the prestigious journal Nature, were roundly dismissed by scientists who spoke to the Guardian. They point out that a lot can happen to a skeleton in 3.2m years. Lucy’s body may have been trampled by stampeding beasts before sediment covered the bones and gradually encased them in rock. “There is a myriad of explanations for bone breakage,” said Donald Johanson at Arizona State University, who discovered Lucy more than 40 years ago in the Afar region of Ethiopia. “The suggestion that she fell out of a tree is largely a “just-so story” that is neither verifiable nor falsifiable, and therefore unprovable.” Tim White, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California in Berkeley, said the cracks were no more than routine fossil damage. “If paleontologists were to apply the same logic and assertion to the many mammals whose fossilised bones have been distorted by geological forces, we would have everything from gazelles to hippos, rhinos, and elephants climbing and falling from high trees,” he said. Lucy was discovered in 1974 when Johanson and his student, Tom Gray, were searching for ancient animal bones on the parched terrain near the village of Hadar in northern Ethiopia. The chance finding of a piece of arm bone led them to uncover more remains of an ape-like animal. Eventually, they gathered about 40% of the skeleton. That evening as the team celebrated at camp the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds came on providing the scientists with a name for their discovery. The species, Australopithecus afarensis, meaning “southern Ape from Afar”, walked upright, but had long, strong arms and curved fingers, making Lucy more adept at life in the trees than modern humans. Kappelman became intrigued by some of the cracks in Lucy’s bones after examining high resolution x-ray scans of the fossils. The cracks had been described before and put down to natural processes such as erosion and fossilisation. But Kappelman thought there might be another explanation. Working with Stephen Pearce, an orthopaedic surgeon, the scientists identified cracks in more than a dozen bones, ranging from the skull and spine to the ankles, shins, knees and pelvis, which look like compressive fractures sustained in a fall. One injury to the right shoulder matches the kind of fracture seen when people instinctively put their arms out to save themselves, the scientists believe. Kappelman calls it “a unique signature” for a fall and evidence that the individual was conscious at the time. From the scientists’ calculations, Lucy, who weighed less than 30kg, could have suffered similar injuries in a fall from about 15 metres. If Australopithecus afarensis climbed trees to nest, the animals could have spent hours a day at this or even greater heights. “We know that chimps fall out of trees and often it’s because they step on a branch that turns out to be rotten, and boom, down they come,” said Kappelman. “Based on clinical literature these are severe trauma events. We have not been able to come up with a reasonable way that these could be fractured postmortem with the bones lying on the surface or even if the dead body was being trampled on. If somebody is trampled on the bone breaks in a different way. It doesn’t break compressively,” said Kappelman. But Johanson is not impressed. The cracks on Lucy’s bones are similar to the damage seen on other early human and ancient mammal fossils throughout Africa and the rest of the world, he said. “We don’t know how long the fossilisation process takes, but the enormous set of forces placed on the bones during the build up of sediments covering the bones is a significant factor in promoting damage and breakage,” he added. One of White’s major complaints is that the scientists fail to prove beyond doubt that the cracks in Lucy’s bones occurred around the time of death. “Such defects created by natural geological forces of sediment pressure and mineral growth are very common in fossil assemblages. They often confuse clinicians and amateurs who imagine them to have happened around the time of death,” White said. “Every single element of the Lucy fossil has cracks. The authors cherry pick the ones that they imagine to be evidence of a fall from a tree, leaving the others unexplained and unexamined.” Kappelman concedes that we can never know for sure what happened. “None of us were there. We didn’t see Lucy die,” he said. “Thinking about testing this idea, it’s hard to get someone to fall out of a tree, but we have tests going on every single day in every emergency room on planet Earth when people walk in with fractures from falls,” he said. In pondering Lucy’s death, she came back to life, Kappelman added. For the first time she became a living, breathing individual, because I could understand what I propose to be her death. We have all fallen down. For an instant in time you can identify with her and imagine exactly what this individual, who lived over 3m years ago, was doing at that instant.”[SEP]Her last living act is a familiar one: She reaches out with her hands to break her fall before hitting the unforgiving earth. Bones shattered, she dies alone. Some researchers say they now know how Lucy died: by falling out of a tree. But other scientists say the story is nothing but a tall tale. Lucy's skeleton has been studied at length since she was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. As one of the oldest and most complete hominid fossils ever found, Lucy's skeleton provides quite a bit of information on how she lived. She walked upright, showing an intriguing mix of modern and ancestral skeletal traits that would have made her bipedal while other primates swung from the trees. We know that she was a fully mature adult when she died, although she was no bigger than a 4- or 5-year-old of our own species. She was very likely a vegetarian. But in a study published Monday in Nature Communications, researchers did something new - they tried to puzzle out how she died. The research comes out of a marathon of X-ray scanning. Lucy's skeleton is usually kept in Ethiopia, but during a 2008 United States museum tour, researchers at the University of Texas were able to borrow her for 10 days. They used the opportunity to scan her with the Jackson School of Geosciences' High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT) - a machine designed to scan through materials as solid as a rock (as old as it is, Lucy's skeleton is totally mineralized) and at a higher resolution than medical scans. "We scanned nonstop, 24/7, for 10 days," lead author John Kappelman, a University of Texas at Austin anthropology and geological sciences professor, told The Washington Post. "We were exhausted. I was happy to see her come, but I was happy to see her go." When bones sit around for upward of 3 million years, they tend to break. A lot. But in studying Lucy's remains in new detail, Kappelman and his colleagues thought they saw evidence of breaks that had occurred before death. They believed they could see compression fractures -- caused when force presses bones against one another so hard they break - and greenstick fractures, where the bone partially bends and partially breaks (much as a fresh, living twig will splinter and twist instead of snapping in two). The former is usually a sign of a traumatic impact, not the wear and tear of life as a fossil, and the latter only occurs on fresh, living bone. To Kappelman, this was a clear sign that the traumatic fractures occurred during Lucy's life. And when he went looking for possible causes of these fractures in the medical literature, he found what many orthopedic surgeons have told him is a perfect match: The injury to her shoulder looked just like a four-part proximal humerus fracture. When people fall and put their arms out to break the impact, force is transmitted along the long axis of the arm, compressing the components of the shoulder against one another. If that force is high enough, the head of the shoulder blade acts as an anvil, shattering and compressing the components of the proximal humerus, or top of the upper arm bone. "Orthopedic surgeons see these breaks day in and day out all over the planet," Kappelman said. He's had something like 10 specialists take a look at Lucy's big break. "To the person, it's not like, 'Oh, you know, there's a chance.' They say, 'This is what it is; we see it in our practice all the time.' We have been able to demonstrate that these are matches to what is widely seen in the literature in patients recovering from a fall," he said. Once his team went looking for fractures in Lucy's skeleton that could have resulted from a devastating fall, they found loads: An ankle fracture known as a pilon, usually caused by falls or motor vehicle accidents; high-energy traumatic fractures to both knees; signs that bones in her legs dislocated and rammed up into the joints above them; a fracture to the first rib, which is well protected by the collar bone and usually not broken except in cases of traumatic impact. But other paleontologists aren't so sure. "I've worked in Eastern Africa at these sites for many years, and there's hardly a fossil out there that doesn't have damage like Lucy has," said William Kimbel, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. Kimbel, who wasn't involved in the new study, doesn't agree that the fractures on Lucy's bones are greenstick - and without this distinction, he doesn't think the paper does a sufficient job of proving they came from an injury before death. "If you roam the area, you'll see this type of damage on all types of bones from all kinds of sources, from hares to hippos," he scoffed. Kimbel's ASU colleague Donald Johanson -- a member of the team that discovered Lucy - agreed. "The only green fracture I see on the skeleton is a small indented pit on Lucy's pelvis in the pubic region," he said - a fracture already identified as a possible sign that a carnivore took a swipe at Lucy, perhaps just after she died (as there is no other evidence that she was attacked). As the University of Texas study hinges on the idea that these fractures are clearly signs of trauma - something Kimbel and Johanson vehemently disagree with, and that can't really be proven - they point out that the "research" that follows is just a story. The research team's conclusion that Lucy likely fell from a tree, specifically - a conclusion they came to by estimating the force of a fall from the heights at which chimpanzees and other primates typically nest in trees - only makes the study harder to swallow for some paleontologists. It is, once again, impossible to prove or disprove. And Lucy's relationship with trees is somewhat controversial. "From the waist down, Lucy's bones are clearly adapted to a terrestrial, bipedal walking. But from the waist up, Lucy has an upper body that looks like that of any tree-climbing ape," said Dartmouth anthropologist Nathaniel J. Dominy, who wasn't involved in the new study. "Everyone agrees that Lucy walked upright, but did she climb trees occasionally or never at all?" This debate was once so acrimonious, Dominy explained, that researchers used to have to pick sides and stick to them. Dominy (and many other paleontologists) now take the moderate view: Of course Lucy could climb trees, just as humans can climb them today. And if she had that skill, as a tiny herbivore living in a world of big predators, she no doubt would have hoisted herself up into the trees once or twice for protection or to find food. But we have no way of knowing whether she and her ilk regularly climbed to great heights. "The a priori assumption that Lucy spent much time in the trees is not supported," Johanson said.[SEP]It’s the coldest case in science, and it may have just been cracked. Forty years after researchers discovered Lucy, an early human ancestor who lived 3.2 million years ago, scientists think they now know how she died. After examining high-resolution CT scans of broken bones in Lucy’s right shoulder, as well as the damage to other parts of her skeleton, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin propose that the small hominid’s life ended shortly after a catastrophic fall from a great height — probably from a tree. “What we see is a pattern of fractures that are well documented in cases of people who have suffered a severe fall,” said John Kappelman, a UT professor of anthropology and geological sciences. “This wouldn’t happen if you just fell over.” In a paper published Monday in Nature, Kappelman and his colleagues suggest that Lucy tumbled out of a tree, landed hard on her feet and then pitched forward, extending her arms straight out in front of her in a desperate attempt to break her fall. The force of the impact of her hands hitting the ground is likely responsible for the debilitating compression fracture in her shoulder, the authors write. But the fall also caused several bones in her body to break and probably lead to severe organ damage. Death would have followed swiftly. If their hypothesis is correct, Lucy was likely conscious in the last few moments before she died. “She did exactly what we would do,” Kappelman said. “She was trying to save her life.” Lucy was discovered in 1974 by paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson in the Hadar area of central Ethiopia. Johanson and his colleagues named the fossil after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" because it was playing over and over again at their camp the night she was found. Part of what made the Lucy find so important was her unusual mix of features. She had relatively short legs and long arms like a chimpanzee, but her wide pelvis indicated that she walked upright. This combination of traits suggests her species, Australopithecus afarensis, may have been a link between modern humans and our tree-living ancestors. Lucy was much smaller than modern humans. Although she was probably a full grown adult at the time of her death, she stood just 3 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed about 60 pounds — about the size of a first-grader. Her fossilized remains have been studied by dozens of scientists, but this is the first study to hypothesize how she met her end. Kappelman said that’s because for the most part, ancient bones do not reveal how an animal died. “Despite what you see on shows like ‘CSI,’ skeletons only rarely preserve evidence of death,” he said. “If we didn’t see those arms sticking out, the argument we make might not be so powerful.” Kappelman’s research into Lucy’s demise began in 2008, when the Ethiopian government granted him 10 days to scan the preserved parts of her skeleton at the high-resolution CT lab at the University of Texas. Previous attempts to peer into the interior of Lucy’s bones in the late 1970s had failed because CT scanners at that time were not powerful enough. “Lucy is a fully mineralized fossil, so she’s like a rock, and the problem with lower energy CT is that they can’t see through rock” Kappelman said. “Up until 2008, we had had no data at all on the internal structure of her bones. She was radiographically opaque.” It was while he was scanning her right humerus, the upper arm bone, that Kappelman realized the fractures on the end of the bone closest to the shoulder were unlike anything he’d seen in other fossils. Ancient fossils often break apart due to geological forces. For example, breaks could be caused by the tremendous pressure of rock that can build up on fossils over time. They can also fracture when shifts in the Earth’s crust tear them apart. But Kappelman thought the fissures in Lucy’s bones might have a different origin. Perhaps they they were due to an injury instead. To check his hunch, he called Dr. Stephen Pearce, a friend of a friend and an orthopedic surgeon at the Austin Bone and Joint Clinic. Pearce agreed to take a look at a cast of Lucy’s right humerus bone in his medical office. “It looked very distinctly like a proximal fracture we see pretty routinely as orthopedists, usually because of a fall off a ladder or scaffolding, or a car crash,” Pearce said. “I’m not an anthropologist, but it certainly looked like the fracture pattern you would see if she fell out of a tree.” Over time, Kappelman showed his cast of the humerus to eight different orthopedic surgeons. All of them said it looked like a four-part proximal humerus fracture that occurs when a person puts out their hands to break a fall. “It wasn’t like they were saying, ‘It might be this or it could be something else,’” Kappelman said. “It was not even a question from their perspective.” But how could the researchers know that the event that caused the bone fractures also caused her death? Kappelman and his co-authors argue that the fall could not have occurred much before Lucy died because the bone breaks were clean and showed no sign of healing. They also say the injury could not have happened long after death because tiny slivers of bone that broke off in the impact remained in their post-injury position rather than scattering all over the ground. This could only happen if the fibrous tissue that forms a type of skin around the bone had not yet decayed, the authors said. “Kappelman’s point is that these slivers of bone can only be accounted for if the fibrous tissue was still there, holding everything in place,” said Jack Stern, an anatomist and professor emeritus at Stony Brook University in New York who was not involved in the work. “That argument impressed me.”[SEP](CNN) When Lucy, the world's most well-known fossil, was discovered sticking out of a shallow Ethiopian stream bed in 1974, she provided new insight about life for early human ancestors 3.18 million years ago. The image of her skeleton -- which is estimated to be 40% complete and considered the best representation of her species, Australopithecus afarensis -- became iconic. But how did she come to rest in that shallow stream? Lucy just might be considered one of the world's oldest cold cases. Forty-two years after the discovery, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin now believe that she was found in proximity to where she died. "When we think about any of the fossils that we work on, we know in every instance that that came from an individual who was born, they grew up, and then they died," said John W. Kappelman, a professor of anthropology and lead author of a new study on Lucy. "But it's rarely the case that the skeleton actually preserves evidence of how an individual died. What we're proposing here is the first hypothesis that's out there, and we've had her for 42 years now, about how she died. I am not aware that anyone else has ever [done that]." The original fossil and CT scans of fractures to her skeleton paint a more vivid portrait of what happened in Lucy's final moments, and although it was probably swift, it wasn't without pain. The new study that proposes the hypothesis reads like a coroner's report, making Lucy's stone-like bones seem more lifelike than ever. Lucy was small, about 3½ feet tall and 60 pounds. Analysis of her skeleton and teeth shows she had reached maturity, but not unlike chimpanzees, her species matured young. Kappelman estimates she was 15 or 16 years old. Given her size, predators such as hyenas, jackals and saber-toothed cats would have posed a threat to Lucy. So Lucy most likely turned to the trees, Kappelman said. It's possible she scaled them only from time to time for safety or that she nested in them every night. Based on data on the nesting habits of chimps, an average of 46 feet above the ground makes them feel safe. She stood up straight, with feet, knees and hips that are similar to ours. If you saw her walking from afar, you would think Lucy was human by her silhouette. But up close, she had a small head, a brain comparable in size to a chimpanzee's, longer arms and hair covering her body. Bridging the gap between humans and chimps, Lucy had slightly curved fingers and toes, with mobile ankles and shoulders that provided more overhead range of movement. Even with those abilities, she would have been better at walking than climbing. Perhaps Lucy was spooked by a predator, or perhaps she was asleep or settling in for the night. Maybe she spied some fruit and wanted to forage. Either way, this is what Kappelman believes happened next. From 46 feet in the air, Lucy fell out of her tree, fully conscious. She fell toward the ground rapidly at 35 mph and hit feet-first, sending an impact punching through her body that created fractures in her ankles, knees, hip and shoulder. Internal organs were probably punctured by this "hydraulic ram effect." Lucy pitched forward and instinctively put out her arms to break the fall, creating fractures in the bone there as well. It would probably be her final conscious act. She twisted to her right, landing primarily on that side. That twist fractured her neck and tilted her head. Unconscious, broken and bleeding, she lay on the stream bed. If there was water present at the time, it gently moved the body a short distance along, naturally carrying her to a final resting place since members of her own species didn't. Lucy's skeleton is represented by elements of her skull, upper limb, hand, axial skeleton, pelvis, lower limb and foot. Previously, researchers believed any damage or fractures within her bones simply happened over time as she became fossilized. The discovery of Lucy's skeleton has often been heralded as something of a miracle because as Kappelman points out, the geologic record isn't kind to bones over the years and it's difficult for them to last long enough to reach us. But not all the fractures happened after death, Kappelman said. Using their High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility, the researchers scanned her entire skeleton to look deeper within the bone. Previous CT scans were more medical, with less resolution, and weren't able to penetrate the rocky nature of the skeleton. There are clean breaks, and there are also intact tiny bone slivers. Had those occurred once the bone was dry and exposed to the elements, they would have broken off and dispersed. Lucy's humerus fractures also bear the unique signature that orthopedic surgeons associate with falling injuries in the elderly or those who fall from great heights. In both cases, the patients instinctively stretch out their arms to break the fall. Kappelman consulted with nine orthopedic surgeons, and they all agreed on the fracture signature. Overall, the fractures and bone-to-bone impact associated with her death prove to be severe, and Lucy had to have fallen from a great height to receive such trauma. This also indicates that while Lucy had the ability to reach great heights, she may not have been an adept climber simply due to her features. "The point we argue is that it may well be the evolution of these traits for bipedalism [walking upright] that compromised her ability to climb as safely and efficiently in the trees, and that may have meant that her species was more subject to a higher frequency of falls," Kappelman said. Researchers have found other fossils of her species with similar fractures, suggesting more falls. As a professor of anthropology, Kappelman also received training in human anatomy and went through medical and surgical rounds. He and his team regarded falling as one hypothesis and researched other causes, such as a seizure, a flood, a lightning strike or even a violent animal. But none of these matched as well with the fractures. "We've done what we thought we could do in evaluating alternative hypotheses," he said. "This is most consistent and common with the impact from a fall. This hypothesis is more or less being tested every day in thousands of ERs everywhere when people have these injuries." After 30 years of working with fossils, Kappelman was eager to scan Lucy's iconic bones, but he wasn't prepared for how he would feel after discerning her cause of death when he looked over her skeleton laid out on his desk. Falling is easy to imagine for anyone, and he could picture the progression of her injuries as she plummeted to her death and lay at the bottom of the tree. "It really hit me for the first time," he said. "Here she was in her death, reaching her arms out to try instinctively just to break her fall. It was at that moment that these broken bits of bone that I've taught for 30 years became a living individual. And it gave me this feeling of empathy, because I could identify with this. "It's like putting yourself there at someone's death and being able to picture that, almost as if understanding that drops us into a time machine and we fly back through 3 million years so we're there observing how this little individual died. It was in understanding her death that she became alive for me."[SEP]She is the longest-lived and best known example of one of our early human ancestors. Now, the story of how the 3.18-million-year-old hominin 'Lucy' met her painful death is being unraveled by scientists. By looking at fractures on Lucy's skeleton, researchers have solved prehistory's 'coldest case'. They claim she died after falling out of a tree, offering unusual evidence for tree dwelling in the extinct species known as Australopithecus afarensis. Since her discovery in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 1974, Lucy — a terrestrial biped — has been at the center of a debate about whether this ancient species also spent time in the trees. 'It is ironic that the fossil at the center of a debate about the role of arborealism in human evolution likely died from injuries suffered from a fall out of a tree,' said lead author John Kappelman, a University of Texas professor in anthropology. Kappelman first studied Lucy during her US museum tour in 2008, when the fossil detoured to the High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (UTCT). The facility has a machine designed to scan through materials as solid as a rock and at a higher resolution than medical CT. For 10 days, Kappelman and geological sciences professor Richard Ketcham scanned all of her 40-percent-complete skeleton to create a digital archive of more than 35,000 CT slices. 'Lucy is precious. There's only one Lucy, and you want to study her as much as possible,' Ketcham said. 'CT is nondestructive. So you can see what is inside, the internal details and arrangement of the internal bones.' Studying Lucy and her scans, Kappelman noticed something unusual; the end of the right humerus was fractured in a manner not normally seen in fossils, preserving a series of sharp, clean breaks with tiny bone fragments and slivers still in place. 'This compressive fracture results when the hand hits the ground during a fall, impacting the elements of the shoulder against one another to create a unique signature on the humerus,' said Kappelman. He then consulted Dr Stephen Pearce, an orthopedic surgeon at Austin Bone and Joint Clinic, using a modern human-scale, 3D printed model of Lucy. Pearce confirmed that the injury was consistent with fracture caused by a fall from considerable height when the conscious victim stretched out an arm in an attempt to break the fall. Kappelman also saw similar, less severe, fractures at the left shoulder and other compressive fractures throughout Lucy's skeleton. Overall, Lucy suffered a broken ankle, arm, knee, pelvis and at least one fractured rib - suggesting she must have suffered severe internal organ damage. These included a pilon fracture of the right ankle, a fractured left knee and pelvis. The team also found even more subtle evidence such as a fractured first rib — 'a hallmark of severe trauma' — all consistent with fractures caused by a fall. Without any evidence of healing, Kappelman said the breaks occurred near the time of death. The question remained: How could Lucy have achieved the height necessary to produce such a high velocity fall and forceful impact? Kappelman claims that because of her small size — about 3 feet 6 inches and 60 pounds — Lucy probably foraged and sought nightly refuge in trees. In comparing her with chimpanzees, Kappelman argues Lucy probably fell from a height of more than 40 feet, hitting the ground at more than 35 miles per hour. Based on the pattern of breaks, Kappelman suggests that she landed feet-first before bracing herself with her arms when falling forward, and 'death followed swiftly.' 'When the extent of Lucy's multiple injuries first came into focus, her image popped into my mind's eye, and I felt a jump of empathy across time and space,' Kappelman said. 'Lucy was no longer simply a box of bones but in death became a real individual: a small, broken body lying helpless at the bottom of a tree.' It follows that Lucy must have climbed trees, the team said, possibly seeking refuge in the forest canopy at night. But this versatility may also have precipitated her demise. Physical features adapted for walking upright 'may have compromised her ability to climb trees, predisposing her species to more frequent falls,' said the researchers. Using fracture patterns when present, future research may tell a more complete story of how ancient species lived and died. The Ethiopian National Museum has provided access to a set of 3D files of Lucy's shoulder and knee for the public to download and print so that they can evaluate the hypothesis for themselves. 'This is the first time 3D files have been released for any Ethiopian fossil hominin, and the Ethiopian officials are to be commended,' Kappelman said. 'Lucy is leading the charge for the open sharing of digital data.'[SEP]The blog site "Rest-of-Texas-sucks. Com," an Austin based site, sneeringly refers to the remainder of Texas outside Austin as "A land of big oil, big business, big cars, big men with big mouths, big guns, big bigoted morons, and big-haired women who love stupid men." Perhaps that's an exaggeration but Texas is big in many areas: it is the #1 state in lots of ways: Texans have the lowest percent of their population (25 and older) with a high school diploma coming in at 50th in the nation. That's being #1 in the great big Lone Star state! Texas leads America in the percentage of children who are uninsured (1st) which is in keeping with the percentage of the total population without basic healthcare insurance (also at the top of the nation's list). #1, again! Not to be forgotten is that Texas executes more people yearly than any other state,#1! Texas is #1 in another area: it leads the nation in carbon dioxide emissions, toxic chemicals released into the water, cancer-causing carcinogens released into the air, and hazardous waste production. Arguably Texas is #1 in assaults on women's reproductive rights. Since July 2013, about half of the state's 42 abortion clinics have closed do to restrictive laws in a hugely populated state. No one knows how many back alley abortions the laws have caused. The state is brimming with guns. People are allowed to carry concealed weapons into mental hospitals - that's what the concealed carry law permits. A concealed "campus carry" law means it is fine to bring a Glock into a public university's dorm room - but not a waffle-maker! For several years it's been permissible to open carry assault weapons into places like Starbucks. Too, a law has been passed recently allowing another open carry -- of alcohol at Texas gun shows! Turning to Austin, symbolic of the city is its favorite bumper sticker, " "Keep Austin Weird." It really isn't the hippie haven, reefer smoking capitol of the world its critics claim, but it is quite different from the rest of the state. Its liberal politicians make even Portland Oregon seem conservative. One lover of the city writes, "If you took the best qualities of Palo Alto and Berkeley and put them together you'd have Austin, business friendly, innovative, successful, but laid back and without the high prices of the bay area. It's a place where hippies and techies happily live and play side by side." It is understandable why Austin has gathered signatures from over 70% of voters in a local referendum to ask city government to secede from Texas and join California, the most progressive state in the union. At first blush, the idea to secede seems ridiculous. The U.S. Constitution, Art. IV, sec. 3 clearly forbids the creating a new state in the territory of an existing one without the latter's consent, and the consent of Congress. But the provision does not govern the transfer of territory from one state to another, which seems to be constitutional. Too, There is no requirement that states be continuous, as Michigan's northern peninsula demonstrates. Governor Jerry Brown of California said he would put a proposition on the ballot to see if its citizens wanted to annex Austin to California. Brown favors such a move. At a press conference yesterday he pointed out that the economy of Austin has been rated #1 in economic growth in American cities that it has been called the "Capitol Of live Music," a sign that it is culturally advanced, and has one of the best universities in the U.S. "And Just last year, over 25,000 people moved to Austin, bringing its total population to just below a million. Austin would be a great addition to our state," said California's liberal Governor. "If a million people in Austin want to dissociate themselves from the rest of Texas, which has the most disgusting collection of Neanderthals in America, they should be welcomed by Californians," said Jerry Brown.

Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin postulate that the hominin fossil Lucy (Dinkinesh) died due to a fall from a tree. Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, who is credited with discovering and naming Lucy, disagrees.

IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves, AP finds HARDAN, Iraq (AP) — Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours, listening to the men in his family die. On the other side of the mountain, another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring villages were shot and then buried by a waiting bulldozer. For six days he watched as the extremists filled one grave after another with his friends and relatives. Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria. This image released by the the Mass Graves Directorate of the Kurdish Regional Government shows a human skull in a mass grave containing Yazidis killed by Islamic State militants in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in May, 2015. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (Kurdish Mass Graves Directorate via AP) In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group's onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man's land that has yet to be secured. The bodies of Talal Murat's father, uncles and cousins lie beneath the rubble of the family farm, awaiting a time when it is safe for surviving relatives to return to the place where the men were gunned down. On Sinjar's other flank, Rasho Qassim drives daily past the graves holding the bodies of his two sons. The road is in territory long since seized back, but the five sites are untouched, roped off and awaiting the money or the political will for excavation, as the evidence they contain is scoured away by the wind and baked by the sun. "We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But they said 'No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them later,'" said Qassim, standing at the edge of the flimsy fence surrounding one site, where his two sons are buried. "It has been two years but nobody has come." IS made no attempt to hide its atrocities. In fact it boasted of them. But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an ongoing genocide — and prosecuting those behind it — will be complicated as the graves deteriorate. "We see clear evidence of the intent to destroy the Yazidi people," said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited the region for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. "There's been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence, and to ensure that mass graves are identified and protected." Following the release of the AP research, the State Department noted that it is providing assistance to Iraqi authorities for the investigation of mass graves. "Sadly, we anticipate that additional mass graves will be discovered as additional lands are liberated from Da'esh," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. Then there are the graves still out of reach. The Islamic State group's atrocities extend well outside the Yazidi region in northern Iraq. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 male inmates dead. A patch of scraped earth and tire tracks show the likely killing site, according to exclusive photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis. Of the 72 mass graves documented by AP, the smallest contains three bodies; the largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure. ___ ALL THEY COULD DO WAS WATCH THE SLAUGHTER On the northern flank of Sinjar mountain, five grave sites ring a desert crossroads. It is here that the young men of Hardan village are buried, under thistles and piles of cracked earth. They were killed in the bloody IS offensive of August 2014. Through his binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His village, Gurmiz, is just up the slope from Hardan, giving a clear view over the plain below. When the jihadis swept over the area, everyone in Gurmiz fled up the mountaintop for refuge. Then Arkan and nine other men returned to their village with light weapons to try to defend their homes. Instead, all they could do was watch the slaughter below. Arkan witnessed the militants set up checkpoints, preventing residents from leaving. Women and children were taken away. Then the killings began. The first night, Arkan saw the militants line up a group of handcuffed men in the headlights of a bulldozer at an intersection, less than a kilometer (half mile) down the slope from Gurmiz. They gunned the men down, then the bulldozer plowed the earth over their bodies. Over six days, Arkan and his comrades watched helplessly as the fighters brought out three more groups of men — several dozen each, usually with hands bound — to the crossroads and killed them. He didn't always see what they did with the bodies. One time, he saw them lighting a bonfire, but he couldn't see why. Finally, the jihadis brought in artillery and prepared to make an assault on Gurmiz. Arkan and his comrades fled up the mountain to where their families had taken refuge. Now, since IS fighters were driven out of the area, the 32-year-old has returned to his home. But he's haunted by the site. As documented by the aid group Yazda, which has mapped the Sinjar sites, the graves are in a rough pentagon flanking the crossroads, largely unprotected. Around one of them is a mesh fence and a wind-battered sign. As Arkan spoke at the site, a shepherd herded his flock nearby. "I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors," he said. "It's very difficult to look at them every day." ___ "THIS BODY IS WEARING MY FATHER'S CLOTHES" As IS fighters swarmed into the Sinjar area in early August 2014, Talal fled his town along with his father, mother, four sisters and younger brother. They and dozens of other men, women and children from his extended clan converged on an uncle's farm outside the town of Tel Azer. They prayed it was remote enough to escape the killings that were already engulfing so many Yazidis. It wasn't. The jihadis fired at the house from a distance. Then they rolled up in their vehicles and shot one man in the head as they stood in the yard. They surrounded the farmhouse, ordered everyone outside and demanded the impossible: Convert. The Yazidi faith, one of the region's oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as "devil worshippers" and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres — 72, by the Yazidis' count. In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim. Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door. Then they lined the men and teenaged boys against the wall of the stables — around 40 in all, including Talal. There were too many of them, too bunched up, to efficiently mow down, so the fighters then ordered them to lie on the ground in a row, Talal said. That was when his uncle told him to make a run for it. Talal bolted into his uncle's hayfield, as did several other men. The militants fired at them, and the bullets ignited the hay, dry from the summer sun. The fire covered Talal's escape, and he took shelter in a nearby creek. There he hid, listening as the gunmen shot his family to death. He eventually fled toward the mountain, joined by three others who had survived the massacre. Four out of 40. Back at the farm, the gunmen eventually left and the women and children emerged, looking around with growing horror. Nouri Murat, Talal's mother, found her husband. His body was untouched, but his head was shattered. Her daughters, she said, were confused at first. "This is strange, this body is wearing my father's clothes," one of them said. As Nouri frantically searched around the property for any surviving menfolk, her 9-year-old daughter Rukhan lay down beside her father's corpse. Finally, other women persuaded the family to head to the mountain before the Islamic State fighters returned. As they began the long walk north, Nouri noticed Rukhan's bloody fist. Fearing her daughter was wounded, she pried open the girl's clenched fingers. Inside were a handful of her father's teeth. ___ "THEY DON'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE THEIR CRIMES" Nearly every area freed from IS control has unmasked new mass graves, like one found by the sports stadium in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Many of the graves themselves are easy enough to find, most covered with just a thin coating of earth. "They don't even try to hide their crimes," said Sirwan Jalal, the director of Iraqi Kurdistan's agency in charge of mass graves. "They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don't even try to hide it." No one outside IS has seen the Iraqi ravine where hundreds of Shiite prison inmates were killed point blank and then torched. Satellite images of scraped dirt along the river point to its location, according to Steve Wood of AllSource. His analysts triangulated survivors' accounts and began to systematically search the desert according to their descriptions of that day, June 10, 2014. The inmates were separated out by religion, and Shiites were loaded onto trucks, driven for a few kilometers (miles) and forced to line up and count off, according to accounts by 15 survivors gathered by Human Rights Watch. Then they knelt along the edge of the crescent-shaped ravine, according to a report cited by AllSource. "I was number 43. I heard them say '615,' and then one ISIS guy said, 'We're going to eat well tonight.' A man behind us asked, 'Are you ready?' Another person answered 'Yes,' and began shooting at us with a machine-gun. Then they all started to shoot us from behind, going down the row," according to the Human Rights Watch account of a survivor identified only as A.S. The men survived by pretending to be dead. Using their accounts and others, AllSource examined an image from July 17, 2014, that appeared to show the location as described, between a main road and the railway outside Mosul. The bodies are believed to be packed tightly together, side by side in a space approximately the length of two football fields end to end, in what the AllSource analysis described as a "sardine trench." Tire tracks lead to and from the site. "There's actually earth that has been pushed over and actually moved to cover parts of the ravine. As we look across the entire ravine we only see that in this one location," said Wood. "Ultimately there are many, many more sites across Iraq and Syria that have yet to be either forensically exhumed or be able to be detailed and there's quite a bit more research that needs to take place." The key, Wood said, is having photos to indicate a grave's location taken soon after its creation. Justice has been done in at least one IS mass killing — that of about 1,700 Iraqi soldiers who were forced to lie face-down in a ditch and then machine-gunned at Camp Speicher. On Aug. 21, 36 men convicted in those killings were hanged at Iraq's Nasiriyah prison. But justice is likely to be elusive in areas still firmly under IS control, even though the extremists have filmed themselves committing the atrocities. That's the case for a deep natural sinkhole outside Mosul that is now a pit of corpses. In Syria's Raqqa province, thousands of bodies are believed to have been thrown into the giant al-Houta crevasse. Conditions in much of Syria remain a mystery. Activists believe there are hundreds of mass graves in IS-controlled areas that can only be explored when fighting stops. By that time, they fear any effort to document the massacres, exhume and identify the remains will become infinitely more complicated. Working behind IS lines, local residents have informally documented some mass graves, even partially digging some up. Some of the worst have been found in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. There, 400 members of the Shueitat tribe were found in one grave, just some of the up to 1,000 members of the tribe believed to have been massacred by IS when the militants took over the area, said Ziad Awad, the editor of an online publication on Deir el-Zour called The Eye of the City who is trying to document the graves. In Raqqa province, the bodies of 160 Syrian soldiers, killed when IS overran their base, were found in seven large pits. So far, at least 17 mass graves are known, though largely unreachable, in a list put together from AP interviews with activists from Syrian provinces still under IS rule as well as fighters and residents in former IS strongholds. "This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria," said Awad. ___ Butler reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Balint Szlanko and Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq; Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad; Zeina Karam and Philip Issa in Beirut, and Maya Alleruzzo in Cairo contributed to this story. ___ Read previous stories in AP's occasional series "Islamic State: A Savage Legacy" at www.ap.org/explore/a-savage-legacy/ FILE - In this April 3, 2015, file photo, an Iraqi man prays for his slain relative at the site of a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed by Islamic State group militants when they overran Camp Speicher military base in Tikrit, Iraq, in June 2014. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File) In this Wednesday, May 18, 2016 photo, a relative shows a phone picture of Murat Mahmoud during an interview with the Associated Press at Kankhe Camp for the internally displaced in Dahuk, northern Iraq. Murat was killed on Aug. 3, 2014 by Islamic State militants in a massacre of Yazidis and his body is among 40 believed in a mass grave at a farm on Sinjar Mountain. His daughter is still held by the militants. An analysis by The AP has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) FILE - In this June 8, 2016 file photo, Sgt. Ahmed Abdelaziz of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces shows an Islamic State video of his brother's death at the hands of the IS at a battle position on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq. Saad Abdelaziz was killed in June 2014 at Camp Speicher when the militants overran his base. More than 1,000 of Saad's comrades killed in the massacre ended up in a mass grave nearby. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File) This image posted online by Islamic State militants on June 14, 2014 shows Iraqi cadets captured by IS moments before they were killed in Tikrit, Iraq. Their bodies are believed to be in one of the many mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 such graves in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (Militant photo via AP) In this May 17, 2016 photo, Sirwan Jalal, Director of Mass Graves for the Kurdish Regional Government, points to an image of the site of a mass grave during an interview with the Associated Press in Irbil, northern Iraq. An analysis by The AP has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) In this May 19, 2016 photo, the site where dozens of Yazidi men were killed in August 2014 is fenced off in Hardan, northern Iraq. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2014, file photo, Kurdish Peshmerga forces inspect a site marked in Kurdish with a sign reading, "Kurdish mass grave,¿ in Hardan village in northern Iraq. A handful of Yazidis who fled this tiny northern Iraqi hamlet when Islamic State militants overran it in August 2014 have returned after Kurdish fighters drove out the extremists. (AP Photo/Dalton Bennett, File) In this May 19, 2016 photo, Arkan Qassim, center, stands at the site where he witnessed the killing dozens of Yazidi men including two sons of Rasho Qassim, right, in August 2014 in Hardan, northern Iraq. Both survivors say they simply want the graves exhumed. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) This photo released by the the Mass Graves Directorate of the Kurdish Regional Government shows a skeleton exhumed from a mass grave containing Yazidis killed by Islamic State militants in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (Kurdish Mass Graves Directorate via AP) In this May 19, 2016 photo, Arkan Qassim, center, looks at the site where he witnessed the killing dozens of Yazidi men in August 2014 in Hardan, northern Iraq. Rasho Qassim, right, lost two sons in the massacre. Both survivors say they simply want the graves exhumed. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) FILE - In this April 19, 2016 file photo, an Iraqi security forces forensic team works at the site of a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi civilians, security forces and members of their families, including women and children, killed by Islamic State group militants at the stadium area in Ramadi, Iraq. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. Only a handful have been exhumed. (AP Photo, File) This image released by the the Mass Graves Directorate of the Kurdish Regional Government shows a human jaw bone exhumed from a mass grave containing Yazidis killed by Islamic State militants in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in 2015. An analysis by The Associated Press has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (Kurdish Mass Graves Directorate via AP) In this May 18, 2016 photo, Nouri, right, and her son speak to the Associated Press at Kankhe Camp for the internally displaced in Dahuk, northern Iraq. Her husband, Murat Mahmoud, was killed on Aug. 3, 2014, by Islamic State militants in a massacre of Yazidis. Their bodies are buried in a mass grave at the farm where they died, the family said. An analysis by The AP has found 72 mass graves left behind by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria, and many more are expected to be discovered as the group loses territory. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)[SEP]In exclusive interviews, photos and research, AP has documented and mapped 72 mass graves in Iraq and Syria where the Islamic State (IS) has buried many of its victims and many more are expected to be uncovered as the group’s territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatised survivors, IS propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group’s onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014. Of the 72 mass graves documented by AP, the smallest contains three bodies; the largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure. — AP[SEP]IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves – 5,200 to more than 15,000 people buried HARDAN: Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours, listening to the men in his family die. On the other side of the mountain, another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring villages were shot and then buried by a waiting bulldozer. For six days he watched as the extremists filled one grave after another with his friends and relatives. Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria. In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group’s territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering – from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group’s onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man’s land that has yet to be secured. The bodies of Talal Murat’s father, uncles and cousins lie beneath the rubble of the family farm, awaiting a time when it is safe for surviving relatives to return to the place where the men were gunned down. On Sinjar’s other flank, Rasho Qassim drives daily past the graves holding the bodies of his two sons. The road is in territory long since seized back, but the five sites are untouched, roped off and awaiting the money or the political will for excavation, as the evidence they contain is scoured away by the wind and baked by the sun. “We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But they said ‘No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them later,'” said Qassim, standing at the edge of the flimsy fence surrounding one site, where his two sons are buried. “It has been two years but nobody has come.” IS made no attempt to hide its atrocities. In fact it boasted of them. But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an ongoing genocide – and prosecuting those behind it will be complicated as the graves deteriorate. “We see clear evidence of the intent to destroy the Yazidi people,” said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited the region for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. “There’s been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence, and to ensure that mass graves are identified and protected.” Then there are the graves still out of reach. The Islamic State group’s atrocities extend well outside the Yazidi region in northern Iraq. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 male inmates dead. A patch of scraped earth and tire tracks show the likely killing site, according to exclusive photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis. Of the 72 mass graves documented by AP, the smallest contains three bodies; the largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure. Watch the slaughter On the northern flank of Sinjar mountain, five grave sites ring a desert crossroads. It is here that the young men of Hardan village are buried, under thistles and piles of cracked earth. They were killed in the bloody IS offensive of August 2014. Through his binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His village, Gurmiz, is just up the slope from Hardan, giving a clear view over the plain below. When the jihadis swept over the area, everyone in Gurmiz fled up the mountaintop for refuge. Then Arkan and nine other men returned to their village with light weapons to try to defend their homes. Instead, all they could do was watch the slaughter below. Arkan witnessed the militants set up checkpoints, preventing residents from leaving. Women and children were taken away. Then the killings began. The first night, Arkan saw the militants line up a group of handcuffed men in the headlights of a bulldozer at an intersection, less than a kilometer (half mile) down the slope from Gurmiz. They gunned the men down, then the bulldozer plowed the earth over their bodies. Over six days, Arkan and his comrades watched helplessly as the fighters brought out three more groups of men – several dozen each, usually with hands bound – to the crossroads and killed them. He didn’t always see what they did with the bodies. One time, he saw them lighting a bonfire, but he couldn’t see why. Finally, the jihadis brought in artillery and prepared to make an assault on Gurmiz. Arkan and his comrades fled up the mountain to where their families had taken refuge. Now, since IS fighters were driven out of the area, the 32-year-old has returned to his home. But he’s haunted by the site. As documented by the aid group Yazda, which has mapped the Sinjar sites, the graves are in a rough pentagon flanking the crossroads, largely unprotected. Around one of them is a mesh fence and a wind-battered sign. As Arkan spoke at the site, a shepherd herded his flock nearby. “I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors,” he said. “It’s very difficult to look at them every day.” ‘My father’s clothes’ As IS fighters swarmed into the Sinjar area in early August 2014, Talal fled his town along with his father, mother, four sisters and younger brother. They and dozens of other men, women and children from his extended clan converged on an uncle’s farm outside the town of Tel Azer. They prayed it was remote enough to escape the killings that were already engulfing so many Yazidis. It wasn’t. The jihadis fired at the house from a distance. Then they rolled up in their vehicles and shot one man in the head as they stood in the yard. They surrounded the farmhouse, ordered everyone outside and demanded the impossible: Convert. The Yazidi faith, one of the region’s oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as “devil worshippers” and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres – 72, by the Yazidis’ count. In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim. Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door. Then they lined the men and teenaged boys against the wall of the stables – around 40 in all, including Talal. There were too many of them, too bunched up, to efficiently mow down, so the fighters then ordered them to lie on the ground in a row, Talal said. That was when his uncle told him to make a run for it. Talal bolted into his uncle’s hayfield, as did several other men. The militants fired at them, and the bullets ignited the hay, dry from the summer sun. The fire covered Talal’s escape, and he took shelter in a nearby creek. There he hid, listening as the gunmen shot his family to death. He eventually fled toward the mountain, joined by three others who had survived the massacre. Four out of 40. Back at the farm, the gunmen eventually left and the women and children emerged, looking around with growing horror. Nouri Murat, Talal’s mother, found her husband. His body was untouched, but his head was shattered. Her daughters, she said, were confused at first. “This is strange, this body is wearing my father’s clothes,” one of them said. As Nouri frantically searched around the property for any surviving menfolk, her 9-year-old daughter Rukhan lay down beside her father’s corpse. Finally, other women persuaded the family to head to the mountain before the Islamic State fighters returned. As they began the long walk north, Nouri noticed Rukhan’s bloody fist. Fearing her daughter was wounded, she pried open the girl’s clenched fingers. Inside were a handful of her father’s teeth. They don’t hide their crimes Nearly every area freed from IS control has unmasked new mass graves, like one found by the sports stadium in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Many of the graves themselves are easy enough to find, most covered with just a thin coating of earth. “They don’t even try to hide their crimes,” said Sirwan Jalal, the director of Iraqi Kurdistan’s agency in charge of mass graves. “They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don’t even try to hide it.” No one outside IS has seen the Iraqi ravine where hundreds of Shiite prison inmates were killed point blank and then torched. Satellite images of scraped dirt along the river point to its location, according to Steve Wood of AllSource. His analysts triangulated survivors’ accounts and began to systematically search the desert according to their descriptions of that day, June 10, 2014. The inmates were separated out by religion, and Shiites were loaded onto trucks, driven for a few kilometers and forced to line up and count off, according to accounts by 15 survivors gathered by Human Rights Watch. Then they knelt along the edge of the crescent-shaped ravine, according to a report cited by AllSource. “I was number 43. I heard them say ‘615,’ and then one ISIS guy said, ‘We’re going to eat well tonight.’ A man behind us asked, ‘Are you ready?’ Another person answered ‘Yes,’ and began shooting at us with a machine-gun. Then they all started to shoot us from behind, going down the row,” according to the Human Rights Watch account of a survivor identified only as AS. The men survived by pretending to be dead. Using their accounts and others, AllSource examined an image from July 17, 2014, that appeared to show the location as described, between a main road and the railway outside Mosul. The bodies are believed to be packed tightly together, side by side in a space approximately the length of two football fields end to end, in what the AllSource analysis described as a “sardine trench.” Tire tracks lead to and from the site. “There’s actually earth that has been pushed over and actually moved to cover parts of the ravine. As we look across the entire ravine we only see that in this one location,” said Wood. “Ultimately there are many, many more sites across Iraq and Syria that have yet to be either forensically exhumed or be able to be detailed and there’s quite a bit more research that needs to take place.” The key, Wood said, is having photos to indicate a grave’s location taken soon after its creation. Justice has been done in at least one IS mass killing – that of about 1,700 Iraqi soldiers who were forced to lie face-down in a ditch and then machine-gunned at Camp Speicher. On Aug 21, 36 men convicted in those killings were hanged at Iraq’s Nasiriyah prison. But justice is likely to be elusive in areas still firmly under IS control, even though the extremists have filmed themselves committing the atrocities. That’s the case for a deep natural sinkhole outside Mosul that is now a pit of corpses. In Syria’s Raqqa province, thousands of bodies are believed to have been thrown into the giant Al-Houta crevasse. Conditions in much of Syria remain a mystery. Activists believe there are hundreds of mass graves in IS-controlled areas that can only be explored when fighting stops. By that time, they fear any effort to document the massacres, exhume and identify the remains will become infinitely more complicated. Working behind IS lines, local residents have informally documented some mass graves, even partially digging some up. Some of the worst have been found in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. There, 400 members of the Shueitat tribe were found in one grave, just some of the up to 1,000 members of the tribe believed to have been massacred by IS when the militants took over the area, said Ziad Awad, the editor of an online publication on Deir el-Zour called The Eye of the City who is trying to document the graves. In Raqqa province, the bodies of 160 Syrian soldiers, killed when IS overran their base, were found in seven large pits. So far, at least 17 mass graves are known, though largely unreachable, in a list put together from AP interviews with activists from Syrian provinces still under IS rule as well as fighters and residents in former IS strongholds. “This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria,” said Awad.- AP[SEP]HARDAN, Iraq (AP) - Peering through binoculars, the young man watched as Islamic State terrorists gunned down the handcuffed men and then buried them with a waiting bulldozer. For six days he watched as IS filled one grave after another with his friends and neighbors. The five graves arranged at the foot of Sinjar mountain hold the bodies of dozens of minority Yazidis killed in the Islamic State group’s bloody onslaught in August 2014. They are a fraction of the mass graves Islamic State terrorists have scattered across Iraq and Syria. In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group’s territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS terrorists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 inmates dead. A patch of scraped earth shows the likely site, according to exclusive photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis and shared with AP. On Sinjar Mountain, Rasho Qassim drives daily past the mass grave in Hardan that holds the bodies of his two sons. The sites are roped off and awaiting the money and the political will for excavation. The evidence they contain is scoured by wind and baked by sun. “We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But they said ‘No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them later,'” said Qassim, standing at the flimsy protective fence. IS made no attempt to hide its atrocities. But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an ongoing genocide will be complicated as the graves deteriorate. IS targeted the Yazidis for slaughter because it considers them infidels. The Yazidi faith has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. “There’s been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence,” said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The graves are largely documented by the aid group Yazda. Through binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His village, Gurmiz, overlooks Hardan and the plain below. When the jihadis swept through, everyone in Gurmiz fled up the mountaintop. Then Arkan and nine other men returned with light weapons, hoping to defend their homes. The first night, a bulldozer’s headlights illuminated the killing of a group of handcuffed men. Then the machine plowed over their bodies. Over six days, the fighters killed three more groups — several dozen each, usually with hands bound. Once, the terrorists lit a bonfire, but Arkan couldn’t make out its purpose. Two years later, the 32-year-old has since returned home, living in an area dotted with mass graves. “I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors,” he said. “It’s very difficult to look at them every day.” Nearly every area freed from IS control has unmasked new mass graves, like one found near a stadium in Ramadi. The graves are easy enough to find, most covered with just a thin coating of earth. “They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don’t even try to hide it,” said Sirwan Jalal, the director of Iraqi Kurdistan’s agency in charge of mass graves. No one outside IS has seen the Iraqi ravine where hundreds of prison inmates were killed. Satellite images of scraped dirt along the river point to its location, according to Steve Wood of AllSource. His analysts triangulated survivors’ accounts and began to systematically search the desert according to their descriptions of that day, June 10, 2014. The inmates were separated by religion, and Shiites had to count off, according to accounts by 15 survivors gathered by Human Rights Watch. “I was number 43. I heard them say ‘615,’ and then one ISIS guy said, ‘We’re going to eat well tonight.’ A man behind us asked, ‘Are you ready?’ Another person answered ‘Yes,’ and began shooting at us with a machine-gun,” according to the Human Rights Watch account of a survivor identified only as A.S. The 15 men survived by playing dead. Justice has been done in at least one IS mass killing — that of about 1,700 Iraqi soldiers who were machine-gunned at Camp Speicher. On Aug. 21, 36 IS terrorists were hanged for those deaths. But justice is likely to elude areas still under IS control, even when the terrorists film the atrocities themselves. That’s the case for a natural sinkhole outside Mosul that is now a pit of corpses. And in Syria’s Raqqa province, where thousands of bodies are believed to have been thrown into the al-Houta crevasse. Hundreds of mass graves are believed to be in areas that can only be explored when fighting stops. So far, at least 17 are known, in the list put together from AP interviews with activists, fighters and residents in former IS strongholds. Some of the worst are in Deir el-Zour province. There, 400 members of the Shueitat tribe were found in one grave, just some of the up to 1,000 tribesmen believed to have been massacred by IS, said Ziad Awad, the editor of the local publication, The Eye of the City, who is documenting the graves. “This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria,” said Awad.[SEP]A survey of mass graves has identified 72 sites in which Islamic State buried the victims of its atrocities in Syria and Iraq. Up to 15,000 victims of genocide and mass slaughter may be buried in the sites across territory where the militants formerly held sway, according to a comprehensive assessment by the Associated Press. The figures are based on the documentation and mapping of the 72 mass graves as well as excavations by Iraqi officials, the testimony of survivors, Isis propaganda campaigns and analysis of the ground where the victims were buried. The numbers offer the clearest evidence yet of the scale of Isis’s crimes as it eliminated enemies and minorities in Syria to establish its stronghold in Syria and the violence it wrought as it surged into Iraq in 2014 and conquered the plains of Nineveh, killing and enslaving thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority as well as members of the Shia community. Further mass graves are expected to be uncovered as Isis retreats in the face of a US-led coalition and allied forces on the ground in Iraq and Syria, ceding ground outside of Mosul and Raqqa – the two most populous cities under its control. The study identified 17 mass graves in Syria alone, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe that was largely exterminated when Isis captured the region. Sinjar mountain, Iraq, where the Yazidis took refuge as the militants raided their ancestral home, contains six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people. Some areas where mass graves were uncovered are still too dangerous for a comprehensive excavation that would allow an accurate count of the victims. Isis has often flaunted its mass atrocities, justifying the enslavement and murder of the Yazidis on obtuse religious grounds, and publishing propaganda videos and images of their crimes. Their most infamous large-scale killings were the Camp Speicher massacre in Iraq, when the group murdered more than 1,500 Shia army cadets in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s birthplace, and the August 2014 massacre of more than 700 members of the Shaitat tribe in eastern Syria for their opposition to Isis rule. One site outside the Badoush prison in Iraq is believed to contained the bodies of 600 inmates killed by the militants in their summer 2014 rampage. The Associated Press estimated the number of known victims as between 5,200 and more than 15,000, a figure the agency described as staggering. The largest mass grave is believed to hold thousands of victims.[SEP]Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours, listening to the men in his family die. On the other side of the mountain, another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring villages were shot and then buried by a waiting bulldozer. For six days he watched as the extremists filled one grave after another with his friends and relatives. Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria. In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group's onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man's land that has yet to be secured. The bodies of Talal Murat's father, uncles and cousins lie beneath the rubble of the family farm, awaiting a time when it is safe for surviving relatives to return to the place where the men were gunned down. On Sinjar's other flank, Rasho Qassim drives daily past the graves holding the bodies of his two sons. The road is in territory long since seized back, but the five sites are untouched, roped off and awaiting the money or the political will for excavation, as the evidence they contain is scoured away by the wind and baked by the sun. "We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But they said 'No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them later,'" said Qassim, standing at the edge of the flimsy fence surrounding one site, where his two sons are buried. "It has been two years but nobody has come." IS made no attempt to hide its atrocities. In fact it boasted of them. But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an ongoing genocide — and prosecuting those behind it — will be complicated as the graves deteriorate. "We see clear evidence of the intent to destroy the Yazidi people," said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited the region for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. "There's been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence, and to ensure that mass graves are identified and protected." Then there are the graves still out of reach. The Islamic State group's atrocities extend well outside the Yazidi region in northern Iraq. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 male inmates dead. A patch of scraped earth and tire tracks show the likely killing site, according to exclusive photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis. Of the 72 mass graves documented by AP, the smallest contains three bodies; the largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure. All they could do was watch the slaughter On the northern flank of Sinjar mountain, five grave sites ring a desert crossroads. It is here that the young men of Hardan village are buried, under thistles and piles of cracked earth. They were killed in the bloody IS offensive of August 2014. Through his binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His village, Gurmiz, is just up the slope from Hardan, giving a clear view over the plain below. When the jihadis swept over the area, everyone in Gurmiz fled up the mountaintop for refuge. Then Arkan and nine other men returned to their village with light weapons to try to defend their homes. Instead, all they could do was watch the slaughter below. Arkan witnessed the militants set up checkpoints, preventing residents from leaving. Women and children were taken away. Then the killings began. The first night, Arkan saw the militants line up a group of handcuffed men in the headlights of a bulldozer at an intersection, less than a half mile down the slope from Gurmiz. They gunned the men down, then the bulldozer plowed the earth over their bodies. Over six days, Arkan and his comrades watched helplessly as the fighters brought out three more groups of men — several dozen each, usually with hands bound — to the crossroads and killed them. He didn't always see what they did with the bodies. One time, he saw them lighting a bonfire, but he couldn't see why. Finally, the jihadis brought in artillery and prepared to make an assault on Gurmiz. Arkan and his comrades fled up the mountain to where their families had taken refuge. Now, since IS fighters were driven out of the area, the 32-year-old has returned to his home. But he's haunted by the site. As documented by the aid group Yazda, which has mapped the Sinjar sites, the graves are in a rough pentagon flanking the crossroads, largely unprotected. Around one of them is a mesh fence and a wind-battered sign. As Arkan spoke at the site, a shepherd herded his flock nearby. "I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors," he said. "It's very difficult to look at them every day." 'This body is wearing my father's clothes' As IS fighters swarmed into the Sinjar area in early August 2014, Talal fled his town along with his father, mother, four sisters and younger brother. They and dozens of other men, women and children from his extended clan converged on an uncle's farm outside the town of Tel Azer. They prayed it was remote enough to escape the killings that were already engulfing so many Yazidis. The jihadis fired at the house from a distance. Then they rolled up in their vehicles and shot one man in the head as they stood in the yard. They surrounded the farmhouse, ordered everyone outside and demanded the impossible: Convert.[SEP]HARDAN, Iraq -- Five graves arranged at the foot of Sinjar Mountain hold the bodies of dozens of minority Yazidis killed in the Islamic State group's bloody onslaught in August 2014. They are a fraction of the mass graves the extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria. In interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, the news agency has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when the extremists took over the tribe's region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the ground. Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering -- from 5,200 to more than 15,000. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 inmates dead. A patch of scraped earth shows the likely site, according to photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis and shared with the AP. Of the 72 mass graves documented, the smallest contains three bodies; the largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure. On Sinjar Mountain, Rasho Qassim drives daily past the mass grave in Hardan that holds the bodies of his two sons. The sites are roped off and awaiting the money and the political will for excavation. The evidence they contain is scoured by wind and baked by sun. "We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But they said, 'No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them later,'" said Qassim, standing at the flimsy protective fence. The Islamic State made no attempt to hide its acts. But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an ongoing genocide will be complicated as the graves deteriorate. The Islamic State targeted the Yazidis for slaughter because it considers them heretics. The Yazidi faith has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. "There's been virtually no effort to systematically document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence," said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited for the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The graves are largely documented by the aid group Yazda. Through binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His village, Gurmiz, overlooks Hardan and the plain below. When the jihadis swept through, everyone in Gurmiz fled to the mountaintop. Then Arkan and nine other men returned with light weapons, hoping to defend their homes. The first night, a bulldozer's headlights illuminated the killing of a group of handcuffed men. Then the machine plowed over their bodies. Over six days, the fighters killed three more groups -- several dozen each, most of whom usually had their hands bound. Once, the extremists lit a bonfire, but Arkan couldn't make out its purpose. Two years later, the 32-year-old has returned home, living in an area dotted with mass graves. "I have lots of people I know there, mostly friends and neighbors," he said. "It's very difficult to look at them every day." Nearly every area freed from Islamic State control has uncovered mass graves, like one found near a stadium in Ramadi. The graves are easy enough to find, most covered with just a thin coating of earth. "They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don't even try to hide it," said Sirwan Jalal, the director of Iraqi Kurdistan's agency in charge of mass graves. No one outside the Islamic State has seen the Iraqi ravine where hundreds of prison inmates were killed. Satellite images of scraped dirt along the river point to its location, according to Steve Wood of AllSource. His analysts triangulated survivors' accounts and began systematically to search the desert according to their descriptions of that day, June 10, 2014. The inmates were separated by religion, and Shiites had to count off, according to accounts by 15 survivors gathered by Human Rights Watch. "I was number 43. I heard them say '615,' and then one ISIS guy said, 'We're going to eat well tonight.' A man behind us asked, 'Are you ready?' Another person answered 'Yes,' and began shooting at us with a machine-gun," according to the Human Rights Watch account of a survivor identified only as A.S. The 15 men survived by playing dead. Justice has been done in at least one mass killing by the Islamic State -- that of about 1,700 Iraqi soldiers who were killed by machine gun at Camp Speicher. On Aug. 21, 36 Islamic State militants were hanged for those deaths. But justice is likely to elude areas still under Islamic State control, even when the extremists film the acts themselves. That's the case for a natural sinkhole outside Mosul that is now a pit of corpses. And in Syria's Raqqa province, where thousands of bodies are believed to have been thrown into the al-Houta crevasse. Conditions in much of Syria remain a mystery. Activists believe there are hundreds of mass graves in Islamic State-controlled areas that can be explored only when fighting stops. By that time, they fear, any effort to document the massacres, exhume and identify the remains will become infinitely more complicated. Working behind Islamic State lines, Syrians informally have documented some mass graves, even partially digging some up. Some of the worst have been found in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. There, 400 members of the Shueitat tribe were found in one grave, just some of the up to 1,000 members of the tribe believed to have been massacred by the Islamic State group when the militants took over the area, said Ziad Awad, the editor of an online publication on Deir el-Zour called The Eye of the City, who is trying to document the graves. In Raqqa province, the bodies of 160 Syrian soldiers, killed when the Islamic State overran their base, were found in seven large pits. So far, at least 17 mass graves are known, though largely unreachable, in a list put together from interviews with activists from Syrian provinces still under Islamic State rule as well as fighters and residents in former Islamic State strongholds. "This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria," Awad said. Information for this article was contributed by Balint Szlanko, Salar Salim, Sinan Salaheddin, Zeina Karam, Philip Issa and Maya Alleruzzo of The Associated Press.[SEP]HARDAN, Iraq — Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours, listening to the men in his family die. On the other side of the mountain, another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring villages were shot and then buried by a waiting bulldozer. For six days he watched as the extremists filled one grave after another with his friends and relatives. Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.(nypost.com)…[+][SEP](IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – In a survey conducted by the Associated Press Agency it was revealed that there are about 72 mass graves in Iraq and Syria, which contain the remains of nearly 15000 victims, who were killed by ISIS. The survey further suggested the presence of other graves in Mosul and Raqqa. “There are about 72 mass graves in Iraq and Syria, which contains the remains of nearly 15000 victims who were killed by ISIS in the two nations,” the survey report said. According to survey report, smallest grave contained the remains of three bodies, and the largest one is believed to contain the remains of thousand victims. “The high number of bodies and the graves is a clear evidence of the genocides carried out by ISIS against the ethnic groups in Syria and thousands of Yezidi people in Iraq,” the report further stated. The report further revealed that one of the 17 graves discovered in Syria holds the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe close to completely exterminated when ISIS violently took over their region. The Sinjar Mountain in Iraq is the location of another horrifying discovery. Roughly 70 people of the Yezidi tribe tried to flee their Sinjar homes before ISIS invaded in August 2014. Officials do not even guess the number of dead inside at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, mostly in territory too dangerous to excavate. The estimates are based on the memories of traumatized survivors. “This is a drop in the ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria,” added the survey report. According to the survey, other mass graves are expected to be discovered in the Iraqi city of Mosul and Syrian city of Raqqa if the Iraqi forces backed by the international coalition succeeded in forcing an ISIS retreat.

Thousands of Yazidi are believed to be buried in 72 newly-discovered mass graves left by ISIL after the 2014 massacre.

MOSCOW — A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Chinese Embassy’s compound in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday morning, wounding three Kyrgyz staff members, according to local officials. The attacker rammed the gates of the embassy with a Mitsubishi Delica that exploded about 160 feet into the compound. The driver died on the scene. “This was a suicide bomber, three people got injured, they were hospitalized,” Zhenish Razakov, the country’s deputy prime minister, told journalists in a video that was released by a local news website.[SEP]A suspected suicide bomber crashed a car through the entrance of the Chinese Embassy in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek, detonating a bomb that killed the attacker and wounded three embassy employees. China denounced the attack and appealed to Kyrgyz authorities to identify and harshly punish anyone involved. No group claimed responsibility. The Central Asian nation’s interior ministry said the person who drove the vehicle through the gate died when the bomb detonated. The three people injured are Kyrgyz nationals: two 17-year-old embassy gardeners and an unidentified woman. Almaz Kubatbekov, chief physician at the Bishkek National Trauma and Orthopedics Institute, said the three victims suffered concussions and multiple bruises. Photos from the scene showed the inner courtyard of the embassy compound littered with debris. Windows of one building were smashed and the plastered walls pockmarked with shrapnel. The embassy in Bishkek’s southern suburbs neighbours the US embassy. Kyrgyzstan’s interior ministry described it as a terrorist attack. Deputy Prime Minister Zhenish Razakov told the Interfax news agency it was a suicide bombing. The country, a landlocked former Soviet republic that borders China, has a predominantly Muslim population that is considered moderate in outlook. A Kyrgyz news website, Kloop.kg, quoted Razakov as saying that he would lead a meeting on tightening security ahead of Kyrgyz Independence Day today and a summit of former Soviet nations in mid-September. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying described the three victims’ injuries as minor but called for a stern security response. “China is appalled and strongly condemns the violent act,” Hua told reporters at a daily briefing. She said China’s foreign ministry has “demanded that Kyrgyz authorities take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Kyrgyzstan, launch a thorough investigation to find out the truth of the incident and harshly punish the perpetrators.” Kyrgyz authorities offered no guidance on the attacker or a possible motive. The Chinese regularly have blamed separatists and religious extremists for attacks in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, which borders Kyrgyzstan. Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group also have threatened to attack Chinese targets in retaliation for alleged repression of Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkic-speaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang. Officials say that some 500 Kyrgyz nationals are believed to have joined so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. One of the three men who carried out an attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport in June was said to be from Kyrgyzstan. The suicide gun and bomb attack, which Turkey blamed on IS jihadists, left 44 people dead and 240 injured. Chinese have been targeted in Kyrgyzstan in the past, including in 2000 when one official was shot dead in an attack blamed on Uighurs. Kyrgyz border guards killed 11 people believed to be members of a Uighur anti-Chinese militant group after they were said to have illegally crossed the border in 2014. In its travel advice to Kyrgyzstan, the UK government warns of an underlying threat from terrorism. The radical pan-Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, is said to have a presence in the country. It was banned in 2006 amid accusations of links to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.[SEP]A car on Tuesday exploded after ramming a gate at the Chinese embassy in the capital of ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, police said. Local medics said the driver of the car was killed while two Kyrgyz embassy staff and a woman were lightly wounded in the blast.[SEP]An explosion at the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan has killed at least one person and wounded several others. Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister said a suicide bomber rammed his car into the gate of the embassy compound in the capital Bishkek, detonating a bomb and injuring three embassy employees. Zhenish Razakov said the bomber had died and three embassy employees, all Kyrgyz nationals, were injured, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. The GKNB state security service said it was investigating the blast but provided no other details. Kyrgyz news website 24.kg reported that the car appeared to have rammed the embassy’s gate before exploding. Chinese state news agency Xinhua, citing a Kyrgyz security official, said it was a “suicide car bombing attack”. This is a developing story, please check back for updates.[SEP]One dead, three wounded in blast at Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan BISHKEK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A car exploded near the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, killing its driver and wounding three people, the healthcare ministry said. The GKNB state security service said it was investigating the blast but provided no other details. The interior ministry could not be reached for comment. Kyrgyz news website 24.kg reported that the car appeared to have rammed the embassy's gate before exploding. (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Robert Birsel)[SEP]A car exploded near the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, killing its driver and wounding three people, the healthcare ministry said. The GKNB state security service said it was investigating the blast but provided no other details. The interior ministry could not be reached for comment. Kyrgyz news website 24.kg reported that the car appeared to have rammed the embassy’s gate before exploding.[SEP]Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister says a suicide bomber has rammed his car into the gate of the Chinese embassy compound in the capital Bishkek, detonating a bomb and injuring three embassy employees. Russian news agencies on Tuesday quoted the Central Asian country’s health minister saying one person died and two more were injured in the blast. The Interfax news agency quoted deputy prime minister Zhenish Razakov as saying that the suicide bomber had rammed into the gate of the embassy, detonating the bomb. Razakov said the bomber died and three embassy employees, all Kyrgyz nations, were injured.[SEP]A suspected suicide bomber on Tuesday crashed a car through the entrance of the Chinese Embassy in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek, detonating a bomb that killed the attacker and wounded three embassy employees. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although both Al Qaeda and ISIS have threatened attacks against China over Beijing's treatment of the country's Muslim minority. Two of the injured are 17-year-old Kyrgyz gardeners working in the Embassy and an unidentified woman. Almaz Kubatbekov, chief physician at the Bishkek National Trauma and Orthopedics Institute, said the three victims suffered concussions and multiple bruises. Photos from the scene showed the inner courtyard of the embassy compound littered with debris. Windows of one building were smashed and the plastered walls pockmarked with shrapnel. The embassy in Bishkek's southern suburbs neighbours the U.S. embassy. Kyrgyzstan's interior ministry described it as a terrorist attack. Deputy Prime Minister Zhenish Razakov told the Interfax news agency it was a suicide bombing. Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked former Soviet republic that borders China, has a predominantly Muslim population that is considered moderate in outlook. A Kyrgyz news website, Kloop.kg, quoted Razakov as saying that he would lead a meeting Tuesday on tightening security ahead of Kyrgyz Independence Day on Wednesday and a summit of former Soviet nations in mid-September. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying described the three victims' injuries as minor but called for a stern security response. 'China is appalled and strongly condemns the violent act,' Hua told reporters at a daily briefing. She said China's foreign ministry has 'demanded that Kyrgyz authorities take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Kyrgyzstan, launch a thorough investigation to find out the truth of the incident and harshly punish the perpetrators.' Kyrgyz authorities offered no guidance on the attacker or a possible motive. The Chinese regularly have blamed separatists and religious extremists for attacks in China's northwest region of Xinjiang, which borders Kyrgyzstan. Al-Qaida and ISIS also have threatened to attack Chinese targets in retaliation for alleged repression of Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkic-speaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang.[SEP]BISHKEK (TCA) — An unidentified suicide car bomber attacked the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek in the morning of August 30, killing himself and wounding three embassy employees. Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov said the driver rammed through a gate to get inside the Chinese Embassy compound and detonated an explosive device that was inside the car, RFE/RL reported. Kyrgyzstan's Health Ministry said the three people wounded by the blast were Kyrgyz nationals and had been hospitalized with shrapnel-like injuries — suggesting the explosive device may have been prepared as a fragmentation bomb. Kyrgyzstan's security service sources said several hours after the attack that investigators were still working to identify the man found inside the car after the explosion. They said the investigators also were trying to establish the identity of the car's owner. China is shocked and strongly condemns the car bombing near the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, a China Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on August 30, Xinhua reports. The Chinese embassy in Bishkek was attacked by a car bomb Tuesday morning, causing injuries to three people of the embassy, spokesperson Hua Chunying told a press conference in Beijing. The Foreign Ministry has launched emergency procedures, and China requires Kyrgyzstan to take immediate and necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese people and institutions, Hua said. She also urged the Kyrgyz side to investigate the bombing and bring the perpetrators to justice.[SEP]An explosion near China’s embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday was a “suicide car bombing attack”, state news agency Xinhua said, citing a Kyrgyz security official. The driver of the vehicle tried to ram the embassy’s gate, the official was reported as saying. The healthcare ministry earlier said the driver of the vehicle was killed and three people were injured.

A car bomb explodes near the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, killing the perpetrator and injuring three.

Car bomb outside Somali President's Palace kills at least 10 By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU, Aug 30 (Reuters) - At least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday when a car bomb claimed by al Shabaab exploded outside the Presidential Palace and also damaged two nearby hotels, an official said. Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told state radio that a meeting of security officials was under way inside one of the hotels, the SYL, at the time of blast and that one minister and some state radio journalists were injured in the attack. The hotel is frequented by government officials and police said it believed the facility was the likely target. The SYL and another hospitality facility, both located near the Presidential Palace, were partially destroyed by the blast, Major Mohamed Ali, a police officer, told Reuters. "The blast killed 10 (people) including soldiers and civilians and 30 others were wounded," Ali said. Gunfire could be heard after the blast and a huge cloud of smoke rose above the palace, outside which were the remnants of the car and splattered blood, according to a Reuters witness. Al Shabaab's Radio Andaluz said the Islamist group was behind the attack and their military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the attack had killed 15 soldiers and "injured many others including a lawmaker". Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab, wants to topple the Western backed government in Mogadishu and also push out the 22,000-strong African Union mandated AMISOM peace keeping force backing it. The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government. The militants have claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people. In a separate incident, al Shabaab fighters attacked military bases housing government and African Union troops south west of the capital Mogadishu late on Monday, police and the group said on Tuesday. Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack in K-50 and Muri in Lower Shabelle region.[SEP]Ten people were killed and a government minister was injured when the Islamist terror group al-Shabaab set off a truck bomb outside the Presidential Palace in Somalia's chaotic capital Mogadishu today. Politicians and soldiers were among the casualties and two nearby hotels were also damaged. Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told state radio security officials had been meeting inside one of the hotels, the Somali Youth League (SYL), at the time of the blast and one minister was injured in the attack. Colonel Ali Nur said: 'Security forces tried to stop the bomber who used back roads before he sped through checkpoints near the presidential palace and detonated the bomb. He reached near the gate of the state house with flat tyres.' Major Mohamed Ali said the SYL and another hotel were badly damaged by the blast. He said: 'The blast killed 10, including soldiers and civilians and 30 others were wounded.' Gunfire could be heard after the blast and a huge cloud of smoke rose above the palace. Al-Shabaab's Radio Andaluz said the Islamist group was behind the attack and their military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, claimed the attack had killed 15 soldiers and 'injured many others including a lawmaker'. The organisation, which has links to al-Qaeda, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and expel the 22,000-strong African Union AMISOM peace keeping force. Al-Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent bomb and gun attacks. The militants have claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people. In a separate incident al-Shabaab fighters attacked military bases south west of the capital late last night. Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al-Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack in Muri in Lower Shabelle region.[SEP]MOGADISHU, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A car bomb claimed by al Shabaab Islamist militants killed five soldiers outside the president's palace in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and badly damaged two nearby hotels, police said. Reuters witnesses said gunfire could be heard after the explosion and a huge cloud of smoke could be seen above the president's palace, outside which were the remnants of the car and splattered blood. "A suicide car bomb exploded outside the presidential palace. So far two hotels opposite the palace are partially destroyed," police officer Major Mohamed Ali told Reuters by phone. Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for several recent explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people. "So far we know five government soldiers died in the blast. It exploded outside the SYL hotel which is also just at the checkpoint outside the palace. We believe the target was SYL which is frequented by officials. The death toll may rise," police officer Colonel Abdikadir Hussein told Reuters. Al Shabaab's Radio Andaluz said that the group was behind the attack. In a separate incident, al Shabaab fighters attacked military bases housing government and African Union troops south west of the capital Mogadishu late on Monday, police and the group said on Tuesday. Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al Shabaab fighters were killed in the attack in K-50 and Muri in Lower Shabelle region, Al Shabaab's military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the group's fighters had killed 10 soldiers and commandeered a vehicle from the Somali government soldiers. The militants were pushed out of Mogadishu by the African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government. Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by George Obulutsa)[SEP]Death toll from Shabaab attack on Mogadishu hotels rises to 22 - police MOGADISHU, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The death toll from Tuesday's car bomb attack targeting two hotels popular with officials near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 22, police said on Wednesday. The attack was claimed by the Islamist militant group al Shabaab. The blast partially destroyed two hotels, including one in which a meeting of security officials was underway, the government has said. "We have confirmed from various hospitals that at least 22 died and 50 others were wounded," police officer Major Mohamed Abdullahi told Reuters. Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir said on Tuesday a security officials were gathered inside one of the hotels, the SYL, at the time of blast, and that one minister and some state radio journalists were wounded. The hotel is frequented by government officials and police said it believed the facility was the likely target. Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and also push out the 22,000-strong African Union mandated AMISOM peace keeping force backing it. The group was forced out of Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at the government. The militants have claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)[SEP]Five dead in Shabaab suicide car bomb at Somalia hotel At least five people were killed and 28 injured when jihadists exploded a suicide car bomb outside a popular hotel close to the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. "We have confirmed five people killed including security guards", police officer Mohamed Abdulkadir said. He said the vehicle rammed through a checkpoint and was fired on by security forces before it exploded outside the SYL hotel. The hotel is situated close to the main entrance to the Villa Somalia government complex that includes the presidential palace, ministry buildings and residences. "The blast was very huge but thanks to God the number of casualties is less than the devastation suggests," Abdulkadir said. "We have received 28 people who were wounded in the blast," said Mohamed Yusuf, director of the city's main Medina hospital. A witness described seeing a large blast and a thick plume of smoke that rose high into the air. "I saw a car speeding towards the area and huge smoke and fire went up in the sky," said Elmi Ahmed. An AFP journalist at the scene described widespread damage to buildings in the area. The blast left a crater in the road, nearby walls collapsed and debris scattered across the usually busy carriageway. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab jihadist group said it was responsible for the attack, saying the SYL hotel was targeted because it "is close to the presidential palace, and also home to apostates and unbelievers." The group claimed to have killed 30 in the "martyrdom operation" and said a number of ministers and MPs were injured. The claim could not immediately be verified but the Shabaab frequently exaggerates the impact of its attacks. The fortified hotel, popular with government officials, business people and visiting diplomats and delegations, was previously attacked in both February this year and January last year. The January 2015 attack killed at least five people when a suicide car bomber rammed the hotel gates on the eve of a visit by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In February this year 14 people were killed when twin blasts were triggered close to the hotel and the neighbouring Peace Garden on a busy Friday afternoon. Both previous attacks were also claimed by the Shabaab, which quit the capital five years ago but continues to launch attacks against government, military, civilian and foreign targets in its fight to overthrow the internationally-backed government. The group is expected to try and violently disrupt elections due to be held in September and October. The jihadists have also staged repeated attacks in neighbouring Kenya and a recent security analysis warned the group was expanding its horizons with cells active in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as well as Somalia.[SEP]A car bomb claimed by al Shabaab Islamist terrorists killed at least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians, outside the president’s palace in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and badly damaged two nearby hotels, police said. Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told state radio that a meeting of security officials was under way inside one of the hotels, the SYL, at the time of blast and that one minister and some state radio journalists were injured in the attack. The SYL and another hospitality facility, both located near the Presidential Palace, were partially destroyed by the blast, Major Mohamed Ali, a police officer, told Reuters. “The blast killed 10 (people) including soldiers and civilians and 30 others were wounded,” Ali said. Witnesses told Reuters that gunfire could be heard after the explosion and that a huge cloud of smoke could be seen above the president’s palace, outside of which were the remnants of the car and splattered blood. “A suicide car bomb exploded outside the presidential palace. So far two hotels opposite the palace are partially destroyed,” police officer Major Mohamed Ali told Reuters by phone. The al-Qaida-linked al Shabaab group has claimed responsibility for several recent explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week that killed 10 people at a popular beach restaurant in the capital. Al Shabaab’s Radio Andaluz said that the group was behind the attack. In a separate incident, al Shabaab terrorists attacked military bases housing government and African Union troops southwest of the capital late on Monday, police and the group said on Tuesday. Military officer Major Bile Farah said a soldier and two al Shabaab terrorists were killed in the attack at K-50 in the Lower Shabelle region. Al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the group’s terrorists had killed 10 soldiers and commandeered a vehicle from the Somali government soldiers. The terrorists were pushed out of Mogadishu by the African Union peacekeeping force AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government. Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda which have contributed troops to the 22,000-strong AMISOM force.[SEP]At least 10 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu yesterday when a car bomb claimed by al Shabaab exploded outside the presidential palace and also damaged two nearby hotels, an official said. Information minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told state radio that a meeting of security officials was under way inside one of the hotels, the SYL, at the time of blast and that one minister and some state radio journalists were injured in the attack. The hotel is frequented by government officials and police said it believed the facility was the likely target. The SYL and another hospitality facility, both located near the presidential palace, were partially destroyed by the blast, a police officer, told Reuters. “The blast killed 10 (people) including soldiers and civilians and 30 others were wounded,” Ali said.Gunfire could be heard after the blast and a huge cloud of smoke rose above the palace, outside which were the remnants of the car and splattered blood, according to a Reuters witness. Al Shabaab’s Radio Andaluz said the Islamist group was behind the attack and their military operations spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the attack had killed 15 soldiers and “injured many others including a lawmaker”. Seeking to impose its own harsh form of Islam, al Shabaab, wants to topple the Western backed government in Mogadishu and also push out the 22,000-strong African Union mandated AMISOM peace keeping force backing it. The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by AMISOM in 2011 but have remained a serious threat, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the government. The militants have claimed responsibility for several explosions in Mogadishu, including a car bomb and gun attack last week at a popular beach restaurant in the capital that killed 10 people.[SEP]Death toll from Somalia car bomb attack on Tuesday rises to 22 -police MOGADISHU, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bomb blast in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday that exploded outside the Presidential Palace has risen to 22, police said on Wednesday. "We have confirmed from various hospitals that at least 22 died and 50 others were wounded. Death includes wounded people who died in hospitals," police officer Major Mohamed Abdullahi told Reuters. The attack has been claimed by al Shabaab militants. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Louise Ireland)[SEP]Mogadishu (AFP) - A suicide car bomb exploded outside a popular hotel close to the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, in an attack claimed by Shabaab militants. "There was a blast close to the SYL hotel area, near the main checkpoint of the presidential palace," said security officer Ibrahim Mohamed.[SEP]A suicide bomber has detonated a car bomb outside a popular Mogadishu hotel. Several soldiers were killed in the blast near the presidential compound. It is the third attack on the same hotel in less than three years. The bomb exploded during a traffic jam on Tuesday, police captain Mohamed Hussein said. Officials believe the militants targeted the SYL hotel which frequented by government officials. The hotel is close to the main checkpoint which protects the entrance to the presidential compound. “So far we know five government soldiers died in the blast,” police officer Colonel Abdikadir Hussein told Reuters. “The death toll may rise.” Another nearby hotel was damaged when the car bomb exploded, officials said. “I saw a car speeding towards the area and huge smoke and fire went up in the sky,” witness Elmi Ahmed told the AFP news agency. The explosion could be heard across the Somali capital, with witnesses from the scene reporting sporadic gunfire after the incident. The al-Shabab terror group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack via radio Andalus, which is linked to the organization. They said they targeted the SYL hotel because it “is close to the presidential palace, and also home to apostates and unbelievers.” The latest suicide bombing is the third attack on the same hotel in less than three years. The previous two attacks killed a total of 19 people. The hotel was popular with government officials, business people and visiting diplomats and delegations. It was previously attacked in February this year and January last year.

A car bomb explodes outside the President of Somalia's compound in Mogadishu claiming at least ten people's lives. Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State said on Tuesday one of its most prominent and longest-serving leaders was killed in what appeared to be an American air strike in Syria, depriving the militant group of the man in charge of directing attacks overseas. A U.S. defense official told Reuters the United States targeted Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in a Tuesday strike on a vehicle traveling in the Syrian town of al-Bab. The official stopped short of confirming Adnani’s death, however. Such U.S. assessments often take days and often lag behind official announcements by militant groups. Adnani was one of the last living senior members, along with self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who founded the group and stunned the Middle East by seizing huge tracts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. As Islamic State’s spokesman, Adnani was its most visible member. As head of external operations, he was in charge of attacks overseas, including Europe, that have become an increasingly important tactic for the group as its core Iraqi and Syrian territory has been eroded by military losses. The group reacted by saying his death would not harm it, and his killers would face “torment”, a statement in the group’s al-Naba newspaper said, according to the Site Intelligence monitoring group. “Today, they rejoice for the killing ... and then they will cry much when Allah will overpower them, with His permission, with affliction of the worst torment by the soldiers of Abu Muhammad and his brothers,” the statement said. Advances by Iraq’s army and allied militia toward Islamic State’s most important possession of Mosul have put the group under new pressure at a moment when a U.S.-backed coalition has cut its Syrian holdings off from the Turkish border. Those military setbacks have been accompanied by air strikes that have killed several of the group’s leaders, undermining its organizational ability and dampening its morale. A U.S. counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said Adnani’s death would hurt the militants “in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base ... and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere”. Under Adnani’s auspices, Islamic State launched large-scale attacks, bombings and shootings on civilians in countries outside its core area, including France, Belgium and Turkey. The official said Adnani’s roles as propaganda chief and director of external operations had become “indistinguishable” because the group uses its online messages to recruit fighters and provide instruction and inspiration for attacks. Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency reported that Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo.” Islamic State holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces. Amaq did not say how Adnani, born Taha Subhi Falaha in Syria’s Idlib Province in 1977, was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but gave no further details. INROADS INTO ISLAMIC STATE Adnani was a Syrian from Binish in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State’s predecessor, al Qaeda, more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution. He was from a well-to-do background but left Syria to travel to Iraq to fight U.S. forces there after its 2003 invasion, and only returned to his homeland after the start of its own civil war in 2011, a person who knew his family said. He once taught theology and law in jihadi training camps, according to Brookings. A biography posted on militant websites says he grew up with a “love of mosques” and was a prolific reader. IS spokesman and head of external operations Abu Muhammad al-Adnani is pictured in this undated handout photo, courtesy the U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State/REUTERS He had been the chief propagandist for the ultra-hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighboring Syria. Adnani had often been the face of the Sunni militant group, such as when he issued a message in May urging attacks on the United States and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan, and as in Sept. 2014 when he called on supporters to kill Westerners throughout the world. Recent advances by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. Iraqi army advances against the jihadist group meant Baghdad was on track to retake Mosul by the end of this year, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command General Joseph Votel said on Tuesday. AIR STRIKE Among senior Islamic State officials killed in air strikes this year are Abu Ali al-Anbari, Baghdadi’s formal deputy, and the group’s “minister of war”, Abu Omar al-Shishani. Adnani had joined the group under its founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There were conflicting reports earlier on Tuesday as to where and how Adnani died. A senior Syrian rebel official said Adnani was most probably killed in the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab in an air strike. Citing unconfirmed reports, he said Adnani was in the Aleppo region to raise morale in the face of mounting pressure. Islamic State’s territory around Aleppo is of particular significance to the group because it is also the location of Dabiq, where an Islamic prophecy holds the last battle between Muslims and infidels will rage, heralding the end of time. Iraq said in January that Adnani had been wounded in an air strike in the western province of Anbar and then moved to the northern city of Mosul, Islamic State’s capital in Iraq. An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo The United States designated him a “global terrorist” this year and said he was one of the first foreign fighters to oppose U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq since 2003 before becoming spokesman of the militant group. There was a $5 million reward on his head under the U.S. “Rewards for Justice” program.[SEP]Islamic State says its spokesman killed in Syria -Amaq News BEIRUT, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the jihadist group's longest-serving and most prominent leaders, has been killed in Aleppo in Syria, its Amaq News Agency reported on Tuesday in a statement distributed by the group's supporters. Amaq reported that Adnani was killed "while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo". Islamic State holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces. Amaq did not say how Adnani was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but giving no further details. Recent advances by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. Iraq said in January that Adnani had been wounded in an air strike in the western province of Anbar and then moved to the northern city of Mosul, Islamic State's capital in Iraq. Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State's predecessor al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution. He has been the chief propagandist for the ultra-hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning large swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria. Adnani has often been the face of the Sunni militant group, such as when he issued a message in May urging attacks on the United States and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan.[SEP]A senior ISIS figure who was once earmarked as the terror group's next leader has been killed in Syria, it has been reported. Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, one of ISIS' longest-serving officials, was said to have died 'while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo'. It is not clear whether he was killed by ground forces or in an air strike. Al-Adnani's death comes eight months after he was severely injured in an airstrike while acting as ISIS' chief spokesman in Iraq. ISIS-affiliated media reported the news of his death in a statement distributed by the group's supporters. Quoting a 'military source', Amaq News Agency said: 'Sheikh Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the spokesman of the Islamic State, was martyred while surveying operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo.' Adnani had been considered the terror network's most prominent public figure in Iraq, having made several audio recordings which have been posted online. He was held in the same bracket of notoriety as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and has been suggested as the jihadists' next leader should Baghdadi lose his position. Adnani was held in custody - believed to have been at the American detention facility, Camp Bucca - after being captured by US troops in 2005, remaining a prisoner until 2010. A £2.5million bounty was issued in May 2014 for information leading to the Syrian born extremist, referring to his 'repeated calls for attacks against Westerns'. In June of that year, he declared a 'caliphate' for parts of Syria and Iraq indicating ISIS' aim of not just being a terrorist group, but a governing body.[SEP]Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the jihadist group’s longest-serving and most prominent leaders, has been killed in Aleppo in Syria, its Amaq News Agency reported yesterday in a statement distributed by the group’s supporters. Amaq reported that Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo”. IS holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces. Amaq did not say how Adnani was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated August 29th but giving no further details. Recent advances by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into IS holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. Iraq said in January that Adnani had been wounded in an air strike in the western province of Anbar and then moved to the northern city of Mosul, IS’s capital in Iraq. Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to IS’s predecessor al-Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Washington think-tank Brookings Institution. He has been the chief propagandist for the ultra-hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning large swathes of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria. Adnani has often been the face of the Sunni militant group. Earlier this year, he called for massive attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He has also called for attacks in Western countries, telling Muslims in France on occasion to attack “the filthy French” in any way they could, including “crush them with your car”. He has also disparaged Saudi Arabia and its influential clerics for failing to rally behind the rebels that the monarchy supports in Syria like they did decades ago in Afghanistan. Amaq vowed to gain revenge for the killing. – (Reuters)[SEP]By Zeina Karam, The Associated Press BEIRUT — The Islamic State group’s spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group’s attacks against the West, has been killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, the group announced Tuesday. The IS-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Muhammed al-Adnani was “martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo,” and vowed to avenge his death. It did not provide any further details on when or how he died. If confirmed, it would be a major blow to the extremist group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq, where the borders of its self-declared Islamic caliphate have been steadily eroded in recent months. Al-Adnani, whose real name is Taha Sobhi Falaha, persistently called for attacks against the West, which paid off in bloody notoriety with the Nov. 13 coordinated attacks in Paris that hit a concert hall, a stadium and restaurants and bars, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Al-Adnani is a Syrian who was born in the northern province of Idlib and is believed to be in his late 30s. He crossed the border and joined al-Qaida in Iraq, a precursor to IS, after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In late June 2014, he formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and demanded allegiance from Muslims worldwide. A powerful orator, he went on to become the voice of IS. He released numerous, lengthy audio files online in which he delivered fiery sermons urging followers to kill civilians in nations that supported the U.S.-led coalition against the group. “If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” al-Adnani said in 2014. In other speeches he referred to U.S. President Barack Obama as “an idiot” and Secretary of State John Kerry as an “uncircumcised old geezer.” Earlier this year, he called for massive attacks during Ramadan — a call that translated into the bloodiest Muslim holy month in recent memory. Followers of IS carried out attacks on several continents, including the Orlando shooting, the Nice truck attack in France and a massive suicide bombing in downtown Baghdad. Al-Adnani also disparaged Saudi Arabia and its influential clerics for failing to rally behind the rebels that the monarchy supports in Syria like they did decades ago in Afghanistan. In Washington, a U.S. defense official said in response to reports of al-Adnani’s death that a U.S. airstrike on Tuesday targeted “an ISIL senior leader” in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo. But the official did not say whether the target was al-Adnani. He said the U.S. was still assessing the results of the airstrike. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the airstrikes by name. Aleppo is a current focal point of the civil war in Syria, where IS, Syrian Kurdish forces, Turkey-backed rebels and President Bashar Assad’s forces are vying for control. The province is frequently struck by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes as well as Russian air raids. Aamaq vowed revenge against the “filthy cowards in the sect of disbelief.” It said a generation raised in IS-held territory would avenge al-Adnani’s death. The Islamic State group has suffered a string of defeats in recent weeks, including in Aleppo province, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels drove IS out of the border town of Jarablus last week. In Iraq, the group has lost its strongholds in Fallujah and Ramadi, in the western Anbar province. It still controls Mosul, but Iraqi forces are gearing up for a long-awaited operation to retake the country’s second largest city. It has also lost some of its most senior commanders and founding members over the past year, including its “minister of war” Omar al-Shishani, feared Iraqi militant Shaker Wuhayeb, also known as Abu Wahib, as well as a top finance official known by several names, including Abu Ali Al-Anbari.[SEP]BEIRUT — The Islamic State group's spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group's attacks against the West, has been killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, the group has announced. The IS-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was "martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo." It did not provide any further details on when or how he died. A later statement issued by the Islamic State group in Aleppo province vowed to avenge his death. Both statements were released late Tuesday evening. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that its airstrike killed al-Adnani. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said its intelligence had confirmed that a Russian airstrike on Aleppo province had killed 40 IS militants, including the group's spokesman. On Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that a U.S. airstrike targeted al-Adnani in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo. He said the U.S. was "still assessing the results of the strike." His death is a major blow to the extremist group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq. Al-Adnani, whose real name is Taha Sobhi Falaha, persistently called for attacks against the West, which paid off in bloody notoriety with the Nov. 13 coordinated attacks in Paris that hit a concert hall, a stadium and restaurants and bars, leaving 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. He was a Syrian who was born in the northern province of Idlib and is believed to have been in his late 30s. He crossed the border and joined al-Qaida in Iraq, a precursor to IS, after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In late June 2014, he formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and demanded allegiance from Muslims worldwide.[SEP]BEIRUT — The Islamic State group says its spokesman has been "martyred" in northern Syria. The Islamic State-run Aamaq news agency said Tuesday that Abu Muhammed al-Adnani was "martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo," without providing further details. Islamic State has released several audio files online in which Adnani, a senior leader in the group, delivers sermons urging followers to carry out attacks. The extremist group has suffered a string of defeats in recent weeks, including in Syria's northern Aleppo province, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels drove the Islamic State out of the border town of Jarablus last week.[SEP]CORRECTS NAME SPELLING - This undated image posted online Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, by supporters of the Islamic State group on an anonymous photo sharing website, shows Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, IS's spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group's attacks against the West. The IS-run Aamaq news agency said Tuesday, Aug 30, 2016, that al-Adnani was killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, without providing further details. (Militant Photo via AP) BEIRUT (AP) — Russia's Defense Ministry says its airstrike killed the Islamic State group's spokesman and chief strategist. The Defense Ministry says in a statement on Wednesday that its intelligence has confirmed that a Russian airstrike on Aleppo province killed 40 IS militants, including spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani. His death is a major blow to the extremist group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq. The United States said it launched an airstrike targeting al-Adnani in the Syrian city of al-Bab, which is northeast of Aleppo. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said on Tuesday the U.S. was "still assessing the results of the strike." Al-Adnani persistently called for attacks against the West.[SEP]IS says spokesman Adnani killed in Syria's Aleppo The Islamic State group on Tuesday said its spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani was killed while monitoring military operations in the Syrian province of Aleppo. The announcement came as a US defence official said an IS "senior leader" was targeted in a US-led coalition air strike Tuesday in Aleppo province. "Coalition forces conducted an air strike in Al-Bab, Syria, targeting an (IS) senior leader," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are still assessing the results of the operation at this time." Quoting a "military source", IS news agency Amaq said: "Sheikh Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the spokesman of the Islamic State, was martyred while surveying operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo". It said he died after a "long voyage crowned by sacrifice" and vowed "revenge" at the hands of a "new generation born unto the Islamic State". Analysts have described Adnani as a key figure of the jihadist group. "In the collective jihadist memory Abu Mohamed al-Adnani will always be the one who announced the 'restoration of the caliphate' in June 2014," said jihadist expert Romain Caillet. Adnani was originally from the western Syrian province of Idlib and joined the jihadist movement in Iraq where he served now slain Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and held several positions. Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, an expert on jihadist groups, said Adnani's death "is significant symbolically and in pointing to the wider decline of the Islamic State". "If a coalition air strike hit him, it shows intelligence penetration by the coalition is very high. Otherwise it would not have been possible to take out so many high-ranking figures," he said. Another analyst, Charles Lister, tweeted that Adnani's death is a "big blow to IS". Amaq did not say how Adnani was "martyred". IS has regularly urged followers to target disbelievers. Adnani made such request in September 2014, calling on supporters to use stones, knives or even vehicles in their attacks to kill French or US citizens.[SEP]An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Islamic State group announced on Tuesday that one of its longest-serving and most prominent leaders, responsible for attacks overseas, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, had been killed in Aleppo province in Syria. Adnani had been one of the last living senior members, along with self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, that founded the group and stunned the Middle East by seizing huge tracts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. As Islamic State's spokesman, he was its most visible member. As head of external operations, he was in charge of attacks overseas, including Europe, that have become an increasingly important tactic for the group as its core Iraqi and Syrian territory has been eroded by military losses. Advances by Iraq's army and allied militia toward Islamic State's most important possession of Mosul have put the group under new pressure at a moment when a U.S.-backed coalition has cut its Syrian holdings off from the Turkish border. Those military setbacks have been accompanied by airstrikes that have killed several of the group's leaders, undermining its organizational ability and dampening its morale. A U.S. counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said that Adnani's death will hurt the militants "in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base ... and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere". Under Adnani's auspices, Islamic State has launched large-scale attacks, bombings and shootings, on civilians in several countries outside its core area, including France, Belgium and Turkey. The official said Adnani's role as propaganda chief and director of external operations have become "indistinguishable" because the group uses its online messages to recruit fighters and provide instruction and inspiration for attacks. Islamic State's Amaq News Agency reported that Adnani was killed "while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo". Islamic State holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces. Amaq did not say how Adnani, born Taha Subhi Falaha in Syria's Idlib Province in 1977, was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but giving no further details. Recent advances by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. Iraqi army advances against the jihadist group meant that Baghdad was on track to retake Mosul from it by the end of this year, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command General Joseph Votel said earlier on Tuesday. Among senior Islamic State officials to have been killed in airstirkes this year are both Abu Ali al-Anbari, Baghdadi's formal deputy, and the group's "minister of war", Abu Omar al-Shishani. Adnani had joined the group under its founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There are conflicting reports as to where and how he died. A senior Syrian rebel official said Adnani was most probably killed in the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab in an air strike. Citing unconfirmed reports, he said Adnani was in the Aleppo region to raise morale as the group comes under mounting pressure. Hisham al-Hashimi, a security analyst who advises the Iraqi government on Islamic State, said Adnani was injured in a coalition strike on Aug. 17 near al-Rai, north of Aleppo, where Islamic State is fighting Turkish and U.S.-backed Syrian rebels. Hashimi said he died from his wounds on Monday. Islamic State's territory around Aleppo is of particular significance to the group because it is also the location of Dabiq, where an Islamic prophecy holds the last battle between Muslims and infidels will rage, heralding the end of time. Iraq said in January that Adnani had been wounded in an air strike in the western province of Anbar and then moved to the northern city of Mosul, Islamic State’s capital in Iraq. Adnani is a Syrian from Binish in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State's predecessor al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution. He was from a well-to-do background but left Syria to travel to Iraq in order to fight the U.S. forces there after its 2003 invasion, and only returned to his homeland after the start of its own civil war in 2011, a person who knew his family said. He has been the chief propagandist for the ultra-hardline jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighboring Syria. Adnani has often been the face of the Sunni militant group, such as when he issued a message in May urging attacks on the United States and Europe during the holy month of Ramadan. Adnani is likely to be succeeded in his military role by the financial comptroller of the group, Iyad al-Obaidi, also known as Saleh Haifa, a security officer and Saddam, Hashimi said. The United States designated him a "global terrorist" this year and says he was one of the first foreign fighters to oppose U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq since 2003 before becoming spokesman of the militant group. There is a $5 million reward on his head under the U.S. "Rewards for Justice" program.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant says its official spokesman, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, has been killed in Syria's Aleppo Governorate. The group's statement, distributed by Amaq News Agency, did not say how al-Adnani was killed.

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN (Reuters) - The European Commission ordered Apple Inc to pay Ireland unpaid taxes of up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) on Tuesday as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid. Apple and Dublin said the U.S. company’s tax treatment was in line with Irish and European Union law and they would appeal the ruling, which is part of a drive against what the EU says are sweetheart tax deals that usually smaller states in the bloc offer multinational companies to lure jobs and investment. The U.S. feels its firms are being targeted by the EU and a U.S. Treasury spokesperson warned the move threatens to undermine U.S. investment in Europe and “the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the EU.” Starbucks Corp has been ordered to pay up to 30 million euros ($33 million) to the Dutch state, while Amazon.com Inc and McDonald’s Corp are also under investigation by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm. Apple’s stock fell less than 1 percent. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager questioned how anyone might think an arrangement that allowed Apple to pay a tax rate of 0.005 percent, as Apple’s main Irish unit did in 2014, was fair. “Tax rulings granted by Ireland have artificially reduced Apple’s tax burden for over two decades, in breach of the EU state aid rules. Apple now has to repay the benefits,” Vestager told a news conference. Analysts said the size of the claim underlined the Commission’s aggressive stance, but since each case involves different circumstances and tax rules, lawyers said it was hard to see if further big claims were any more or less likely. Apple, which had more than $200 billion in cash and readily marketable securities at the end of June, is likely to see the case drag out for years in EU and possibly Irish courts. Apple warned investors in a July regulatory filing that the Commission’s investigation could lead to “material” liability for further tax payments, but that it could not estimate the impact. On Tuesday the company said it expects to place “some amount of cash” in an escrow account. Tax experts say the European Commission faces a tough battle to convince courts to back up its stand. While the EU has found that certain tax regulations are anti-competitive, it has never before ruled whether countries have applied tax regulations fairly in the way it has with Apple, Starbucks and others. As a result, some lawyers and accountants said they doubted Apple would end up paying back any tax. “I am not persuaded by the reasoning the EU has applied,” said Tim Wach, global managing director at international tax advisers Taxand. “ARTIFICIAL” ARRANGEMENT The EU’s ruling challenges the way that Ireland agreed to tax the profits of Irish-registered Apple subsidiaries, through which most of its non-U.S. profits flowed. Apple Inc licenses the rights to technology designed in the United States to Irish subsidiaries. These then hire contract manufacturers to make devices which they sell to Apple retail subsidiaries around Europe and Asia. Since the manufacturing cost is a small portion of device sales prices and retail subsidiaries are allocated a small operating margin, Apple Ireland is very profitable. In 2011, it earned $22 billion after paying $2 billion to its U.S. parent in relation to the rights to Apple intellectual property. However, the Irish tax authority agreed only 50 million euros of this was taxable in Ireland, the European Commission said. Under the terms of Apple’s tax deal, first agreed in 1991 and renewed in 2007, Apple could allocate most of the profits earned by its Irish operating units to a “head office” that did not have any employees or own any premises. “This ‘head office’ had no operating capacity to handle and manage the distribution business, or any other substantive business for that matter,” the Commission said. The Commission said this agreement had no basis in tax law and was not available to others, and so represented state aid. Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he profoundly disagreed with the decision and in order to preserve Ireland’s attractiveness for investment he would appeal. “There is no economic basis for this decision. It’s bizarre and it’s an exercise in politics by the Competition Commission,” Noonan said. “They don’t have responsibility for taxes and they are opening a back door through state aid to influence tax policy in European countries when the European treaties say tax policy is a matter for sovereign governments,” he added. An Apple logo is seen in the window of an authorised apple reseller store in Galway, Ireland August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne Ireland’s low corporate tax rate has been a cornerstone of the country’s economic policy for decades, drawing investors from multinational companies whose staff account for almost one in 10 of the country’s workers. For many technology firms like Google and Facebook, a key attraction is that Ireland allows companies to adopt tax structures which see them pay much less than the 12.5 percent headline rate. The companies say they follow all tax rules. Apple said it was confident of winning an appeal. “The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process,” CEO Tim Cook said in a letter to customers posted on Apple’s website. “A company’s profits should be taxed in the country where the value is created,” he added. U.S. OPPOSITION The U.S. Treasury Department published a white paper last week in which it said it was looking at possible responses to what it sees as unfair targeting of its firms, which could include extra taxes on the U.S. arms of European companies. The paper noted that the EU executive’s tax rulings could cost the U.S. exchequer money. Under U.S. tax law, Apple’s Irish profits are taxable if brought back to the United States – something the company would have to do if it wanted to use the money to pay dividends. But any tax paid in Europe is reduced from the tax due in the United States. The Treasury has said the Commission’s approach was at odds with EU tax law and international treaties. The Commission, which has also ruled European companies including carmaker Fiat and Swedish engineer Atlas Copco AB must pay tax claims worth over $350 million, said its application of competition law to tax rulings followed EU law and treated all companies equally. Nonetheless, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have already appealed EU rulings against their tax deals with multinationals. Apple employs 5,500 people in areas such as logistics and distribution in the Irish city of Cork, which has about a quarter of Apple’s Europe-based staff. Slideshow (7 Images) The Commission has previously said Apple’s tax treatment had been “motivated by employment considerations.” Apple has said it paid Ireland’s 12.5 percent rate on all the income that it generates in the country. Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri decried the effective tax rate cited by Vestager as “a completely made-up number.[SEP]In this Friday, May 13, 2016, file photo, a man uses his mobile phone near an Apple store in Beijing. BRUSSELS — Apple will have to pay up to $14.5 billion plus interest in back taxes to Ireland after the European Union found Tuesday that the U.S. technology giant had paid next to no tax across the bloc's 28 countries for over 11 years. The EU says that many multinationals — including Starbucks, Fiat and Amazon — struck deals with EU countries to pay unusually low tax in exchange for basing their EU operations there. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple that the multinational's effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1 percent in 2003 to a mere 0.005 percent in 2014. That last tax rate meant that for each 1 million euros in profits, Apple paid just 50 euros in taxes, Vestager told a news conference. "Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies. This is illegal under EU state aid rules," Vestager said. "Ireland must now recover the unpaid taxes in Ireland from Apple for the years 2003 to 2014 of up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion), plus interest," the Commission said in a statement. For Ireland, a country of barely 4.6 million people, that sum would be a huge windfall — equivalent to over $3,150 for every man, woman and child. And yet the country's government said it would appeal the decision, arguing it had granted no favorable treatment to Apple. "Ireland's position remains that the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided," the government in Dublin said in a statement. "Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers."[SEP]The European Union on Tuesday ordered Ireland to collect up to $14.5 billion in back taxes, plus interest, from Apple Inc., after ruling that the technology giant cut an illegal deal that allowed it to pay almost no taxes from 2003 to 2014 on profits for sales throughout the 28-nation region. The decision, which follows a two-year investigation, marks the biggest step yet in Europe's controversial efforts to crack down on multinational corporations channeling profits through foreign subsidiaries to avoid or reduce tax payments. U.S. officials have criticized the European Union's push to collect additional taxes from U.S. companies, an effort that also has involved investigations of Starbucks Corp. and Amazon.com, Inc. But European officials said "selective tax treatment" of some companies gives them an unfair advantage over others. "Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies — this is illegal under EU state aid rules," said Margrethe Vestager, the top competition official for the European Commission, the EU's executive body. The tax deal with Ireland, where Apple has two subsidiaries, allowed the Cupertino company to have an effective corporate tax rate of 1% in 2003. The rate fell to 0.005% in 2014, meaning Apple paid just $50 on every $1 million in profits, the commission said. Ireland is an attractive location for foreign subsidiaries because its 12.5% corporate tax rate is one of the lowest in the developed world. Conversely, the U.S. corporate tax rate of 35% is the highest among the 35 members of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, although many companies pay less because of tax breaks. But a 2013 investigation by a U.S. Senate panel said that Apple had made a deal with Ireland to lower its corporate tax rate even further. The deal was part of an elaborate web of offshore subsidiaries that allowed Apple to avoid paying at least $15 billion in U.S. taxes on $44 billion in foreign income from 2009-12, according to a bipartisan report by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2013, the Senate panel called Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook to a high-profile hearing in which he insisted the company's tax arrangements were legal and fair. On Tuesday, Cook defended the company's operations in Ireland, which date to the opening of a factory in Cork in 1980. "Over the years, we received guidance from Irish tax authorities on how to comply correctly with Irish tax law — the same kind of guidance available to any company doing business there," Cook said in a letter posted on the company's website. "In Ireland and in every country where we operate, Apple follows the law and we pay all the taxes we owe." Cook said the European Commission's action was "unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications." "It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws with a view of what the commission thinks the law should have been," he said. "This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of EU member states over their own tax matters, and to the principle of certainty of law in Europe." Cook said he was confident that the ruling will be reversed after an appeal by Ireland. Apple stock was down slightly in early trading Tuesday. The commission ruling ordered Ireland to collect the extra tax revenue from Apple. While Apple has paid "substantially and artificially lowered" taxes to Ireland since 1991, the commission is only allowed to order the recovery of taxes for 10 years before it first requested information about the arrangements in 2013. Ireland's Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, said Tuesday he would seek approval from his government's cabinet to appeal. "I disagree profoundly with the commission's decision," he said. "Our tax system is founded on the strict application of the law...without exception." The U.S. Treasury Department issued a report last week critical of the European Unions tax investigations, saying they could lead to lost tax revenue for the U.S. government and harm cross-border investment. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has raised his concerns with the president of the European Commission. In a statement Tuesday, Treasury did not comment specifically on the Apple allegations but said U.S. officials were "disappointed that the commission is acting unilaterally." "The commission's actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the E.U," Treasury said.[SEP]BRUSSELS -- The European Union on Tuesday ordered Apple Inc. to pay nearly $15 billion in back taxes to Ireland, plus billions more in interest. The ruling is an escalation by the EU in its battle to have multinational corporations pay taxes in the region. Concern about corporate tax payment has grown in the EU after years of financial crises and tight budgets. The ruling also risks tension with the United States, which argues that the EU is picking on American companies and depriving it of potential tax windfalls of its own. At the heart of the matter is the EU's claim that many multinationals -- including Amazon and McDonald's -- struck deals with EU countries to pay low tax rates in exchange for basing their EU operations there. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said a three-year investigation found that Ireland granted tax breaks to Apple that lowered the effective corporate tax rate on its European profits from 1 percent in 2003 to 0.005 percent in 2014. That last tax rate meant that for each $1.1 million in profits, Apple paid $55.72 in taxes, Vestager said Tuesday at a news conference. "Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies -- this is illegal under EU state aid rules," Vestager said. U.S. officials have warned that the EU's executive commission is overstepping its power given that taxes are typically left to national governments to oversee and that European officials should not retroactively issue penalties in tax rulings. They also emphasized that such cases undermine continuing efforts to overhaul global policies and create measures to curtail tax avoidance. "U.S. companies are the grandmasters of tax avoidance," said Edward Kleinbard, a professor at the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California and a former chief of staff to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. "Nevertheless, because of the nature of U.S. politics," he said, the Apple case "will be framed by the U.S. as Europe overreaching and discriminating against 'our team.'" For Ireland, a country of barely 4.6 million people, the sum to be recovered would equal about $3,150 for every man, woman and child. The Irish government said it would appeal the decision, arguing that it had granted no favorable treatment to Apple. Ireland has for years offered low corporate tax rates to multinationals, a common strategy among Europe's smaller nations, including Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Because the countries are small, they gain from even small amounts of tax on multinationals' huge revenue. They also benefit from the jobs created locally. Apple has 5,500 workers in Ireland, making it one of the biggest private-sector employers. The Irish government insisted that Apple had paid its full amount of tax and that no state aid was provided. "It is important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment," said Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan. "Apple has been in Ireland since the 1980s and employs thousands of people in Cork." Apple likewise claimed that it had followed the law and paid every cent of what it owed. "The most profound and harmful effect of this ruling will be on investment and job creation in Europe," Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in a letter published on the company's website. "Every company in Ireland and across Europe is suddenly at risk of being subjected to taxes under laws that never existed." Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, accused the EU of using a "completely made-up number" and said there was "no special deal" from Ireland. The European Commission denied Cook's claim, saying it is relying on a history of using state-aid rules related to corporate tax issues. "No rules have been changed -- not one rule," the EU's Vestager said at the news conference. "This is a question of paying unpaid taxes." Apple and Irish government officials said they would challenge the EU action in the European courts and predicted that they would be vindicated. Apple shares fell 82 cents to close Tuesday at $106 in New York, a modest drop that reflects expectations that Apple can afford the settlement, should it stand. Apple made $10.5 billion in the first three months of this year. The EU ruling raises the difficult question of how to fairly tax multinationals -- in their home countries, where the bulk of their goods are developed, or in the countries where the goods are sold. Currently, the setup allows Apple to record in Ireland all of its sales across the EU's 28 nations and 500 million consumers. That internal company practice, as well as two favorable Irish tax rulings in 1991 and 2007, "enabled Apple to avoid taxation on almost all profits generated by the sale of Apple products in the entire EU single market," according to the European Commission. The critics of the EU's campaign against tax avoidance argue that its latest ruling tramples on the sovereignty of a country and its elected government. Apple accused the EU executive body of engaging in efforts "to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process." Some analysts say that with the EU reeling from Britain's decision to leave to bloc, the last thing it needs is more uncertainty for businesses. Supporters say the ruling is a step forward in harmonizing tax laws between EU countries. Either way, the EU's move risks fueling tensions with the U.S., which complains that it is singling out American companies. "They're going after Apple, which means a big name and big dollars," said Brad Badertscher, a corporate tax expert at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. "It's a big shot across the pond to U.S. companies." As of June, Apple had more than $200 billion stashed outside the U.S. The U.S. government cannot tax any of that money unless it is repatriated. The U.S. Treasury Department said it was disappointed by the EU's decision, saying retroactive tax assessments by the EU Commission "are unfair, contrary to well-established legal principles and call into question the tax rules" of the individual countries in the EU. At stake for the Treasury is some of the potential tax revenue on more than $2 trillion in profit that U.S. multinationals have parked overseas. While the EU isn't directly targeting that cash hoard, new tax cases filed by the EU could significantly reduce the revenue that the U.S. government could collect from it. The U.S. tax code, which sets a top corporate income tax rate of 35 percent, allows companies to defer paying that tax on their foreign income until they decide to bring it home via "repatriation." Over the past few years, the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama's administration have been unable to agree on a plan to induce companies to repatriate their earnings at a reduced tax rate. Obama has proposed 14 percent; House Republicans this year proposed 8.75 percent. Peter Vale, a Dublin-based corporate tax expert for the accounting firm Grant Thornton, calculated that the ruling, if upheld, could ultimately cost Apple $21 billion because the EU order also includes interest. The EU decision will require the Irish tax collection agency to demand a payment soon from Apple, Vale said. Any money will be placed in a hands-off escrow account pending what could be years of litigation before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, he said. Information for this article was contributed by John-Thor Dahlburg, Shawn Pogatchnik and Brandon Bailey of The Associated Press; by Dara Doyle, Stephanie Bodoni, David Kocieniewski and Lynnley Browning of Bloomberg News; and by James Kanter and Mark Scott of The New York Times.[SEP]BRUSSELS — Apple will have to pay up to 13 billion euros ($18.9 billion) plus interest in back taxes to Ireland after the European Union found Tuesday that the U.S. technology giant received illegal tax benefits over 11 years. The ruling is the biggest salvo in the EU executive Commission’s battle to have multinationals pay their fair share in the region. The EU alleges that many big companies struck deals with EU countries to pay unusually low tax in exchange for basing their EU operations there. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple that the multinational’s effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1% in 2003 to a mere 0.005% in 2014. That last tax rate meant that for each million euros in profits, Apple paid just 50 euros in taxes, Vestager told a news conference. “Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies—this is illegal under EU state aid rules,” Vestager said. “Ireland must now recover the unpaid taxes in Ireland from Apple for the years 2003 to 2014 of up to 13 billion euros ($18.9 billion), plus interest,” the Commission said in a statement. Apple said in a statement that it had followed the law and paid every cent of the taxes it owed. It said it would challenge the EU action in the European courts, and predicted it would be vindicated. The Irish government denied granting favourable fiscal treatment to the maker of the iPhone and other consumer electronics products, computer software and online services. “Ireland’s position remains that the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided,” the Irish statement said. “Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers.” Apple accused the EU executive body of engaging in efforts “to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process.” “The Commission’s case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it’s about which government collects the money,” the company said in a statement. “It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe. Apple follows the law and pays all of the taxes we owe wherever we operate. We will appeal and we are confident the decision will be overturned.” The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said he would seek approval from the Irish Cabinet to legally challenge the EU Commission’s ruling. “It is important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment,” Noonan said. “Apple has been in Ireland since the 1980s and employs thousands of people in Cork.” A statement from the U.S. government was expected later Tuesday. In a white paper made public last week, the U.S. Treasury Department accused the European Union of using a different set of criteria to judge cases involving American companies, calling the potential penalties “deeply troubling.”[SEP]EU demands Apple pay Ireland up to 13 bln euros in tax BRUSSELS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators ordered Apple on Tuesday to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes plus interest to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid. The massive sum, 40 times bigger than the previous known demand by the European Commission to a company in such a case, could be reduced, the EU executive said in a statement, if other countries sought more tax themselves from the U.S. tech giant. Apple, which with Ireland said it will appeal the decision, paid tax rates on European profits on sales of its iPhone and other devices and services of between just 0.005 percent in 2014 and 1 percent in 2003, the Commission said. "Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years," said Competition Commission Margrethe Vestager, whose crackdown on mainly U.S. multinationals has angered Washington which accuses Brussels of protectionism. Online retailer Amazon.com Inc and hamburger group McDonald's Corp face probes over taxes in Luxembourg, while coffee chain Starbucks Corp has been ordered to pay up to 30 million euros ($33 million) to the Dutch state. A bill of 300 million euros this year for Swedish engineer Atlas Copco AB to pay Belgian tax is the current known record. Other companies ordered to pay back taxes in Belgium, many of them European, have not disclosed figures. For Apple, whose earnings of $18 billion last year were the biggest ever reported by a corporation, finding several billion dollars should not be an insurmountable problem. The 13 billion euros represents about 6 percent of the firm's cash pile. As of June, Apple reported it had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $231.5 billion, of which 92.8 percent, or $214.9 billion, were held in foreign subsidiaries. It paid $2.67 billion in taxes during its latest quarter at an effective tax rate of 25.5 percent, leaving it with net income of $7.8 billion according to company filings. The European Commission in 2014 accused Ireland of dodging international tax rules by letting Apple shelter profits worth tens of billions of dollars from tax collectors in return for maintaining jobs. Apple and Ireland rejected the accusation. "I disagree profoundly with the Commission," Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said in a statement. "The decision leaves me with no choice but to seek cabinet approval to appeal. "This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system; to provide tax certainty to business; and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign member state competence of taxation." Ireland also said the disputed tax system used in the Apple case no longer applied and that the decision had no effect on Ireland's 12.5 percent corporate tax rate or on any other company with operations in the country. Apple said in a statement it was confident of winning an appeal. "The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The Commission's case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes, it's about which government collects the money. It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe." When it opened the Apple investigation in 2014, the Commission told the Irish government that tax rulings it agreed in 1991 and 2007 with the company amounted to state aid and might have broken EU laws. The Commission said the rulings were "reverse engineered" to ensure Apple had a minimal Irish bill and that minutes of meetings between Apple representatives and Irish tax officials showed the company's tax treatment had been "motivated by employment considerations." Apple employs 5,500, or about a quarter of its Europe-based staff, in the Irish city of Cork, where it is the largest private sector employer. It has said it paid Ireland's 12.5 percent rate on all the income that it generates in the country. Ireland's low corporate tax rate has been a cornerstone of economic policy for 20 years, drawing investors from multinational companies whose staff account for almost one in 10 workers in Ireland. Some opposition Irish lawmakers have urged Dublin to collect whatever tax the Commission orders it to. But the main opposition party Fianna Fail, whose support the minority administration relies on to pass laws, said it would support an appeal based on reassurances it had been given by the government. The U.S. Treasury Department published a white paper last week that said the EU executive's tax investigations departed from international taxation norms and would have an outsized impact on U.S. companies. The Commission said it treated all companies equally. (Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin, Robin Emmott, Philip Blenkinsop, Robert-Jan Bartunek and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels and Eric Auchard in Frankfurt; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop)[SEP]The European Commission has ordered Ireland to recoup 13 billion euro (£11.1 billion) from tech giant Apple over a sweetheart tax deal. A three-year investigation by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager found the arrangements dating back to the early 1990s were illegal under state aid rules. She said it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses - 1% on its European profits in 2003 and 0.0005% in 2014. The Republic's tax inspectors have been told to recover the unpaid billions. "Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies - this is illegal under EU state aid rules," the commissioner said. "The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years." Ms Vestager found two tax rulings issued by Ireland to Apple which she said substantially and artificially lowered the tax paid by the multinational maker of iPhones and iPads. She said the arrangements to establish the taxable profits for two Irish incorporated companies of the Apple group - Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe - did not correspond to economic reality. The commissioner said almost all sales profits recorded by the two companies were internally attributed to a "head office" which only existed on paper and could not have generated such profits. Her inquiry found the profits were not subject to tax anywhere. Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he profoundly disagreed with the verdict. His office said the Republic does not do "deals" with taxpayers. "Our tax system is founded on the strict application of the law ... without exception," Mr Noonan said. The minister said he would seek Government support to challenge the commissioner's findings in the European courts. "This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system, to provide tax certainty to business, and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign member state competence of taxation," he said. "It is important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment."[SEP]The European Union says Ireland has given illegal tax benefits worth up to 13 billion euros (NZ$20.08bn) to Apple and must now recover the unpaid back taxes from the US technology company, plus interest. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: "Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies - this is illegal under EU state aid rules." The announcement was made on Tuesday night, NZ time. She said a three-year investigation found Ireland granted such lavish tax breaks to Apple over many years that the multinational's effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from one per cent in 2003 to a mere 0.0005 per cent in 2014. READ MORE: * NZ govt may force corporations to talk tax * Opinion: NZ is dragging the chain on multinational tax * How to find an Apple Store: Leave New Zealand The Commission said "Ireland must now recover the unpaid taxes in Ireland from Apple for the years 2003 to 2014 of up to €13 billion, plus interest". The Irish government denied granting favourable fiscal treatment to the maker of the iPhone and other consumer electronics products, computer software and online services. "Ireland's position remains that the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided," the Irish statement said. "Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers." Apple opened its factory in Cork in October 1980, and the company said it had since expanded its operations there from 60 to 6000 staff, becoming Ireland's largest taxpayer in the process. The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, said he would seek approval from the Irish Cabinet to appeal the EU Commission's ruling to European courts. "It is important that we send a strong message that Ireland remains an attractive and stable location of choice for long-term substantive investment," Noonan said. "Apple has been in Ireland since the 1980s and employs thousands of people in Cork." In a statement, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said there was no basis to the European Commission's ruling, and the company would appeal. Over 30 years, Apple had followed guidance from Irish tax authorities on how to comply with the law, "and we pay all the taxes we owe". "At its root, the commission's case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes. It is about which government collects the money." Cook accused the commission of trying to "rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process". He said it was wrong to state the Irish government had given Apple a "special deal" on its taxes. "This claim has no basis in fact or in law. We never asked for, nor did we receive, any special deals. We now find ourselves in the unusual position of being ordered to retroactively pay additional taxes to a government that says we don't owe them any more than we've already paid." He said the commission was trying to override Ireland's tax law, and infringing on its sovereignty in the process. Cook added that Apple was committed to continuing its operations in Ireland, despite the ruling.[SEP]Ireland must recover up to 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) in unpaid taxes from Apple, European officials said on Tuesday. The tax ruling is the biggest the European Union has ever made regarding a single company, and it could spark a huge transatlantic row over how Europe treats U.S. companies. Apple shares initially fell almost 3%, but then recovered most of their losses. The company will appeal the decision. It said the ruling upended the international tax system and would damage jobs and investment in Europe. The European Commission, which administers EU law, said the Irish government had granted illegal state aid to Apple (AAPL, Tech30) by helping the tech giant to artificially lower its tax bill for more than 20 years. "[EU] member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies -- this is illegal under EU state aid rules," said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Europe's top antitrust official. The United States fired back immediately, saying retroactive tax assessments by the EU were unfair. "The Commission's actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the EU," a Treasury spokesperson said. The decision amounted to "a transfer of revenue from U.S. taxpayers to the EU," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. The Obama administration would fight for "American taxpayers and American businesses overseas when they're being treated unfairly," he added. Related: How Apple paid just 0.005% tax on its global profits Apple paid tax at 1%, or less, on profits attributed to its subsidiaries in Ireland, well below the 35% top rate of corporate tax in the United States and Ireland's 12.5% rate. That prompted complaints by both European and U.S. lawmakers, who argued that Apple had been given an unfair advantage in exchange for creating jobs in Ireland. CEO Tim Cook was even called to testify on Apple's tax arrangements with Ireland before a Senate committee in 2013. The bill for tax benefits, plus interest, covers 2003 to 2014. Apple has more than $231 billion in cash on its balance sheet to cushion the blow. Cook said on Tuesday the ruling had "no basis in fact or in law," calling it "obvious targeting of Apple." Apple had helped create and sustain more than 1.5 million jobs across Europe, follows the law and pays all the taxes it owes, he added. "The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process," he wrote. Ireland said it will appeal the decision, saying Apple paid what it owed. The country has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe, which makes it an attractive place for global companies. The Irish government is afraid companies would be less likely to invest in Ireland if its tax regime changes, which could cost the country thousands of jobs. Apple is not the only American company that has recently found itself under scrutiny over its European tax affairs. The European Commission ordered Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler to repay millions in taxes last October. Starbucks (SBUX) has to pay back up to 30 million euros it saved thanks to a sweetheart tax deal with the Netherlands. Fiat Chrysler (FCAM) was ordered to repay a similar amount after a similar deal with Luxembourg. Both companies have appealed the decisions. Related: France going 'all the way' to collect tax from Google, McDonald's The EU is also probing the tax arrangements of Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and McDonald's (MCD). Google (GOOGL, Tech30) is under investigation over its taxes in France and a couple of other European countries. The ruling against Apple's tax deal comes despite a stern warning from the U.S. Treasury Department last week that it would consider "potential responses" if the Commission doesn't change course.[SEP]European Union competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has rejected accusations by Apple chief executive Tim Cook that the European Commission’s finding on tax against Apple was motivated by political concerns. Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Ms Vestager defended the independence of the commission’s competition division. “I know what we are obliged to do and that is to take decisions that are independent, based on the treaty, the facts of the case and can be checked by the European courts,” she said. She said state-aid cases had been taking place since 1958. “We have a court practice that says quite clearly that state aid can come in many forms. In this case [it’s] as a tax benefit . . . The only politics of that is that we’re here to make sure the treaty is upheld and this is in the treaty.” In an interview with RTÉ radio, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said it was clear the ruling was “coming from a political place” and was based on “no fact or law”. He denied that Apple had benefited from illegal state aid from Ireland through two tax rulings negotiated between the company and the Revenue in 1991 and 2007. Tuesday’s finding against Apple was by far the largest ruling by the commission’s competition arm on a state aid matter related to tax. The previous state aid record was €1.3 billion in 2014. Asked about Mr Cook’s assertion that the commission’s accusation that the company paid 0.005 per cent tax in 2014 was false, Ms Vestager said the commission had used figures supplied by Apple in US Senate hearings in 2013. She noted that tax rulings were by their nature confidential up to this point, adding that the commission’s investigation could take place only once the figures became public. Ms Vestager said the commission was within its rights to pursue the state aid case as the issue concerned Europe. “The Apple case is about profits made on sales in Europe, profits that are recorded in Ireland, so obviously it is a question of taxes being paid within EU jurisdictions . . . So it is quite obviously a European matter and a matter for EU state aid rules.” Ms Vestager said she believed the EU and US were “on the same page” when it came to the principles of tax avoidance, and would meet US treasury secretary Jack Lew later this month in Washington. “It is very important to continue the dialogue. A global tax coalition is forming in order to have more transparency, more fairness,” she said. Ms Vestager added that it now fell to Apple and the Irish authorities to decide when the full 130-page decision on the Apple state aid case would be published, urging both to co-operate. “The ball is basically in the hands of Apple and Ireland. We have to clear the decision from things that are confidential and I do hope, because I can sense that there is an interest . . . that both Apple and Ireland will be as open and as co-operative as possible in order for us to be able to publish the decision as fast as possible.”

The European Union orders Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland. A three-year investigation by the EU's competition commissioner concludes that Apple received "illegal state aid" from Ireland, the EU order that Apple pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion), and, in addition, also interest and unpaid taxes.

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The volcano's ice cap is thought to be able to contain hot lava for around 90 minutes in the event of an eruption. This would enable Icelandic authorities to evacuate anybody nearby and to alert international air traffic control. In 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull resulted in a massive ash cloud that caused the cancellation of 100,000 flights across Europe and left many people stranded. It was feared that tiny glass-like particles formed from the volcano's lava could melt in aircraft engines and cause turbines to become clogged.[SEP]A volcanic eruption in Iceland could be imminent after two earthquakes struck in rapid succession. The Katla volcano, one of the largest in Iceland, was rocked by two earthquakes of magnitude 4.2 and 4.5 this weekend. It typically erupts every 80 years but was last active in 1918, almost a century ago. The remote North Atlantic country hit headlines in April 2010 when ash from the erupting Eyjafjallajokul volcano grounded flights across Europe for days. Travel chaos ensued and left millions stranded at airports unable to travel home, including families and teachers on holiday during the school Easter break. The Icelandic Meteorological Office has not yet changed the alert status for Katla from “normal” as no tremors have been recorded. Katla has experienced various earthquake swarms over the last 10 years, but none as large as this weekend’s since 1977. Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist, said that authorities are monitoring the situation and described it as "a little bit unusual", but said there's "no sign" of an eruption.[SEP]The Katla volcano has not erupted properly since 1918 and scientists say it is overdue to do so, although an eruption could still be decades away. "It is quite a dynamic situation now, in the next hours and days following this, but as we speak at the moment we do not see any signs that there is an imminent hazardous unrest about to happen," Matthew Roberts, a natural hazards scientist at the Icelandic Met Office, said. Ash from an eruption of the nearby Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days. Katla, in southern Iceland, was rocked by quakes of magnitude 4.5 and 4.6 overnight. The volcano sustained similar movements in 2011. The volcano is covered by an ice cap, which should, in the event of an eruption, typically contain the lava for around 60 to 90 minutes, giving time to alert the population and international air traffic, Roberts said.[SEP]LONDON (AP) — Iceland's Meteorological Office says two earthquakes early Monday rocked the caldera of Katla, one of the country's largest volcanos. Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist, said authorities are monitoring the situation at the volcano in southern Iceland and described it as "a little bit unusual." The quakes measured magnitude 4.2 and magnitude 4.5 and were followed by some 20 aftershocks. "People have been waiting for an eruption for 50 years," Gudmundsson said of Katla. "But there is no sign of an eruption." Katla, named after an evil troll, is in southern Iceland about 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the capital, Reykjavik. Iceland, an island nation in the remote North Atlantic, is a volcanic hotspot often hit by seismic activity. Its volcanos attracted international attention in April 2010, when ash from an eruption of its Eyjafjallajokull volcano grounded flights across Europe for days, disrupting travel for millions. In the past, Katla has erupted in tandem with Eyjafjallajokull. Katla's last major eruption took place in 1918, and another has been expected since the 1960s.[SEP]Iceland's Meteorological Office says two earthquakes have rocked the caldera of Katla, one of the country's largest volcanos. Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist, said Monday that authorities are monitoring the situation and described it as 'a little bit unusual,' but said there's 'no sign' of an eruption. Gudmundsson says 'people have been waiting for an eruption for 50 years.' Named after an evil troll, Katla typically awakens every 80 years or so and last erupted in 1918. Iceland, in the remote North Atlantic, is a volcanic hotspot often hit by seismic activity. Its volcanos attracted international attention in April 2010, when ash from an eruption of its Eyjafjallajokul volcano grounded flights across Europe for days, disrupting travel for millions. In 2014, a record-breaking volcanic eruption spewed lava and ash over Iceland’s Highlands for nearly six months, leaving behind the largest caldera formation ever observed. Katla is among the most frequently erupting volcanoes in Iceland, averaging about two eruptions each century. The volcanic massive is partly covered by the glacier Mýrdalsjökull which fills a caldera depression and covers the eruptive vents. The eruptions are accompanied by enormous laharic floods which have formed a vast sandur plain. The last eruption in Katla occurred in 1918. The Southern coast was extended by 5 km by the laharic flood deposits. The last eruption in Katla (pictured) occurred in 1918. The Bardarbunga eruption was the strongest of its kind in Europe in more than 240 years, and released two cubic kilometers of volcanic material. Researchers from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences have studied the event in new detail, using satellite images, seismological and geochemical data, GPS data, and modelling to document the eruption.[SEP]The volcano, which stands at 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) tall, hasn't had a major eruption since 1918. Scientists say Katla usually erupts once every 50 years. The meteorological office confirmed an increase in seismic activity in recent weeks and said it was monitoring the situation. An eruption is not imminent, scientists said, but they can't rule it out. "Such summertime increases in seismicity are common at Katla and the ongoing activity within the caldera is similar to summertime unrest observed in 2012 and 2014," the office said. "Measurements around Katla are not detecting signs of increased ground deformation or seismic tremor, both of which could be indicators of magma movement." Ash billows from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano on May 8, 2010 in Hvolsvoellur, Iceland. In 2010, Katla's neighboring volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, caused chaos across Europe and shut down most of the continent's airspace. Thousands of flights were grounded because of the volcanic ash following its eruption.

Numerous tremors rock the Katla volcano in Iceland prompting the government to raise the alarm level.

The outbreak and the warnings come as a potential blow to tourism in one of the world's busiest travel hubs, which is already struggling to recover from a slump amid tepid global growth. Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted Zika at the weekend, and the number of reported infections of the mosquito-borne virus has since jumped to 56. At least three dozen of those have since made a full recovery. The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. The 56 confirmed cases in Singapore include only one woman. Taiwan, Australia and South Korea advised pregnant women and those planning pregnancy to postpone trips to Singapore. Those returning from the country should avoid pregnancy for two months. South Korean travelers will receive text messages with the warning when they arrive in Singapore. Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore's closest neighbors, have stepped up protective measures following the outbreak, introducing thermal scanners at airports and border checkpoints. Singapore's Tourism Board said it was monitoring developments, adding the city state remained a "safe travel destination", and it was premature to consider any impact. More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals reached almost 8.2 million, compared with around 7.3 million in the same period of last year. Online retailer Lazada Singapore said on Tuesday it has seen sales of mosquito repellent and other deterrent products rise fivefold over the past three days compared to a week ago. Authorities continued to inspect thousands of homes in seven parts of Singapore, including five foreign worker dormitories, on Tuesday. Officials sprayed insecticide and removed potential mosquito breeding habitats such as stagnant water and moist dirt from drains. The majority of those infected with Zika in Singapore were foreign workers, but the government has not disclosed their nationalities. The High Commission of Bangladesh, which represents the largest community of foreign workers, said none of the workers were Bangladeshis. The Chinese and Myanmar embassies in Singapore said they had not been notified by Singapore whether their citizens were among those infected. The Thai embassy did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Foreign workers in Singapore, employed mostly in the construction and marine industries, can earn as little as S$2 ($1.47) an hour, often work 12-14 hours a day and take few days off. They are unlikely to travel often. The GuocoLand construction site, where the infected workers were found, remained closed on Tuesday morning, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene. It was ordered on Sunday to halt work and rectify the conditions that allowed mosquitoes to breed. Regional health experts said the Zika virus is likely to be significantly under-reported across tropical Southeast Asia as local health authorities fail to conduct adequate screening.[SEP]The new infections bring the state's total of non-travel-related cases to 46, according to the Florida Department of Health. Only one of Tuesday's three new cases was linked to Miami Beach, which is known to be an active area for local Zika transmission. The health department said it was investigating the other two cases to determine where they occurred, but cautioned, "One case does not mean ongoing active transmission is taking place." The department said it believes ongoing transmission is only taking place in parts of Miami Beach and the trendy Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, the site of the first local Zika transmission in the United States. Zika infections have been mounting in popular tourist areas and may have caused concern among wary vacationers. Travelers have booked fewer hotel rooms in downtown Miami, and leisure airfares to the greater Miami area have inched down in the weeks since the Zika virus was detected there. Florida health department workers have been going door-to-door in Pinellas, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties to talk to residents about the virus and offer voluntary tests. The Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects, including microcephaly. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.[SEP]SINGAPORE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The number of confirmed cases of Zika virus in Singapore rose to 82 on Tuesday, with some of the latest infections detected beyond the area of the initial outbreak. Several countries advised pregnant women or those trying to conceive to avoid travelling to the city-state. The mosquito-borne Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women as it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. At least five of 26 new cases confirmed late on Tuesday were detected outside the initial cluster in the Aljunied area in the southeast of Singapore, the health ministry and National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement. Australia, Taiwan and South Korea issued travel warnings, and Singapore advised pregnant women to take a free Zika test if they showed any symptoms or if their partners tested positive. "This is regardless of whether they have been to Zika-affected areas," the statement said. The outbreak and advisories come as the tourism industry in one of the world's busiest travel hubs already faces weak global economic growth. Singapore's Tourism Board said it was premature to consider any impact on the sector, adding it remained a "safe travel destination". More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals topped 8 million, around 1 million more than a year earlier. Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted Zika at the weekend, and the number of confirmed infections has risen steadily since then. At least three dozen patients have made a full recovery. Neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia have stepped up protective measures, introducing thermal scanners at airports and border checkpoints with the island state. Singapore residents responded to government calls to be vigilant and to take precautions against mosquito bites. Online retailer Lazada Singapore said sales of insect repellents jumped fivefold in the past three days. FairPrice supermarkets and Watsons pharmacies said their sales of such products had doubled. Most of the early infections were among foreign workers, hundreds of thousands of whom, mainly from the Asian sub-continent, work on Singapore's construction sites and in the marine sector. The Singapore government has not said where the infected foreign workers are from. The foreign ministry directed queries to the health ministry, which did not respond to Reuters questions on the issue. The Ministry of Manpower also did not respond to a request for comment made outside working hours. The High Commission of Bangladesh, which represents the largest community of foreign workers, said none of those infected were Bangladeshis, and the Thai foreign ministry said none were from Thailand. The embassies of China, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar said they had not been notified by Singapore whether their citizens were among those infected. Authorities inspected thousands of homes in seven parts of Singapore, including five foreign worker dormitories, spraying insecticide and removing potential mosquito breeding habitats. The NEA has inspected about 5,000 premises in and around the initial outbreak area, issuing 400 notices to owners of buildings they could not access. The NEA can force entry into those premises if needed.[SEP]The outbreak and the warnings come as a potential blow to tourism in one of the world's busiest travel hubs, which is already struggling to recover from a slump amid tepid global growth. Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted Zika at the weekend, and the number of reported infections of the mosquito-borne virus has since jumped to 56. At least three dozen of those have since made a full recovery. The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. The 56 confirmed cases in Singapore include only one woman. Taiwan, Australia and South Korea advised pregnant women and those planning pregnancy to postpone trips to Singapore. Those returning from the country should avoid pregnancy for two months. South Korean travelers will receive text messages with the warning when they arrive in Singapore. Malaysia and Indonesia, Singapore's closest neighbors, have stepped up protective measures following the outbreak, introducing thermal scanners at airports and border checkpoints. Singapore's Tourism Board said it was monitoring developments, adding the city state remained a "safe travel destination", and it was premature to consider any impact. More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals reached almost 8.2 million, compared with around 7.3 million in the same period of last year. Online retailer Lazada Singapore said on Tuesday it has seen sales of mosquito repellent and other deterrent products rise fivefold over the past three days compared to a week ago. Authorities continued to inspect thousands of homes in seven parts of Singapore, including five foreign worker dormitories, on Tuesday. Officials sprayed insecticide and removed potential mosquito breeding habitats such as stagnant water and moist dirt from drains. The majority of those infected with Zika in Singapore were foreign workers, but the government has not disclosed their nationalities. The High Commission of Bangladesh, which represents the largest community of foreign workers, said none of the workers were Bangladeshis. The Chinese and Myanmar embassies in Singapore said they had not been notified by Singapore whether their citizens were among those infected. The Thai embassy did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Foreign workers in Singapore, employed mostly in the construction and marine industries, can earn as little as S$2 ($1.47) an hour, often work 12-14 hours a day and take few days off. They are unlikely to travel often. The GuocoLand construction site, where the infected workers were found, remained closed on Tuesday morning, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene. It was ordered on Sunday to halt work and rectify the conditions that allowed mosquitoes to breed. Regional health experts said the Zika virus is likely to be significantly under-reported across tropical Southeast Asia as local health authorities fail to conduct adequate screening.[SEP]SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Confirmed cases of Zika virus in Singapore rose to 82 on Tuesday, as the United States joined a growing list of countries warning pregnant women or those trying to get pregnant to avoid travel to the city-state. The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has caused explosive outbreaks in the Americas and the Caribbean since late last year, poses a particular risk to pregnant women because it can cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. On Tuesday, the United States warned pregnant women not to travel to Singapore, joining Australia, Taiwan and South Korea. The warnings followed news that Zika transmission appears to be occurring outside of the original cluster, with at least five of 26 new cases confirmed late on Tuesday detected in the Aljunied area in the southeast of Singapore, the health ministry and National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement. Singapore has advised pregnant women to take a free Zika test if they showed any symptoms or if their partners tested positive. “This is regardless of whether they have been to Zika-affected areas,” health officials said in a statement. The outbreak and advisories come as the tourism industry in one of the world’s busiest travel hubs already faces weak global economic growth. Singapore’s Tourism Board said it was premature to consider any impact on the sector, adding it remained a “safe travel destination”. Related Coverage CDC adds Zika-hit Singapore to interim travel guidance list More than 55 million people pass through Singapore’s Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals topped 8 million, around 1 million more than a year earlier. MOZZIE SPRAY SALES Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted Zika at the weekend, and the number of confirmed infections has risen steadily since then. At least three dozen patients have made a full recovery. Neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia have stepped up protective measures, introducing thermal scanners at airports and border checkpoints with the island state. Such measures, however, will only identify symptomatic cases of Zika, but only one in five people have symptoms of the virus, which include fever, rash, joint pain and pink eye. Singapore residents responded to government calls to be vigilant and to take precautions against mosquito bites. Online retailer Lazada Singapore said sales of insect repellents jumped five-fold in the past three days. FairPrice supermarkets and Watsons pharmacies said their sales of such products had doubled. Airplane passengers walks through feverscan camera system used to detect human temperature shortly after arriving from Singapore at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Beawiharta Most of the early infections were among foreign workers, hundreds of thousands of whom, mainly from the Asian sub-continent, work on Singapore’s construction sites and in the marine sector. The Singapore government has not said where the infected foreign workers are from. The foreign ministry directed queries to the health ministry, which did not respond to Reuters questions on the issue. The Ministry of Manpower also did not respond to a request for comment made outside working hours. The High Commission of Bangladesh, which represents the largest community of foreign workers, said none of those infected were Bangladeshis, and the Thai foreign ministry said none were from Thailand. The embassies of China, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar said they had not been notified by Singapore whether their citizens were among those infected. Authorities inspected thousands of homes in seven parts of Singapore, including five foreign worker dormitories, spraying insecticide and removing potential mosquito breeding habitats. The NEA has inspected about 5,000 premises in and around the initial outbreak area, issuing 400 notices to owners of buildings they could not access. The NEA can force entry into those premises if needed. Zika was first discovered in Uganda in 1947. It caused clusters of human infections from the 1960s to 1980s across Africa and Asia, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak in the Americas was caused by a Zika strain from Asia, possibly carried to Brazil through travel to a sporting event. Many experts believe once infected, Zika produces lifelong immunity. Slideshow (4 Images) “Unfortunately, it is not clear the level of immunity that is currently in Asia,” said Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern University in Boston. WHO declared Zika a global health emergency because of its link with microcephaly. In Brazil, Zika has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly.[SEP]The new infections bring the state's total of non-travel-related cases to 46, according to the Florida Department of Health. Only one of Tuesday's three new cases was linked to Miami Beach, which is known to be an active area for local Zika transmission. The health department said it was investigating the other two cases to determine where they occurred, but cautioned, "One case does not mean ongoing active transmission is taking place." The department said it believes ongoing transmission is only taking place in parts of Miami Beach and the trendy Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, the site of the first local Zika transmission in the United States. Zika infections have been mounting in popular tourist areas and may have caused concern among wary vacationers. Travelers have booked fewer hotel rooms in downtown Miami, and leisure airfares to the greater Miami area have inched down in the weeks since the Zika virus was detected there. Florida health department workers have been going door-to-door in Pinellas, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties to talk to residents about the virus and offer voluntary tests. The Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects, including microcephaly. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.[SEP]The number of Zika cases in Singapore has surged to 82, the government said Tuesday, as the mosquito-fighting effort continued in a bid to curb the spread of the disease. Singapore's Ministry of Health and National Environment Agency confirmed 26 new local infections -- the majority around the eastern Aljunied suburb where most of the other cases have been clustered. Many of the initial cases were foreign workers on a condominium project. Zika, which has been detected in 58 countries and particularly Brazil, causes only mild symptoms for most people, such as fever and a rash. But in pregnant women, Zika can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads. The city-state has in recent days waged war on mosquitoes, with teams of NEA inspectors visiting homes to check for mosquito breeding sites while pest controllers have saturated affected estates with insecticide. The NEA said it had inspected 5,000 out of 6,000 homes in the affected cluster by Monday, destroying 39 breeding sites. Those found with mosquito breeding sites in their homes can be fined up to Sg$5,000 ($3,700). Singapore, despite having the highest health care standards in Southeast Asia, is a densely populated tropical island with frequent rain. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water that collects in construction sites, open space and homes. It is also one of Asia's cleanest cities but has a chronic problem with dengue fever, which is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Singapore's first reported case of Zika in May involved a man who had visited Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier in the year. Neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have said they will monitor visitor arrivals from Singapore, while Taiwan and Australia have issued travel advisories warning against travel to the city-state.[SEP]Local administrative offices across the country have enacted measures against the spread of Zika virus after a slew of infections were reported. Ang Thong Municipality has begun spraying against mosquitoes following news 94 people in the province of Bueng Kan contracted the disease with one still recovering. According to Bueng Kan public health officer Dr. Wissanu Wittayabumrung, the 94 were found in 5 districts of the province. He affirmed 93 are completely recovered and that monitoring practices are being maintained in all susceptible areas. Ang Thong public health officer Dr. Songwuth Hutamai let on that an order has been issued for all public health offices to enact precautionary measures against Zika, including in areas where no infections have yet been found. The action comes ahead of a World Health Organization emergency meeting prompted by an outbreak of Zika in Singapore, which also led to travel warnings against the country being issued by nations such as Australia, Taiwan and the US. While Zika is relatively minor among other viruses, it has been tied to a fetal condition seen when pregnant mothers contract the illness.[SEP]The Disease Control Department has dismissed as inaccurate a report of the Disease Control and Prevention Centre of the European Union placing Thailand as a country with widespread Zika infection in the last three months. The department director-general, Dr Amnuay Kajeena, explained on Tuesday that since Thailand had never submitted any report about Zika infection to the European Union, it was assumed that the report might be based on press reports which were not accurate. He suggested that the EU’s disease control and prevention centre should base its report on the data of the World Health Organisation. WHO has placed Thailand among countries with scattered Zika infection which also include Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, said Dr Amnuay, adding that Zika infection which used to affect 16 provinces has now reduced to six provinces without any new cases.[SEP]SINGAPORE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The number of confirmed cases of Zika virus in Singapore rose to 82 on Tuesday, with some of the latest infections detected beyond the area of the initial outbreak. Several countries advised pregnant women or those trying to conceive to avoid travelling to the city-state. The mosquito-borne Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women as it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. At least five of 26 new cases confirmed late on Tuesday were detected outside the initial cluster in the Aljunied area in the southeast of Singapore, the health ministry and National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement. Australia, Taiwan and South Korea issued travel warnings, and Singapore advised pregnant women to take a free Zika test if they showed any symptoms or if their partners tested positive. "This is regardless of whether they have been to Zika-affected areas," the statement said. The outbreak and advisories come as the tourism industry in one of the world's busiest travel hubs already faces weak global economic growth. Singapore's Tourism Board said it was premature to consider any impact on the sector, adding it remained a "safe travel destination". More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals topped 8 million, around 1 million more than a year earlier. Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted Zika at the weekend, and the number of confirmed infections has risen steadily since then. At least three dozen patients have made a full recovery. Neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia have stepped up protective measures, introducing thermal scanners at airports and border checkpoints with the island state. Singapore residents responded to government calls to be vigilant and to take precautions against mosquito bites. Online retailer Lazada Singapore said sales of insect repellents jumped fivefold in the past three days. FairPrice supermarkets and Watsons pharmacies said their sales of such products had doubled. Most of the early infections were among foreign workers, hundreds of thousands of whom, mainly from the Asian sub-continent, work on Singapore's construction sites and in the marine sector. The Singapore government has not said where the infected foreign workers are from. The foreign ministry directed queries to the health ministry, which did not respond to Reuters questions on the issue. The Ministry of Manpower also did not respond to a request for comment made outside working hours. The High Commission of Bangladesh, which represents the largest community of foreign workers, said none of those infected were Bangladeshis, and the Thai foreign ministry said none were from Thailand. The embassies of China, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar said they had not been notified by Singapore whether their citizens were among those infected. Authorities inspected thousands of homes in seven parts of Singapore, including five foreign worker dormitories, spraying insecticide and removing potential mosquito breeding habitats. The NEA has inspected about 5,000 premises in and around the initial outbreak area, issuing 400 notices to owners of buildings they could not access. The NEA can force entry into those premises if needed.

Australia, South Korea and Taiwan issue travel advisories concerning Singapore after cases of Zika virus infection in the city-state passes 50.

Washington has expressed concern about a surge in drug-related killings since Duterte became president two months ago promising to wipe out narcotics in the Southeast Asian nation. Asked if he would be willing to discuss human rights at his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an East Asia summit on Sept. 6, Duterte told reporters: "Depends to what degree". "They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights. I would insist, listen to me: this is what the problem is, then we can talk." Police data released on Tuesday showed that the number of drug-related killings since Duterte took office now stands at around 2,000, nearly half of them in police operations and the rest in shootings by unidentified gunmen. Duterte, who is nicknamed "the Punisher", has been unapologetic over unleashing the police on drug users and dealers and has responded robustly to criticism from the United Nations and other countries over his campaign. Recently he lashed out at Washington's ambassador to the Philippines, branding him a "gay son of a whore". The White House said on Monday that Obama would raise concerns about some of Duterte's "recent statements" when the two men meet next week. However, it said there were also important security issues for the two closely allied countries to discuss, particularly tensions over navigation in the South China Sea. China has been incensed by a ruling against its claims in the South China Sea by an international court, a case initiated by Manila. Duterte said he would also hold talks with China, which will be represented at the Laos meeting by Premier Li Keqiang. Media reports said he would also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.[SEP]Kerry calls on China, Philippines to abide by tribunal ruling on South China Sea NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday called on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal's decision on the disputed South China Sea region. "This is a crucial opportunity to uphold the existing rules-based international order, show respect for international law, and support regional stability and prosperity," Kerry said in an address to students on a two-day visit to New Delhi. The remarks came ahead of a G20 summit in China on Sept 4 and 5 that is to be attended by global leaders. Beijing wants to use the meeting in the tourist hub of Hangzhou to lay out a broad strategy for global growth, but talks are likely to be overshadowed by arguments over everything from territorial disputes to protectionism, diplomats said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)[SEP]Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he was ready to discuss any issues with Barack Obama when they meet in Laos next week, but added that the US president must listen to him first before bringing up the question of human rights. Washington has expressed concern about a surge in drug-related killings since Duterte became president two months ago promising to wipe out narcotics in the Southeast Asian nation. Asked if he would be willing to discuss human rights at his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an East Asia summit on Sep 6, Duterte told reporters: “Depends to what degree. “They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights. I would insist, listen to me: this is what the problem is, then we can talk.” In a statement, the foreign ministry said the meeting would be an opportunity for the president to “communicate his advocacy to improve the peace and order situation in the country, especially towards eradicating the scourge of illicit drugs”. Police data released on Tuesday showed that the number of drug-related killings since Duterte took office now stands at around 2,000, nearly half of them in police operations and the rest in shootings by unidentified gunmen. Duterte has been unapologetic over unleashing the police on drug users and dealers and has responded robustly to criticism from the United Nations and other countries over his campaign. Recently he lashed out at Washington’s ambassador to the Philippines, branding him a “gay son of a whore”. The White House said on Monday that Obama would raise concerns about some of Duterte’s recent statements when the two meet. However, it said there were also important security issues for the two closely allied countries to discuss, particularly tension over navigation in the South China Sea. China has been incensed by a ruling against its claims in the South China Sea by an international court, a case initiated by Manila. The two leaders were expected to discuss ways to strengthen the security alliance after Manila allowed the US military to rotate its forces in five local air and army bases, foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose said. Duterte said he would also hold talks with China, which will be represented at the Laos meeting by Premier Li Keqiang. Media reports said he would also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.[SEP]MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked U.S. and international concerns, when he meets with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an Asian summit next week. Duterte said he would demand that he be allowed to first explain the context of his crackdown before engaging Obama in a discussion of the widespread deaths. The two will meet for the first time on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Western leaders in Laos. Nearly 1,800 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed since July 1, and U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in Washington Monday that Obama plans to raise U.S. concerns over the killings with Duterte. "They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights," Duterte told a news conference. "I would insist, 'Listen to me. This is what the problem is.' Then we can talk. No problem." Speaking at Manila's international airport, Duterte warned more than 120 Filipino workers who returned after they were laid off in Saudi Arabia to stay away from illegal drugs. "Avoid drugs at all costs because it could cost your life too," Duterte said, adding that more than 3 million Filipinos are drug addicts. Criticism by the U.S. government, U.N. rights experts and human rights groups over the drugs killings have provoked angry outbursts from Duterte, who, at one point, threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the U.N. Duterte said that the world body and the U.S. have failed to prevent genocidal killings in Africa and the Middle East but criticize his crackdown, which targets hardcore criminals who destroy Philippine society. The U.S. has expressed concern over the extrajudicial killings and urged Duterte's government to ensure law enforcement efforts comply with human rights obligations. "We are concerned by these detentions, as well as the extrajudicial killings of individuals suspected to be involved in drug activity in the Philippines," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. "We strongly urge the Philippines to ensure its law enforcement efforts comply with its human rights obligations." She added: "We believe in rule of law. We believe in due process. We believe in respect for universal human rights. We believe, fundamentally, that those aspects ensure and promote long-term security." Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with America and has said he will chart a foreign policy that is not dependent on the U.S., his country's longtime treaty ally. Duterte has also tried to repair relations with China that have been strained over escalating territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, gestures with a fist bump as he poses with Overseas Filipino Workers upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, in suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines. The Filipino workers were repatriated back to the country after fleeing from their jobs in the Middle East and sought shelter refuge at the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Duterte says he is ready to discuss with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an Asian summit next week his bloody anti-drugs campaign, which has sparked Washington's concerns as the body count in the crackdown climbed alarmingly. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a fist bump as he poses with Overseas Filipino Workers upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 in suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines. The Filipino workers were repatriated back to the country after fleeing from their jobs in the Middle East and sought shelter refuge at the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Duterte says he is ready to discuss with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of an Asian summit next week his bloody anti-drugs campaign, which has sparked Washington's concerns as the body count in the crackdown climbed alarmingly. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)[SEP]The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade has reached about 2,000, according to data released today. There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close ally of Manila. As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against narcotics, the Philippine National Police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1st to August 20th. That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day. Last week the police said 1,100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated. No new number for that category was given today but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to about 2,000. Mr Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs. Two UN human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Mr Duterte, who threatened to pull his country out of the UN. His foreign minister later rowed back on the threat. Mr Duterte’s communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that a 30-second advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would be aired over the next week by commercial and public TV stations and in movie theatres. “The government is not spending a single centavo on these ads and TV stations are carrying them for free,” Mr Andanar told reporters at an event in a Manila hotel. He said his office would also publish a 40-page pamphlet to explain the rising body count. This would be issued on the president’s first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos. “Some people abroad have to understand why many people are getting killed in the anti-drug campaign. They must understand, this is a war and there are casualties,” Mr Andanar said. “The pamphlet will inform and explain that the government was not killing people at random, that these killings are not extrajudicial in nature but as part of the anti-crime campaign. Some of those killed were police officers who are involved in criminal activities.” The White House said on Monday that US president Barack Obama is expected to meet Mr Duterte in Laos on September 6th, and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns. Mr Duterte’s crackdown on drugs and some strongly worded criticism he has made of the US present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. There have been few signs in the Philippines itself of a backlash against the war on drugs. However, today a newly formed group called the “Stop the Killings Network” announced a #Lightforlife campaign that would start with simultaneous candle-lighting events on Wednesday evening at six venues across Manila.[SEP]Philippines' Duterte: Obama must listen to me on human rights MANILA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he was ready to discuss any issues with Barack Obama when they meet in Laos next week, but added that the U.S. president must listen to him first before bringing up the question of human rights. Washington has expressed concern about a surge in drug-related killings since Duterte became president two months ago promising to wipe out narcotics in the Southeast Asian nation. Asked if he would be willing to discuss human rights at his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an East Asia summit on Sept. 6, Duterte told reporters: "Depends to what degree". "They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights. I would insist, listen to me: this is what the problem is, then we can talk." Police data released on Tuesday showed that the number of drug-related killings since Duterte took office now stands at around 2,000, nearly half of them in police operations and the rest in shootings by unidentified gunmen. Duterte, who is nicknamed "the Punisher", has been unapologetic over unleashing the police on drug users and dealers and has responded robustly to criticism from the United Nations and other countries over his campaign. Recently he lashed out at Washington's ambassador to the Philippines, branding him a "gay son of a whore". The White House said on Monday that Obama would raise concerns about some of Duterte's "recent statements" when the two men meet next week. However, it said there were also important security issues for the two closely allied countries to discuss, particularly tensions over navigation in the South China Sea. China has been incensed by a ruling against its claims in the South China Sea by an international court, a case initiated by Manila. Duterte said he would also hold talks with China, which will be represented at the Laos meeting by Premier Li Keqiang. Media reports said he would also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Michael Perry)[SEP]Philippines' Duterte: Obama must listen to me on human rights MANILA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he was ready to discuss any issues with Barack Obama when they meet in Laos next week, but added that the U.S. president must listen to him first before bringing up the question of human rights. Washington has expressed concern about a surge in drug-related killings since Duterte became president two months ago promising to wipe out narcotics in the Southeast Asian nation. Asked if he would be willing to discuss human rights at his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an East Asia summit on Sept. 6, Duterte told reporters: "Depends to what degree". "They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights. I would insist, listen to me: this is what the problem is, then we can talk."[SEP]WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sept. 6, and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns, the White House said on Monday. "We absolutely expect that the president will raise concerns about some of the recent statements from the president of the Philippines," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told a media briefing when asked whether inflammatory remarks by Duterte about women, journalists and others would be a topic of discussion. Rhodes said, however, that there were important security issues to cover as well, particularly tensions over navigation in the South China Sea. China has been incensed by a ruling against its claims in the South China Sea by an international court, a case initiated by Manila. The expected meeting between Obama and Duterte would take place in Laos, where the two leaders will be attending a summit of leaders from Pacific Rim nations. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chris Reese and Andrew Hay)[SEP]Washington has expressed concern about a surge in drug-related killings since Duterte became president two months ago promising to wipe out narcotics in the Southeast Asian nation. Asked if he would be willing to discuss human rights at his meeting with Obama on the sidelines of an East Asia summit on Sept. 6, Duterte told reporters: "Depends to what degree. "They must understand the problem first before we talk about human rights. I would insist, listen to me: this is what the problem is, then we can talk." In a statement, the foreign ministry said the meeting would be an opportunity for the president to "communicate his advocacy to improve the peace and order situation in the country, especially toward eradicating the scourge of illicit drugs". Police data released on Tuesday showed that the number of drug-related killings since Duterte took office now stands at around 2,000, nearly half of them in police operations and the rest in shootings by unidentified gunmen. Duterte has been unapologetic over unleashing the police on drug users and dealers and has responded robustly to criticism from the United Nations and other countries over his campaign. Recently he lashed out at Washington's ambassador to the Philippines, branding him a "gay son of a whore". The White House said on Monday that Obama would raise concerns about some of Duterte's recent statements when the two meet. However, it said there were also important security issues for the two closely allied countries to discuss, particularly tension over navigation in the South China Sea. China has been incensed by a ruling against its claims in the South China Sea by an international court, a case initiated by Manila. The two leaders were expected to discuss ways to strengthen the security alliance after Manila allowed the U.S. military to rotate its forces in five local air and army bases, foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose said. Duterte said he would also hold talks with China, which will be represented at the Laos meeting by Premier Li Keqiang. Media reports said he would also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.[SEP]The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade has reached about 2,000, according to data released today. There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close ally of Manila. As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against narcotics, the Philippine National Police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1st to August 20th. That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day. Last week the police said 1,100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated. No new number for that category was given today but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to about 2,000. Mr Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs. Two UN human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Mr Duterte, who threatened to pull his country out of the UN. His foreign minister later rowed back on the threat. Mr Duterte’s communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that a 30-second advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would be aired over the next week by commercial and public TV stations and in movie theatres. “The government is not spending a single centavo on these ads and TV stations are carrying them for free,” Mr Andanar told reporters at an event in a Manila hotel. He said his office would also publish a 40-page pamphlet to explain the rising body count. This would be issued on the president’s first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos. “Some people abroad have to understand why many people are getting killed in the anti-drug campaign. They must understand, this is a war and there are casualties,” Mr Andanar said. “The pamphlet will inform and explain that the government was not killing people at random, that these killings are not extrajudicial in nature but as part of the anti-crime campaign. Some of those killed were police officers who are involved in criminal activities.” The White House said on Monday that US president Barack Obama is expected to meet Mr Duterte in Laos on September 6th, and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns. Mr Duterte’s crackdown on drugs and some strongly worded criticism he has made of the US present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. There have been few signs in the Philippines itself of a backlash against the war on drugs. However, today a newly formed group called the “Stop the Killings Network” announced a #Lightforlife campaign that would start with simultaneous candle-lighting events on Wednesday evening at six venues across Manila.

Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte says he would not press on for China to abide by the South China Sea ruling but he might do so in the future.

North Korea publicly executed two officials in early August for disobeying leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday. Former agriculture minister Hwang Min and Ri Yong Jin, a senior official at the education ministry, have been executed, the JoongAng Ilbo daily reported citing a source. The report of the execution, however, could not be verified as South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles North Korea-related matters, has released no confirmation of the news. According to JoongAng Ilbo daily, Hwang was killed because his policy proposals were seen as a challenge to Kim, Reuters reported. The South Korean newspaper also stated that Ro was caught nodding off during a meeting with Kim and was later accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the leader. The newspaper reported that the two men were executed by anti-aircraft gun at a military academy in Pyongyang. North Korea has seen a series of high-level purges under the rule of the young leader, who took power in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. However, several reports of purges and executions in the past have later proved inaccurate. The report of the executions comes after Seoul said North Korea's deputy ambassador in London had defected and arrived in the South with his family. While news about executions in Pyongyang rarely are made public, state media confirmed the news of the execution of Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek, in 2012 for factionalism and crimes damaging to the economy of the reclusive country. Last year, the South's spy agency also revealed that a former defense minister, Hyun Yong Chol, was executed for treason.[SEP]Two senior regime officers reported to have been killed for posing a threat to leader Kim Jong-un This article is more than 3 years old This article is more than 3 years old North Korea’s purge of senior officials who are deemed a threat to Kim Jong-un’s leadership of the country has continued with the public executions of two senior officials, according to South Korean media, possibly to generate fear among members of the elite after recent high-level defections. The conservative daily, the JoongAng Ilbo, reported on Tuesday that Hwang Min, a former agriculture minister, and Ri Yong-jin, a senior official at the education ministry, were executed by anti-aircraft gun at a military academy in Pyongyang earlier this month. Hwang was reportedly killed for making policy proposals that were seen as a direct threat to Kim’s leadership. The report did not give details of the proposals. Ri was said to have been executed for falling asleep during a meeting chaired by Kim. The newspaper’s front-page report, based on information from an unnamed source it claimed had “special knowledge” of the regime, has not been independently verified. No announcement has been made by the state’s official KCNA news agency. The rumoured executions, though, would fit into a pattern of purges Kim has ordered against perceived enemies since he became leader in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il. The most influential official to have been executed was Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle and second-in-command. Jang, denounced as a “traitor for all ages”, was killed in December 2013 after being found guilty of treason and other crimes against the North Korean state. In April last year, Hyon Yong-chol, a former defence chief, was executed after falling asleep during a military rally attended by Kim. The JoongAng Ilbo speculated that the executions could herald a new round of purges, intended as a show of force by Kim in retaliation for recent defections, including that of Thae Yong-ho, deputy ambassador at the North Korean embassy in London. The regime denounced Thae as “human scum ”, and claimed he had fled to South Korea to escape charges of misusing government funds, selling state secrets and committing child rape. The JoongAng Ilbo said the defections had “rekindled talk of instability and disunity among the North Korean elite”.[SEP]Two senior North Korean officials were executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August on the orders of Kim Jong-un, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper has reported. Ri Yong Jin, a senior official in the education ministry, was arrested for dozing off during a meeting with Kim and charged with corruption before being killed, the paper said. Former Agriculture Minister Hwang Min was purged over a proposed project seen as a direct challenge to Kim’s leadership, it said. If true, it would mark the first executions ordered by Kim from outside his party or the military, the paper said. A spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said he couldn’t immediately confirm the JoongAng report.[SEP]Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of two high-ranking officials by anti-aircraft gun over fears that the dictator is preparing another purge against his people. Ri Yong Jin, a senior official at the education ministry, was sentenced to death after he fell asleep in a meeting being addressed by Kim. After accidentally dozing off, Ri was taken into custody and interrogated where security agents found evidence of his disloyalty and disrespect towards Kim. According to South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo, Hwang Min, a former agriculture minister was also sentenced to death. Hwang's crime, according to the South Korean media, was to have developed a number of ideas to improve agricultural production. These ideas were seen by the regime as an attempt to undermine Kim. Both men were executed by an anti-aircraft gun at a military academy in Pyongyang. The North Korean regime is especially paranoid in recent weeks after a senior offiicial at the London embassy defected to South Korea along with his wife and children. North Korea rarely announces purges or executions, although state media confirmed execution of Kim's uncle and the man widely considered the second most powerful man in the country, Jang Song Thaek, in 2012 for factionalism and crimes damaging to the economy. A former defence minister, Hyun Yong Chol, is also believed to have been executed last year for treason, according to the South's spy agency. The JoongAng Ilbo said the two men were executed by anti-aircraft gun at a military academy in Pyongyang.[SEP]Kim Jong-un has executed a senior North Korean official by firing squad because he did not sit properly during a meeting. Education minister Kim Yong-Jin, 63, was shot dead after his 'bad sitting posture' in parliament incurred the wrath of the North Korean dictator. The slouching vice premier was interrogated and found to be an 'anti-revolutionary agitator' before his execution in July, a South Korean official said. 'Vice premier for education Kim Yong-Jin was executed,' South Korea's unification ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said. 'Kim Yong-Jin was denounced for his bad sitting posture when he was sitting below the rostrum,' he added, referring to North Korea's parliament. Kim Jong-un was in the government meeting and was infuriated after Kim Yong-Jin sat in his chair 'with a bad attitude'. Another South Korean official said the education official's poor posture was spotted at a meeting on June 29, when Kim Jong-un was named chairman of a new national defence department. 'The trouble for Kim began after he was seen sitting with bad attitude during a meeting of the People's Supreme Assembly,' the official told South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily. 'He was later accused of being anti-revolutionary following a probe and a firing squad execution was carried out in July,' he added. Kim Yong-chol, another North Korean official, was sent an 'ideological re-education' farm for a month in June and July because of his 'overbearing attitude'. Meanwhile Choe Hwi, vice director of North Korea's propaganda and agitation department, has been sent to a similar camp. The new report corrects claims made in the South Korean media yesterday that two North Korean officials were executed by anti-aircraft gun. It was earlier reported that Ri Yong Jin, a senior official at the education ministry, was sentenced to death after he fell asleep in a meeting being addressed by Kim Jong-un. It was also falsely claimed that Hwang Min, an agriculture minister, was sentenced to death for undermining the North Korean leader for coming up with new farming ideas. The North Korean regime is especially paranoid in recent weeks after a senior official at the London embassy defected to South Korea along with his wife and children. North Korea rarely announces purges or executions, although state media confirmed the execution of Kim's uncle and the man widely considered the second most powerful man in the country, Jang Song Thaek, in 2012 for factionalism and crimes damaging to the economy. A former defence minister, Hyun Yong Chol, is also believed to have been executed last year for treason, according to the South's spy agency.[SEP]North Korean leader Kim Jong-un used an anti-aircraft gun to publicly execute a senior official who fell asleep during a meeting. The maniac leader also used the gun to kill the country's agricultural minister Hwang Min - for challenging his power. Anti-aircraft guns - as their name suggests - are normally surface-to-air missiles used to handle hostile action from fighter planes in the air. Using them to kill an individual person would be the military equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut - for want of a better analogy. Ri Yong-Jin, who worked at the education department, "dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim", according to a report. They revealed: "(Ri Yong-Jin) was arrested on site and intensively questioned by the state security ministry. "He was executed after other charges, such as corruption, were found during the probe." • Kim Jong-Un owes more than £225,000 in London congestion charge for just THREE CARS The source said: "I understand (Hwang Min) was executed because policy proposals he had pushed for were seen as a direct challenge to the Kim Jong-Un leadership." Both deaths are said to have happened inside the secretive communist state earlier this month "on a special order from Kim Jong-un" at a military academy in Pyongyang. Jong-un became leader after the death of his father Kim Jong-II in 2011 - and has since used executions to keep his subordinates in check. • Charlton fans unfurl North Korea flag above Directors Box during match against Bolton There are no other independent reports of these executions - and North Korea rarely comments on its executions to confirm them. South Korea's Unification Ministry - which looks after North Korea-related matters - is yet to comment.[SEP]North Korea has executed a vice premier for showing disrespect during a meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong Un, and banished two other officials for re-education, South Korea said Wednesday. If confirmed, they would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals carried out since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. North Korea is a closed, authoritarian country with a state-controlled press that often makes it difficult for outsiders, and even North Korean citizens, to know what’s happening in the government. “Vice premier for education Kim Yong Jin was executed,” Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said at a regular briefing. Kim was killed by a firing squad in July as “an anti-party, anti-revolutionary agitator,” added an official at the ministry, who declined to be named. “Kim Yong Jin was denounced for his bad sitting posture when he was sitting below the rostrum” during a session of North Korea’s parliament, and then underwent a interrogation that revealed his other crimes, the official told reporters. The mass-selling JoongAng Ilbo first reported Tuesday that top figures had been punished, but identified the education official by a different name. “He incurred the wrath of Kim after he dozed off during a meeting presided over by Kim. He was arrested on site and intensively questioned by the state security ministry,” it quoted a source as saying. The Unification Ministry said two other senior figures were forced to undergo re-education sessions. One of them was Kim Yong Chol, a top official in charge of inter-Korean affairs and espionage activities against the South. The 71-year-old Kim is a career military intelligence official who is believed to be the mastermind behind the North’s frequent cyberattacks against Seoul. Kim is also blamed by the South for the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010 near the disputed sea border with the North in the Yellow Sea. Kim was banished to an agricultural farm in July for a month for his “arrogance” and “abuse of power,” the ministry official said. Kim Yong Chol, who was subsequently reinstated this month, is likely to be tempted to prove his loyalty by committing provocative acts against the South, the official said. “Therefore, we are keeping a close tab on the North,” he said. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency put the number of party officials executed during Kim Jong Un’s rule at over 100. The most notorious case was that of Kim’s uncle and onetime No. 2 Jang Song Thaek, who was executed for charges including treason and corruption in December 2013. In April 2015, it was reported that Kim had his Defense Minister, Hyon Yong Chol, summarily executed with an anti-aircraft gun. Reports of the latest execution coincide with a series of high-profile defections from the North. North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain has defected to the South with his family, the Unification Ministry said earlier this month. Thae Yong Ho was driven by “disgust for the North Korean regime” and concerns for his family’s future, it said. Twelve waitresses and their manager who had been working at a North Korea-themed restaurant in China also made headlines when they arrived in the South in April as the largest group defection for years. About 10 North Korean diplomats made it to the South in the first half of this year alone, Yonhap said, quoting informed sources.[SEP]North Korea publicly executed two top officials earlier this month with anti-aircraft guns on the personal order of supreme leader Kim Jong Un, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday. Citing an unidentified source with knowledge of the North, the JoongAng Ilbo daily named the victims as Hwang Min, a former agriculture minister, and Ri Yong Jin, a senior official with the Education Ministry. According to the report, the executions were carried out on the “special order” of Kim himself. The daily quoted the source as saying Hwang was executed over a policy proposal that represented a direct challenge to the Kim regime. The report did not elaborate on the proposal. Ri’s fate was reportedly sealed after he fell asleep during a meeting presided over by Kim. The report said he was arrested on site and later executed after a probe uncovered corruption and other malfeasance. Both were killed at a military academy in Pyongyang, the source said, adding that an anti-aircraft gun was used in the executions. The report could not be independently verified. The North rarely publicly acknowledges executions or purges, and prior media reports of leading officials’ executions in the reclusive state have proven to be false. In December 2013, however, Pyongyang publicly announced perhaps its most high-profile execution, that of Kim’s uncle and key adviser, Jang Song Thaek. Kim’s former defense chief, Ri Yong Gil, was reported by the Yonhap news agency in February to have been executed, although his name was seen in May on a list of officials selected for senior posts at the Workers’ Party Congress that month.[SEP]Two senior North Korean officials were executed with an anti-aircraft gun in early August on the orders of Kim Jong Un, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify. Ri Yong Jin, a senior official in the education ministry -- possibly the minister -- was arrested for dozing off during a meeting with Kim and charged with corruption before being killed, the paper said. Former Agriculture Minister Hwang Min was purged over a proposed project seen as a direct challenge to Kim's leadership, it said. If true, it would mark the first executions ordered by Kim from outside his party or the military, the paper said. A spokesman at South Korea's Unification Ministry said he couldn't immediately confirm the JoongAng report. Kim has carried out a series of executions since taking power in 2011 after his father's death as he puts his mark on the leadership of the isolated nuclear-armed nation. The most high profile was the killing three years ago of his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek. He had about 50 officials executed in 2014 on charges ranging from graft to watching South Korean soap operas. "Kim is continuing to replace the old guard of his father's regime with loyalists," said Robert Kelly, a political science professor at South Korea's Pusan National University. "The charges are obviously trumped up, and this is how promotion or demotion often works in totalitarian states without legitimate venues for opposition." Kim had his military chief Ri Yong Gil executed in February on charges including corruption, Yonhap News reported at the time. In January last year he executed General Pyon In Son, head of operations in the army, for disagreeing with him; and in May of that year he purged his defense minister Hyon Yong Chol for dozing off at a rally. Still, reports of purges of senior North Korean officials are not uncommon and at times have proven to be unreliable. Earlier this month, Seoul announced that a senior North Korean diplomat based in the U.K. had defected to South Korea. The man was among seven diplomats who have defected this year, according to JoongAng Ilbo. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Monday the defections signal a "serious fracture" within the North Korean regime and raise the prospects of fresh provocations as Kim seeks to maintain control. Her comments came as South Korea and the U.S. hold annual military drills that North Korea calls a prelude to an invasion. Even so, Kelly at Pusan University said that the isolated state is probably more stable than many people think or want it to be. "I don't think there has been a fracture," he said. "So long as China keeps the goodies flowing into Pyongyang, which is like a city-state in an ocean of deprivation, the elites won't turn on each other."[SEP]North Korea has executed a vice premier and banished two other top officials to rural areas for reeducation, South Korean officials said Wednesday. If confirmed, they would be the latest in a series of killings, purges and dismissals carried out since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. North Korea is a closed, authoritarian country with a state-controlled media that often makes it difficult for outsiders, and even North Korean citizens, to know what's happening in the government. Rival South Korea, which runs several intelligence organizations mainly tasked with spying on North Korea, has a mixed record on reporting developments across the border. In May, a former North Korean military chief, who Seoul said had been executed, was found to be alive and holding several new senior-level posts. Jeong Joon Hee, a spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry, told reporters Wednesday that Kim Yong Jin, a vice premier on education affairs in North Korea's cabinet, had been executed. Jeong gave no further details, including why and when his ministry believes Kim was executed and how it obtained the information. But a South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity citing office rules, said Kim was executed by firing squad in July for unspecified antirevolutionary and factional acts. The official said Kim first faced an investigation because of the way he was seated during a June meeting attended by Kim Jong Un. Little is known about Kim Yong Jin, who last was mentioned by North Korea's state news agency on June 15, when it reported he attended an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's taekwondo federation. Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be in his early 30s, is revered at the center of an intense cult of personality, with state TV occasionally showing aging senior officials kowtowing and kneeling before him. Last year, South Korea's spy agency said Kim had his defense chief executed with an antiaircraft gun for complaining about him and sleeping during a meeting over which he had presided. Jeong said Kim Yong Chol, a top ruling Workers' Party official in charge of anti-Seoul spy operations, also had been ordered to undertake "revolutionary reeducation," in a reference to the banishment at a rural collective farm or a coal mine. Jeong said another senior party official dealing with propaganda affairs, Choe Hwi, was still on a similar "revolutionary reeducation" program. Seoul officials believe Kim Yong Chol, director of the party's United Front Department, orchestrated two attacks that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010, when he headed the North Korean army's intelligence agency. Kim disappeared from the public eye for about 50 days before the North's state media on Sunday mentioned his name in a list of officials who attended ceremonies marking Youth Day. Kim Yong Chol was banished at a rural farm for about one month between mid-July and mid-August because of high-handed attitudes and attempts to expand his United Front Department's authority too much, according to a South Korean official who spoke about Kim Yong Jin's execution. The official said Kim Yong Chol recently was reinstated. The rival Koreas have shared the world's most heavily fortified border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and they bar ordinary citizens from exchanging phone calls, letters and emails without special permission. Why a modest pastor with a flag is so threatening to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe The battles began in 1964: Here's a look at Colombia's war with the FARC rebels Why Iran is desperate for U.S. passenger planes, but can't have them

Two North Korean officials are reportedly publicly executed by Kim Jong-un after they allegedly disobeyed orders: former agriculture minister Hwang Min for unsuitable policies and Ri Yong Jin, a senior official at the education ministry, for sleeping at a meeting with Kim, disrespect for the leader and corruption. They were allegedly executed by anti-aircraft artillery fire.

US singer Chris Brown has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman told police he had threatened her with a gun. Beauty queen Baylee Curran told the LA Times Mr Brown had pointed the gun at her face after she had been admiring his friend’s jewellery. Mr Brown came out of his home after a stand-off with police on Tuesday. The singer has several convictions for violence, including a 2009 assault on his then girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. Police went to Mr Brown’s home following the emergency call early on Tuesday from Ms Curran, who by that time had left the property. Ms Curran told the LA Times that she and a friend had gone to Mr Brown’s house with a business associate on Monday evening. She said she had been admiring the diamond necklace of a man who had been showing off his jewellery when the man got angry and told her to back away. That is when she says Mr Brown pulled out a gun, pointed it at her face and told her to get out. “If somebody put a gun to your head, what would you do? Call the police,” Ms Curran said on her Instagram account, AFP news agency reported. Once at Mr Brown’s sprawling mansion, police officers were allegedly denied entry and had to wait for a judge to approve a search warrant before going inside to search for a weapon. It wasn’t until Mr Brown’s lawyer arrived that the singer eventually emerged. Police said about half a dozen people had been escorted out of the residence and would be interviewed. During the stand-off, Mr Brown posted videos online accusing the police of harassment. “When you get the warrant for whatever you need to do, you’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing, you idiots,” he said in one Instagram video, posted to 30m followers. In another, Mr Brown also voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality, saying: “You’re all the worst gang in the world, the police.”[SEP]Embattled star Chris Brown was arrested late Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Police Lt. Chris Ramirez confirms to The Hollywood Reporter that the Forever singer is currently in custody at a police station in downtown Los Angeles, following a lengthy search at Brown’s Tarzana, California home. The drama began early Tuesday, when beauty queen Baylee Curran called the police and accused the singer of pulling a gun on her during a heated argument at his Tarzana house. She told TMZ.com Brown flew into a rage after noticing her admiring a piece of jewellery. She and a friend managed to escape unharmed, and when cops arrived on the scene to investigate, they were denied entry into Brown’s mansion to look for the alleged weapon. Detectives filed papers for a search warrant, which was granted hours later, allowing them to enter the R&B star’s home around 1pm local time, following a stand-off Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Bob Green described as “long and protracted”. At least six members of the star’s entourage exited the property as cops gained entry, and Brown’s attorney, Mark Geragos, arrived just before the warrant was served, according to the Los Angeles Times. The 27-year-old eventually surrendered peacefully and was spotted talking to authorities outside his home, and hours later, Brown was officially taken into LAPD custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, which is a felony. Brown, who took to Instagram prior to his arrest to insist he had done nothing wrong, has had a myriad of legal troubles over the years. Among the long list of charges is his infamous conviction of felony assault in 2009 after violently attacking then-girlfriend Rihanna. He received five years probation, which finally ended in 2015 after a number of violations for drugs and altercations prompted officials to extend the sentence.[SEP]Following a bizarre, hours-long standoff, LAPD officers began searching the Tarzana home of singer Chris Brown on Tuesday as they hunted for a weapon the performer is said to have used to threaten a woman. Shortly before 1 p.m., officers entered Brown’s sprawling home after taking much of the morning to obtain a search warrant. Brown’s attorney, Mark Geragos, was on the scene as LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division detectives searched the property. At least half a dozen people exited the home, a few of them holding their hands behind their heads as police patted them down. “We’re getting the cooperation of everyone that came out,” Lt. Chris Ramirez said, after informing reporters that officers had served a search warrant. Once all of the occupants are removed from the residence, they will be interviewed to determined what occurred, Ramirez said. No arrests have been made in the matter. Geragos told The Times he was inside the home with Brown, who denies any wrongdoing. The warrant was served shortly after Geragos arrived. Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Bob Green had described the standoff between Brown and officers as “long and protracted.” The search was sparked by a call for help from a woman who said she had been threatened by the performer, police sources said, with officers first arriving at Brown’s home in the 5000 block of Corbin Avenue about 3 a.m. Tuesday. The woman said Brown, who has had several previous run-ins with the law, pointed a gun at her during a violent rage before she ran outside to call police, according to the police sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Officers attempted to enter the home and were told to get a search warrant, the police sources said. Detectives then waited for a warrant to search Brown's home for the weapon. Meanwhile, Brown took to his Instagram account Tuesday morning, sharing videos in which he railed against police and media and said he was being unfairly portrayed as a villain. In the videos, he said he woke up to helicopters overhead and officers at his gate, and maintained that he was not guilty of the accusations. “Good luck. When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing, you idiots,” he said in one video. “I’m tired of ... dealing with y’all.” Because of the high-profile nature of the case, the investigation is being handled by the Robbery-Homicide Division. Prior incidents at the residence include a home-invasion robbery and multiple complaints about Brown and his friends riding all-terrain vehicles loudly up and down the street. Brown spent six years on probation after pleading guilty to attacking his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. His probation was lifted in March 2015. The Grammy Award-winning singer completed about 1,000 hours of community service. He was also ordered to attend anti-domestic-violence classes. Brown also faced charges in connection with driving without a license and accusations of a hit-and-run. In May 2014, he admitted to violating his probation after committing an assault outside a Washington hotel. More recently, in June, Brown’s former manager, Michael Guirguis, known as “Mike G,” filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging he was attacked by the singer. Brown punched Guirguis four times in the face and neck in an incident on May 10, according to the complaint. “The assault was unprovoked and, regrettably, just another attack in Brown’s long history of violent and abusive behavior,” the complaint states. “Clearly, thus far, such extreme consequences, such as the loss of his career, court-mandated rehabilitation, and even jail time, have not deterred Brown’s conduct,” the complaint states. “Perhaps, this time, the imposition of punitive damages for his despicable and unforgivable conduct will.” All lanes of westbound 60 Freeway near Riverside reopening soon after crash LAPD officer charged with stealing police radio, failing to pay for baby stroller: 'We trusted her because she was a police officer' 1:25 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional details about police searching people at Brown’s home. 1:13 p.m.: This article has been updated with police entering Brown’s home. 12:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with information about the search warrant and additional background. 11:20 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional details. 10:05 a.m.: This article has been updated with Brown’s social media posts. 9:15 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional developments. 8:39 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 8:10 a.m.[SEP]Chris Brown has said he's going to "turn the other cheek" to the recent drama and focus on releasing new music. The 27-year-old singer was charged with assault with a deadly weapon following a stand-off at his Tarzana, Los Angeles, home in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Police were alerted to the property at around 3am after a woman called 911 and claimed Brown had threatened her with a gun. A new video, shared on Wednesday, shows Chris - who maintains his innocence and was released on a $250,000 bail - addressing the drama. "Yo. You know all this bulls**t that’s been going on man?," the topless singer shares. "I’m just going to turn my cheek and drop some music." Meanwhile, it's been reported that the singer could face up to 14 years behind bars if he's found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. Legal expert, Troy Slaten, spoke to E! News about the charges and stated that the maximum penalty for assault with a deadly weapon is four years in state prison, but this could be enhanced because of the alleged use of a gun in the crime. He explained: "Assault with a deadly weapon is a possible felony in California, and there is an significant enhancement for using a firearm in the commission of a crime. "An enhancement means that, if convicted and found true, your prison sentence is increased or 'enhanced." Slaten added: "So theoretically 14 years is the statutory max. But that would be very unlikely without a long rap sheet." Brown was previously convicted for felony assault after an attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. The arrest could also have an impact of Brown's custody arrangements for daughter Royalty with her mother Nia Guzman. Slaten predicted that the arrest could be used as the basis for additional proceedings in family court and that Guzman could well push for sole custody of the two-year-old. • Chris Brown tested for drugs by police after arrest for assault with a deadly weapon "Guzman doesn't have to prove to the family court that Brown is guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt,' the standard used in criminal cases," Slaten said. "She only has to prove by 'clear and convincing' evidence that the bests interests of the child are served by her requests." The singer's lawyer Mark Geragos has insisted the allegations are "false", writing: "Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes. Chris is out and well. The allegations against him are demonstrably false." He is now expected to appear in court on September 20, the records show. Officers surrounded the singer's home on Tuesday following a pre-dawn 911 call from a woman - later named as beauty queen Baylee Curran - who claimed he had pointed a gun at her. Brown, 27, also denied any wrongdoing in a series of Instagram posts where he said he had woken up to find police outside and that they would need a warrant to enter the Tarzana property.[SEP]Chris Brown was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after an hourslong standoff with police who responded to a woman’s call for help at his Los Angeles home. Police Lt. Chris Ramirez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said police were transporting Brown from his home to downtown police headquarters where he would be formally booked. Earlier, Ramirez told reporters that several people were escorted from the residence after a search warrant was served. Police said the woman who made the call for help about 3 a.m. was not inside the hilltop estate in the San Fernando Valley. Ramirez did not identify the woman or elaborate on the assistance she needed. He did not know if she was injured. Brown’s attorney Mark Geragos arrived at the home shortly before the warrant was served. According to multiple media outlets, a woman claimed Brown pointed a gun at her before she was able to escape. The LAPD told FOX411: “No shots were fired… right now that’s all we have.” Brown, 27, posted two videos on Instagram from inside the house. Talking to the camera in one, the rapper acknowledged law enforcement were outside his house. “So I don’t sleep half the damn night I just wake up to all these mother f–king helicopters, choppers is around, police out there at the gate,” he said. In the other video, Brown denied wrongdoing, and criticized law enforcement. “I ain’t did s–t. I ain’t going to do s–t. And it’s always going to be be f–k the police black lives matter n—er,” he said. “I don’t care y’all going to stay playing with me like I’m the villain out here, like I’m going crazy. You guys got me f–ked up though because good luck when you get the warrant or whatever you need to do. You’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing you idiots. I’m tired of f–king dealing with you all, y’all the worst gang in the world, the police, and I said it.” The LA Times reports officers made an attempt to enter Brown’s house but were turned away and told to obtain a search warrant. A call to Brown’s attorney and an email to his rep were not immediately returned. This isn’t the first time police have been called to Brown’s residence. According to KABC, Brown’s been visited by the police five times in the past year due to various disturbance of the peace complaints. Brown was sentenced to five years of probation in 2009 for hitting then-girlfriend Rihanna. His probation ended in 2015. In 2013, Brown struck a man outside a Washington hotel and was charged with misdemeanor assault. The singer was ordered into rehab but was dismissed from the facility for violating its rules. He spent two and a half months in custody, with U.S. marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation’s capital for court hearings. In another incident while in treatment, Brown allegedly threw a brick at his mother’s car following a counseling session. This was after Brown had completed court-ordered anger management classes. In January, a Las Vegas woman alleged that Brown hit her and took her cellphone. Police investigated but did not find evidence to file charges.[SEP]LOS ANGELES (AP) — It seems Chris Brown can't avoid trouble. Following a bizarre, hours-long standoff with police, the "Deuces" and "Look At Me Now" singer was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman called police for help during a gathering at his Los Angeles home. Model Baylee Curran later told the Los Angeles Times that Brown pointed a gun at her face after he and another man became angry with her when she admired the man's diamond necklace. It was the latest run-in with the law for the Grammy winning Brown, who has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, ahead of the Grammys. He completed his probation last year in that case. In the Tuesday incident, Brown was released from jail after posting $250,000 bail. His arraignment was tentatively set for Sept. 20. The singer was arrested outside the view of news helicopters that swirled overhead and throngs of camera crews gathered at the bottom of his hilltop estate. It marked the conclusion of a nearly 14-hour standoff and investigation. Police spokesman Lt. Chris Ramirez said officers first responded to Brown's property in the Tarzana area of Los Angeles around 3 a.m. He did not identify the woman who called, elaborate on the assistance she needed, or know if she was injured. Curran told the Times that she and her friend ran from the house and hid under an SUV as one of Brown's associates gave chase. The model, who hasn't responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press, told TMZ she's visited Brown's home in the past and never encountered any trouble. During the standoff that occurred while police awaited a search warrant, Brown later posted rambling messages on social media proclaiming his innocence and rebuffing reports that he barricaded himself in his "palace." "Y'all gonna stop playing with me like I'm the villain out here, like I'm going crazy," he said in one Instagram video, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera. "When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you're going to walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing. You idiots." Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, arrived at the house before police served the warrant and stayed on the property until Brown was transported for booking. "Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes. Chris is out and well. The allegations against him are demonstrably false," Geragos posted on Twitter after the singer posted bail. The standoff and subsequent media attention provided a chaotic scene in typically quiet Tarzana as police closed off streets and rerouted traffic. Throughout the afternoon, several of Brown's associates descended to the street below Brown's estate. They declined to identify themselves or answer questions from the media. In some instances, the men were belligerent, flashing obscene hand gestures and grabbing recording equipment. In 2013, Brown struck a man outside a Washington, D.C., hotel and was charged with misdemeanor assault. The singer was ordered into rehab then dismissed from the facility for violating its rules. Brown spent 2½ months in custody, with U.S. marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation's capital for court hearings. In another incident while in treatment, Brown was accused of throwing a brick at his mother's car following a counseling session. It came after Brown completed court-ordered anger management classes. Brown's first single "Run It!" topped the charts in 2005. Since then, the singer and rapper has had a number of hit songs, including "Loyal" and "Kiss Kiss." He has also been a featured performer on several hits, such as Jordin Sparks' "No Air." AP writers Christopher Weber and Sandy Cohen contributed to this story.[SEP]LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities responded to singer Chris Brown's Los Angeles home early Tuesday after a woman called police seeking assistance, officials said. The call came in around 3 a.m., from outside the sprawling hillside property in the Tarzana neighborhood, police Lt. Chris Ramirez told reporters at the scene. Ramirez didn't say what assistance the woman needed. "Detectives are trying to make contact with Mr. Brown," Ramirez said. They also want to talk with the woman and any witnesses, he said. Police were waiting for a judge to approve a search warrant for the home in the San Fernando Valley area, Officer Lyle Knight told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, Brown posted a least three online videos declaring his innocence and dismissing TV reports that he was barricaded inside. "I don't care. Y'all gonna stop playing with me like I'm the villain out here, like I'm going crazy," Brown said in one Instagram video, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera. "When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do you're going to walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing. You idiots." Several police cars were parked at the scene. Brown, who won a Grammy for his 2011 album "F.A.M.E.," has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna. After several missteps, he completed his probation in that case last year. In 2013, Brown struck a man outside a Washington hotel and was charged with misdemeanor assault. The singer was ordered into rehab but was dismissed from the facility for violating its rules. He spent two and a half months in custody, with U.S. marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation's capital for court hearings. In another incident while in treatment, Brown allegedly threw a brick at his mother's car following a counseling session. This was after Brown had completed court-ordered anger management classes. In January, a Las Vegas woman alleged that Brown hit her and took her cellphone. Police investigated but did not find evidence to file charges.[SEP]Latest: Brown posts videos as police wait outside his home LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a police response at Chris Brown's California home (all times local): Chris Brown is posting online videos declaring his innocence as police seek a warrant to search the singer's home after receiving a call from a woman there seeking assistance. Officials said the call came early Tuesday from outside the residence in the Tarzana neighborhood. They didn't say what assistance the woman needed. In one Instagram video Brown, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera, says if and when police get the search warrant, they'll find nothing at the home. He dismissed TV reports that he was barricaded inside. Officials say detectives hope to talk to Brown, the woman, and any witnesses. Authorities say officers responded to singer Chris Brown's Los Angeles home after a woman called police seeking assistance. Police Lt. Chris Ramirez told reporters that the call came early Tuesday from outside the residence in the Tarzana neighborhood. Ramirez didn't say what assistance the woman needed. He says detectives hope to talk to Brown, the woman, and any witnesses. Officer Lyle Knight tells The Associated Press that police are waiting for a judge to approve a search warrant for the home in the San Fernando Valley area. Multiple police vehicles are parked at the scene. Calls to representatives for Brown were not immediately returned. The Grammy-winning singer has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He spent six years on probation after pleading guilty to attacking his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Los Angeles police have been called to singer Chris Brown's home. Officer Lyle Knight says officers responded early Tuesday to the house in the Tarzana neighborhood. Knight had no immediate information about what prompted the call. Television news showed several police cars parked outside the property in the San Fernando Valley area.[SEP]LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities waited for a search warrant outside singer Chris Brown’s Los Angeles home Tuesday after a getting a woman’s call for help, officials said. Inside, the entertainer, who has a history of legal problems, posted videos to social media declaring his innocence. The call came in around 3 a.m. from outside the sprawling hillside property in the San Fernando Valley area, police Lt. Chris Ramirez told reporters. Ramirez didn’t say what assistance the woman needed. “Detectives are trying to make contact with Mr. Brown,” Ramirez said. They also want to talk with the woman and any witnesses, he said. Police were waiting for a judge to approve a search warrant, Officer Lyle Knight told The Associated Press. Several police cars were parked outside the home. Meanwhile, Brown posted a least three online videos dismissing TV reports that he was barricaded inside. “I don’t care. Y’all gonna stop playing with me like I’m the villain out here, like I’m going crazy,” Brown said in one Instagram video, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera. “When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing. You idiots.” Calls and emails seeking comments from Brown’s lawyer and other representatives were not returned Tuesday. Brown, who won a Grammy for his 2011 album “F.A.M.E.,” has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna. After several missteps, he completed his probation in that case last year. In 2013, Brown struck a man outside a Washington, D.C., hotel and was charged with misdemeanor assault. The singer was ordered into rehab but was dismissed from the facility for violating its rules. He spent 2½ months in custody, with U.S. marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation’s capital for court hearings. In another incident while in treatment, Brown was accused of throwing a brick at his mother’s car following a counseling session. It came after Brown had completed court-ordered anger management classes. In January, a Las Vegas woman alleged that Brown hit her and took her cellphone. Police investigated but did not find evidence to file charges. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Sandy Cohen contributed to this story.[SEP]US police say singer Chris Brown has emerged from his Los Angeles home after officers responding to a woman’s call for help served a search warrant. The development ended a stand-off that began hours earlier when the woman called from outside the home. Police said she was not inside the home in the San Fernando Valley. Lt Chris Ramirez said about half a dozen people were escorted out of the residence and will be interviewed later. Nobody has been arrested in the wake of the incident, and everyone has been co-operative, police added. Brown posted videos to social media declaring his innocence before his lawyer Mark Geragos arrived. The singer has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna. Lt Ramirez said the LAPD’s robbery-homicide division would lead the investigation and interview any potential witnesses. TMZ.com earlier said the apparent stand-off outside Brown’s home was triggered by an unnamed woman who had been a guest at the house on Monday night, and who told police the singer had pulled a gun on her. The Los Angeles Times reported that the woman alleged Brown had pointed a gun at her in a violent rage and that she had run outside to call police. In 2015 Brown finished a lengthy term of probation, community service and domestic violence classes in relation to the assault conviction. Brown has also been involved in several other incidents involving violence. “I don’t sleep half the damn night I just wake up to all these ... helicopters, choppers is around, police out there at the gate,” Brown said on an Instagram video. “What I do care about is you are defacing my name and my character and integrity,” he added, saying he had done nothing wrong and criticising police actions. “I don’t care y’all going to stay playing with me like I’m the villain out here, like I’m going crazy ... good luck when you get the warrant or whatever you need to do. You’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing you idiots,” he added.

American singer Chris Brown is arrested on suspicion on assault with a deadly weapon following a lengthy stand-off with the Los Angeles Police Department.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela has arrested several opposition activists accused of plotting violence during an anti-government rally scheduled for Thursday, President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday, and opposition leaders slammed the arrests as intimidation. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) attends a pro-government gathering in Caracas, Venezuela August 30, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS The opposition is calling on sympathizers from across the country to march in the capital of Caracas to push for a recall referendum against Maduro, who calls the rally a plot to stir up violence and set the stage for a coup. The upcoming march follows months of tensions between Maduro and the opposition-controlled legislature, exacerbated by triple-digit inflation, Soviet-style product shortages and a severe economic recession. “We must win the battle against the coup - before, during, and after the dates announced by these fascists,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast. “We’ve captured a group of people carrying important equipment, C4 explosives. We’re trying to capture a number of them in real time.” Maduro called opposition party Popular Will “the party of violence that is mixed up in the coup of Sept. 1.” He accused opposition leaders of seeking to stage a putsch similar to one that briefly toppled late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2002. Intelligence agents on Tuesday raided Popular Will’s offices and arrested long-time street activist Carlos Melo, opposition parties said. Popular Will activist Yon Goicoechea was arrested on Monday on charges of carrying explosives. Another Popular Will leader, jailed former mayor Daniel Ceballos, was transferred to prison from house arrest on Saturday. He was accused of trying to escape his home to plot violence during the march. Opposition leaders have accused elections authorities of intentionally stalling the recall vote. Maduro’s approval rating in July fell to a nine-month low of 21 percent, according to pollster Datanalisis. “We denounce the pathetic way in which the government is seeking to demobilize and intimidate the democratic leadership,” said Jesus Torrealba, leader of the Democratic Unity coalition. Opposition sympathizers have been walking from far-flung corners of the country to join the Caracas march.Popular Will was founded by Leopoldo Lopez, a former mayor jailed for leading the 2014 anti-government protests. The opposition describes him as a political prisoner, and rights groups across the world have pressured Venezuela to release him. The issue of jailed opposition leaders helped scuttle a brief 2015 rapprochement between Venezuela and the United States, its main ideological adversary. Maduro insists his government does not hold political prisoners and described Lopez as a dangerous criminal.[SEP]Why did this happen? Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.[SEP]Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who are unhappy with the slow pace of a recall petition will demonstrate Thursday in the capital Caracas in what organizers hope will be a massive show of support for political change. Arrests of several opposition figures have been reported as Maduro tries to discourage turnout for the event that protest leaders have dubbed the “Conquest of Caracas.” Even as Maduro has threatened crack down on marchers, organizers said they expected hundreds of thousands of people from across the country The protesters blame Maduro for triple digit inflation, scarcity of basic food items and medicine and rising violent crime. Maduro, who was elected to a six-year term in April 2013, has tried to portray his foes as coup proponents. Among the opposition leaders reportedly detained this week is Yon Goicochea, the high-profile student activist who heads the Popular Will opposition political party. He was arrested Monday in the Prados del Este section of Caracas and has since been held incommunicado, his wife told reporters. “I denounce the Popular Will party as the party of violence and coups,” Maduro said Tuesday during a public event in downtown Caracas. No matter if they “whine, cry or scream, they will be arrested.” Jesus Torrealba, a director of the Unity Table coalition of anti-Maduro parties pushing the recall measure, said the march will be peaceful and remain far from the Miraflores presidential palace. “When we go to Miraflores, it will be to stay, with the votes of the people,” Torrealba told a television interviewer on Tuesday. Shortly after opposition parties took control of the National Assembly in January, leaders launched a presidential recall campaign that gathered 1.8 million signatures, which were submitted to the electoral commission in March. But Maduro controls the commission, which has moved slowly. Although it confirmed that enough signatures were collected to validate the process, the commission has set no firm timeline for the process. Opposition officials are concerned that the recall effort may be dismissed for not passing various milestones before certain deadlines. The march is expected to be the biggest in turnout since February 2014, when nationwide protests turned violent and left 45 dead and hundreds injured. Daniel Ceballos, the former mayor of San Cristobal in western Tachira state who was serving a sentence of house arrest for inciting violence in the aftermath of those protests, was reportedly taken from his home Saturday and moved to a prison in Guarico state. Also reported detained was Carlos Melo, a board member of the Advanced Progressive party. Lara state Gov. Henri Falcon, a Maduro opponent, said that “comrade” Melo is being held in police intelligence headquarters in Caracas. Nestor Reverol, the minister of interior, justice and peace, said on Wednesday that Ceballos was arrested because he was planning to flee the country and that Melo and Goicochea were implicated in the plan. None of the accused has been allowed to speak publicly since their arrests. “Now we will show a firm hand, with the constitution on our side,” Maduro said Tuesday. Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate who lost to Maduro in 2013 and is now Miranda state governor, described the arrests as “desperation” moves by the government. “They can arrest all the political leaders, but that won’t stop people from taking to the streets on Sept. 1,” he said. “They can’t avoid the fact that we Venezuelans continue to seek respect for the constitution and that there be a recall vote.” After National Assembly President Henry Ramos Allup said the opposition would launch drones to fly over the march to record possible abuses of protesters by the government, Maduro declared the use of drones to be illegal through Sept. 6. Special correspondents Mogollon and Kraul reported from Caracas and Bogota respectively.[SEP]Chanting “this government will fall!” Venezuelan opposition supporters descended on Caracas on Thursday to press for a recall referendum this year against unpopular Socialist President Nicolas Maduro. With thousands of protesters arriving from the Amazon jungle to the western Andes, the opposition coalition was hoping for one million people at rallies across the capital to show anger at Maduro and Venezuela’s deep economic crisis. The president’s ratings have halved to under 25 per cent as falling oil prices and the failing state-led economy have left the OPEC nation in turmoil. Triple-digit inflation, a third year of recession, shortages of basics, and long lines at shops have exasperated Venezuelans and underpinned a resounding opposition election win in a December legislative vote. Maduro, 53, says the opposition-dubbed ‘Takeover of Caracas’ disguises a US-fomented coup plan, akin to a short-lived 2002 putsch against his mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez. On-edge authorities arrested some well-known activists in the run-up, with 13 opposition campaigners and supporters still in custody, according to a local rights group. Extra police and troops were positioned around Caracas, and opposition supporters said there were roadblocks on all major routes, with buses being blocked and traffic crawling. Fearing violence, especially given 43 deaths around anti-Maduro protests in 2014, many businesses closed and parts of Caracas were deserted in the early morning. “We have to come out and fight for a free Venezuela! We can’t take this any more,” said Elizabeth De Baron, 69, a secretary traveling 40km from the town of Guarenas. Dozens of indigenous people marched hundreds of miles from their home state of Amazonas. Swearing loyalty to Chavez’s legacy and calling opposition leaders a wealthy elite intent on controlling Venezuela’s oil, red-shirted government supporters gathered for counter-rallies. “I’m ready for everything … we will not allow a coup,” Maduro said in a speech late on Wednesday, saying various people had been arrested while planning to place explosives and kill fellow opposition supporters to discredit the government and create chaos. Maduro narrowly won election after Chavez died from cancer in 2013, but is seen to have failed to replicate his charismatic leadership. Despite the country’s ills, the opposition has struggled to consolidate support among ‘Chavistas’ and even its own base, disillusioned with the failure of past street action. With a compliant Supreme Court vetoing every major measure that congress passes, the opposition wants to activate a plebiscite on Maduro as allowed in the constitution halfway through his term. But the election board has dragged its feet on the process, making the vote unlikely this year. Should it happen in 2017 and were he to lose, Maduro’s vice president would take over, keeping the ruling Socialist Party in power, rather than there being a new presidential election.[SEP]CARACAS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - White-clad opposition supporters from all corners of Venezuela were descending on Caracas on Thursday for rallies intended to press for a recall referendum this year against unpopular socialist President Nicolas Maduro. With protesters coming in from the Amazon jungle to the western Andes, the opposition coalition hopes a million people will gather in a show of anger at Maduro and Venezuela's deep economic crisis. Maduro, 53, says the opposition-dubbed 'Takeover of Caracas' disguises a U.S.-fomented coup plan, akin to a short-lived 2002 putsch against his mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez. Edgy authorities arrested some well-known activists in the run-up, with 13 opposition campaigners and supporters still in custody, according to a local rights group. Extra police and troops were being positioned across the chaotic city, and roadblocks were expected. Fearing violence, especially given 43 deaths around anti-Maduro protests in 2014, many businesses planned to close. "We have to come out and fight for a free Venezuela! We can't take this any more," said Elizabeth De Baron, 69, a secretary planning to leave Guarenas town before dawn to drive the roughly 25 miles (40 km) into Caracas. Dozens of indigenous people marched hundreds of miles from their home state of Amazonas for the events. Swearing loyalty to Chavez's legacy and calling opposition leaders a wealthy elite intent on controlling Venezuela's oil, red-shirted government supporters were preparing counter-rallies. "I will never give up!" Maduro told them this week. He narrowly won election after Chavez died from cancer in 2013, but has failed to replicate his charismatic leadership. The president's ratings have halved to under 25 percent as falling oil prices and the failing state-led economy leave the OPEC nation in turmoil. Triple-digit inflation, a third year of recession, shortages of basics, and long lines at shops have exasperated Venezuelans and underpinned a resounding opposition election win at a December legislative vote. Despite the country's ills, the opposition struggles to consolidate support among 'Chavistas' and even its own base, disillusioned with the failure of past street action. With a compliant Supreme Court vetoing every major measure congress takes, the opposition wants to activate a plebiscite on Maduro as allowed in the constitution halfway through his term. But the election board has dragged its feet on the process, making the vote unlikely this year. Should it happen in 2017 and were he to lose, Maduro's vice-president would take over, keeping the ruling Socialist Party in power, rather than there being a new presidential election. (Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Corina Pons; Editing by Girish Gupta and Bill Rigby)[SEP]The march called the “taking of Caracas” aims to pressure electoral authorities to allow a recall referendum against Maduro this year. The buildup to the protest has been tense, with Maduro’s government jailing several prominent activists, deploying security forces across the city and warning of bloodshed. Maduro this week repeatedly accused his opponents of plotting violence during the march to pave the way for a coup such as the one that briefly toppled his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002. He said authorities had arrested people possessing military fatigues and C4 explosives, and who had plans to fire upon the crowds dressed as national guard members. He didn’t say who he believed was behind the alleged coup plan. “If they’re coming with coups, ambushes and political violence, the revolutionary will provide an uncommon and overwhelming response,” Maduro told supporters on Tuesday. Rather than dampening Venezuelans’ enthusiasm, the “war-like” rhetoric appears to be energizing the opposition, said Dimitris Pantoulas, a political analyst from Caracas. Had the government minimized the protest’s importance it would have likely failed to garner much support, he said. Better-off Venezuelans who are the opposition’s political bedrock are on summer vacation and those less privileged are too busy standing in long lines for food and coping with the oil economy’s collapse to engage in the heady ideological street battles of the kind that marked the early days of Chavez’s rule 16 years ago. “The government made a big mistake by throwing fuel onto the flames,” said Pantoulas. Shortly after dawn Thursday, a few hundred people dressed in the yellow, red and blue colors of Venezuela’s flag began walking toward the three large avenues in eastern Caracas where demonstrators were to concentrate after midday. Some held signs saying “I revoke,” a terse way of expressing support for the move to end Maduro’s mandate as president. Among those taking part in the march, which organizers are hoping will draw 1 million people, are some 100 members of the Piaroa and Jiwi indigenous tribes. They arrived in Caracas on Wednesday for the protest after travelling more than 375 miles — by foot, canoe and bus — from the Amazon rainforest. “We came to see if they’ll free the political prisoners,” said Miguelina Caballero through an interpreter. She was referring to someone from her Piaroa tribe who had been jailed for alleged fraud during December’s congressional elections, a case the government used to disqualify three indigenous leaders from taking seats in the opposition-controlled legislature. But delivering on their big promises won’t be easy for Maduro’s opponents. The opposition has staged a half-dozen or so marches this year, some of which ended in clouds of tear gas as hard-core activists clashed with riot police, but posed no major risk to Maduro’s grip on power. Even the anti-government protests in 2014 that were blamed for more than 40 deaths failed to rally the huge numbers now sought for Thursday’s march by the hard-to-keep together Democratic Unity alliance. The opposition hopes to force electoral authorities widely seen as pro-government to allow a recall vote this year. If Maduro loses, new elections would be held and polls indicate the opposition would win. But if a vote is delayed until after Jan. 10, and Maduro loses, his vice president would finish his term ending in 2019. Electoral authorities have yet to set the date for the next stage of the complex process, in which the opposition must collect 4 million signatures over three days, with a referendum vote scheduled only once the signatures are validated. The government plans a counter protest on Thursday, but Pantoulas said authorities will have a tougher time rallying supporters among the poor amid 700 percent inflation blamed for growing hunger and a collapse in wages. “I don’t know that the poor will join opposition march, but they’re not going to partake in the counter-protest,” said Pantoulas. “The fact that the poor barrios won’t be supporting Chavismo is enough to damage the government.” Also invigorating the opposition is a government crackdown. Authorities over the weekend moved a prominent opposition leader, former San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos, from house arrest back to prison while he awaits trial on civil rebellion charges stemming from the 2014 protests. Authorities said he was plotting to flee and carry out violence during the protests. Two other activists, Yon Goicoechea and Carlos Melo, were also detained this week, with a top socialist leader accusing Goicoechea of carrying explosives. There have been more subtle threats as well. Government workers say they’ve suffered retaliation for signing petitions seeking Maduro’s removal and the opposition-leaning newspaper El Nacional said thugs threw excrement and Molotov cocktails at its building Tuesday. The U.S. State Department accused Maduro of trying to bully Venezuelans from taking part in the march.[SEP]CARACAS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities rounded up 25 opposition activists and supporters in the last two days amid plans for a massive protest against President Nicolas Maduro, a rights group said on Wednesday. Opposition supporters around the country are descending on Caracas for rallies scheduled for Thursday to demand a recall referendum against the unpopular socialist leader. But Maduro, 53, says they are planning violence and a coup. The local Penal Forum rights group said that of 25 people held in the last 48 hours, 12 had been released while 13 were still in custody by mid-afternoon Wednesday. While Maduro accuses opposition parties of trying to reprise a 2002 putsch against Chavez, they say the government is carrying out a wave of repression to intimidate them before Thursday's marches that they have dubbed "Takeover of Caracas". It was not clear if those still being held would be charged or if the detentions were preventive to stop them participating in Thursday's events. Authorities did not immediately respond to queries about the arrests. (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and David Gregorio)[SEP]Caracas is braced for a day of protests against President Nicolás Maduro’s government, with soldiers and armoured cars patrolling the capital in the run-up to Thursday’s march. The country has been tense amid a crackdown on opposition figures, but some are hopeful that the protest could herald a new stage in Venezuela’s political showdown. Organisers of the protest, a coalition known as MUD, hope to draw hundreds of thousands of marchers from across the country of 30 million to what is being called the “Takeover of Caracas”, where they will demand a recall referendum before the end of the year, which would cut Maduro’s term short and trigger new elections. The protests will test the strength of the opposition’s determination to oust the president and measure how far the government is willing to go to stay in power in the oil-rich state, which has been crippled by severe shortages of basic goods and medicines, rampant crime and surging inflation. The government said what was being planned for 1 September was a “coup” by “the anti-democratic opposition and international right”, according to the foreign ministry. Though the opposition does want to remove Maduro from power, it has said it will adhere to constitutional democratic means, and insists the protest will be peaceful. But the fear of a crackdown is not unfounded. The sharp repression that followed weeks of protest in 2014 left 43 people dead. Several opposition figures were later prosecuted for their alleged role in inciting violence and Leopoldo López, the leader of what is considered a radical faction of the opposition, was sentenced to 17 years in prison by what human rights activists said was a kangaroo court. Since then, and despite the increasingly critical food shortages, protests against the government have been muted. But Thursday could mark the beginning of a new stage in the political showdown, say analysts. “This a real turning point,” said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at the Washington Office for Latin America. “This will determine what the opposition’s strategy is and what the government looks like.” So far the government’s strategy has been to preventatively crack down on the opposition, jailing several leaders on charges they were planning acts of violence during the protest. It has deployed soldiers on the streets of Caracas and began blocking some access to the capital last week. The government has also banned private aircraft and drones from flying over Venezuelan territory until 5 September. Opposition leaders said they would defy the rule and fly drones over the march. Since taking office in 2013, Maduro has relied heavily on the military for support, promoting high-ranking officers to key positions in his government. To tackle the food shortage, last month Maduro appointed Venezuela’s top general, defence minister Vladimir Padrino López, to oversee the “grand mission of sovereign supply”, which aims to secure the supply of basic goods. Last week Padrino named one general for each of the most crucial goods. “The gradual expansion of military powers in response to the regime’s loss of legitimacy is starting to resemble a slow-motion coup,” wrote Phil Gunson, analyst for the International Crisis Group thinktank. Smilde said Maduro’s decision to involve generals in government was like “becoming blood-brothers with the military”. “Maduro has made the military a stakeholder in the government so when things go bad, it’s not that people will be rebelling against the government, they will be rebelling against the military, too,” he said. However, Venezuela is under increasing international pressure and scrutiny. Last month, the US filed trafficking charges against the former head of the Venezuelan drugs agency, whom Maduro then promptly named interior minister. At the same time regional groups such as the Organisation of American States, and the Mercosur trading block have questioned the Venezuelan government’s democratic credentials. “Since they know the world is watching, the military should respect the manifestation of the people and understand they want change,” says Luis Alberto Buttó, director of the Latin American Centre for Security Studies at the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas. Maduro took office after narrowly winning an election to succeed the controversial and charismatic Hugo Chávez, who set his country on the path toward “21st-century socialism” with enormous popular support. Under Maduro, however, Venezuela has sunk into an ever-deepening economic and social crisis. Many Venezuelans complain they are eating only once or twice a day amid chronic food shortages. Even standing in long queues for hours to enter supermarkets does not assure shoppers they will go home with anything. Medicines for life-threatening conditions are nearly impossible to come by. The economy is expected to contract by 8% this year after the GDP dropped 5.7% in 2015. Inflation hovers around 700% and violent crime is skyrocketing. A poll by Venebarómetro found that 88% of “likely” voters in a recall referendum would choose to oust Maduro. While the 1 September marches will be a show of force for the opposition, the protest is unlikely to sway electoral authorities – widely considered to do the government’s bidding – to move towards a recall referendum this year. And timing is key. The opposition managed to collect enough signatures earlier this year to set in motion a series of steps to force a recall vote. They are now waiting for election authorities to set a definitive date to launch a second drive to get 3.9 million people – 20% of registered voters – to sign the recall petition in three days to formally trigger the referendum. Officials said the date would be at the end of October. That, according to the opposition, would give officials enough time to organise the referendum on Maduro before he reaches the mid-point of his six-year term on 10 January 2017. A recall before that date would mean new elections. After that, his vice-president would simply take over and most likely continue the policies that critics say have brought the country to its knees.

Venezuelan officials arrest several opposition activists, including Popular Will Party leaders, just days before Thursday's scheduled national protest against the rule of President Nicolás Maduro.

How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa's 2 Miracles Enlarge this image toggle caption Bikas Das/AP Bikas Das/AP Hundreds of Catholics have been declared saints in recent decades, but few with the acclaim accorded Mother Teresa, set to be canonized by Pope Francis on Sunday, largely in recognition of her service to the poor in India. "When I was coming of age, she was the living saint," says the Most Rev. Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "If you were saying, 'Who is someone today that would really embody the Christian life?' you would turn to Mother Teresa of Calcutta." Born Agnes Bojaxhiu to an Albanian family in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Mother Teresa became world-famous for her devotion to the destitute and dying. The religious congregation she established in 1950, the Missionaries of Charity, now counts more than 4,500 religious sisters around the world. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her lifetime of service. Humanitarian work alone, however, is not sufficient for canonization in the Catholic Church. Normally, a candidate must be associated with at least two miracles. The idea is that a person worthy of sainthood must demonstrably be in heaven, actually interceding with God on behalf of those in need of healing. In Mother Teresa's case, a woman in India whose stomach tumor disappeared and a man in Brazil with brain abscesses who awoke from a coma both credited their dramatic recovery to prayers offered to the nun after her death in 1997. "A saint is someone who has lived a life of great virtue, whom we look to and admire," says Bishop Barron, a frequent commentator on Catholicism and spirituality. "But if that's all we emphasize, we flatten out sanctity. The saint is also someone who's now in heaven, living in this fullness of life with God. And the miracle, to put it bluntly, is the proof of it." Enlarge this image toggle caption Rana Chakraborty/AP Rana Chakraborty/AP No other Christian denomination posits this notion of an individual in heaven mediating between God and humanity. "It's not a little supernatural, it's completely supernatural," says the Rev. James Martin, S.J., whose book, My Life with the Saints, recounts his own spiritual journey. "But that's the difficulty a lot of people have with religion. The invitation is to say, 'There's something more than the rational mind can believe, and are you OK with that?' " Roman Catholic authorities embrace the idea of miracles from heaven with such confidence that they invite skeptics to challenge them. Before candidates qualify for sainthood, the miracles attributed to them must be proven. If someone is suddenly healed after praying to a would-be saint, the Vatican has doctors verify there's no medical reason for it. A group advocating sainthood for Marguerite d'Youville, a nun who lived in 18th century Canada, for example, sought an alternative explanation for the sudden recovery of a woman with incurable leukemia who had prayed to the nun 200 years after the nun's death. The assignment went to Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, a hematologist at Queen's University in Ontario. Duffin agreed to do the investigation, but only after warning the group that she was not herself a believer. "I revealed my atheism to them," Duffin says. "I told them my husband was a Jew, and I wasn't sure if they'd still want me. And they were delighted!" The group reasoned that if Duffin, as an atheist, found there was no scientific reason the woman should have recovered, who could doubt it was a miracle? In fact, after her investigation of the woman's recovery, Duffin agreed that the woman's healing was — for lack of a better word — miraculous. Intrigued by the experience, Duffin investigated hundreds of other miracle stories chronicled in the Vatican archives in Rome. She came away convinced that "miracles" do indeed happen. "To admit that as a nonbeliever, you don't have to claim that it was a supernatural entity that did it," Duffin says. "You have to admit some humility and accept that there are things that science cannot explain." A few miracle stories in recent years have involved nonmedical situations, such as when a small pot of rice prepared in a church kitchen in Spain in 1949 proved sufficient to feed nearly 200 hungry people, after the cook prayed to a local saint. More than 95 percent of the cases cited in support of a canonization, however, involve healing from disease. Hard-core rationalists would not be likely to see such cases as evidence of a "miracle," even while acknowledging they have no alternative explanation. Devout Catholics, on the other hand, readily attribute such occurrences to God, no matter how mysterious they may be. "In a sense, it's a little arrogant of us to say, 'Before I can believe in God, I need to understand God's ways,' " says Martin. "To me, that's kind of crazy, that we could fit God into our minds." Canonization procedures have undergone a series of reforms in recent years. Pope Francis has instituted changes to make the promotion of a candidate less subject to organized lobbying efforts. In fact, Vatican authorities routinely interview at least a few people who doubt the suitability of someone for sainthood. (Among those contacted during the early stages of Mother Teresa's review was Christopher Hitchens, who wrote a highly critical assessment of Mother Teresa's work, calling her "a fanatic, a fundamentalist and a fraud.") The miracles requirement has also changed over time. In 1983, John Paul II reduced the number of miracles required for sainthood from three to two, one for the first stage — beatification — and one more for canonization. Some Catholic leaders have called for the miracles requirement to be dropped altogether, but others argue vigorously against this. Bishop Barron says that without the miracles requirement for sainthood, the Catholic Church would offer only a watered-down Christianity. "That's the trouble with a liberal theology," Barron says. "It tends to domesticate God, make everything a little bit too neat and prim and tidy and rational. I kind of like how the miraculous shakes us out of a too-easy rationalism. We'll affirm everything great about modernity and the sciences, but I'm not going to affirm that that's all there is to life." In one sense, the sainthood of Mother Teresa may speak to present-day Catholics in a way previous canonizations did not. Martin, editor of the Jesuit magazine America, notes that in a posthumously published collection of her private journals and letters, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, the nun so widely revered for her spiritual purity acknowledged that she did not personally feel God's presence. "In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss," she wrote, "of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not existing." Martin says Mother Teresa dealt with such pain by telling God, "Even though I don't feel you, I believe in you." That statement of faith, he says, makes her example relevant and meaningful to contemporary Christians who also struggle with doubt. "Ironically," he says, "this most traditional saint becomes a saint for modern times."[SEP]The date falls on the eve of the anniversary of her death, which occurred on September 5, 1997. In December, Pope Francis announced that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint after recognizing a second miracle attributed to her: the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after loved ones prayed to her, the Italian Catholic bishops' association's official newspaper Avvenire reported. That miracle occurred after her death. A 30-year-old woman in Kolkata said she was cured of a stomach tumor after praying to Mother Teresa. A Vatican committee said it could find no scientific explanation for her healing and declared it a miracle. Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Albania and baptized Gonxha Agnes, the Vatican said in her biography. Mother Teresa, head of the Sisters of Charity, works with some of the lepers in Calcutta on December 7, 1971. A 1960 portrait of Mother Teresa, the Albanian nun who dedicated her life to the poor, the destitute and the sick of Calcutta, India (later called Kolkata). Mother Teresa in her hospital around the time she was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in 1973. Mother Teresa delivers a speech after receiving her Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1979, in Oslo, Norway. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, bid farewell to the Mother Teresa at the White House on May 6, 1981. Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa wave to well-wishers in Calcutta on February 3, 1986. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Mother Teresa at the opening of the Mother Teresa Home for Infant Children on June 19, 1995, in Washington. Diana, Princess of Wales, meets with Mother Teresa in New York in June 1997, months before the women died within days of each other. Kosovo Albanian Catholics attend a religious service at the Blessed Mother Teresa Cathedral in Pristina on September 5, 2012, to mark the 15th anniversary of her death. At age 18, she joined an Irish convent, where she received the name Sister Mary Teresa. Months later, she left for India, landing in Kolkata, the city then known as Calcutta, in January 1929. She taught at St. Mary's School for girls. There, she took her Final Profession of Vows and became Mother Teresa. Nearly 20 years later, during a train ride in India, she felt a calling from Jesus to care for the poor, her Vatican biography said. She established Missionaries of Charity to serve the poorest of all. In 1948, she donned her iconic white sari with blue trim for the first time and walked out of her convent to start her life caring for the poor. She washed the wounded, cared for the sick and dying, and some of her former students joined her over time. She spread her work throughout India. Pope John Paul II waived the requirement of waiting five years after a person's death to pursue the path to sainthood and opened Mother Teresa's Cause of Canonization less than two years after her death.[SEP]Rita Ora is set to perform in Rome tonight at a concert in advance of this weekend's canonisation of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. A week-long series of events will culminate with a Mass on Sunday where Pope Francis will declare the Albanian-born nun a saint. The 25-year-old singer told US TV presenter Jimmy Fallon that she was performing at the Vatican during an appearance on the Tonight Show. Mother Teresa was given the Nobel Peace prize in 1979 for her work with the poor in Calcutta. Tens of thousands of people are expected for the canonisation ceremony Sunday for the tiny, stooped nun who was fast-tracked for sainthood just a year after she died in 1997. Pope John Paul II, who was Mother Teresa's greatest champion, beatified her before a crowd of 300,000 in St. Peter's Square in 2003. Francis has made the canonisation the high point of his Jubilee of Mercy, a yearlong emphasis on the church's merciful side. Francis has an obvious interest in highlighting Mother Teresa's mercy-filled service to outcasts on the periphery, given that her life's work exemplifies the priorities of his own pontificate. Mother Teresa spent 50 years working with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, in what is now Macedonia, Mother Teresa joined the Loreto order of Roman Catholic nuns in 1928. She was traveling from Calcutta to Darjeeling in 1946 when she decided to start the Missionaries of Charity order. Since its establishment in 1950, the order has set up hundreds of shelters that care for some of the world's neediest, people she described as 'the poorest of the poor'. When she died on September 5, 1997, at age 87, hundreds of thousands of local people poured out into the streets to bid farewell. Gautam Lewis, a polio victim abandoned by his parents as a child and rescued by Mother Teresa, has long believed in the nun's sainthood, though it won't become official until Sunday. He said: 'She used to consider all of us as her children. She was our angel guardian.' At 7, Lewis was adopted from an orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity and moved first to New Zealand and later England. Lewis, 39, now runs a flying school for people with disabilities in the United Kingdom. But the nun remains the most important influence on his life. 'Mother gave me a destiny to have a different life.' For him Mother Teresa's canonization is 'just a formality. To most of us, most people in Calcutta, Mother is already a saint'.[SEP]Rome (CNN) Pope Francis has recognized a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, paving her way to sainthood. On Thursday, he ratified a miracle attributed to her after her death, the Italian Catholic Bishops' association's official newspaper Avvenire reported. Catholics believe a saint is someone who lived a holy life and who's already in heaven. Saints are considered role models for people still on Earth, and are believed to be capable of interceding with God on someone's behalf when a request for help is made in prayer. In most cases, two miracles are required to canonize a Catholic saint. In this case, a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors was healed after loved ones prayed to Mother Teresa to heal him, Avvenire reported. Holy See spokesman Thomas Rosica said in a tweet that Mother Teresa should be canonized, or pronounced a saint, in September. "We were very delighted to get the news (about Mother Teresa) this morning," said Sunita Kumar, spokeswoman for Missionaries of Charity, the religious order that Mother Teresa founded. "I was very emotional, of course. I have seen so many miracles every now and then, but I couldn't be happier today." At age 18, sure she wanted to become a missionary, she joined an Irish convent, where she received the name Sister Mary Teresa. Months later, she left for India, landing in the city then known as Calcutta in January 1929, where she taught at St. Mary's School for girls. There she took her Final Profession of Vows and became Mother Teresa. Nearly 20 years later, during a train ride in India, she felt a calling from Jesus to care for the poor, her Vatican biography said. She established Missionaries of Charity to serve the poorest of all. In 1948, she donned her iconic white sari with blue trim for the first time and walked out of her convent to start her life caring for them. She washed the wounded, cared for the sick and dying and some of her former students joined her over time. She spread her work throughout India. The Vatican took note of her charity and encouraged her to open various organizations in other parts of the world until they were on every continent. In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize, which drew the attention of the media to the demure nun in blue and white. By the time of her death, 4,000 Mother Teresa's Sisters worked under her at 610 foundations in 123 countries. Before she died, Mother Teresa met one last time with Pope John Paul II and then returned to Kolkata to spend her final days with people close to her. She died on September 5, 1997, and was given a state funeral by the government of India. Pope John Paul II waived the requirement of waiting five years after a person's death to pursue the path to sainthood and opened Mother Teresa's Cause of Canonization less than two years after her death.[SEP]VATICAN CITY, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Pope Francis will make Mother Teresa, the world's most famous nun, a saint on Sunday . Following are key facts about her life. Mother Teresa was born to ethnic Albanian parents on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia, and named Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Deeply religious, she became a nun at the age of 16, joining the Loreto abbey in Ireland. Two years later she was given the name Sister Teresa. In early 1929 she moved to Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, where she became a teacher and, 15 years on, headmistress at a convent school. In 1946 she received "a call within a call" to found the Missionaries of Charity, officially established as a religious congregation in 1950. Nuns of the order began calling her Mother Teresa. The Indian government granted her citizenship in 1951. The following year Mother Teresa opened her first home for the dying, and in 1957 her first mobile leprosy clinic. She worked for three decades in India before leaving for the first time in 1960, going to the United States to address the National Council of Catholic Women. In 1965, Pope Paul VI granted the Decree of Praise to Mother Teresa's religious order, bringing it directly under Vatican jurisdiction. That same year the first Missionaries of Charity house outside India was founded, in Venezuela. Others later opened in Italy, Tanzania, Australia and the United States. In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for the world's destitute. "I am unworthy," she said. Despite declining health, including arthritis, failing eyesight and heart problems, she continued to work. Pope John Paul granted her request to open a shelter for vagrants inside the walls of the Vatican. In 1988 she opened her first communities in the former Soviet Union. In March 1997 Sister Nirmala, a former Hindu who converted to Roman Catholicism, succeeded Mother Teresa as leader of the Missionaries of Charity. On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died of a heart attack at her order's headquarters in Kolkata. An array of world dignitaries attended her funeral. In October Archbishop Henry D'Souza successfully petitioned the Vatican to waive the usual delay of five years after death before initiating the beatification process. In late 2002, the Vatican ruled that an Indian woman's stomach tumour had been miraculously cured after prayers to Mother Teresa. Pope John Paul wanted to declare her a saint immediately, bypassing the beatification process, but was dissuaded by cardinals. In December 2015, Pope Francis opened the way for her canonisation by approving a decree recognising a second miracle attributed to her intercession with God -- the healing of a Brazilian who recovered from a severe brain infection in 2008. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; editing by John Stonestreet)[SEP]Mother Teresa is known across the world for indiscriminately helping beggars, prostitutes and street children. But days before she is declared a saint by Pope Francis, her legacy has been called into question and the charity she set up faces calls to justify the funds it receives. The priest who lobbied for her to be made a saint has defended her after critics accused her of reveling in the misery of others. Critics also claim she was intent on converting people in India, which is predominantly Hindu, to Christianity - an allegation her supporters have long denied. On Sunday, Mother Teresa - known in her lifetime as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - will be canonised in St Peter's Square, just 19 years after her death. Her elevation to saintly status has not, however, been universally welcomed. A former volunteer who has seen the work the humanitarian's charity does has described Mother Teresa as 'a troubled individual'. Hemley Gonzalez hit out at the 'horrific remnants of her legacy', saying volunteers are not vetted and claiming he saw nuns routinely reuse needles after washing them in tap water. Gonzalez, who never met Mother Teresa in person, spent two months volunteering at Nirmal Hriday, a home for the dying run by the Missionaries of Charity (MoC), which she set up. He told CCN there was not a single doctor or medically trained nurse at the centre. He said: 'It was a scene out of a World War II concentration camp.' When Gonzalez tried to suggest improvements such as a water heater, he claimed e was rebuffed. '"We don't do that here. This is the way Jesus wants it", they'd say,' he stated. And he claimed the centre could only have been set up by a 'troubled individual'. Missionaries of Charity spokeswoman Sunita Kumar defended the work it does, saying it was set up to offer basic care for the very poorest people. 'She (Mother Teresa) didn't want to start a five-star hospital or anything like that,' Kumar said. Gonzalez describes the centre as a 'museum of poverty', and said it should be accountable in the same way others, like the Red Cross and Oxfam, are. 'Why is this organization not being held to the same standard?' 'They get a free pass because of religion; they get a free pass because of the influence of the Vatican.' Her legacy in India is equally controversial. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the umbrella right-wing Hindu organisation that helped create India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accuses Mother Teresa of revelling in the misery of others. Jishnu Bose, an RSS spokesman for Kolkata, said: 'As a resident of Kolkata, I feel insulted to see its poverty being glorified by the MoC. 'As a Hindu nationalist I also feel that Christianity is not the only way of salvation.' The criticism has been rubbished by the MoC priest who campaigned for her sainthood. Father Brian Kolodiejchuk said: 'Even in popular culture she's identified with goodness, kindness, charity. 'In novels or movies often characters say, "'Oh, who do you think I am? Mother Teresa?'" And he stated: 'We don't have to prove that saints were perfect, because no one is perfect.' Kolodiejchuk said her detractors missed the point of her mission, arguing that she had created a place to comfort people in their final days rather than establish hospitals. And India's BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among her supporters. He said: 'All her life she worked to serve poorer sections of Indian society. 'When such a person is conferred with sainthood, it is natural for Indians to feel proud.' Mother Teresa, a Nobel peace prize winner, was acclaimed for her work amongst the world's poorest of the poor in the slums of the Indian city now called Kolkata. Hundreds of thousands of faithful are expected to attend the canonisation service for the tiny nun, which will be led by Pope Francis in front of St. Peter's basilica. One of the big hurdles that had to be overcome before the famous nun - who died in 1997 at the age of 87 - was for Pope Francis to accept that she had performed two miracles. Brazilian Marcilio Andrino said she helped God cure him of a viral brain infection, which doctors believed would kill him. His wife Fernanda had prayed for Mother Teresa's intercession specifically while he was in a coma awaiting surgery in December 2008. In a half-hour gap before being operated on, Andrino appeared to make a full recovery. Fernanda said: 'Marcilio was fine. He was sitting up. 'He was talking in intensive care (at the hospital) and I realized that he was cured, that Mother Teresa had interceded on our behalf and cured Marcilio.' And she continued: 'Every time I look at Marcilio and our children, I feel very grateful. I am very grateful to God and Mother Teresa.' Mother Teresa moved to Calcutta, as it was known then, in 1929 Mother Teresa was born to ethnic Albanian parents on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia, and named Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu. Deeply religious, she became a nun at the age of 16, joining the Loreto abbey in Ireland. Two years later she was given the name Sister Teresa. In early 1929 she moved to Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, where she became a teacher and, 15 years on, headmistress at a convent school. In 1946 she received "a call within a call" to found the Missionaries of Charity, officially established as a religious congregation in 1950. Nuns of the order began calling her Mother Teresa. The Indian government granted her citizenship in 1951. The following year Mother Teresa opened her first home for the dying, and in 1957 her first mobile leprosy clinic. She worked for three decades in India before leaving for the first time in 1960, going to the United States to address the National Council of Catholic Women. In 1965, Pope Paul VI granted the Decree of Praise to Mother Teresa's religious order, bringing it directly under Vatican jurisdiction. That same year the first Missionaries of Charity house outside India was founded, in Venezuela. Others later opened in Italy, Tanzania, Australia and the United States. In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for the world's destitute. "I am unworthy," she said. Despite declining health, including arthritis, failing eyesight and heart problems, she continued to work. Pope John Paul granted her request to open a shelter for vagrants inside the walls of the Vatican. In 1988 she opened her first communities in the former Soviet Union. In March 1997 Sister Nirmala, a former Hindu who converted to Roman Catholicism, succeeded Mother Teresa as leader of the Missionaries of Charity. On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died of a heart attack at her order's headquarters in Kolkata. An array of world dignitaries attended her funeral. In October Archbishop Henry D'Souza successfully petitioned the Vatican to waive the usual delay of five years after death before initiating the beatification process. In late 2002, the Vatican ruled that an Indian woman's stomach tumour had been miraculously cured after prayers to Mother Teresa. Pope John Paul wanted to declare her a saint immediately, bypassing the beatification process, but was dissuaded by cardinals. In December 2015, Pope Francis opened the way for her canonisation by approving a decree recognising a second miracle attributed to her intercession with God - the healing of a Brazilian who recovered from a severe brain infection in 2008.[SEP](CNN) When Pope Francis canonizes the late Mother Teresa at the Vatican on September 4th, she will officially be recognized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. For her followers, the title is a mere formality. They believe the world renowned humanitarian displayed saintly qualities throughout a life dedicated to serving the poor. But saintly is not a word everyone uses for Mother Teresa. Her critics say she was anything but. Disillusioned former volunteer Hemley Gonzalez didn't meet her in person, but what he calls the "horrific remnants of her legacy" have left him deeply uncomfortable. After visiting the facilities she's responsible for starting, he feels only a "troubled individual" could have set them up. After the financial crisis of 2008, Gonzalez took a break from his real estate business in Miami and headed to India, where he spent two months volunteering at Nirmal Hriday, a home for the dying run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta's (now Kolkata) crowded Kalighat area. Gonzalez says he was appalled at the poor level of hygiene and medical care he saw there. He says the organization didn't vet him or the other volunteers. None, including himself, had any medical experience or received any training before working at the hospice. He claims he saw nuns routinely reuse needles after washing them in tap water, that clothes -- sometimes soiled with urine and feces -- and cooking utensils were hand washed side by side in the same room. Patients suffering from respiratory diseases had to bathe in freezing water because a single water heater wasn't barely enough for one bath, he says. And he claims there was not a single doctor or medically trained nurse at the hospice. "It was a scene out of a World War II concentration camp," says Gonzalez. Gonzalez says attempts to raise a red flag or offer to install a water heater were always met with the same response by the nuns. "We don't do that here. This is the way Jesus wants it, they'd say," Gonzalez tells us. Chhanda Chakraborti is part of a group of local Kolkata volunteers who has been associated with the Missionaries of Charity for over 25 years. She served at Nirmal Hriday for several years before Gonzalez did. "All these claims are rubbish. These critics are actually lying," she says. "You go to Kalighat, people come in dying condition. Most of them regain their lives. How can they give life to a dying person while being careless with their health?" What they do in the homes run by the Missionaries of Charity, says Sunita Kumar, a spokesperson for the group and a close friend ofMother Teresa, is offer basic care to the poorest of the poor. "She didn't want to start a five-star hospital or anything like that," she says. Critics say that's not an acceptable excuse. It's true there's no transparency -- and very little information available -- on the group's bookkeeping. CNN's request to interview the current head of the organization was declined. That doesn't satisfy the critics. As a registered charity operating in over a 100 countries, they say there needs to be some accountability, as there is with groups such as The Red Cross or Oxfam. "Why is this organization not being held to the same standard?" asks Gonzalez. "They get a free pass because of religion; they get a free pass because of the influence of the Vatican." Mother Teresa's dogmatic views on abortions, contraception and divorce may have been welcomed by the socially restrained Vatican, but they have also been criticized in more progressive circles and put her at odds with the feminist movement. This is something the Missionaries of Charity firmly rejects. "She looked after everybody in the same spirit, whether they were Muslim or Hindu or Sikh," says Kumar, who herself is Hindu and Sikh. "When I used to go pray with her, she would say 'Sunita, come to the chapel and you sit the way you do for your prayers and I'll sit the way I do and we'll say our prayers,'" she says. Even her path to sainthood has been controversial. To become a saint, Pope Francis had to approve two miracles. One of them involved a rural woman, Monica Besra, who claims she was cured of cancer after praying to Mother Teresa. Monica says she was cured by Mother Teresa's blessings and not by doctor's treatment. "I took doctors' medicines, threw up and was in a lot of pain. But when I prayed to Mother Teresa from my heart, Mother Teresa blessed me and now I am healthy," she told CNN. "My entire village and I am very happy that she is being made a saint." "Our organization does not believe in any kind of miracle," Prabir Ghosh, General Secretary of Science and Rationalists' Association of India, told CNN. According to Ghosh, Monica Besra's husband said as much to him in 2003. Ghosh told CNN that he has him on video saying his wife was cured by medicine, rather than Mother Teresa. However, Besra has since denied these statements. This week, he told CNN he stands by Mother Teresa's miracle and never made the comments to TIME. Museum of poverty, or place of service? As these controversies rage on, life inside Mother Teresa's homes carries on as usual, with the same simplicity and routine that's been in place for decades. According to Gonzalez, it's a "museum of poverty." To some, it's a place of selfless service. A group of nuns will travel to the Vatican for the canonization ceremony in September, and those who remain in Kolkata will mark the day with prayers of thanks. For them and other devout followers around the world, Mother Teresa was and will forever be, a saint, and no amount of controversy can change that.[SEP]One of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, is set to become a Catholic saint on Sunday in an open-air Mass led by Pope Francis. Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who promoted her sainthood cause, said on Thursday in Vatican that hundreds of thousands of faithful are expected to attend the canonisation service to be led by Pope Francis in front of St. Peter’s basilica. He said that her canonisation is one of the highlights of Francis’ Jubilee of Mercy. He said, “Affectionately called the “saint of the gutters” during her lifetime, Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be made an official saint of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, just 19 years after her death. “The Church defines saints as those believed to have been holy enough during their lives to now be in Heaven and able to intercede with God to perform miracles. “She has been credited with two miracles, both involving the healing of sick people.” Kolodiejchuk said that Mother Teresa was one of the most influential women in the Church’s 2,000-year history, acclaimed for her work amongst the worlds poorest of the poor in the slums of the Indian city now called Kolkata. He said critics view her differently, arguing she did little to alleviate the pain of the terminally ill and nothing to stamp out the root causes of poverty. The priest recalled that in 1991, the British medical journal the Lancet visited a home she ran in Kolkata for the dying and said untrained carers failed to recognise when some patients could have been cured. Kolodiejchuk said her detractors missed the point of her mission, arguing that she had created a place to comfort people in their final days rather than establish hospitals. “We don’t have to prove that saints were perfect, because no one is perfect,” he said. He said that several events are planned in the run up to the ceremony, including a prayer vigil on Friday, an audience in St Peter’s Square with Francis on Saturday morning. Kolodiejchuk said it would be followed in the evening by a veneration of Teresa’s relics in a Roman basilica outside of the Vatican. He said, “As the canonisation falls on the eve of Teresa’s feast day, which marks the anniversary of her death on September 5, 1997, there are expected to be more celebrations and religious services on Monday and later on in the week.” He said that on September 7-8, pilgrims would be allowed to visit the room Teresa used on visits to Rome, in the convent of the Church of San Gregorio Magno near the Colosseum, where her Missionaries of Charity have a local branch. Kolodiejchuk said that the Indian Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj and other dignitaries from Teresa’s adopted nation are scheduled to attend the Mass. Mother Teresa was born Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in 1910 in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire and is now Macedonia. She became a nun at 16 and moved to India in 1929, creating her mission in 1950 and gained worldwide recognition for her work, including a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Private letters published after her death in 1997 also revealed that for the last 50 years of her life she despaired over having lost a personal connection with Jesus, while she continued steadfastly to serve his cause. In a preface to a book on the soon-to-be saint, published in July, Francis recalled how giving to the needy is a key to Christian teaching. Pope said that “Mother Teresa made this page of the Gospel the guide for her life and the path to her holiness and it can be for us, as well.” Mother Teresa still has legions of supporters in India, including BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi observed that all her life she worked to serve poorer sections of Indian society. He said, “When such a person is conferred with sainthood, it is natural for Indians to feel proud.” The Roman Catholic Church has more than 10,000 saints, many of whom had to wait centuries before their elevation. But Mother Teresa, one of the most recognisable faces of the 20th century, was put on the fast track to sainthood after dying of a heart attack on Sept. 5, 1997. The late Pope John Paul II bent Vatican rules to allow the procedure to establish her case for sainthood to be launched two years after her death instead of the usual five, and she was beatified in 2003.[SEP]Mother Teresa's old order prepare for her canonisation Mother Teresa's old religious order the Missionaries of Charity was Tuesday stepping up preparations for a host of celebrations to mark her canonisation in Rome on Sunday. A full programme to mark the conferring of sainthood on the late Albanian Roman Catholic nun and missionary includes a photographic exhibition and a musical comedy on Thursday, a prayer evening Friday and a catechism which Pope Francis will preside over Saturday. The canonisation will then be held Sunday in St Peter's Square in a ceremony set to draw tens of thousands of faithful to recognise the sainthood of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died aged 87 in India in 1997. Her followers have essentially regarded her as a saint ever since her death. "Her canonisation doesn't change anything, but it's an official acceptance of the Church and it makes her a strong witness for the world. It brings hope," said Sister Martin de Porres, 76 and a veteran of more than 50 years with the Missionaries, which Mother Teresa established in Calcutta in 1947. "She wasn't an extraordinary person, she was ordinary like us, but she was different in the sense that she was always in continuing communion with God, whatever she was doing." Born Gonxhe Agnes Bojaxhiu in 1910 to an Albanian family in Skopje -- modern Macedonia but then part of the Ottoman empire -- Mother Teresa took holy orders aged 18 and went to India to teach. Her Missionaries, who dedicate their lives to helping "the poorest of the poor", now number some 5,000 worldwide.[SEP]Kolkata remembers Mother Teresa on the eve of sainthood KOLKATA, India (AP) — As Pope Francis prepares to declare Mother Teresa a saint just two decades after her death, people touched by her life in the eastern Indian city where she lived and worked for close to 50 years are filled with pride. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, in what is now Macedonia, Mother Teresa joined the Loreto order of Roman Catholic nuns in 1928. She was traveling from the city then called Calcutta to Darjeeling in 1946 when she decided to start the Missionaries of Charity order. Since its establishment in 1950, the order has set up hundreds of shelters that care for some of the world's neediest, people she described as "the poorest of the poor." Her work, which began in Kolkata's festering slums and spread across the world, won Mother Teresa a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. It also won her immense love in her adopted home. When she died on September 5, 1997, at age 87, hundreds of thousands of local people poured out into the streets to bid farewell. The tiny, stooped nun had her critics. They said she romanticized poverty, and they questioned the quality of care in her homes and clinics, among other accusations. But on the eve of her canonization, one of the highest honors that the Vatican can bestow, the prevailing feeling among those in Kolkata who knew her is joy. Gautam Lewis, a polio victim abandoned by his parents as a child and rescued by Mother Teresa, has long believed in the nun's sainthood, though it won't become official until Sunday. "She used to consider all of us as her children. She was our angel guardian," said Lewis, who has a pronounced limp and walks with a crutch. At 7, Lewis was adopted from an orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity and moved first to New Zealand and later England. Lewis, 39, now runs a flying school for people with disabilities in the United Kingdom. But the nun remains the most important influence on his life. "Mother gave me a destiny to have a different life." For him Mother Teresa's canonization is "just a formality. To most of us, most people in Kolkata, Mother is already a saint." Born to an old and wealthy family, artist Sunita Kumar grew up in a Kolkata far removed from the squalor of the slums where Mother Teresa worked. Yet over three decades of volunteer work with the order, she became a close confidante of the nun and later a spokeswoman for the order. She was one of the witnesses interviewed by the Vatican ahead of Mother Teresa's beatification in 2003. "Mother was my role model. I traveled along with Mother quite a bit and learned how simply one can live. The amount of work she used to do herself for the poor, the love and care she gave them, was amazing." In the final years of Mother Teresa's life, Kumar painted several portraits of the diminutive nun. Kumar said she is "very happy and delighted" that the nun who inspired her will be declared a saint. SHE WAS "A LIVING GOD TO US" In 1988, Swapan Pal found shelter in a home where nuns of the Missionaries of Charity cared for people like him who suffered from leprosy and were shunned by their families and communities. That moment saved his life. He was cured and eventually met his wife at the shelter. Both now work at a rehabilitation center that is part of the home. "After being diagnosed as a leprosy patient, I became totally depressed and thought my world had come to an end. But the love and care here has given me a new life," the 50-year-old said. "Mother was a living god to us. We are very, very happy and glad that the Mother would now be known as a saint all over the world." Seikh Nurul Hasan runs a shop selling souvenirs and memorabilia of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity near the Mother House, the main office of the Roman Catholic order. "Mother was a really a great person who worked, cared and loved our people, particularly the poor, irrespective of religion or caste." The 59-year-old Muslim shop owner remembers a time when a minivan carrying several nuns hit some pedestrians outside his shop. He said that although no one was seriously hurt, some enraged local people were about to attack the van. Hearing the noise, Mother Teresa came out and "as she moved towards the vehicle, the people who were about to attack the van came under sort of a spell, became absolutely quiet and went away." "Everyone in this locality is happy with sainthood being conferred on the Mother," he said. Freelance photographer Sunil Kumar Dutt began covering Mother Teresa's work in Kolkata in 1965 and has one of the largest collections of photographs of the nun. "From the day I first met her, Mother always appeared to me a living saint in action," the 80-year-old said. "My association with Mother Teresa has impacted my life in a very big way. Whenever I think of her I feel a profound peace in the very core of my heart." Dutt added, "Though I know granting sainthood is a formality, I feel Mother does not require any authentication from anywhere."

Mother Teresa of Calcutta is to be canonized into sainthood after "proof" of two miracles.

TOKYO — The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is requesting another increase in spending on Japan’s armed forces, with a plan to expand missile defenses that would test the nation’s commitment to pacifism and escalate a regional arms race with China and North Korea. With rising threats from North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program and repeated incursions by Chinese ships into waters surrounding a string of islands claimed by Japan, the request would let the Defense Ministry develop new antiballistic missiles and place troops on southern islands closer to the chain in dispute with China. If approved, the budget proposal for 5.17 trillion yen, or $50.2 billion, formally submitted on Wednesday, would be the nation’s fifth-straight annual increase in military spending. It is a 2.3 percent rise over last year. The request includes proposals to develop and potentially purchase new antiballistic missiles that can be launched from ships or land, and to upgrade and extend the range of the country’s current land-based missile defense systems, a significant expansion of Japan’s missile defense capabilities.[SEP]Japan's Abe in Russia to warm ties with Putin Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia's far east on Friday as the countries step up efforts to boost trade ties and resolve a lingering territorial dispute. Tokyo-Moscow relations are hamstrung by a row dating back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops seized the southernmost islands in the Pacific Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan. The tensions have prevented the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending wartime hostilities, hindering trade and investment ties. Abe's visit to Russia -- his second this year -- comes days after the Kremlin announced that Putin will travel to Japan in December, his first trip to the country since 2005. Experts view recent rapprochement efforts as a positive development for Moscow's trade ties with stalwart US ally Tokyo but doubt that they will result in a resolution of their territorial dispute. Over the years, leaders from the two nations have tried to make headway on resolving the row but a solution has proved elusive and still looks some way off. Both sides have confirmed that Friday's talks -- taking place on the sidelines of an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok -- will touch upon the disputed islands. Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told AFP that only "frank talks" could pave the way to a peace treaty. But neither side has signalled it is ready to compromise. "The two parties are likely to show that they are in favour of a peace treaty but will try not to publically express their disagreements about the Kuril islands," Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said. "Japan is not ready to drop its claims to the islands and Russia will by no means recognise them." Foreign minister Lavrov said earlier this year that Russia wants to "move forward" its ties with Japan but is not prepared to budge on the "result of World War II". Russia has angered Japan recently by building new modern compounds for its troops stationed on two of the disputed islands. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev infuriated Tokyo last year when he visited the islands, which are home to some 19,000 Russians. Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that boosting trade will be "at the heart" of Putin's talks with Abe -- after Japan joined the US and EU to slap sanctions on Russia over its meddling in Ukraine. Bilateral trade between the countries last year fell by 31 percent to $21.3 billion, in part due to the punishing economic measures by Japan. Ushakov stressed that in spite of the sanctions imposed by Tokyo, the Russian market remains "of great interest" to the Japanese business community. Abe is travelling with a large delegation that will discuss a wide-range of economic issues with senior Russian officials, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, energy minister Alexander Novak, and industry and trade minister Denis Manturov. Business leaders Igor Sechin, the CEO of oil giant Rosneft, and Oleg Deripaska, who heads aluminium producer Rusal, are also set to take part in talks with the Japanese delegation, Ushakov said. During his visit to Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi in May, Abe proposed an eight-point economic cooperation plan with Russia that focused on energy, agriculture and industrial production.[SEP]MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a rare visit in Russia's Far East. Abe has been pushing for progress in the dispute over the Russian-held islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kurils in Russia. The row has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their WWII hostilities. Abe wants to arrange Putin's visit to Japan later this year. Putin on Friday hosted Abe in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, telling the Japanese prime minister in televised remarks that Moscow is willing to build on the progress in talks that the two leaders last held in Russia's Sochi in May.[SEP]VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to continue talks on a territorial dispute over the Kurile islands, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Friday after talks between the two leaders. "They agreed we would continue the talks and the results would be made public during the visit of the Russian leader to Japan before the end of the year," Lavrov said. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Jack Stubbs)[SEP]If approved, the hike of 2.3 percent will take the defense budget to 5.17 trillion yen ($51.47 billion) in the year starting April 1, for a fifth consecutive increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters Japan's military. The nation's Self Defense Forces are pivoting away from guarding the north against a diminished Russian threat to reinforce an island chain stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) along the southern edge of the East China Sea. That means opting for fewer tank divisions as they build a mobile amphibious force from scratch. The costly rejig comes as Japan is also forced to spend more to guard against ballistic missiles being developed by North Korea capable of striking most areas. The single biggest expenditure is 99 billion yen ($970 million) to upgrade Japan's warhead-killing Patriot batteries, a last line of defense against missile strikes. The improvements will double their range to around 30 km (19 miles) and sharpen targeting to hit arriving ballistic warheads. They will take five years to complete, with the first four enhanced Patriots expected to be ready for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In June, North Korea test-fired what appeared to be two mobile Musudan rockets, one of which climbed to 1,000 km (600 miles), or enough to fly more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) down range. On Aug. 24, Pyongyang also fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward Japan that traveled 500 km (311 miles). Japan's biggest defense contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) ( ) will upgrade the PAC-3s under license from Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Co, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters last month. The budget request also includes funding to improve Aegis destroyers that are Japan's first line of defense against ballistic missiles. Japan and the United States are developing a new warhead killer, the Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), to destroy targets in space, but no decision on a full rollout has yet been made. Other proposed defense buys will reinforce the East China Sea, where Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute over a group of islets 220 km (140 miles) northeast of Taiwan known as the Senkakus in Tokyo and the Diaoyus in Beijing. Japanese air scrambles against Chinese aircraft are running at a record high, with Beijing's navy probing deeper and more frequently into the Western Pacific beyond Japan's island chain. Chinese military activity in the region was "escalating," Japan's Self-Defence Forces chief Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano said in June. Defence officials want 95 billion yen next year to buy six Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters, and a combined 92 billion for four Boeing Co ( ) and Bell Helicopter ( ) V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and six Boeing Chinook twin-rotor helicopters. The SDF also wants 11 BAE Systems ( ) AAV7 amphibious assault craft, and two long-range Kawasaki Heavy Industries ( ) C-2 military cargo jets. Other buys will include a Northrop Grumman ( ) unmanned Global Hawk surveillance drone and a new larger-class diesel-electric submarine designed by Mitsubishi Heavy and Kawasaki Heavy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans on increasing the spending for the Japan Self-Defense Force.

Image copyright RTÉ Image caption The Boeing 767-300 diverted to Shannon Airport in County Clare after the transatlantic turbulence Twelve people, including three children, have been injured on a transatlantic flight after it encountered "severe and unexpected turbulence". The incident prompted the United Airlines flight to make an emergency landing in the Republic of Ireland. Ten passengers and two crew members were taken to hospital from Shannon Airport shortly before 06:00 BST. All have now been discharged with the exception of one flight attendant. The United Airlines flight was travelling from Houston, Texas, to London Heathrow when it diverted to the airport in County Clare. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Passenger Gregory Giagnocavo explains what severe turbulence feels like One of the passengers on the plane, John Dunton-Downer from London, said it felt like they were going to crash. 'It felt like the plane was going down' "We reached the mid-Atlantic when, suddenly, there was a sensation of the plane slamming into mid-air. It felt like it was made of paper and hitting a solid object," he said. "People, including babies, hit the ceiling and there was a lot of screaming. It felt like the plane was going down. "We were told to get out of our seats and sit on the floor. "The captain said that we had hit turbulence due to unforeseen weather circumstances." After the plane landed at Shannon Airport, the injured were taken to University Hospital Limerick, with cuts, bruises and minor head injuries. "As of 10:30, one patient was still being assessed and the remaining 11 were discharged," said the hospital. "Hospital staff are working with the airline to transport the passengers back to Shannon Airport to continue their onward journey to London." What causes plane turbulence in the skies? According to to the Federal Aviation Administration, turbulence can be caused by: air movement not normally seen atmospheric pressure jet streams air around mountains cold or warm weather fronts thunderstorms In-air turbulence is the leading cause of injury to people on flights, according to the FAA, and on average 58 people in the US are injured during turbulent flights when not wearing seatbelts every year. Most accidents involving turbulence happen at 30,000 ft (9144m) or above. The Boeing 767-300 jet had 207 passengers and 13 crew members on board, and had been due to arrive at Heathrow at 06:55 BST. "The aircraft diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland where it was met by medical personnel," said the airline. "United Airlines is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA-880. "Customers will be departing Shannon to London Heathrow shortly on an alternative aircraft," it added.[SEP]LONDON (AP) — A United Airlines flight bound for London made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport in Ireland on Wednesday after severe turbulence that left 12 passengers needing hospital treatment, officials said. All but one of the injured had been discharged from University Hospital Limerick after receiving treatment for minor injuries, officials said. One patient was still being assessed. United Airlines Flight 880 originated in Houston and was supposed to land at London's Heathrow Airport. United said that "severe and unexpected turbulence" caused the diversion of the Boeing 767-300 plane, which was carrying 207 passengers, three cockpit crew members and 10 flight attendants. Shannon Airport officials initially said 16 people needed hospital care, but later indicated only 12 had been treated after the incident. Others received treatment for lesser injuries at the airport. The patients were treated for soft tissue injuries, cuts and minor head injuries, according to a hospital statement. United Airlines said one of its flight attendants was still being treated at the hospital. The airline said 10 passengers and two flight attendants needed hospital care.[SEP]Sixteen people were hospitalised with injuries after a United Airlines flight hit severe, unexpected turbulence. Flight UA880, carrying 207 passengers, 10 flight attendants and three cockpit crew, was en route from Houston, Texas, to Heathrow, London. It made an emergency landing in the Republic of Ireland about 5.55am on Wednesday (local time), and 16 people were taken to hospital in Limerick, ITV reported. The plane hit "severe and unexpected turbulence" during the flight, an airline spokesperson said. "United Airlines is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA-880 which experienced severe and unexpected turbulence during a flight from Houston to London Heathrow today. "We wish these passengers and crew a quick recovery from their injuries." READ MORE * Flight "absolutely terrifying" * Malaysia Airlines says passengers were injured by turbulence ​* Airline gave wrong flight plan to Auckland traffic control[SEP]SIXTEEN people were injured from ‘unexpected turbulence’ forcing a transatlantic flight they were on to make an emergency landing at Shannon Airport. Fourteen passengers and two crew members were taken to a local hospital upon arrival at the airport. The United Airlines flight UA-880 touched down at the airport just before 6am this morning. The flight was en route from Houston, Texas to London Heathrow. A statement from the airline said: “The aircraft diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland where it was met by medical personnel, “United Airlines is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA-880 which experienced severe and unexpected turbulence during a flight from Houston to London Heathrow today,” The Boeing 767-300 jet had 207 passengers and crew of 13 on board.[SEP]Fourteen passengers and two flight crew have been treated in hospital in Ireland after a transatlantic flight was forced to make an emergency landing. Aviation officials said the United Airlines flight from Houston, Texas in the US to London Heathrow had to be diverted to Shannon Airport after hitting severe turbulence. The plane landed safely at 5.55am and ambulance crews were on the runway to meet the flight. The injured people were taken to hospital in Limerick.[SEP]United Airlines Flight 880 landed unscheduled at western Ireland's Shannon Airport shortly before 6 a.m. local time so that people could receive medical treatment after "severe and unexpected turbulence," the airline said. The shaking began overnight about halfway over the Atlantic while many passengers were asleep, followed by "four very, very severe drops in altitude," passenger Gregory Giagnocavo told CNN after landing in Ireland. "It was the most frightening and disturbing flight I've been on in 30 years," Giagnocavo said. Three children among the injured The Boeing 767-300 was carrying 207 passengers and 13 crew members. After it landed, 10 passengers and two flight attendants were taken to a hospital, United said. Avoiding air turbulence may soon get easier Three children were among them, University Hospital Limerick said. The 12 were treated primarily for soft tissue injuries, minor head injuries and lacerations, the hospital said. By late Wednesday morning, only a flight attendant remained in the hospital, according to the airline. The plane resumed its flight to Heathrow at 12:11 p.m. (7:11 a.m. ET). Giagnocavo said the scene on the plane was "pure chaos" before the emergency landing. "(A) flight attendant was cut on the side of her head, and blood was running down her arm," he said. "Babies crying -- and quite a few people very shook up. Loose things seem to be everywhere. "Fortunately it occurred when most people were sleeping, so most people were in their seats with seat belts on." United Airlines "is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA880," airline spokeswoman Erin Benson said.[SEP]14 passengers and two cabin crew have been injured after a UK-bound transatlantic flight was hit with severe and violent turbulence. The United Airlines flight from Houston to Heathrow was forced to land at Shannon Airport this morning. It landed in Ireland at around 6am this morning and 16 were taken to University Hospital in Limerick. United Airlines said in a statement: 'United Airlines is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA-880 which experienced severe and unexpected turbulence during a flight from Houston to London Heathrow today. 'The aircraft diverted to Shannon Airport in Ireland where it was met by medical personnel. '14 customers and two flight attendants have been taken to a local hospital. 'We wish these passengers and crew a quick recovery from their injuries'.[SEP]DUBLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Fourteen passengers and two crew members were injured and taken to hospital on Wednesday after a United Airlines flight was forced to divert to Ireland's Shannon Airport due to a medical situation, the airport said. Ambulances were at the scene when the flight that was en route from Houston to London Heathrow landed at 0455 GMT and the injured people were treated at the airport before being transferred to hospital, Shannon Airport said in a statement. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Toby Chopra)[SEP]United Airlines flight diverts to Ireland after 16 hurt in turbulence DUBLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Fourteen passengers and two crew members were injured on Wednesday when a United Airlines flight ran into severe turbulence and had to divert to Ireland's Shannon Airport, the airport said. Ambulances were at the scene when the Boeing aircraft that was en route from Houston to London Heathrow landed at 0455 GMT. Ten of the passengers and the two crew members were taken to a local hospital, a United Airlines spokesman said. The casualties, three of whom were children, had soft tissue injuries, minor head injuries and lacerations, University Hospital Limerick said in a statement. All but one person had been discharged by 0930 GMT. The 207 passengers on the flight would continue their journey to London later on Wednesday on an alternative aircraft, United Airlines said. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Richard Balmforth)[SEP]Passengers hurt as severe turbulence forces US-London flight to land at Shannon Up to 16 people were treated by medics in Ireland after a transatlantic flight hit unexpected and severe turbulence hundreds of miles from shore. Aviation officials said the United Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, to London Heathrow had to be diverted to Shannon Airport after the incident at around 3am. The US airline said it was providing care and support to those on board. It said 10 customers and two flight attendants were taken to University Hospital Limerick and a ll were discharged except for one flight attendant who received further treatment. "United Airlines is providing care and support to customers and crew of flight UA880 which experienced severe and unexpected turbulence during a flight from Houston to London Heathrow," a spokesman said. Passengers took to social media to describe the incident with one calling the scenes pure chaos and another saying she thought she might die. It is understood other passengers were assessed by paramedics and ambulance crews which met the plane on the runway after it landed at 5.55am. The plane was in the air for two and a half hours after the incident occurred over the Atlantic and the alarm was raised with Irish air traffic control staff at 3.20am. There were 207 passengers on the Boeing 767-300 and 13 crew including three pilots in the cockpit. Most of them remained at Shannon Airport until another plane was arranged to fly them on the final stretch of the journey to Heathrow just after midday. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said the incident would be investigated. It said the flight travelled through "unexpected turbulence" which led to passengers and crew being injured before the pilot diverted the plane to Ireland. "Shannon air traffic control facilitated the flight diversion and the aircraft landed safely," a spokesman for the IAA said. Three of the injured were children, a hospital spokeswoman said. University Hospital Limerick said passengers and crew treated in its accident and emergency ward suffered soft tissue injuries, lacerations and minor head injuries. The alarm was raised in the hospital at 5.30am that a flight was being diverted to Shannon with up to 23 injured people on board. Management ordered the clinical decision and paediatric section of the A&E unit to be cleared in anticipation of patients being brought in by ambulance. Eleven of the injured patients were discharged within four-and-a-half hours of the flight landing.

United Airlines Flight 880 makes an emergency landing at Shannon Airport in the Republic of Ireland due to "severe and unexpected turbulence". At least 12 people are hospitalized.

Story highlights At least nine people reported dead as storm passes over Japan's main island Flooding, at least one missing on northern island of Hokkaido Tokyo (CNN) Nine bodies were found in a home for the elderly in the town of Iwaizumi in Iwate Prefecture, which suffered flooding following Typhoon Lionrock, police tell CNN. Rescue operations are underway to rescue 400 people who are stranded due to flooding and landslides, according to a statement by the town's prefecture disaster prevention office. Over 1,100 people were evacuated from their homes and are taking shelter in public facilities across Iwaizumi, the statement says. Prefectural officials confirmed that nine bodies were found in the Ran Ran retirement home after the nearby Omoto river broke its banks. Police are working to identify the bodies. Another home for the elderly, Friendly Iwaizumi, avoided casualties as staff were able to move residents to the second floor of the building and avoid the floodwaters. Ran Ran is a single-storey structure. Read More[SEP]At least 9 dead as typhoon hits northern Japan TOKYO (AP) — At least nine elderly people were killed when their nursing home was flooded in northern Japan after Typhoon Lionrock dumped heavy rains on the area. The bodies of all nine residents were found at a nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi in Iwate prefecture, when police were checking another facility in the flooded neighborhood, said Takehiro Hayashijiri, an official at a prefectural disaster management division. Hayashijiri said identity of the bodies or other details, including whereabouts of their caretakers, were not known. NHK said the nursing home was for the residents with dementia. Waves crash against a coast in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016. A typhoon is about to barrel into northern Japan, threatening to bring floods to an area still recovering from the 2011 tsunami. Typhoon Lionrock has already paralyzed traffic, caused blackouts and prompted officials to urge residents to evacuate.(Jun Hirata/Kyodo News via AP) Japan's NHK national broadcaster said authorities have found two more bodies in another town in Iwate. Its footage showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down from the mountains. A car by the home was turned upside down. "We're making a government-wide effort to assess the extent of damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. The government sent Self-Defense Forces to help in the rescue and cleanup of the damage caused by the typhoon. At least two rivers swollen by the typhoon broke through their banks, flooding areas in northern Japan. The embankments gave way before dawn on Wednesday on the northern island of Hokkaid, said NHK, quoting Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism. Authorities in the town of Minami-furano are reporting many people trapped in houses and shelters by flooding from the Sorachi river, NHK said. Aerial photos from Kyodo News service also showed serious flooding south of Hokkaido in Iwate prefecture on Honshu, Japan's main island. Typhoon Lionrock slammed into northern Japan on Tuesday evening, hitting an area still recovering from the 2011 tsunami. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said at least three people were injured in three northern prefectures — Aomori, Akita and Miyagi since Tuesday. It made landfall near the city of Ofunato, 500 kilometers (310 miles) northeast of Tokyo late Tuesday before moving away from Japan. It's the first time a typhoon has made landfall in the northern region since 1951, when the Japan Meteorological Agency started keeping records. More than 170,000 people were subject to evacuation, including 38,000 in Ofunato, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. More than 10,000 homes in the northern region were without electricity, with power lines damaged from the winds. The scene of large parts of northern Japan covered with muddy water was a shocking reminder of the tsunami disaster that struck the region five years ago. Iwate, hardest-hit by the typhoon, is one of the areas still recovering from the tsunami damage. The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami left more than 18,000 people dead in the wide swaths of Japan's northern coast, including 340 in Ofunato.[SEP]Nine people were killed when floods hit an old people’s home in Japan, police said on Wednesday, taking the death toll from a typhoon battering northern parts of the country to at least 11. Police found nine bodies on Wednesday in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Japan’s main island of Honshu, but it was not clear when their home was flooded. It was also not clear why people there had not been taken to safety before the storm struck. The nursing home is located near a river and was partially buried in mud and debris when the river overflowed its banks. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the home was for people with dementia. “The area is in a state of chaos. We are not sure what preparations the facility had taken,” said a prefectural government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media. The town issued evacuation preparation information on Tuesday morning, which is to inform elderly or disabled people who take time to evacuate. That, however, was not as strong as an evacuation warning, according to another prefecture official. More than 1,000 other people were forced from their homes by the flooding brought by Typhoon Lionrock. The body of a man was also found near a river in Iwaizumi and a dead woman was found in Kuji city, police said. Further north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks. The fire and disaster management agency said at least one person went missing while driving or riding in a car that went down with a bridge torn away by the flood. Authorities in the town of Minamifurano reported hundreds of people trapped in houses and shelters by flooding from the Sorachi river, the agency said. Hundreds of other people were also trapped in buildings and isolated in several towns in Iwate. Typhoon Lionrock made landfall on Tuesday evening near the city of Ofunato, 310 miles north east of Tokyo on the Pacific coast and crossed the main island of Honshu before heading out to the Sea of Japan. It was the first time a typhoon had made landfall in the northern region since 1951, when the Japan Meteorological Agency started keeping records. Iwate prefecture, the hardest-hit by the typhoon, is one of the areas still rebuilding from the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake, which left more than 18,000 people dead along Japan’s north-eastern coast.[SEP]Nine people killed in flooded Japanese old people's home TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Nine people were killed when floods inundated an old people's home in Japan, police said on Wednesday, taking the death toll from a typhoon battering northern parts of the country to at least 11. Police found nine bodies on Wednesday in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Japan's main island of Honshu, but it was not clear when their home was flooded. It was also not clear why people there had not been taken to safety before the storm struck. The nursing home is located near a river and was partially buried in mud and debris when the river overflowed its banks. "The area is in a state of chaos. We are not sure what preparations the facility had taken," said a prefectural government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The town issued evacuation preparation information on Tuesday morning, which is to inform elderly or disabled people who take time to evacuate. That, however, was not as strong as an evacuation warning, according to another prefecture official. More than 1,000 other people were forced from their homes by the flooding brought by Typhoon Lionrock. The body of a man was also found near a river in Iwaizumi and a dead woman was found in Kuji city, police said. Television pictures showed flooded rivers with cars and homes partly submerged, while rescuers picked up stranded people by helicopter. Several people were also missing on the northern island of Hokkaido, police said. Iwate, the worst-hit prefecture, was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Robert Birsel and Paul Tait)[SEP]Heavy rain from Typhoon Lionrock flooded towns across Japan's north and left at least 11 people dead, most of them elderly residents at a nursing home who could not escape rising floodwaters, officials said on Wednesday. The home in the town of Iwaizumi, which only had the ground floor, included people suffering from dementia who were in their 80s and 90s. Police discovered nine bodies there on Wednesday while checking another facility in the inundated neighbourhood. As floodwaters rapidly rose on Tuesday night, all 85 elderly residents and staff at a three-story facility next door were rescued uninjured after evacuating to the top floor, said Iwate prefectural official Reiko Ouchi. A caretaker at that facility notified the town office about their evacuation to the third floor, noting that the nine residents next door were stuck, NHK TV reported. READ MORE: Typhoon hits site of 2011 tsunami in Japan Ouchi said officials are looking into if and how town officials responded to the call. An evacuation order was not issued. Hiroaki Sato, a senior official at the company that runs the nursing homes, said floodwater poured into the compound in a matter of 10 minutes, making it impossible for the nine elderly residents to escape. The water was at chest-high on Tuesday evening. Despite earlier warnings of the approaching typhoon, only one of the eight staff was on overnight duty, Sato told Kyodo News, adding that a telephone line was cut off due to flooding and she could not reach police or firefighters. "An overnight staff attended the residents, but in the end they all died, including one in (her) arms," Sato told nationally televised NHK news. "I'm so sorry we could not help any of the nine residents," he said, as he bowed deeply in apology, his teary voice trembling. The identity of the victims and other details, including the whereabouts of their caretakers, were not immediately known, said Takehiro Hayashijiri, a prefecture disaster management division. Authorities found two more bodies in Iwate - one in the same town and the second in another town of Kuji, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Footage on NHK showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down in the swollen river. A car by the home was turned upside down. At another nursing home, a rescue helicopter was perched atop a flat roof, airlifting residents, each wrapped in a blanket and carried by their helpers. "We're making a government-wide effort to assess the extent of damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. The government sent troops to help in the rescue and clean-up effort. Farther north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks. The disaster management agency said at least one person went missing in a car that went down with a bridge torn away by the flood. Authorities in the town of Minamifurano reported hundreds of people trapped in houses and shelters by flooding from the Sorachi river, the agency said. Hundreds of others were also trapped in buildings and isolated in several towns in Iwate. Typhoon Lionrock made landfall on Tuesday evening near the city of Ofunato, 500km northeast of Tokyo on the Pacific coast and crossed the main island of Honshu before heading out to the Sea of Japan. It was the first time a typhoon has made landfall in the northern region since 1951, when the Japan Meteorological Agency started keeping records. The scene of large parts of northern Japan covered with muddy water was a shocking reminder of the major tsunami that struck the same region five years ago. Iwate prefecture, the hardest-hit by the typhoon, is one of the areas still rebuilding from the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake, which left more than 18,000 people dead along Japan's northeastern coast.[SEP]Police found nine bodies on Wednesday in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Japan's main island of Honshu, but it was not clear when their home was flooded. It was also not clear why people there had not been taken to safety before the storm struck. The nursing home is located near a river and was partially buried in mud and debris when the river overflowed its banks. "The area is in a state of chaos. We are not sure what preparations the facility had taken," said a prefectural government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The town issued evacuation preparation information on Tuesday morning, which is to inform elderly or disabled people who take time to evacuate. That, however, was not as strong as an evacuation warning, according to another prefecture official. More than 1,000 other people were forced from their homes by the flooding brought by Typhoon Lionrock. The body of a man was also found near a river in Iwaizumi and a dead woman was found in Kuji city, police said. Television pictures showed flooded rivers with cars and homes partly submerged, while rescuers picked up stranded people by helicopter. Several people were also missing on the northern island of Hokkaido, police said. Iwate, the worst-hit prefecture, was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.[SEP]At least nine elderly people have been found dead at a nursing home in Japan after heavy overnight rain from Typhoon Lionrock flooded towns across the north of the country. Police discovered the bodies in the town of Iwaizumi while checking another facility in the neighbourhood, said Takehiro Hayashijiri, an official at the Iwate prefecture disaster management division. The identities of the victims and other details, including the whereabouts of their caretakers, were not known, Hayashijiri said. The Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the home was for people with dementia. NHK also reported that authorities found two more bodies in another town in Iwate. Footage showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down from the mountains. A car by the home was overturned. “We’re making a government-wide effort to assess the extent of damage,” the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said. The government sent the self-defence force, Japan’s military, to help in the rescue and cleanup effort. Further north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke their banks. The embankments gave way early on Wednesday, NHK said, quoting Japan’s ministry of land, infrastructure and tourism. Authorities in the town of Minamifurano reported many people trapped in houses and shelters by flooding from the Sorachi river, NHK said. Typhoon Lionrock made landfall on Tuesday evening near the city of Ofunato, 310 miles (500km) north-east of Tokyo on the Pacific coast, and crossed the main island of Honshu before heading out to the Sea of Japan. It was the first time a typhoon has made landfall in the northern region since 1951, when Japan’s Meteorological Agency started keeping records. The scene of large parts of northern Japan covered with muddy water was a reminder of the major tsunami that struck the same region five years ago. Iwate prefecture, the area hit hardest by the typhoon, is one of the areas still rebuilding from the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake, which killed more than 18,000 people along the north-east coast.[SEP]The town issued evacuation preparation information on Tuesday morning, which is to inform elderly or disabled people who take time to evacuate. That, however, was not as strong as an evacuation warning, according to another prefecture official. INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Nine people were killed when floods inundated an old people's home in Japan, police said on Wednesday, taking the death toll from a typhoon battering northern parts of the country to at least 11.Police found nine bodies on Wednesday in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Japan's main island of Honshu, but it was not clear when their home was flooded.It was also not clear why people there had not been taken to safety before the storm struck. The nursing home is located near a river and was partially buried in mud and debris when the river overflowed its banks."The area is in a state of chaos. We are not sure what preparations the facility had taken," said a prefectural government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.[SEP]Nine people killed in flooded Japanese old people's home TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Floods have inundated an old people's home in Japan killing nine people, police said on Wednesday, taking the death toll from a typhoon battering northern parts of the country to at least 11. Police found the nine bodies in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi on Wednesday but it was not clear when their home was inundated. Nor was it clear why people there had not been taken to safety before the storm struck. More than 1,000 other people were forced from their homes by the flooding brought by Typhoon Lionrock. The body of a man was found near a river in Iwaizumi and a dead woman was found in Kuji city, police said. Television showed pictures of flooded rivers with cars and homes partly submerged while rescuers picked up stranded people by helicopter. The worst-hit Iwate prefecture was devastated by a big earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Several people were missing on the northern island of Hokkaido, police said.[SEP]At least nine elderly people have been found dead at a nursing home in Japan as heavy overnight rain from a devastating Typhoon left towns flooded across the country's north. Police discovered the bodies in the town of Iwaizumi while checking another facility in the flooded area. Takehiro Hayashijiri, an official at the Iwate prefecture disaster management division, said the home was for people with dementia. Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed a helicopter hovering over the building as rescuers tried to pluck other stranded residents to safety. Media reports said the building was reserved for people with dementia and another 86 elderly residents and employees were in another facility building at the time. Footage showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down from the mountains. A car by the home was turned upside down. The death toll from the powerful storm rose to 11 after an elderly woman was found dead in her flooded home nearby, and another body was discovered not far from the nursing home, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. 'We're making a government-wide effort to assess the extent of damage,' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters. The government sent the Self-Defense Force, Japan's military, to help in the rescue and cleanup effort. Further north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks. The embankments gave way early on Wednesday morning, NHK said, quoting Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism. Authorities in the town of Minami-furano reported many people trapped in houses and shelters by flooding from the Sorachi river, NHK said. The typhoon, with winds of over 100 miles an hour when it made landfall, also caused flooding on the northern island of Hokkaido. The typhoon was later reclassified as an extratropical cyclone and moved out into the Sea of Japan at midnight, said the Japan Meteorological Agency. The full scale of damage, however, did not become apparent until daybreak when rescue operations began in earnest. In Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main islands, one person who had been inside a car was missing in the town of Taiki, police and government officials said. At least three cars fell into rivers in other towns on the island after bridges collapsed, they said, stressing it was not known how many people were inside the vehicles. 'In Minamifurano town, the water level is still very high with a current, and rescue workers are using helicopters now to try to evacuate several people who are left on the roofs of their houses or their cars,' said Hokkaido official Terumi Kohan. Lionrock's path -- hitting northeastern Japan from the Pacific Ocean -- was unusual. Typhoons usually approach Japan from the south and southwest before moving northward across the archipelago. Up to eight centimetres (three inches) of rain per hour fell overnight and authorities had warned of flooding and landslides. The typhoon's landfall came at high tide, which exacerbated the flow of water. Lionrock comes on the heels of two other typhoons that hit Japan in the past nine days, resulting in two deaths, the cancellation of hundreds of domestic flights and disruptions to train services. As of noon Wednesday it had combined with another similar storm in the Sea of Japan and was near the North Korea-China border, said Eiju Takahashi, an official at Japan's weather agency. The scene of large parts of northern Japan covered with muddy water was a shocking reminder of the major tsunami that struck the same region five years ago. Iwate prefecture, the hardest-hit by the typhoon, is one of the areas still rebuilding from the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake, which left more than 18,000 people dead along Japan's northeastern coast.

At least two rivers break embankments, causing floods on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Operations are underway to rescue 400 stranded people. On Honshu Island, at least 11 people, including nine elderly from a nursing home, have died.

Hurricane specialist Eric Blake works at the National Hurricane Center to track the path of Tropical Storm Hermine, which strengthened this morning and is expected to make landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast as a hurricane by by tomorrow on September 1, 2016 in Miami, Florida. The National Hurricane Center forecasters are urging people to be ready for the possibility of the state's first hurricane in nearly 11 years.[SEP]000 WTNT34 KNHC 240234 TCPAT4 BULLETIN Post-Tropical Cyclone Chantal Advisory Number 13 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL042019 1100 PM AST Fri Aug 23 2019 ...CHANTAL BECOMES A REMNANT LOW... ...THIS IS THE LAST ADVISORY... SUMMARY OF 1100 PM AST...0300 UTC...INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------- LOCATION...35.6N 40.9W ABOUT 785 MI...1265 KM W OF THE AZORES MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...30 MPH...45 KM/H PRESENT MOVEMENT...S OR 185 DEGREES AT 6 MPH...9 KM/H MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1014 MB...29.95 INCHES WATCHES AND WARNINGS -------------------- There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect. DISCUSSION AND OUTLOOK ---------------------- At 1100 PM AST (0300 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Chantal was located near latitude 35.6 North, longitude 40.9 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the south near 6 mph (9 km/h). A turn toward the southwest and west is expected over the weekend, followed by a slow motion toward the northwest Sunday night and Monday. Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. Gradual weakening is anticipated and Chantal is forecast to dissipate on Monday. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1014 mb (29.95 inches). HAZARDS AFFECTING LAND ---------------------- None. NEXT ADVISORY ------------- This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on Chantal. Additional information on this system can be found in High Seas Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service, under AWIPS header NFDHSFAT1, WMO header FZNT01 KWBC, and online at ocean.weather.gov/shtml/NFDHSFAT1.php $$ Forecaster Zelinsky[SEP]By Faith Karimi and Steve Almasy, From CNN CNN)Hurricane Hermine made landfall early Friday in Florida with a furious mix of rain, whistling winds and surging waves — then weakened into a tropical storm as it wobbled toward Georgia. Hermine, which had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, was the first hurricane to come ashore in Florida since Wilma struck 11 years ago. It made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the Big Bend area, a part of the Gulf Coast where the state’s peninsula meets the Panhandle. In Tallahassee, more than 100,000 utility customers were without power as winds and rain lashed the city, according to the mayor’s office. Downgraded A few hours after landfall, Hermine had weakened into a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. All hurricane watches and warnings were dropped, but tropical storm warnings remained for parts of the Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia and up through North Carolina. By dawn Friday, the tropical storm was 20 miles west of Valdosta, Georgia, and moving north at 14 mph, according to the hurricane center. “This motion is expected to continue today and Saturday,” the center said. “On the forecast track, the center of Hermine should continue to move farther inland across southeastern Georgia today and into the Carolinas tonight and Saturday.” Its maximum sustained winds decreased to 70 mph, with additional weakening forecast as it moves farther inland. ‘You cannot rebuild a life’ After its short reign as a hurricane, it’s expected to spawn a few tornadoes in northern Florida and southern Georgia. A tornado watch was in effect for dozens of Florida and Georgia counties until 8 a.m. ET Friday. In Florida, life-threatening flooding remains a risk as rain has pounded the Gulf Coast since Wednesday. Forecasters say much more is in store. Hermine could bring up to 10 inches of additional rainfall to some places, including Tallahassee — with up to 15 inches possible in some areas, forecasters said. Several Florida counties issued mandatory evacuation notices for Gulf Coast communities on the water or in low-lying areas. Parts of Georgia also are expected to get up to 10 inches of rain over the weekend. Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday urged residents to heed warnings about the storm. “We have a hurricane. You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life.” Hurricane Hermine storms into Florida Photos: Hurricane Hermine storms into Florida Sgt. Andy Pace and Lt. Allen Ham with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department jump-start one of their vehicles as Hurricane Hermine approaches. Traffic moves along US 98 as Hurricane Hermine approaches Eastpoint, Florida, on September 1. Power crews with Pike Electric in South Carolina arrive in Carrabelle, Florida, on the Florida Gulf Coast as Hurricane Hermine approaches on September 1. Sunken and beached boats line the shoreline in Eastpoint, Florida, as Hurricane Hermine approaches. Residents of the Sandpiper Resort survey the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico into their neighborhood as winds and storm surge from Hurricane Hermine affect the area on Thursday, September 1, in Holmes Beach, Florida. Workers install storm shutters on a storefront as they prepare for Hurricane Hermine on September 1. A resident of the Sandpiper Resort in Holmes Beach, Florida, surveys the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Hermine. Sgt. Andy Pace and Lt. Allen Ham with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department jump-start one of their vehicles as Hurricane Hermine approaches. Traffic moves along US 98 as Hurricane Hermine approaches Eastpoint, Florida, on September 1. Power crews with Pike Electric in South Carolina arrive in Carrabelle, Florida, on the Florida Gulf Coast as Hurricane Hermine approaches on September 1. Sunken and beached boats line the shoreline in Eastpoint, Florida, as Hurricane Hermine approaches. Residents of the Sandpiper Resort survey the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico into their neighborhood as winds and storm surge from Hurricane Hermine affect the area on Thursday, September 1, in Holmes Beach, Florida. Workers install storm shutters on a storefront as they prepare for Hurricane Hermine on September 1. A resident of the Sandpiper Resort in Holmes Beach, Florida, surveys the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Hermine. Sgt. Andy Pace and Lt. Allen Ham with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department jump-start one of their vehicles as Hurricane Hermine approaches. He told residents not to drive into standing water and to avoid downed power lines, saying crews were working hard to ensure limited disruptions. “We have 6,000 members of the national guard ready to be mobilized,” he said. Scott declared a state of emergency for 51 of the state’s 67 counties. He ordered all state offices in those 51 counties to close. Hours before landfall, Hermine was lashing Apalachicola, St. Petersburg and other cities. A video posted by Joanna Crandell (@chica_de_aqua) on Sep 1, 2016 at 3:17pm PDT The surge of ocean water could be as high as 9 feet above normal levels, forecasters said, as authorities warned its effect was not limited to Florida. The storm is expected to deluge coastal Mid-Atlantic states from Virginia to New Jersey, beginning early Saturday, the hurricane center said. The National Weather Service issued a new online product to help people prepare for the storm. The storm surge watch/warning graphic highlights spots with the highest risk for “life-threatening inundation from storm surge,” the service said. ‘Lock down the house and pray’ In Apalachicola, on the Panhandle coast, contractors Lake Smith and Joshua Wolfhagen boarded up windows in a two-story brick building about 60 feet from the waterfront. “Storm (surge) is what got me worried right now,” Smith said. “Mostly worried about washing out the roads and a few of the homes in low-lying areas.” Eddie Bass, who owns a home in Alligator Point, said he wasn’t boarding it up despite worries about the storm surge. “It’s not much you can do. You just got to bring everything you can. Lock down the house and pray,” he said. In Panama City, a popular Labor Day destination, organizers canceled one of the major tourist draws, the Gulf Coast Jam. Officials said the stage for the three-day country music event had to be taken down as the winds picked up. Emergency management officials in Taylor County said mandatory evacuations were ordered for coastal communities. Nearby Wakulla County also had mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas. Franklin County, just southeast of Panama City, issued a mandatory evacuation order for the coastal towns of St. George Island, Dog Island, Bald Point and Alligator Point, the county’s emergency management office said. Zika concerns dismissed The storm may leave behind large areas of standing water, but one expert said it shouldn’t increase fears over the Zika virus. “We associate severe rain events like tropical events and hurricanes with increases in nuisance mosquitoes, not disease-spreading (mosquitoes),” said Ben Beard of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The type of mosquito that could potentially carry Zika is affected by heavy rain and flooding, which also washes away larvae from small breeding sites such as bird baths and flower pots. Nuisance mosquitoes will breed in water that remains standing after the storm passes. In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 56 counties. And in North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory issued a state of emergency for 33 eastern counties. For more on this story go to: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/02/us/hurricane-hermine/[SEP]Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened into a hurricane Thursday as it continued churning on a path toward Florida, US forecasters said. At 1855 GMT, data from an Air Force hurricane hunter plane indicated that maximum sustained winds in Hermine were about 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. That would make it a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Hermine is the fourth Atlantic hurricane of 2016. The storm was located about 175 miles west of Tampa, Florida and moving north-northeast at 14 miles per hour. A hurricane warning was in effect for northern Florida and authorities warned of potential strong winds and storm surges that could cause flooding. "Hurricane conditions are expected to reach the coast within the warning area beginning tonight," the National Hurricane Center said. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion." With the tropical storm approaching, intensifying winds threaten to make outside preparations "difficult or dangerous," it added. Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in 51 counties to free up resources to brace for the storm. The center of Hermine is expected to be near the Florida coast in the warning area by late Thursday night or early Friday, forecasters said.[SEP]TAMPA, Fla., Aug 31 (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott declared an emergency on Wednesday, with parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch from an approaching system that forecasters warned could bring life-threatening flooding and fierce winds. Storm preparations were also underway off the U.S. Pacific coast, where residents of Hawaii's Big Island were warned of an encroaching hurricane, as well as another brewing hurricane that could impact the state over the weekend. In Florida, Scott declared an emergency in 42 of the state's 67 counties in advance of an expected tropical storm that could make landfall on the north-central Gulf Coast between late Thursday and early Friday. Heavy rains were already pounding parts of the state on Wednesday morning. As much as 15 inches (38 cm) could fall from central to northern Florida, National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The approaching system, currently an unnamed tropical depression packing 35 mph (55 kph) winds with higher gusts, is expected to strengthen as it heads east. Forecasters said it could be near hurricane strength at landfall. On its current path, the system would also bring heavy rain into coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Another unnamed tropical depression was turning out to sea on Wednesday after threatening the North Carolina coast, according to the hurricane center. On Hawaii's Big Island, residents were warned that Hurricane Madeline will bring strong winds and heavy rains as it passes over the area, beginning late on Wednesday. Another brewing hurricane could potentially impact the state over the weekend. The National Weather Service (NWS) tracked Hurricane Madeline swirling about 200 miles (320 km) east of the town of Hilo around 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Madeline was ranked as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph), the weather service said. The County of Hawaii sent residents an alert about the hurricane's dangers, including heavy rains that could lead to mudslides, as well as possibly damaging ocean swells. "Preparations to protect life and property should be completed by nightfall today," the alert said. (Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Marguerita Choy)[SEP]HILO, Hawaii – A tropical storm left parts of Hawaii’s Big Island soggy but intact Thursday as residents of the island state prepared for a second round of potentially volatile tropical weather. Hawaii Island was pummeled with heavy rain and powerful waves overnight, but residents woke to blue skies and little damage after Madeline skirted the island. Hurricane Lester remains on track to affect the islands this weekend and was upgraded to a Category 3 storm Thursday afternoon. CARRABELLE, Fla. – Hurricane Hermine gained strength late Thursday as it roared toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, churning up rough surf that battered docks and boathouses as people braced for the first direct hit on the state from a hurricane in over a decade. The National Hurricane Center said the storm’s top sustained winds rose from 75 mph in the afternoon to 80 mph by nightfall as the former tropical storm gained new fury as it bore down on the coast. Forecasters said the storm would likely gain a little extra punch before slamming ashore. Hermine’s landfall was expected early this morning in the Big Bend area – the mostly rural and lightly populated corner where the Florida peninsula meets the Panhandle – then drop back down to a tropical storm and push into Georgia, the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for drenching rain and deadly flooding. Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered many state government offices to close at noon, including those in Tallahassee, home to tens of thousands of state employees. The city has not had a direct hit from a hurricane in 30 years. He also urged people during the day to move to inland shelters if necessary. “This is a life-threatening situation,” Scott said. “It’s going to be a lot of risk. Right now, I want everybody to be safe.” Scott added that 6,000 National Guardsmen in Florida are ready to mobilize after the storm passes. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared states of emergency. Projected rainfall ranged up to 10 inches in parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia, with 4 to 10 inches possible along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas by Sunday. Lesser amounts were forecast farther up the Atlantic Coast, because the storm was expected to veer out to sea. The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm that arrived Oct. 24, 2005. It swept across the Everglades and struck heavily populated south Florida, causing five deaths in the state and an estimated $23 billion in damage. Flooding was expected across a wide swath of the Big Bend, which has a marshy coastline and is made up of mostly rural communities and small towns, where fishing, hunting and camping are mainstays of life. On Thursday, residents were out in force preparing for the storm, and stores began running low on bottled water and flashlights. City crews struggled to keep up with demand for sand for filling sandbags. Courtney Chason, a longtime resident of Carrabelle in the Big Bend coastal area, warily watched with his girlfriend Thursday evening as surging waves began battering some docks and boathouses, the angry surf slowly tearing at them. Water also crashed into yards closest to the shore. “I’ve never seen it this high, it’s pretty damn crazy,” Chason said. “I hope it doesn’t get any higher; we need lots of prayers.” On Cedar Key, a small island along the Big Bend, about a dozen people went storefront to storefront, putting up shutters and nailing pieces of plywood to protect businesses from the wind. One of them, Joe Allen, spray-painted on plywood in large black letters: “Bring it on, Hermine.” Despite the bravado, he said, “I’m worried. You can never fully protect yourself from nature.” Chris Greaves and family members stopped in Tallahassee to pick up sandbags for his garage and the church they attend. Greaves said he lived in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew devastated the area in 1992.[SEP]CEDAR KEY, Fla. — People on Florida's Gulf coast stocked up on supplies Thursday and some set out sandbags as they braced for Tropical Storm Hermine, which forecasters said could strike land as a hurricane. A hurricane warning was in effect for Florida's Big Bend from the Suwannee River to Mexico Beach. And on the East Coast, a tropical storm warning was issued for an area extending from Marineland, Fla., northward to the South Santee River in South Carolina. Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency for 56 counties through Saturday, in anticipation of high water and strong winds. Hermine's maximum sustained winds Thursday morning were near 65 mph. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hermine was likely to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane when it lands in Florida on Thursday night or early Friday. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, Hermine was centered about 220 miles west of Tampa, Fla., and was moving north-northeast near 14 mph. Residents in some low-lying communities in Florida were being asked to evacuate Thursday as the storm approached. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that emergency management officials in Franklin County have issued a mandatory evacuation notice for people living on St. George Island, Dog Island, Alligator Point and Bald Point. Residents in other low-lying, flood-prone areas were also being asked to evacuate. Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered state government offices in 51 counties to close at noon Thursday. The order included the state capital of Tallahassee, home to tens of thousands of state workers. The city, roughly 35 miles from the coast, has not had a direct hit by hurricane in 30 years.[SEP]Are you affected by Tropical Storm Hermine? If it's safe for you to do so, WhatsApp us on +44 7435 939 154 to share your photos, experiences and video. Please tag #CNNiReport in your message. (CNN) Hurricane Hermine made landfall early Friday in Florida with a furious mix of rain, whistling winds and surging waves -- then weakened into a tropical storm as it wobbled toward Georgia. Hermine, which had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, was the first hurricane to come ashore in Florida since Wilma struck 11 years ago. It made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in the Big Bend area, a part of the Gulf Coast where the state's peninsula meets the Panhandle. In Tallahassee, more than 100,000 utility customers were without power as winds and rain lashed the city, according to the mayor's office. A few hours after landfall, Hermine had weakened into a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center. All hurricane watches and warnings were dropped, but tropical storm warnings remained for parts of the Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia and up through North Carolina. By dawn Friday, the tropical storm was 20 miles west of Valdosta, Georgia, and moving north at 14 mph, according to the hurricane center. "This motion is expected to continue today and Saturday," the center said. "On the forecast track, the center of Hermine should continue to move farther inland across southeastern Georgia today and into the Carolinas tonight and Saturday." Its maximum sustained winds decreased to 70 mph, with additional weakening forecast as it moves farther inland. After its short reign as a hurricane, it's expected to spawn a few tornadoes in northern Florida and southern Georgia. A tornado watch was in effect for dozens of Florida and Georgia counties until 8 a.m. ET Friday. In Florida, life-threatening flooding remains a risk as rain has pounded the Gulf Coast since Wednesday. Forecasters say much more is in store. Hermine could bring up to 10 inches of additional rainfall to some places, including Tallahassee -- with up to 15 inches possible in some areas, forecasters said. Several Florida counties issued mandatory evacuation notices for Gulf Coast communities on the water or in low-lying areas. Parts of Georgia also are expected to get up to 10 inches of rain over the weekend. Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday urged residents to heed warnings about the storm. "We have a hurricane. You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life." He told residents not to drive into standing water and to avoid downed power lines, saying crews were working hard to ensure limited disruptions. "We have 6,000 members of the national guard ready to be mobilized," he said. Hours before landfall, Hermine was lashing Apalachicola, St. Petersburg and other cities. The surge of ocean water could be as high as 9 feet above normal levels, forecasters said, as authorities warned its effect was not limited to Florida. The storm is expected to deluge coastal Mid-Atlantic states from Virginia to New Jersey, beginning early Saturday, the hurricane center said. 'Lock down the house and pray' In Apalachicola, on the Panhandle coast, contractors Lake Smith and Joshua Wolfhagen boarded up windows in a two-story brick building about 60 feet from the waterfront. "Storm (surge) is what got me worried right now," Smith said. "Mostly worried about washing out the roads and a few of the homes in low-lying areas." Eddie Bass, who owns a home in Alligator Point, said he wasn't boarding it up despite worries about the storm surge. "It's not much you can do. You just got to bring everything you can. Lock down the house and pray," he said. In Panama City, a popular Labor Day destination, organizers canceled one of the major tourist draws, the Gulf Coast Jam. Officials said the stage for the three-day country music event had to be taken down as the winds picked up. Emergency management officials in Taylor County said mandatory evacuations were ordered for coastal communities. Nearby Wakulla County also had mandatory evacuations for low-lying areas. The storm may leave behind large areas of standing water, but one expert said it shouldn't increase fears over the Zika virus. "We associate severe rain events like tropical events and hurricanes with increases in nuisance mosquitoes, not disease-spreading (mosquitoes)," said Ben Beard of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The type of mosquito that could potentially carry Zika is affected by heavy rain and flooding, which also washes away larvae from small breeding sites such as bird baths and flower pots. Nuisance mosquitoes will breed in water that remains standing after the storm passes.[SEP]Growing winds and driving rain from Hurricane Hermine lashed Florida’s northern Gulf Coast early on Friday as power outages left tens of thousands of households in the dark in what the state’s governor warned would be a potentially lethal storm. Conditions deteriorated as Hurricane Hermine was making landfall, packing winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) with several areas in Florida already reporting 5 inches (12 cm) of rain and media reported about 270,000 households had been left without power. “It is a mess…we have high water in numerous places,” Virgil Sandlin, the police chief in Cedar Key, Florida, told the Weather Channel. “I was here in 1985 for Hurricane Elena and I don’t recall anything this bad.” Hurricane Hermine packed a dangerous storm surge that was expected to cause 9 feet (3 m) of flooding in some areas, as rising waters move inland from the coast, the National Hurricane Center warned in an advisory. Hermine, expected to become the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma in 2005, also posed a Labor Day weekend threat to states along the northern Atlantic Coast that are home to tens of millions of people. “Hurricane Hermine is strengthening fast and it will impact the majority of our state,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said in a late-evening bulletin. The National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings for communities throughout northern Florida on Friday as the National Hurricane Center extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic storm season. By 11 p.m. EDT, maximum winds were listed at 80 mph (130 kph), with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45 miles (75 km) from the storm’s center. Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some parts of the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet (3.6 meters). After battering coastal Florida, Hermine is expected to weaken and move across the northern part of the state into Georgia, then southern U.S. coastal regions on the Atlantic. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags. Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida’s 67 counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties in northwestern Florida, with voluntary evacuations in at least three more counties. Twenty emergency shelters were opened across the state for those displaced by the storm. “This is life-threatening,” Scott told reporters on Thursday afternoon. “You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life.” In coastal Franklin County, people were being evacuated from barrier islands and low-lying shore areas. “Those on higher ground are stocking up and hunkering down,” said Pamela Brownlee, the county’s emergency management director. Towns, cities and counties were hastily preparing shelters for people and pets and placing utility repair crews on standby ahead of the storm. The storm was expected to affect many areas inland of the Gulf Coast. In Leon County, home to the state capital of Tallahassee, more than 30,000 sandbags were distributed. At Maximo Marina in St. Petersburg, Florida, dock master Joe Burgess watched anxiously as waters rose 6 inches (15 cm) over the dock at high tide on Thursday, before slowly receding. “If we get hit with a real storm head on, all the provisions you can make aren’t going to matter out here,” he said, preparing to use a chainsaw to cut beams on covered slips if rising water took boats dangerously close to the roof. On its current path, the storm also could dump as much as 10 inches (25 cm) of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of “life-threatening” floods and flash floods there.[SEP]CARRABELLE, Florida (AP) — Forecasters say Hurricane Hermine has made landfall over northwest Florida just east of St. Marks. It's the first hurricane to directly strike the Sunshine State in more than a decade, roaring in from the northwest Gulf Coast with 80-mph winds and heavy rains. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hermine made landfall early Friday around 1:30 a.m. EDT. Projected storm surges of up to 12 feet menaced the coastline and expected rainfall up to 10 inches carried the danger of flooding through the storm's path, including the state capital, Tallahassee, which hadn't been hit by a hurricane since Kate in 1985. Hermine is expected to drop back down to a tropical storm before pushing into Georgia, the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for drenching rain and deadly flooding.

The National Hurricane Center declares a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning from the Anclote River, north of Tampa, to Destin, Florida, near the Georgia border. Hermine, now at 45 mph (75 km), is expected to reach hurricane strength when it makes landfall Thursday afternoon. Florida Governor Rick Scott, with life-threatening flooding forecast, declares a state of emergency.

Alaska State Troopers say all those on board two small planes died in a midair collision in the western part of the state. Troopers did not say how many people were in the two aircraft, but the Alaska National Guard said earlier that there were a total of five on board the planes. Troopers say the crash occurred northwest of the village of Russian Mission. Troopers say responders at the scene have confirmed there were no survivors on either of the planes. Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard. Representatives of Hageland, which is operated by Ravn, Alaska, did not immediately respond with comment. A Renfro employee said the company was not immediately releasing information.[SEP]Five people have been killed after two planes collided in mid-air over Alaska, authorities said. The crash happened at around 11am local time (7pm UK) about 60 miles north of the city of Bethel. The two small planes involved were a Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Piper PA-18 Super Cub carrying two individuals. All of those on board both aircraft were killed, Alaska National Guard spokeswoman Candis Olmstead said. • Passenger 'speaking gibberish' forces plane into emergency landing after trying to open door mid-flight The Cessna belonged to Hageland Aviation Services, a regional airline, and the Piper was operated by Renfro's Alaskan Adventures, she added. Renfro's offers wilderness hunting and fishing trips out of Bethel, according to its website. Alaska is a sparsely populated US state more than twice the size of Texas, and residents in remote areas rely on small planes for travel, recreation and mail delivery. Alaska State Troopers said rescue workers searching the crash site found no survivors aboard either aircraft, and said an investigation was continuing. • Mid-air horror as part of plane's engine FALLS OFF while thousands of feet in the air Olmstead said the crash occurred about 6 miles northwest of Russian Mission, a remote community in the southwest of the state along the Yukon River. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, authorities said. Neither Hageland nor Renfro's immediately responded to requests for comment. An Alaska Army National Guard helicopter ferrying medics have arrived at the crash site, Olmstead said.[SEP]The crash happened around 11 a.m. local time about 60 miles north of the city of Bethel, Alaska National Guard spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Candis Olmstead said in a statement. It was not immediately clear if anyone survived. "The aircraft involved were a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan with three individuals on board and a Renfro's Alaska Adventures Piper PA-18 Super Cub with two individuals on board," Olmstead said. Olmstead said the crash occurred about 6 miles northwest of Russian Mission, a remote community in the southwest of the state along the Yukon River. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Hageland did not immediately respond to a request for information. An Alaska Army National Guard helicopter ferrying medics was arriving at the crash site, Olmstead said. Alaska State Troopers were also en route.[SEP]Two small planes collided in the air over a remote area of western Alaska, killing all five people on board. State troopers said the crash occurred northwest of the village of Russian Mission, 375 miles west of Anchorage, at about 11am on Wednesday. The crash scene covers a large area that is accessible only by helicopter, said Clint Johnson, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board's Alaska division, and the cause is being investigated. Troopers said responders at the scene confirmed there were no survivors on either of the planes. The troopers didn't give an exact number, but the Alaska National Guard said earlier that there were a total of five on board the planes. The collision occurred just before 11am, Guard officials said. Johnson said an initial report was about a possible plane crash involving a Piper PA-18 in the area of Russian Mission, followed shortly after that with another report of another, separate plane that was overdue. 'And then subsequently, shortly after that, is when we started putting two and two together as far as a possible midair,' he said. The planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard, according to the Guard. A Guard helicopter with medics on board left Bethel around noon to head to the crash site. Representatives of Hageland, which is operated by Ravn, Alaska, did not immediately respond with comment. A Renfro employee said the company was not immediately releasing information. National Transportation Safety Board investigators were headed to the crash scene Wednesday afternoon, Johnson said.[SEP]It's not known why the midair crash happened about 376 miles west of Anchorage, said Allen Kenitzer, with the Federal Aviation Administration office of communications. He said the crash happened under "unknown circumstances." The collision involved a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro's Alaska Adventures Piper PA-18 Super Cub with two people inside, said Candis A. Olmstead, director of public affairs for the Alaska National Guard. An aviation company contacted the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at 11 a.m. and said they had lost radio contact with an aircraft and that it was overdue, she said. About 15 minutes later, the Alaska State Troopers contacted the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center to report a second aircraft was overdue, Olmstead said. Later in the day, an aircraft spotted wreckage of the two planes on the ground near Russian Mission, she said. Russian Village is a Yup'ik Eskimo village along the Yukon River, about 376 miles west of Anchorage, according to a website for a school in the area. The crash occurred in an area of rolling hills and heavy vegetation with an elevation between 600 to 800 feet. Skies were clear and temperatures were around 63 degrees, she said. An Alaska Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from the 207th Aviation Battalion, based out of Bethel, left about noon and flew to the scene, Olmstead said. Names of the people on board have not been released. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.[SEP]The Latest: Troopers say no survivors in Alaska midair crash ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Latest on a midair collision in Alaska (all times local): Alaska State Troopers say all those on board two small planes died in a midair collision in the western part of the state. Troopers did not say how many people were in the two aircraft, but the Alaska National Guard said earlier that there were a total of five on board the planes. Troopers say the crash occurred northwest of the village of Russian Mission. Troopers say responders at the scene have confirmed there were no survivors on either of the planes. Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard. Representatives of Hageland, which is operated by Ravn, Alaska, did not immediately respond with comment. A Renfro employee said the company was not immediately releasing information. Searchers are responding to a midair collision of two small commercial airplanes carrying a total of five people in western Alaska. Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred 60 miles north of Bethel just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. There's no immediate word on casualties. Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard. A Guard helicopter with medics on board left Bethel around noon to head to the crash site. Alaska State Troopers also are involved in the response.[SEP]ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Searchers are responding to a midair collision of two small commercial airplanes carrying a total of five people in western Alaska. Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred 60 miles north of Bethel just before 11 a.m. Wednesday. There is no immediate word on casualties. Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard. A Guard helicopter with medics on board left Bethel around noon to head to the crash site. Alaska State Troopers also are involved in the response.[SEP]ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Authorities have released the names of four Alaskans and a Montana man who were killed in a midair collision of two small planes in western Alaska as responders said Thursday that rough terrain is complicating efforts to recover the bodies. On one plane, pilot Harry Wrase, 48, of Wasilla and his passengers, Steven Paul Andrew, 32, of Kenai, and Aaron Jay Minock, 21, of Russian Mission, were killed in the Wednesday morning crash. In the other plane, pilot Zach Justin Babat, 44, of Montana and his passenger, Jeff Thomas Burruss, 40, of Haines, were killed. A hometown for Babat was not immediately disclosed. Wrase was flying a Ravn Alaska Cessna 208 Caravan from Russian Mission to the nearby village of Marshall, troopers said. Babat was piloting a Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures Piper Super Cub and heading for a hunting camp. There were no survivors in the crash 6 miles northwest of the village of Russian Mission, 375 miles west of Anchorage. Troopers were heading to the scene Thursday to recover the bodies, agency spokesman Megan Peters said. Rough terrain and the technically complicated nature of midair collisions are making the investigative response and recovery of the bodies difficult, said Clint Johnson, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska division. The plane wreckages are about half a mile apart at the crash scene, which covers an area accessible only by helicopter, Johnson said. A National Transportation Safety Board investigative team and troopers reached the scene late Wednesday afternoon, landing a quarter-mile from the Cessna, then hiking through woods thick with alder trees. There was no time for troopers to recover the victims Wednesday before responders had to depart before night fell, Johnson said. “This is a very challenging area for what we need to do,” he said, adding that the safety board investigators were heading out again Thursday.

At least five people are killed after two small planes collide near Russian Mission, Alaska. Officials from the Alaska Army National Guard say the planes involved were a Cessna 208 Caravan and a Piper PA-18 Super Cub.

CLOSE The first regular commercial flight in more than 50 years from the United States lands in Cuba, as the two nations take the latest step in their efforts to boost ties. Newslook JetBlue Flight 386 departs for Cuba on August 31, 2016 from Fort Lauderdale National Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo: Rhona Wise, AFP/Getty Images) SANTA CLARA, Cuba — The flight from Fort Lauderdale to this city in central Cuba on Wednesday morning took only 51 minutes, but it represented a major step in ending decades of isolation between communist Cuba and the United States. JetBlue Flight 387 was the first regularly scheduled commercial flight between the Cold War foes in 55 years, the latest example of how the two countries are normalizing relations. Nine other U.S. airlines will soon follow with their own routes, which could balloon up to 110 flights per day from cities throughout the U.S. to Cuban cities. A ceremonial water cannon salute showered the Airbus 320 jetliner before it departed Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. And Cuban dignitaries at Abel Santamaría Airport greeted the flight when it landed. Twitter | @wandrme Seth Miller on Twitter “The last time there were scheduled flights to Cuba, if you wanted to buy a ticket, you had to go to a ticket office. You’d fly to Cuba on a propeller plane,” said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes before the flight departed. “So it just shows how in 55 years things have changed.” After landing in Santa Clara and receiving another ceremonial water canon shower from Cuban fire engines, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was the first to disembark. He was greeted by an airport full of curious onlookers and airport workers holding American and Cuban flags. Hayes presented Cuban officials with a model airplane, and a city official presented him with a painting of Santa Clara. They shared a toast to future flights — with white wine instead of champagne — and thanked each other for the months of work to re-establish the flights. "This is just the beginning," Hayes said. "I look forward to growing our service here in the years to come." Earlier in Fort Lauderdale, the terminal outside Gate F10 resembled more of a party than a regular flight. A salsa band played as passengers munched on Cuban pastries. José Ramón Cabañas, the Cuban ambassador to the U.S., said reaching this point required months of negotiations between U.S. transportation and security officials and their counterparts in Cuba. “Today is another historic day,” he said. “And we have been saying that phrase many times during the last months.” President Obama opened the door to Cuba in December 2014, when he and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced that the longtime foes would re-establish diplomatic relations. Much has changed since then, with officials re-opening embassies in Washington and Havana, and U.S. businesses signing new deals with Cuba. Domenic Santana, a retired nightclub owner from New York City, said that opening inspired him to return to his native Cuba and get reacquainted with the country he left as a child. Santana proudly held out his ticket for Wednesday’s inaugural flight: seat 1A. “I splurged a little,” Santana, 53, said with a laugh. “This is just so meaningful for me. Not knowing my country, not knowing the people, it’s about time I’m going back. It’s long overdue.” Despite Obama’s renewed ties with Cuba, the U.S. still maintains an economic embargo on the communist island, which has made travel there difficult in the past. Erika Munro, left, and Michelle Sanchez-Boyce, right, check in at the ticket counter at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for JetBlue Flight 387 on August 31, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images) In past decades, Americans had to establish that they fit into one of 12 travel categories approved by the U.S. government, including educational, cultural, religious and business trips. They then had to rely on costly and cumbersome charter flights that operated mostly out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The Obama administration changed those rules. Now, U.S. travelers can book flights online from 12 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and New York City. They can clear the U.S. visa requirement by buying one at the airline ticket counter, and they can compare prices from 10 different airlines. Leanne Spencer, a wedding planner from Salt Lake City, said she spent days calling and emailing the State and Treasury departments to make sure she could legally be on Wednesday’s flight. She wanted to take her daughter, Natalie, to Cuba to see a place they had only known through documentaries and movies. She eventually got someone from the Treasury Department on the phone who assured her that her trip fit into the educational category of approved travel. “He said, ‘Have a great time,’” said Spencer, 51, who paid $50 for her visa at the Fort Lauderdale airport Wednesday morning. “It was easy.” About 161,000 Americans — not including Cuban-Americans visiting relatives — made the journey in 2015, a 77% jump from the previous year. That number jumped another 80% in the first three months of 2016, and the stream of Americans could continue as new flights take off, said José Luis Perelló, an economist with the University of Havana's Center for Tourism Studies. Santana said that influx will help countless Cubans improve their financial situation. And he hopes they remember that. “They should make a big, big statue in honor of Obama,” he said. “He was the president to start everything and hopefully he’ll be remembered in Cuba for many years to come.” Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2ceFN8m[SEP]A JetBlue Airways Corp passenger jet landed in Santa Clara, Cuba on Wednesday, becoming the first scheduled passenger flight from the United States to the communist island in more than a half century. The 150-seat Airbus A320 which was packed with officials, journalists, and regular travellers, including some of Cuban descent, touched down in what the Obama administration hopes will usher in an era of more routine travel to and from the Communist-ruled island. The first of several US carriers to begin serving Cuba in the coming months, the airplane took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, landing in Santa Clara, a central city known for its monument to revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Lazaro Chavez, a 49-year-old pharmacist who lives in Miami and returns frequently to his homeland, said before boarding the plane he was taking the flight for two reasons. “One, I am going to see my family. Two, I want to be on this historic flight.” Cuba and the United States began normalising relations in December 2014 after 18 months of secret talks and have since restored full diplomatic ties. The countries had been hostile for more than five decades, since Fidel Castro ousted US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a 1959 revolution that steered the island on a communist course and made it a close ally of the Soviet Union. Despite the opening, which has included a landmark visit to the Caribbean island by Barack Obama in March, the US president has been unable to persuade Congress to lift a long-standing trade embargo on Cuba. US citizens are still prohibited from visiting as tourists, although there have long been exceptions to the ban, ranging from visiting family to business, cultural, religious and educational travel. The Obama administration has further eased the restrictions. Despite the travel limitations, US airlines have rushed to start flights, adding a lot of capacity and setting themselves up to lose money on the trips in the short run, said industry consultant Robert Mann. “Most carriers look at international markets that have been restricted and are just opening up as an investment,” Mr Mann said. “You need to get your foot in the door.” Services on regional carrier Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area that is home to a large Cuban-American population, to Cuba’s outlying provinces will be the next to start, in September. Three other carriers will follow. Mr Mann said the companies probably offered to fly to Cuban cities that are unfamiliar to many American travellers, so that US officials would look favourably on their applications to fly to Havana. A memorandum of understanding between Cuba and the United States will limit Havana flights to 20 round trips per day. US officials have yet to announce a final decision on which companies will get those coveted routes. “The Havana competition was one of the most over-subscribed competitions that I’ve been a part of,” US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said in an interview before the plane took off. “I think that speaks to the interest on the part of the American people, and it also speaks to the level of commercial interest in the US that exists.”[SEP]SANTA CLARA, Cuba, Aug 31 (Reuters) - A JetBlue Airways Corp passenger jet landed in Santa Clara, Cuba on Wednesday, becoming the first scheduled passenger flight from the United States in more than a half century. The Airbus A320, packed with officials including JetBlue's chief executive and the U.S. Transportation Secretary, touched down in what the Obama administration hopes will usher in an era of more routine travel to and from the Communist-ruled island. (Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Frances Kerry)[SEP]Airport workers receive the JetBlue flight 387 holding a United States, and Cuban national flag, on the airport tarmac in Santa Clara, Cuba, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. JetBlue 387, the first commercial flight between the U.S. and Cuba in more than a half century, landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) SANTA CLARA, Cuba — The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War. Cheers broke out in the cabin of JetBlue flight 387 as the plane touched down. Passengers — mostly airline executives, U.S. government officials and journalists, with a sprinkling of Cuban-American families and U.S. travelers — were given gift bags with Cuban cookbooks, commemorative luggage tags and Cuban flags, which they were encouraged to wave for the TV cameras at the tarmac. The arrival opens a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island. "Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality. That has a huge psychological impact," said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book "Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy." The restart of commercial travel between the two countries is one of the most important steps in President Barack Obama's two-year-old policy of normalizing relations with the island. Historians disagree on the exact date of the last commercial flight but it appears to have been after Cuba banned incoming flights during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Twitter that the last commercial flight was in 1961.[SEP]The first regular commercial flight in more than 50 years from the United States landed in Cuba Wednesday, as the two nations took the latest step in their efforts to boost ties. JetBlue Flight 386 landed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara a little before 11:00 am (1500 GMT), about an hour after leaving Fort Lauderdale in southeastern Florida with 150 passengers on board.[SEP]Maiden commercial flight from US to Cuba takes off Cuba and the United States took the latest step in their efforts to boost ties Wednesday when the first regular commercial flight from America to the communist-ruled island in more than 50 years took off. JetBlue Flight 386 left Fort Lauderdale in southeastern Florida shortly after 10:00 am (1345 GMT) with 150 passengers on board. After less than an hour in the air, it will land in central Cuba's Santa Clara, 175 miles (280 kilometers) east of Havana. The flight is the first of dozens of daily trips connecting US cities to nine Cuban airports, many of them in or near tourism hotspots. Regular air service was severed during the Cold War, and charter flights have been the only air links since. "It's a new day for Cuba travelers and one we have thoughtfully prepared for. We are proud to usher in a new era of Cuba travel with affordable fares and great service," JetBlue's executive vice president Marty St George said. The Fort Lauderdale airport was in full party mode near Jet Blue's departure area -- a live salsa band blared Cuban favorites as passengers and bystanders broke into spontaneous dances. There were cheers, applause and a sea of balloons as boarding for the historic flight got underway. For some, there were also tears of joy. "I am so proud, so overcome with emotion," said Domingo Santana, 53, who left Cuba when he was just six years old. Since then, he said, "I've never been in my country. I don't know my country," adding: "It's a great opportunity." Wednesday's JetBlue flight would be flown by Captain Mark Luaces and First Officer Francisco Barreras, both Americans of Cuban descent, the airline said. The plane was sent off with a water cannon salute, an aviation tradition in which aircraft pass under arcs of water before flying to their destinations for the first time. Mark Gale, director of operations for the airport, said it was one of the "great moments in history," likening it to the moon landing or the fall of the Berlin Wall. Another passenger, Aleisy Barreda, 46, was overcome with emotion. "This reopening has really benefitted us," she gushed. "Not only in terms of the ticket prices, but also in terms of how much easier it is to purchase them," she said. "Now we only need more vacation time!" The last regular commercial flight between the two countries took place in 1961, when air links fell victim to the Cold War. Air travel between the United States and Cuba has been restricted to charter flights since 1979. Washington and Havana agreed in February to restore direct commercial flights -- one of several watershed changes initiated in December 2014, when US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro announced a thaw after more than 50 years of hostility. US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is also set to travel to Cuba this week to meet with local officials, Cuba's transport ministry said. Washington still bans Americans from visiting Cuba as tourists, but travel is permitted for 12 other categories, including cultural and educational exchange. The renewed links are a "milestone" in relations between the United States and Cuba, said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. Regular flights "will allow more fluid movement of people, goods, information and ideas between two places that are very close geographically but distant politically," he said. Of the 3.5 million tourists in Cuba in 2015, only 161,000 were Americans. However, that number was up 77 percent from the previous year and Americans are now expected to become a major component in a growth industry expected to reach 6.8 million visitors in 2018. Travel agents said US interest in making the short journey to the island has skyrocketed. "There's a lot of interest in Cuba. It's the hot, 'in' place right now," said Frank Gonzalez, owner of the Mambi travel agency which offers packages to the island from the United States, including tours with workshops in the island's musical traditions and distinctive aspects of its culture, such as the Yoruba-based religion santeria. The airlines designated to fly to the nine Cuban airports -- not including Havana -- include American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines, according to the US Department of Transportation. Flights will depart from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis and Philadelphia, slated to land in the Cuban cities Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba.[SEP]First U.S.-Cuba scheduled passenger flight in decades takes off FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug 31 (Reuters) - The first regularly scheduled commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than half a century departed on Wednesday, opening another chapter in the Obama administration's efforts to open trade and travel with the former Cold War foe. The first of several U.S. carriers to begin serving Cuba in the coming months, JetBlue Airways Corp took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, en route to Santa Clara, a central city known for its monument to revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes, other officials and journalists were aboard the 150-seat Airbus A320. Regular travelers, including some of Cuban descent, occupied nearly half the seats on a route that may be a commercial challenge, at least initially. Lázaro Chavez, a 49-year-old pharmacist who lives in Miami and returns frequently to his homeland, said before boarding the plane he was taking the flight for two reasons. "One, I am going to see my family. Two, I want to be on this historic flight." Cuba and the United States began normalizing relations in December 2014 after 18 months of secret talks and have since restored full diplomatic ties. The countries had been hostile for more than five decades, since Fidel Castro ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a 1959 revolution that steered the island on a communist course and made it a close ally of the Soviet Union. Despite the opening, which has included a landmark visit to the Caribbean island by Obama in March, the U.S. president has been unable to persuade Congress to lift a longstanding trade embargo on Cuba. U.S. citizens are still prohibited from visiting as tourists, although there have long been exceptions to the ban, ranging from visiting family to business, cultural, religious and educational travel. The Obama administration has further eased the restrictions. Despite the travel limitations, U.S. airlines have rushed to start flights - adding a lot of capacity and setting themselves up to lose money on the trips in the short run, said industry consultant Robert Mann. "Most carriers look at international markets that have been restricted and are just opening up as an investment," Mann said. "You need to get your foot in the door." Services on regional carrier Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area that is home to a large Cuban-American population, to Cuba's outlying provinces will be the next to start, in September. Three other carriers will follow. Mann said the companies probably offered to fly to Cuban cities that are unfamiliar to many American travelers, so that U.S. officials would look favorably on their applications to fly to Havana. A memorandum of understanding between Cuba and the United States will limit Havana flights to 20 round trips per day. U.S. officials have yet to announce a final decision on which companies will get those coveted routes. "The Havana competition was one of the most over-subscribed competitions that I've been a part of," Foxx said in an interview before the plane took off. "I think that speaks to the interest on the part of the American people, and it also speaks to the level of commercial interest in the U.S. that exists." (Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Fort Lauderdale; Editing by Christian Plumb and Frances Kerry)[SEP]SANTA CLARA, Cuba (AP) — The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century landed in the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War. The flight of JetBlue 387 opens a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel, with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island. “Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality. That has a huge psychological impact,” said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book “Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy.” The restart of commercial travel between the two countries is one of the most important steps in President Barack Obama’s two-year-old policy of normalizing relations with the island. Historians disagree on the exact date of the last commercial flight but it appears to have been after Cuba banned incoming flights during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Twitter that the last commercial flight was in 1961. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes and a specially selected five-member crew of Cuban-Americans were slated to be on board the 150-seat Airbus A320. “This is one of the most visible examples of the president’s activities to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba,” Foxx said. “It’s a positive step and a concrete contribution to the process of improving relations between the two countries,” Cuba’s vice minister of transportation Eduardo Rodriguez told journalists Monday. Neta Rodriguez, a 62-year-old Havana-born South Florida homemaker, checked in Wednesday morning with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandsons for a visit to family in Santa Clara and Havana. More than the historic nature of the flight, she said she appreciated the $200 price and the ability to book online instead of visiting a charter office U.S. travel to Cuba is on track to triple this year to more than 300,000 visitors in the wake of the 2014 declaration of detente. Cuba’s cash-starved centrally planned economy has been bolstered by the boom in U.S. visitors, along with hundreds of thousands of travelers from other nations hoping to see Cuba before more Americans arrive. Wednesday’s first commercial flight “will be a positive step and a concrete contribution to the process of improving Commercial flights are expected to significantly increase the number of American visitors, although it’s not clear by how much. Many of the air routes are currently used by expensive charter flights that are largely expected to go out of business with the advent of regularly scheduled service from the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of Cuban-born Americans fly to the island each year with the chaotic, understaffed charter companies, which require four-hour check-in waits and charge high rates for any luggage in excess of restrictive baggage allowances. Americans without ties to Cuba have found it hard to negotiate the charters, most of which don’t accept online bookings or help travelers navigate the federal affidavit still required for U.S. travelers to Cuba. Cuban officials insist the continuing U.S. ban on tourism will limit the impact of commercial flights to Cuba, but some experts believe the drastic reduction in the difficulty of flying to Cuba could turn the surge in U.S. visitors into a tidal wave. Americans are allowed to visit the island on “people-to-people” cultural and educational visits, among other reasons. Americans who fit one of 12 categories will now be able to fill out a federal affidavit by clicking a box on an online form and, in many cases, buy their Cuban tourist visa near the check-in counters of U.S. airports. Within weeks, Americans will be able to fly direct from cities including Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, Miami and Fort Lauderdale to eight Cuban cities and two beach resorts. The final announcement of routes to Havana, which could be announced Wednesday and start before December, is slated to include flights from Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Houston, among others.[SEP]Next stop... #cuba #jetbluesofly Honor to be on the first commercial flight to cuba in over 50 years.. #worklife #humble #jetblue #florida Today is a historic day for the U.S. and Floridians especially.A Jetblue flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, made its way to Santa Clara, Cuba in the first regular passenger flight between the U.S. and Cuba in 50 years.Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was on the 9:45 a.m. flight. The U.S. still maintains an embargo against Cuba, so any American passenger wishing to fly to Cuba will have to pledge that they qualify for one of 12 categories of travel . They include religious activities, humanitarian projects, and support for the Cuban people amongst others.Silver Airways will also begin flights to Santa Clara on Thursday, and American Airlines will begin its flights to Cuba on Sept 7. Southwest, Frontier, and Sun Country Airlines have also been approved for flights to Cuba from the U.S. and today Transportation Department is set to announce which airlines will be able to fly to Havana.[SEP]SANTA CLARA, Cuba (Reuters) - A JetBlue Airways Corp <JBLU.O> passenger jet landed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara on Wednesday, becoming the first scheduled commercial passenger flight from the United States to the island in more than a half century. The arrival of the Airbus A320 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, opened another chapter in the Obama administration's efforts to improve ties and increase trade and travel with the former Cold War foe. The Obama administration hopes regular scheduled flights will usher in an era of more routine travel to and from the Communist-ruled island. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes, other officials and journalists were aboard the 150-seat plane. Regular travelers, including some of Cuban descent, occupied nearly half the seats on a route that may be a commercial challenge, at least initially. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted in a Twitter message that the flight took place just over a year after the raising of the flag at the reopened U.S. embassy in Havana. He called it "another step forward." Cuba and the United States began normalizing relations in December 2014 after 18 months of secret talks and have since restored full diplomatic ties. The countries had been hostile for more than five decades, since Fidel Castro ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in a 1959 revolution that steered the island on a communist course and made it a close ally of the Soviet Union. Until Wednesday, passenger air links between Cuba and the United States were by charteredflights. The flight landed in Santa Clara, a city with a population of about 200,000 that is known for its monument to revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Lázaro Chavez, a 49-year-old pharmacist who lives in Miami and returns frequently to his homeland, said before boarding that he was taking the flight for two reasons. "One, I am going to see my family. Two, I want to be on this historic flight." Obama's opening to Cuba has included a landmark visit by him to the Caribbean island in March and a series of measures to increase commercial ties, but the U.S. president has been unable to persuade Congress to lift the longstanding embargo. U.S. citizens are still prohibited from visiting as tourists, although there have long been exceptions to the ban, ranging from visiting family to business, cultural, religious and educational travel. The Obama administration has further eased the restrictions. Despite the travel limitations, U.S. airlines have rushed to start flights between the United States and Cuban cities - adding a lot of capacity and setting themselves up to lose money on the trips in the short run, said industry consultant Robert Mann. "Most carriers look at international markets that have been restricted and are just opening up as an investment," Mann said. "You need to get your foot in the door." Services on regional carrier Silver Airways and American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O> from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area that is home to a large Cuban-American population, to Cuba's outlying provinces will be the next to start, in September. Three other carriers will follow. Mann said the companies probably offered to fly to Cuban cities that are unfamiliar to many American travelers, so that U.S. officials would look favorably on their applications to fly to Havana. A memorandum of understanding between Cuba and the United States will limit Havana flights to 20 round trips per day. U.S. officials have yet to announce a final decision on which companies will get those coveted routes. "The Havana competition was one of the most over-subscribed competitions that I've been a part of," Foxx said in an interview before the plane took off. "I think that speaks to the interest on the part of the American people, and it also speaks to the level of commercial interest in the U.S. that exists."

The first commercial flight from the United States to Cuba since 1961 takes place as JetBlue Flight 387 lands in Santa Clara, Villa Clara province, after a 51-minute flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. JetBlue Flight 387 had 150 passengers, including United States Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.

US secretary of state John Kerry called on Wednesday on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal’s decision on the disputed South China Sea and said there was no military solution to the problem. Kerry’s remarks, made in a visit to India, came ahead of a G20 summit in China on Sunday and Monday that could be overshadowed by arguments over everything from territorial disputes to protectionism by China, diplomats say. An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea. China dismissed the case lodged by the Philippines and rejected the ruling. ‘The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal’s recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties,’ Kerry told a gathering of students in New Delhi. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has vowed to take all measures needed to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and says its actions there, which have included land reclamation and construction of air fields and docks on reefs, are peaceful. China has blamed the United States and its allies in the region, such as Japan and Australia, for stoking tension. The United States and Japan have no territorial claims in the South China Sea and say their priority is freedom of navigation. Kerry said the United States supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was ‘no military solution’. ‘We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy,’ Kerry said.[SEP]SINGAPORE: Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang warned on Tuesday there would be no winners in any armed conflict sparked by territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Quang, who is on a state visit to Singapore, told a forum that recent developments there were threatening regional security. The Vietnamese leader did not mention any country but there is growing unease over China’s actions. China claims most of the South China Sea. It has reclaimed reefs and built airstrips capable of hosting military equipment, sparking anger from competing claimants led by Vietnam and the Philippines. “The South China Sea, located at the heart of Southeast Asia, not only brings about many important benefits to nations in the region but it is also a vital route to maritime and air transport of the world,” Quang said. But “recent worrying developments” there “have had a negative impact on the security environment of the region, especially maritime security and safety, freedom of navigation and overflight.” “And should we allow instability to take place, especially in the case of armed conflicts, there will be neither winners or losers but rather all will lose,” he warned. Quang was speaking to diplomats, academics and students at a forum organized by the Iseas Yusof Ishak Institute. Four Southeast Asian states—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam—as well as Taiwan have competing claims in the sea. Vietnam has been among the most vocal critics of China’s blanket territorial claims. In 2014 China moved a controversial oil rig into contested territory, prompting riots in Vietnam. China’s activities in the sea have also drawn criticism from the United States, which says it seeks to ensure freedom of navigation in the waterway through which $5 trillion in annual global trade passes. The sea row has also driven a wedge between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has failed to forge a unified front against Beijing’s actions. On July 12, the Philippines won a case against China at a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague which rejected Beijing’s historical claims to most of the sea. China boycotted the hearing and has refused to recognize the ruling.[SEP]Kerry says united with allies over South China Sea The United States is united with its allies in upholding freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea following a tribunal's decision on the contested waters, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday. Speaking on a visit to New Delhi, Kerry called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration tribunal's recent decision, saying "there is no military solution" to the dispute. Kerry said the United States itself had no claim over the waters, that are crucial to international shipping, but would stand up for freedom of navigation rights. "We have made it clear that we will stand up for our rights and we will stand with our allies," he said, referring to navigation and the rule of law. "US and other countries are united in an alliance that respects freedom of navigation, the norms and standards of the laws of sea and rule of law with respect to access to the high seas," he said while speaking to engineering students at a college in Delhi. Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea despite partial counter-claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan. In recent months it has built massive structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reefs and outcrops. But the UN-backed tribunal, ruling on a case brought by the Philippines, found last month there was no legal basis for China's claims. The US has said it will continue naval patrols near reefs and outcrops claimed by China to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, a move which has angered Beijing. "The US continues to call upon China and Philippines to abide by the tribunal's decision. It's final and legally binding on both parties," Kerry said. The comments come ahead of the G20 leaders' meeting in China starting on Sunday that could see tensions over territorial disputes. Kerry is due to hold talks later Wednesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the two nations forge closer trade and security ties, in part to check concerns over China's growing assertiveness in the region.[SEP]NEW DELHI Holding that there lay no military solution to the South China Sea problem, US Secretary of State John Kerry today asked China and the Philippines to abide by the recent ruling of an international tribunal on the dispute. An enormous amount of energy has been spent in establishing the international order after the World War II and it should be respected, he said. Citing the resolution of maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India, Kerry said the world can learn from India to abide by international tribunals’ orders. “India’s decision to accept an international tribunal judgement regarding its maritime border with Bangladesh actually stands apart. This is the model to help potentially dangerous disputes in different danger spots…These can be resolved peacefully, including the South China Sea (dispute),” he said at IIT Delhi. Kerry said that states should resolve disputes through peaceful means, and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes. China has been getting increasingly assertive in South China Sea notwithstanding the verdict of an arbitration court in The Hague that China had no historical title over the South China Sea. “The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal’s recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties,” Kerry said. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than USD 5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have challenged China’s claim. Replying to questions, Kerry said the US supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was “no military solution”. “We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy,” he said. He said even for an instant, one should not underestimate the importance of the world order. “We have spent enormous energy in the aftermath of World War 11 in order to (build it). It has served us well. It has helped us bring an end to the cold war and it has helped us set on a new course in the 21st century. So it is important to us to respect the international order, to show respect for international law and to support regional stability and prosperity,” Kerry said.[SEP]With tensions high in the disputed South China Sea, it would seem an odd moment for Beijing to pick another territorial fight with a neighbor. Still, China chose to send more ships near Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea in recent months, triggering a flurry of protests from Tokyo. That's even as President Xi Jinping prepares to host global leaders including Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hangzhou this weekend. The strains come amid other frictions in North Asia, including Chinese criticism of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's plan to deploy a U.S. missile shield in her country. That points to a potentially chilly Group of 20 summit and clouds the prospects for any Xi-Abe or Xi-Park sit down. One of the reasons China may be escalating its activity in the East China Sea is to warn Japan against getting involved in the South China Sea spat. While not a claimant in those waters, Japan has drawn China's ire for supporting Southeast Asian nations, through means such as providing patrol boats to the Philippines. "China is certainly ratcheting up tensions over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands," said Chris Hughes, professor of international politics and Japanese studies at the University of Warwick in the U.K., using the Japanese and Chinese names for the East China Sea islets. "There clearly is a domestic political need in China to demonstrate strength on territorial issues, especially after the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling in July, and this applies equally to Japan in the East China Sea as well as to the South China Sea," he said. The arbitration court in the Hague invalidated most of China's claims in the South China Sea in its decision last month. Japan has repeatedly urged all parties to abide by the ruling. On August 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Japan had "taken a series of negative moves" in terms of its relationship with China, "especially when it keeps hyping up the South China Sea issue." There is a "possibility" that Japan may raise the territorial issues at the G-20 "to stir trouble," according to a commentary published Tuesday in China's state-run Global Times. It urged Japan to "act in tune with the theme of the summit instead of causing trouble." The latest tensions have not dented Chinese tourism to Japan -- the 731,400 visitors in July were a monthly record -- or impacted trade. But they further complicate ties just as Asia's two biggest economies face headwinds, as well as adding to the risk of a physical clash. Sino-Japanese ties hit a particularly icy patch in 2012 when Japan nationalized three of the East China Sea islands, and China announced an air defense identification zone over the waters in late 2013. The first time Abe and Xi met formally, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing in late 2014, it proved a brief and frosty affair. Since then, however, tensions over the area had receded somewhat as China focused on asserting its claims in the South China Sea, through which some of the world's busiest shipping lanes run. China's actions also represent a fresh effort to gain the advantage in the East China Sea, according to Jia Qingguo, a member of the foreign affairs standing committee of China's top political advisory body. "Previously, the pattern was they took action and we made a response; they threw a problem at us and we had a crack at it," said Jia, who is also a professor at Peking University. "Now China is seeking to take the initiative and seize the upper hand. We make an opening gambit and they try to respond," he said. "They haven't got used to the new situation yet, but there is not much they can do but gradually adapt to it." After a meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts last Wednesday in Tokyo, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is considering Japan's request for a summit on the G-20 sidelines, but warned the countries needed a "good atmosphere" for that to occur. China values Abe's "positive attitude" and the Japanese government's "support" for the Hangzhou G-20, Wang said. Japan repeatedly protested the almost daily incursions by Chinese vessels into what it considers its territorial waters. Its Coast Guard released video footage showing more than 200 Chinese fishing boats were accompanied by 28 government ships in the area during the August 5-9 period -- the largest group since September 2012. On August 18, six Chinese naval ships conducted live-fire drills in the Sea of Japan. The countries have yet to put into force a maritime and aerial communications system to prevent unintended clashes, although it has been under discussion for some time. "At every step they take in the elevation ladder, Japanese frustration and anxiety grows," said Alessio Patalano, a senior lecturer in war studies at King's College London. "It is undeniable that mutual perceptions are deteriorating and the risk of unintended consequences continues to mount." As it faces off against China, Japan plans to develop a longer range land-based anti-ship missile that could reach the edge of the disputed islands, with the Defense Ministry seeking funding in a budget request to be submitted soon, according to the Yomiuri newspaper. While Abe has appeared keen to meet again with Xi, there is a limit to what he can tolerate, given the need to avoid appearing weak at home. He is riding high in opinion polls after an appearance dressed as Super Mario at the Rio Olympics closing ceremony, but a poll this week showed a majority of the public want a stronger stance on China. While the foreign ministers were talking in Tokyo, Shotaro Yachi, Japan's National Security Council chief and an aide to Abe, was in Beijing, suggesting the door to a summit is open. Yachi handed Premier Li Keqiang a letter from Abe expressing a desire to stabilize ties, according to China's foreign ministry, while Li urged Japan to use the coming year -- the 45th anniversary of the normalization of ties -- to improve relations. Though Chinese activity in the East China Sea has leveled off in recent days, Xi has reason to continue to want to appear strong at home: Next year will see a mid-term power transition where the majority of the ruling Politburo and its supreme Standing Committee are set to be replaced. Xi's term runs for a further five years. The current situation is "a combination of Japan's less apologetic approach and the sensitive political situation during the Chinese leadership transition," said Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Tokyo Foundation. "It won't be easy to create a reconciliatory atmosphere until the Chinese leadership is consolidated after summer 2017."[SEP]MANILA -- China must cease all provocations in the South China Sea before the Philippines will agree to bilateral talks, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay said here during a two-day media forum that began Monday. An international tribunal at The Hague awarded a sweeping victory to Manila in July over its challenge to Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea, but China has refused to abide by the ruling. The Philippines "will respect the decision, and we urge China also to respect the decision," Yasay said, signaling the Manila will not agree to ignore the ruling in order to hold talks with China. He urged the establishment of confidence-building measures before any negotiations begin. "We would like to see, as long as we agree to continue talking, [that] nobody will take any provocative actions," he said. Yasay was especially adamant that China refrain from reclamation work on the Scarborough Shoal in order for any bilateral discussion to occur. He said the U.S. also considers that a line that should not be crossed. As part of trust-building efforts, the Philippines hopes China will lift its current blockade on Filipino fishermen operating in waters around the shoal, he said. "It is important for us to give China that opportunity to save face," Yasay said of bilateral talks. He stressed that the best way to do this was by bolstering the countries ties with regard to economy, trade, tourism and other fields. "Our dispute with China in respect to the South China Sea is a very small aspect of our relationship," Yasay said. He said the Philippines can still foster and promote its relations with China, which would greatly contribute to global peace and stability. The Hague tribunal ruled that China had no legal basis to build islands in the South China Sea or to block Filipino fishermen from the waters. Beijing refuses to respect the decision and continues to bar fishing operations near the Scarborough Shoal. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office at the end of June, is focused on securing fishing rights for Filipinos in the waters. He hopes bilateral talks with China will help break the current stalemate. He is laying the groundwork for negotiations, such as sending former President Fidel Ramos as a special envoy to Hong Kong. Duterte said last week that bilateral talks could happen "within the year."[SEP]NEW DELHI Holding that there lay no military solution to the South China Sea problem, US Secretary of State John Kerry today asked China and the Philippines to abide by the recent ruling of an international tribunal on the dispute. An enormous amount of energy has been spent in establishing the international order after the World War II and it should be respected, he said. Citing the resolution of maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India, Kerry said the world can learn from India to abide by international tribunals’ orders. “India’s decision to accept an international tribunal judgement regarding its maritime border with Bangladesh actually stands apart. This is the model to help potentially dangerous disputes in different danger spots…These can be resolved peacefully, including the South China Sea (dispute),” he said at IIT Delhi. Kerry said that states should resolve disputes through peaceful means, and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes. China has been getting increasingly assertive in South China Sea notwithstanding the verdict of an arbitration court in The Hague that China had no historical title over the South China Sea. “The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal’s recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties,” Kerry said. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than USD 5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have challenged China’s claim. Replying to questions, Kerry said the US supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was “no military solution”. “We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy,” he said. He said even for an instant, one should not underestimate the importance of the world order. “We have spent enormous energy in the aftermath of World War 11 in order to (build it). It has served us well. It has helped us bring an end to the cold war and it has helped us set on a new course in the 21st century. So it is important to us to respect the international order, to show respect for international law and to support regional stability and prosperity,” Kerry said.[SEP]Kerry says no military solution to South China Sea dispute NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal's decision on the disputed South China Sea and said there was no military solution to the problem. Kerry's remarks, made in a visit to India, came ahead of a G20 summit in China on Sunday and Monday that could be overshadowed by arguments over everything from territorial disputes to protectionism by China, diplomats say. An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea. China dismissed the case lodged by the Philippines and rejected the ruling. "The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal's recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties," Kerry told a gathering of students in New Delhi. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has vowed to take all measures needed to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and says its actions there, which have included land reclamation and construction of air fields and docks on reefs, are peaceful. China has blamed the United States and its allies in the region, such as Japan and Australia, for stoking tension. The United States and Japan have no territorial claims in the South China Sea and say their priority is freedom of navigation. Kerry said the United States supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was "no military solution". "We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy," Kerry said. The United States and India, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday after security talks, reiterated the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. They said states should resolve disputes through peaceful means and "exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability". U.S. ally the Philippines welcomed the tribunal's ruling in July but it is keen not to anger China. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he will hold talks with China on the issue. Duterte is attending a summit next week in Laos of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which both U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are also going to. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, asked in Beijing whether Li would meet Duterte there, said it was not clear what bilateral meetings might take place. Liu did not refer directly to the United States but said interference by some countries outside the region was a challenge in China-ASEAN relations. "Frankly, some countries outside the region don't want to see China-ASEAN relations develop so quickly and become so close. Some people, some countries, are constantly interfering in the development of China-ASEAN relations," Liu said. (Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani, and Michael Martina in BEIJING; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel)[SEP]US Secretary of State John Kerry addresses students at Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday (AP photo) NEW DELHI — US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Wednesday on China and the Philippines to abide by an international tribunal’s decision on the disputed South China Sea and said there was no military solution to the problem. Kerry’s remarks, made in a visit to India, came ahead of a G-20 summit in China on Sunday and Monday that could be overshadowed by arguments over everything from territorial disputes to protectionism by China, diplomats say. An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China did not have historic rights to the South China Sea. China dismissed the case lodged by the Philippines and rejected the ruling. “The United States continues to call on China and the Philippines to abide by the tribunal’s recent decision which is final and legally binding on both parties,” Kerry told a gathering of students in New Delhi. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has vowed to take all measures needed to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and says its actions there, which have included land reclamation and construction of air fields and docks on reefs, are peaceful. China has blamed the United States and its allies in the region, such as Japan and Australia, for stoking tension. The United States and Japan have no territorial claims in the South China Sea and say their priority is freedom of navigation. Kerry said the United States supported diplomatic efforts to resolve territorial disputes to which there was “no military solution”. “We are also interested in not fanning the flames of conflict but rather trying to encourage the parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process and through diplomacy,” Kerry said. The United States and India, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday after security talks, reiterated the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. They said states should resolve disputes through peaceful means and “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability”. US ally the Philippines welcomed the tribunal’s ruling in July but it is keen not to anger China. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he will hold talks with China on the issue. Duterte is attending a summit next week in Laos of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which both US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang are also going to. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, asked in Beijing whether Li would meet Duterte there, said it was not clear what bilateral meetings might take place. Liu did not refer directly to the United States but said interference by some countries outside the region was a challenge in China-ASEAN relations. “Frankly, some countries outside the region don’t want to see China-ASEAN relations develop so quickly and become so close. Some people, some countries, are constantly interfering in the development of China-ASEAN relations,” Liu said.[SEP]ASEAN, China to adopt communications protocol to ease tensions at sea MANILA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian countries and China will establish hotlines and adopt communications protocols to avoid potential naval clashes in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, a Philippines foreign ministry official said on Friday. The protocols will be signed in Laos next week, when heads of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet with leaders from other regional powers - China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia and the United States - for a three day summit. The mechanism, called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), would be new for both ASEAN and China, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Helen de la Vega told a news conference. "It's one way of de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea," she said, adding that hotlines between China and the ASEAN governments would be established. China claims almost the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion sea-borne trade passes annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on parts of the sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas. "This is very important because any accident that can lead to a major confrontation will be avoided if our navies and coast guards are communicating with each other," a senior Philippines navy commander told Reuters. He said there had been instances in the past when Chinese vessels had not responded to radio and signal communications when they had been encountered by a Philippine Navy ship. Regardless of this agreement, the United States, Japan and Australia are expected to call on China to respect and comply with the ruling of the arbitration court in The Hague in July. The court infuriated Beijing by ruling that China had no historical title over the South China Sea and it had breached the Philippines' sovereign rights. The Philippines new President Rodrigo Duterte said he will raising the arbitral ruling but will champion other issues, like ridding Southeast Asia of narcotics, clamping down on human trafficking and protection for migrant workers. Duterte is holding nine bilateral talks, including with U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. China's foreign ministry said on Friday China was open to a meeting with Duterte during the summit in Laos, but as of yet no meetings had been scheduled with Chinese Premier Li Kequiang or U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Philippines says it won't have bilateral talks with China until the Chinese stop all provocations in the South China Sea.

Chris Brown has left his Tarzana mansion on allegations of criminal assault after a tense eleven hour stand off with police. After being stationed outside the property since the early hours of Tuesday, the singer's entourage began to emerge at around 12:40pm, [PDT] before they were interview by police followed by the singer himself two hours later. Brown left the building at around 2:38pm [PDT] wearing a white t-shirt, black jeans and a red hat and looked in good spirits as he spoke to law enforcement and, who is believed to be his lawyer Mark Geragos. Chris looked in good spirits and even appeared to wave to the circling news helicopters. No arrests appear to have been made yet. Initially a group of around seven people came out from the house. They were lined up outside by police, before up being searched by the authorities, with a group of an estimated eight officers were seen waiting on Brown's doorstep to make the arrest. They then appeared to give initial witness statements before being taken one by one to what appeared to be a police vehicle. A huge police presence has been at the mansion since early this morning, with the first time arriving at around 3am following reports he threatened a woman with a gun. It was reported on Tuesday by TMZ that the singer was being investigated on an allegation of criminal assault, after a woman claimed he threatened her with a gun while at an LA residence, prompting her to call 911. Police SWAT team surround Chris Brown's LA mansion as a 'gun, weapons and drugs are recovered from bag' It was previously reported that authorities were waiting for a search warrant to be granted and were expecting the singer to "surrender" himself. Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, is believed to have gone into the home at 12:30pm [PDT]. • Chris Brown's daughter Royalty was at his home during alleged assault incident Nia Guzman claims Several people have been seen leaving the property and coming out to the gate, where they've spoken to officers. It was previously reported by TMZ that authorities retrieved items from a duffel bag that was allegedly thrown from a window of the property including a gun, other weapons and drugs. Sources allegedly told the website that Brown himself threw the bag, taunting police by shouting "come and get me." From inside the house, Brown posted a string of videos on Instagram, venting his frustration over the situation. Soon after images of police outside Brown's house were posted to social media, with the singer then insisting he had done nothing wrong in an expletive laden Instagram video. • Chris Brown slams police and insists he's innocent in expletive laden rant as officers surround his home "So I'm asleep half the damn night," he begins, "I just wake up, all these mother f****** helicopters is around, police out there at the gate." "Come on my n****, what else do you f****** want from me bro, I stay outta the way, take care of my daughter, do work. I don't need to f*** ugly b******, trifling b******, whatever the f*** it is." Brown, who claims to be inside his property continues: "I'm not on that bro, I'm way too tired to be dealing with this b*******. Every three months you come up with something bro? What is it, what's going to be next?" he claimed. Attacking the police for not responding to his calls as swiftly, he said: "At the same time when I call the police for stalker people who are endangering my life, they don't come until the next day. Someone makes a f***** allegation about me, oh yeah and the whole f****** SWAT team. Brown added: "My n***** I'm innocent, I'm tired of hearing this s***" In a follow up video he also denied reports he was "barricaded" inside his house and appeared to laugh at the suggestion, before saying "f*** the police". In a third video he took a minute to plug his new single Grass Ain't Greener in a third. • Chris Brown 'under investigation for allegedly threatening a woman with a gun at LA residence' The woman at the centre of the drama was quickly identified as beauty queen Baylee Curran. The blonde spoke to TMZ about the alleged incident, claiming the singer threatened her with a gun after she admired a piece of jewellery. Baylee revealed she had "partied" with Chris in the past and said he had always been "nice" but this time was "out of it". On Monday night she claims to have gone to his Tarzana mansion where they hungout in a hot tub and were having fun, until she admired a piece of jewellery worn by a member of Chris' crew. She claimed the man "went nuts" and that Chris reacted by demanding she "get the f*** out", which is when he allegedly pointed the gun at her. Curran alleges that Brown's people asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but that she refused. Sources close to the singer have, however refuted the blonde's version of events. • Nick Young begs Chris Brown to 'get away' from Tarzana neighbourhood during tense police siege They claim Chris and several friends, including Ray J, were at the house when "uninvited guests" appeared and were asked to leave, including Baylee. Ray J was reportedly getting a tattoo when events kicked off, while insiders claimed Brown was asleep. Brown's team have yet to comment publicly on events. Singer Ray J was also allegedly in the building when the incident happened and was allowed to leave by police, however he had to leave his car at the property and reportedly went home in an uber. Brown has never been far from controversy during his career. In May this year the star denied claims he "stomped on a fan's head" during a recent nightclub appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. After a video of the alleged incident - which took place at Gotha nightclub on May 18 - was posted online by TMZ the FAME singer took to Instagram to insist it didn't happen. • Chris Brown ARRESTED and ordered to pay a fine after run-in with police in Amsterdam "F*** you," he began in the video, before emphatically stating: "no fans were hurt by Chris Brown, no fans were beat up by Chris Brown." He continued in the rant by claiming it was actually him that was assaulted during the evening: "His staff though, security, I don't think he probably knew who I was, I don't care, but he assaulted me. "Grabbed his hands around my throat and tried to push me out the spot when we were walking, my security was already outside of the spot." Until last year Brown was still on probation for the 2009 federal assault on then girlfriend Rihanna. He managed to avoid a jail sentence in the case and instead was put on probation for six years, as well a restraining order being granted to the singer, which was later lifted.[SEP]Chris Brown has come out of his US home after officers responding to a woman's call for help served a search warrant, police say. The development ended a standoff that began hours earlier Tuesday when the woman called from outside the home, with media reports saying the woman claimed the pop star had pointed a gun at her. Police said she was not inside the home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Police Lieutenant Chris Ramirez says about a half-dozen people were escorted out of the residence and will be interviewed.​ READ MORE: * Chris Brown cancels his tour to Australia and New Zealand * Chris Brown reportedly declined Australian visa, NZ appearance in doubt * Chris Brown tickets will be refunded if concert cancelled * Dame Tariana Turia to support Chris Brown's visa application * Judith Collins says Chris Brown can 'bugger off' * Chris Brown reaches out to Tariana Turia * Concert promoter says Chris Brown controversy is unfair and inconsistent Ramirez says nobody has been arrested and everyone has been cooperative. Brown posted videos to social media declaring his innocence before his lawyer Mark Geragos arrived. He denied any wrongdoing and said in posts on Instagram that he had woken up to find police outside and that they would need a warrant to enter the property in the Tarzana neighbourhood. "This morning, around three o'clock, officers responded to a radio call for a woman requiring assistance. The incident involved the residence of Mr Chris Brown, where officers responded and met with that person," Ramirez told reporters at an earlier press conference. TMZ.com said the apparent stand-off outside Brown's home was triggered by an unnamed woman who had been a guest at the house on Monday night, and who told police the singer had pulled a gun on her. The Los Angeles Times reported that the woman said Brown had pointed a gun at her in a violent rage and that she had run outside to call police. In 2009, Brown assaulted his then girlfriend Rihanna, and in 2015 he finished a lengthy term of probation, community service and domestic violence classes. Brown has also been involved in several other incidents involving violence. "I don't sleep half the damn night I just wake up to all these ... helicopters, choppers is around, police out there at the gate," Brown said on an Instagram video. "What I do care about is you are defacing my name and my character and integrity," he added, saying he had done nothing wrong and criticising police actions. "I don't care y'all going to stay playing with me like I'm the villain out here, like I'm going crazy ... good luck when you get the warrant or whatever you need to do. You're going to walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing you idiots," he added.[SEP]Singer Chris Brown has been bailed out of jail following his arrest after a stand-off of nearly 14 hours with police. Brown was arrested late on Tuesday night after posting 250,000 US dollars bail at his home in the Tarzana neighbourhood of Los Angeles. He had been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman called for help from a gathering at his home. The woman was not identified but but model Baylee Curran said that Brown pointed a gun at her face. The arrest occurred outside the view of several news helicopters that swirled overhead and throngs of camera crews gathered at the bottom of Brown’s hilltop estate. Ms Curran said Brown and another man became angry with her when she admired the man’s diamond necklace. She said she and her friend ran outside as one of Brown’s associates gave chase and hid under a neighbour’s SUV. The model also said she has visited Brown’s home in the past and never encountered any trouble. Brown later posted rambling messages on social media proclaiming his innocence and rebuffing reports that he barricaded himself in his “palace”. “Y’all gonna stop playing with me like I’m the villain out here, like I’m going crazy,” he said in one Instagram video, waving a cigarette and looking at the camera. “When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing. You idiots.” Brown’s attorney, Mark Geragos, arrived at the house before police served a search warrant at 1pm on Tuesday. Mr Geragos stayed on the property until about 5pm when Brown was transported for booking downtown. The stand-off and subsequent media attention provided a chaotic scene in the balmy and typically quiet neighbourhood as police closed off nearby streets and rerouted traffic. Throughout the afternoon, several of Brown’s associates descended to the street below Brown’s estate. They declined to identify themselves or answer questions from the media about what occurred. In some instances, the men were belligerent, flashing obscene hand gestures and grabbing recording equipment. The incident is the latest in a series of missteps for Brown, who has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, ahead of the Grammys. He completed his probation in that case last year. Brown struck a man outside a Washington DC hotel in 2013 and was charged with misdemeanour assault. The singer was ordered into rehab but was dismissed from the facility for violating its rules. Brown spent two and a half months in custody, with US marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation’s capital for court hearings. Brown was accused of throwing a brick at his mother’s car following a counselling session in another incident while in treatment. It came after Brown completed court-ordered anger management classes.[SEP]The woman who accused Chris Brown of threatening her with a gun on her, has been identified as beauty queen Baylee Curran. The blonde spoke to TMZ about the alleged incident, claiming the singer threatened her with a gun after she admired a piece of jewellery. Baylee revealed she had "partied" with Chris in the past and said he had always been "nice" but this time was "out of it". On Monday night she claims to have gone to his Tarzana mansion where they hungout in a hot tub and were having fun, until she admired a piece of jewellery worn by a member of Chris' crew. She claimed the man "went nuts" and that Chris reacted by demanding she "get the f*** out", which is when he allegedly pointed the gun at her. Curran alleges that Brown's people asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but that she refused. Sources close to the singer have, however refuted the blonde's version of events. • Nick Young begs Chris Brown to 'get away' from Tarzana neighbourhood during tense police siege They claim Chris and several friends, including Ray J, were at the house when "uninvited guests" appeared and were asked to leave, including Baylee. Ray J was reportedly getting a tattoo when events kicked off, while insiders claimed Brown was asleep. Brown's team have yet to comment publicly on events. A police SWAT team descended on Brown's Tarzana mansion, following the allegations that a woman was threatened at the property with a gun. Police SWAT team surround Chris Brown's LA mansion as a 'gun, weapons and drugs are recovered from bag' A team of officers are currently outside the sprawling home, where they have been seen putting up police tape as they attempt to investigate the alleged incident. A police vehicle can be seen in the driveway of the house, while two large buses are parked in the street outside. Police have reportedly been outside the property since 3am when a woman called 911 and claimed the singer "pulled a gun" on her. The report claims that police are waiting for a search warrant to be granted and are expecting the singer to "surrender" himself. Several people have been seen leaving the property and coming out to the gate, where they've spoken to officers, but so far no sign of Brown. According to TMZ authorities have retrieved some items from a duffel bag that was allegedly thrown from a window of the property including a gun, other weapons and drugs. Sources have allegedly told the website that Brown himself threw the bag, taunting police by shouting "come and get me." The singer is inside the LA home and has posted a string of videos to Instagram, venting his frustration over the situation. Earlier today it was reported by TMZ that the singer was being investigated on an allegation of criminal assault, after a woman claimed he threatened her with a gun while at an LA residence, prompting her to call 911. Soon after images of police outside Brown's house were posted to social media, with the singer then insisting he had done nothing wrong in an expletive laden Instagram video. • Chris Brown slams police and insists he's innocent in expletive laden rant as officers surround his home "So I'm asleep half the damn night," he begins, "I just wake up, all these mother f****** helicopters is around, police out there at the gate." "Come on my n****, what else do you f****** want from me bro, I stay outta the way, take care of my daughter, do work. I don't need to f*** ugly b******, trifling b******, whatever the f*** it is." Brown, who claims to be inside his property continues: "I'm not on that bro, I'm way too tired to be dealing with this b*******. Every three months you come up with something bro? What is it, what's going to be next?" he claimed. Attacking the police for not responding to his calls as swiftly, he said: "At the same time when I call the police for stalker people who are endangering my life, they don't come until the next day. Someone makes a f***** allegation about me, oh yeah and the whole f****** SWAT team. Brown added: "My n***** I'm innocent, I'm tired of hearing this s***" In a follow up video he also denied reports he was "barricaded" inside his house and appeared to laugh at the suggestion, before saying "f*** the police". In a third video he took a minuet to plug his new single Grass Ain't Greener in a third. • Chris Brown 'under investigation for allegedly threatening a woman with a gun at LA residence' Singer Ray J was also allegedly in the building when the incident happened and was allowed to leave by police, however he had to leave his car at the property and reportedly went home in an uber. Brown has never been far from controversy during his career. In May this year the star denied claims he "stomped on a fan's head" during a recent nightclub appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. After a video of the alleged incident - which took place at Gotha nightclub on May 18 - was posted online by TMZ the FAME singer took to Instagram to insist it didn't happen. • Chris Brown ARRESTED and ordered to pay a fine after run-in with police in Amsterdam "F*** you," he began in the video, before emphatically stating: "no fans were hurt by Chris Brown, no fans were beat up by Chris Brown." He continued in the rant by claiming it was actually him that was assaulted during the evening: "His staff though, security, I don't think he probably knew who I was, I don't care, but he assaulted me. "Grabbed his hands around my throat and tried to push me out the spot when we were walking, my security was already outside of the spot." Until last year Brown was still on probation for the 2009 federal assault on then girlfriend Rihanna. He managed to avoid a jail sentence in the case and instead was put on probation for six years, as well a restraining order being granted to the singer, which was later lifted.[SEP]Afterwards, Rihanna famously told Oprah Winfrey that she forgave Brown, and insisted he "made that mistake because he needed help." But Brown continued to find trouble. There were public brawls with other celebs and a 2013 arrest for punching a man in the face on a Washington, D.C. street. On Tuesday, the singer was back in the news, this time accused of threatening a woman with a gun at his Tarzana mansion. Police swarmed his home for an hours long standoff which ended with Brown's arrest on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The latest incident comes as no surprise to the many who have been following his life and career over the years. Brown was touted as "the new Michael Jackson" when he burst onto the music scene in 2005 at the age of 16 with a self-titled, multi-platinum album. His fame grew even more once he and Rihanna began dating in 2008. With their matching places on the charts, the pair quickly became a match made in pop music heaven. That fairy tale took a dark turn just hours before the 2009 Grammys, when Brown assaulted Rihanna, whose birth name is Robyn Fenty. "Robyn F. turned to face Brown and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand," the police report of the incident read. "He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand. The assault caused Robyn F.'s mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing and the interior of the vehicle." Brown pled guilt to a felony assault charge and received five years probation, community service and an order to attend a year of domestic violence counseling. The high profile nature of the crime -- including the circulation of the photo of Rihanna's battered face -- has continued to color public perceptions of Brown. The couple remained together for some time afterwards. In 2012, Rihanna told Winfrey that Brown had been her best friend and first love. "I lost my best friend. Everything I knew switched ... switched in a night and I couldn't control that," Rihanna said."So I had to deal with that, and that's not easy for me to understand or interpret. It's not easy to interpret on camera. Not with the world watching." What has followed has not helped to restore Brown's image. There have been public physical altercations with fellow celebs including rapper Drake and singer Frank Ocean. Brown has been accused of everything from grabbing a cell phone to threatening paparazzi; he has done stints in rehab and has landed in jail for violating his probation. A 2014 report from his rehab facility chalked up Brown's aggression to bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and drug use. In April 2016 a trailer for the documentary "Welcome to my Life: The Official Chris Brown Documentary" was released. In it Brown says that after the incident with Rihanna he contemplated suicide and he "wasn't sleeping, I barely ate. I just was getting high." "I went from being on top of the world, No. 1 songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart to being Public Enemy No. 1," he also said in the trailer. For many that label has stuck. Following Tuesday's incident legendary songwriter Diane Waren tweeted "Chris Brown got arrested for assaulting a woman today. In other shocking news the sun rose this morning and is expected to set tonite." Still, through it all Brown has maintained a loyal fan base. Since news of Tuesday's incident became public, many of Brown's supporters have been tweeting their support for the embattled singer, using his nickname "Breezy" for the hashtag #FreeBreezy. Brown was charged on suspicion of "assault with a deadly weapon" Tuesday evening after a nine hour standoff with police. Police were called to Brown's home around 3 a.m. local time. While they waited outside, he took to Instagram to slam the police and say that he was being targeted. "Good luck. When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you're going to walk right up in here," he wrote. "And you're going to see nothing, you idiots," he said in one video. "I'm tired of ... dealing with y'all." Brown was arrested, then transported to a police facility where he was formally booked, and released a few hours later on bail. "My client's position is that we're cooperating," Brown's attorney Mark Geragos told HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky. "There's no truth to it, and we're going to let it play out." Geragos later tweeted that Brown was "out and well." He also called the charges "demonstrably false."[SEP]Chris Brown has attempted to move past his latest controversy after he was arrested for allegedly pointing a gun in a woman's face at his $4million LA home. In an Instagram video, the shirtless and heavily tattooed signer dismissed 'the bulls***' surrounding him since he was involved in a standoff with police on Tuesday. Standing in front of a graffiti-covered wall wearing only pants and a baseball cap, he says: 'Yo, you know all this bulls*** and everything going on man. 'I'm just gunna turn the other cheek, drop some music.' It is only the second time that Brown has spoken out after the incident, and the first time he has done so in person. On Wednesday, after posting a $250,000 bond and being released by cops, Brown posted another video of friend Ray J standing up for him on his Insta page. In the caption, Brown wrote: 'Real friends! The world will see! Trust me.' The artist was arrested on Tuesday after an 11-hour standoff with police that started when Baylee Curran, a former Miss California Regional, accused him of pointing a gun at her. Curran, who was stripped of her title amid allegations of indecency, says she was looking at a box of diamond jewelry in Brown's house when someone shouted at her to 'back away from the diamond'. She told Good Morning America: 'That's when Chris came in and said "I'm so sick of all of you people." He took the gun out put it in my face and said "get the f*** out."' Curran said she was 'absolutely terrified' of Brown and 'thought he was going to shoot me'. She then claims that as she was leaving, one of his friends asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement and would not give her back her phone until she did so. Curran said that she snatched her phone and made a run for it and did not sign the agreement. 'I fled down his driveway,' she said. 'I went to the left side of the street, went up a couple houses, was running. 'That's when the neighbors kind of heard the commotion and saw me out there and then called the police, and that is when I then called the police.' Curran told Extra that before cops arrived to the Tarzana home, she 'saw a black Jeep come down from Chris' driveway' toward where she was at a neighbor's house nearby. 'I went underneath the nearest vehicle… there I was, literally crawled underneath the car… hid behind the tires, and the jeep came up to the area of that vehicle, turned around and went back up the driveway.' Curran claims that she is not speaking out about the incident for publicity, 'as she is pretty well-known being Miss California Regional.' 'I hope the truth does comes out, because I don't lie, I would never lie, why, for what?' Curran said. 'I don't need the publicity, I'm already kind of very well-known for being Miss California Regional, modeling, upcoming actress. 'So if I was doing this for fame, or something to that sort, why would I do it this way?' Brown's lawyer has said his client is cooperating with police and called the allegations against him 'demonstrably false.' Brown has had a number of run-ins with the law in recent years, beginning with his conviction for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009. For that offence, he was sentenced to five years of probation, one year of domestic violence counselling, and six months of community service, and his probation was finally lifted in March 2015. In 2014, he spent almost three months in jail last year for violating his probation after allegedly hitting a man in Washington, D.C. Brown had his probation revoked in January 2015 following a poor report which claimed he had a 'knack' for finding trouble and had been present at two shootings, though he was not involved in either. In January, a Las Vegas woman alleged that Brown hit her and took her cellphone. Police investigated but did not find evidence to file charges. Then in June of this year, the She Ain't You hit-maker was accused of stomping on a man's head during a club appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. Police are also reported to have been called to Brown's property at least five times this year, in response to complaints of disturbance of the peace. Meanwhile, the Fine China singer's former lover Nia Guzman previously claimed he was unfit to care for their child without strict supervision and asked a court to appoint a monitor and reduce the amount of time the star was allowed to spend with the little girl. However, in May, a judge denied the request and kept the existing arrangement for joint legal and physical custody - which sees Chris care for his two-year-old daughter Royalty 12 days a month - of the youngster in place.[SEP]INTERNATIONAL NEWS - US singer Chris Brown has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman told police he had threatened her with a gun. Beauty queen Baylee Curran told the LA Times Mr Brown had pointed the gun at her face after she had been admiring his friend's jewellery. Mr Brown came out of his home after a stand-off with police on Tuesday. It is not yet clear if Mr Brown was charged or released on bail. Police went to Mr Brown's home following the emergency call early on Tuesday from Ms Curran, who by that time had left the property. Ms Curran told the LA Times that she and a friend had gone to Mr Brown's house with a business associate on Monday evening. Mr Brown's lawyer tweeted that his client was later freed, adding that the accusations were "demonstrably false".The singer has several convictions for violence, including a 2009 assault on his then girlfriend, pop star Rihanna.[SEP]The Los Angeles police have released singer Chris Brown from custody after arresting him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, jail records show. He was arrested on Tuesday following an hours-long standoff after a woman alleged he pointed a gun at her. He was released on $250,000 bail at 11:19 pm local time (0619 GMT Wednesday), according to Los Angeles County jail records. Prosecutors have not formally charged him. "Chris is out and well," Brown's lawyer Mark Geragos tweeted on Wednesday. "The allegations against him are demonstrably false." The Los Angeles Police Department earlier said that officers headed to Brown's palatial home after the woman called for help. During the surreal standoff, Brown, 27, took to social media to deny any wrongdoing in a series of videos posted on Instagram. Police by early afternoon had obtained a search warrant and entered the singer's home.[SEP]Afterwards, Rihanna famously told Oprah Winfrey that she forgave Brown, and insisted he "made that mistake because he needed help." But Brown continued to find trouble. There were public brawls with other celebs and a 2013 arrest for punching a man in the face on a Washington, D.C. street. On Tuesday, the singer was back in the news, this time accused of threatening a woman with a gun at his Tarzana mansion. Police swarmed his home for an hours long standoff which ended with Brown's arrest on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The latest incident comes as no surprise to the many who have been following his life and career over the years. Brown was touted as "the new Michael Jackson" when he burst onto the music scene in 2005 at the age of 16 with a self-titled, multi-platinum album. His fame grew even more once he and Rihanna began dating in 2008. With their matching places on the charts, the pair quickly became a match made in pop music heaven. That fairy tale took a dark turn just hours before the 2009 Grammys, when Brown assaulted Rihanna, whose birth name is Robyn Fenty. "Robyn F. turned to face Brown and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand," the police report of the incident read. "He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand. The assault caused Robyn F.'s mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing and the interior of the vehicle." Brown pled guilt to a felony assault charge and received five years probation, community service and an order to attend a year of domestic violence counseling. The high profile nature of the crime -- including the circulation of the photo of Rihanna's battered face -- has continued to color public perceptions of Brown. The couple remained together for some time afterwards. In 2012, Rihanna told Winfrey that Brown had been her best friend and first love. "I lost my best friend. Everything I knew switched ... switched in a night and I couldn't control that," Rihanna said."So I had to deal with that, and that's not easy for me to understand or interpret. It's not easy to interpret on camera. Not with the world watching." What has followed has not helped to restore Brown's image. There have been public physical altercations with fellow celebs including rapper Drake and singer Frank Ocean. Brown has been accused of everything from grabbing a cell phone to threatening paparazzi; he has done stints in rehab and has landed in jail for violating his probation. A 2014 report from his rehab facility chalked up Brown's aggression to bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and drug use. In April 2016 a trailer for the documentary "Welcome to my Life: The Official Chris Brown Documentary" was released. In it Brown says that after the incident with Rihanna he contemplated suicide and he "wasn't sleeping, I barely ate. I just was getting high." "I went from being on top of the world, No. 1 songs, being kind of like America's sweetheart to being Public Enemy No. 1," he also said in the trailer. For many that label has stuck. Following Tuesday's incident legendary songwriter Diane Waren tweeted "Chris Brown got arrested for assaulting a woman today. In other shocking news the sun rose this morning and is expected to set tonite." Still, through it all Brown has maintained a loyal fan base. Many of his supporters have since news of the Tuesday incident became public been tweeting their support of the embattled singer, using his nickname "Breezy" for the hashtag #FreeBreezy. Brown was charged on suspicion of "assault with a deadly weapon" Tuesday evening after a nine hour standoff with police. Police were called to Brown's home around 3 a.m. local time. While they waited outside, he took to Instagram to slam the police and say that he was being targeted. "Good luck. When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you're going to walk right up in here," he wrote. "And you're going to see nothing, you idiots," he said in one video. "I'm tired of ... dealing with y'all." Brown was arrested, then transported to a police facility where he was formally booked, and released a few hours later on bail. "My client's position is that we're cooperating," Brown's attorney Mark Geragos told HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky. "There's no truth to it, and we're going to let it play out." Geragos later tweeted that Brown was "out and well." He also called the charges "demonstrably false."[SEP]A beauty queen who accused singer Chris Brown of pointing a gun at her has a history of making up death threats, her former room mate has claimed. Baylee Curran, a former Miss California Regional 2016, said Brown had pointed the gun at her face after she had been admiring his friend's jewelry. He was arrested on Tuesday night after an 11 hour stand-off with police and released on $250,000 bail. Brown's lawyer said the accusations against his client were 'demonstrably false'. Following the incident her former room mate Princeton Roseborough claimed she had history of embellishing stories about people threatening her. She filed a restraining order against Roseborough in 2013 claiming he had pushed her head against a bedroom wall and threatened to hire a hit man to take her out, TMZ reported. Her claims were serious enough for a judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Roseborough. Roseborough had insisted in his own legal documents she was lying and the case was dismissed when she failed to show up in court. In a separate incident from 2013, she and Julia Parle had an argument with another friend Rachel Getachew. According to court papers they threatened her with bodily harm and stole $2,000 from her. The NYPD did not issue a warrant for her arrest but could bring her in for questioning if she returns to the city, the New York Daily News reported. Elsewhere it was claimed she had messaged a friend saying 'this motherf*****s about to go down' before calling police and reporting Brown had pulled a gun on her. Christina Bonilla, who dropped Curran off at the singer's sprawling mansion in Tarzana, California, told TMZ he had been sent the text massage. He told TMZ: 'She was just very angry about the whole situation. She's not someone you want to get angry.' Curran, a former 'Miss Regional California', called 911 on Tuesday at around 3am after claiming Brown aimed the gun at her. 'If somebody put a gun to your head, what would you do? Call the police,' Curran wrote on her Instagram account. She said she was 'shocked' to have been embroiled in the incident and alleged that Brown appeared to be 'on drugs or alcohol'. She added: I really do understand [why people think I'm doing it for publicity]...I don't understand why he's the victim now. 'Obviously he has a lot of support, a lot of fans who are going to back him up. I'm just some random girl that wants to be in the limelight. 'Although if I wanted the limelight in fame, I wouldn't have done it this way.' The singer was later arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Once at Brown's mansion, police officers were allegedly denied entry and had to wait for a judge to approve a search warrant before going inside to search for a weapon. It wasn't until Brown's lawyer arrived that the singer eventually emerged. During the standoff, the Grammy award winning singer posted a series of Instagram videos ranting about police harassment. He said he had woken up to the sound of circling helicopters, and was 'too tired' to be dealing with police. 'So I'm sleep half the damn night,' he told the camera. 'I just wake up. All these mother***ing helicopter choppers is around. Police out there at the gate. 'Come on my n****! What the f*** hell else do you want from me? 'I stay out the way, take care of my daughter, do work. I don't f*** ugly b**ches, trifling b**ches, whatever else.' Brown accused the police of over-reacting, and said: 'I'm way too tired to be dealing with this bulls***. 'Every three months you come up with something. What's gonna be next? 'At the same time when I call the police for stalker people that are endangering my life, they don't come 'til the next day. 'Let somebody make a f***ed up allegation about me, and 'oh yeah the whole f***ing swat team'. 'I don't care. Y'all gonna stop playing with me like I'm the villain out here, like I'm going crazy. 'When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do, you're going to walk right up in here and you're going to see nothing. You idiots.' Ray J, the ex-boyfriend of Kim Kardashian and friend of Brown's who was at his home during the alleged incident, said he was 'real upset' about the accusations. The singer has several convictions for violence, including a 2009 assault on his then girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. He was subsequently temporarily barred from entering the UK. In 2014, he spent almost three months in jail last year for violating his probation after allegedly hitting a man in Washington, D.C. A felony assault with a deadly weapon conviction carries a sentence of four years in county jail, along with a $10,000 fine.

Singer Chris Brown is released on a US$ 250,000 bail for an assault charge.

Manila: The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade, has reached around 2000, according to data released on Tuesday. There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the US, a close ally of Manila. As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against narcotics, the Philippines national police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1 to August 20. That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day. Last week the police said 1100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated. No new number for that category was given on Tuesday but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to around 2000. Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs. Two UN human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Duterte, who threatened to pull his country out of the UN. His foreign minister later rowed back on the threat. Duterte’s communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that a 30-second advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would be aired over the next week by commercial and public TV stations and in movie theatres. “The government is not spending a single centavo on these ads and TV stations are carrying them for free,” Andanar told reporters at an event in a Manila hotel. This is a war He said his office would also publish a 40-page pamphlet to explain the rising body count. This would be issued on the president’s first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos. “Some people abroad have to understand why many people are getting killed in the anti-drug campaign. They must understand, this is a war and there are casualties,” Andanar said. “The pamphlet will inform and explain that the government was not killing people at random, that these killings are not extrajudicial in nature but as part of the anti-crime campaign. Some of those killed were police officers who are involved in criminal activities.” The White House said on Monday that US President Barack Obama is expected to meet Duterte in Laos on September 6 and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns. Duterte’s crackdown on drugs and some strongly worded criticism he has made of the US, present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. There have been few signs in the Philippines itself of a backlash against the war on drugs. However, on Tuesday a newly formed group called the ‘Stop the Killings Network’ announced a #Lightforlife campaign that would start with simultaneous candle-lighting events on Wednesday evening at six venues across Manila. (Reuters)[SEP]Senator: Philippine crackdown 'not going to be the norm'[SEP]First read Apart from fighting drug lords, drug pushers, drug coddlers, and drug users, is President Duterte fighting the foreign media on another front? One of my readers screams in an email: “The International Media War is ON! The big guns are firing: TIME MAGAZINE, NEW YORK TIMES, LA TIMES, THE GUARDIAN. “The ostensive claim here is that they are crusaders – fighting an OGRE – the PUNISHER – Mr. Digong Duterte. “To put doubts in the minds of the people supporting President Duterte with the subliminal message – ‘How could you be supporting that leader of yours when you see he is doing all these bad things, which are not acceptable to us who are looking from the outside and are, therefore, quite objective about it. You see we are a bit more civilized than you guys and know better. SO, we are telling you that HEY, YOU ARE ALL SO WRONG supporting this man. All the blood that is in his hands are now in yours too – so you better dump him and be on the side of the good guys like us.” Duterte nonchalant and unperturbed President Duterte himself is nonchalant and unperturbed by the foreign media coverage of his drug war. At a press conference in Davao City on August 21, President Duterte declared that he does not care if he is being portrayed by the international media in a negative light, saying he is just performing his duty. “They say I am the most unpopular among the international press. I don’t care,” Duterte told reporters. “I have a problem to solve here in my country.” Andanar as Sancho Panza In his best imitation of Sancho Panza, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar goes farther than the President. He dared foreign journalists to visit the Philippines so they can see for themselves the extent of the drug menace in the country. “The international media, as I have repeated time and again, should come to the Philippines and experience the life of the barangay (village) people who experience the drug problems,” Andanar told reporters on the sidelines of the Japan-Asean Media Forum in Mandaluyong. “It’s not fair for just anybody to conclude that there are extrajudicial killings, that there are so many dead without even qualifying which ones are dead because of authorized police operations, and which ones are killed because of a gang war or regular murders,” he added. Most disingenuous was Andanar’s claim that President Duterte, in waging the drug war, is just fulfilling a campaign promise in the May 2016 elections. “He was elected with that platform. He already warned the electorate that if you vote for him, there will be bloodshed. If you don’t want bloodshed, don’t vote for me. But he was voted,” Andanar said. Finally, Andanar contends that the drug problem is now a pandemic. “This drug menace is pandemic already. Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures.” Andanar stressed that it is more important to protect the lives of innocent civilians and victims of illegal drugs than the lives of drug lords. “Investigate the lives, the human rights of those who have been victimized by crimes due to illegal drugs. There are so many of them. Go back to them. Let’s not be one-sided,” he added. Foreign media research their reports The problem with Andanar’s line is that the international media usually are very thorough before publishing or broadcasting anything. They may know more about the Philippine drug problem than Secretary Andanar. When the foreign media ask what are the compelling reasons and factual background behind President Duterte’s war on drugs, and his draconian call for the killing of drug suspects, what will the government say in response? Malacañang claims, and President Duterte has said so himself, that there are about 3 to 3.7 million drug users in the country. Where did this figure come from? Who compiled the statistics or estimates? Likewise, who is supplying the intelligence and numbers that emboldened Duterte to name and shame government officials as coddlers of drug traffickers in the country? Like the WMD problem in Iraq So far as anyone can ascertain, the figures being cited by the President do not tally with existing official figures of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB). In a sense, the drug war faces the same problem that George W. Bush faced in the war on Iraq; the war was justified on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and the invading US military forces could not find them. The entire war was discredited. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been belatedly shamed by the findings of a formal UK inquiry – that British participation in the war was unjustified and immoral. The Duterte administration’s war on drugs could be faced with a similar quandary – finding the pandemic to justify the bloodshed. PDEA and NBI clueless At a hearing on Tuesday by the House committee on Dangerous Drugs, both the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disclosed that they did not have any inputs in the war on drugs. Under questioning by Kabayan Party-list Representative Harry L. Roque, PDEA Director General Isidro Lapeña and NBI lawyer Henry Canapi admitted they did not have any involvement in the preparation of President Duterte’s list of drug personalities. When asked by Roque who could have been advising the President on the list of these alleged drug coddlers in government, Lapeña said he was not sure whether other agencies have been giving information to the President. CNN’s devastasting report When foreign media come to take up Secretary Andanar’s dare to visit, they are bound to ask similar questions. They will be justified in seeking substantiation because what they have been reporting is usually backed up by interviews and statistics. For instance, CNN, in broadcasting on August 29 a report from the front lines of the drug war, backed up its report with a fact sheet on the illegal drug situation in the country. It reported the often-cited DDB figure, as of 2014, that there are some 1.3 million drug users in the Philippines. And that metaphetamine (local name “shabu”) is the principal illegal drug being produced and trafficked in the country. CNN went on to relate six illustrative cases of the drug war and the killings. It was by many accounts a devastating piece of journalism. Such journalism cannot be pooh-poohed by blanket statements that they are the product of a well-funded foreign media campaign against President Duterte. To discredit them, Malacanang must provide a convincing story about the drug war. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil Andanar should take time to visit with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) to learn firsthand who are the foreign media that are watching what is really going on. There he can disabuse them of misimpresssions and mistakes in reporting the drug war. Of course, some of us may simply not want to consider what foreign media have to say. As I recall, “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” discredited the three monkeys. The story is a parable of moral responsibility.

More than 2,000 people have reportedly died in the Philippine Drug War.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dilma Rousseff: "There was no constitutional reason for the impeachment" Brazil's Senate has voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for manipulating the budget. It puts an end to the 13 years in power of her left-wing Workers' Party. Ms Rousseff had denied the charges. Sixty-one senators voted in favour of her dismissal and 20 against, meeting the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from the presidency. Michel Temer has been sworn in as president and will serve out Ms Rousseff's term until 1 January 2019. The centre-right PMDB party politician had been serving as acting president during the impeachment proceedings. During his first cabinet meeting since the vote, Mr Temer said his inauguration marked a "new era". Image copyright AP Image caption Mr Temer arrived in the Congress two hours after the impeachment vote to be sworn in He asked his ministers to "vigorously defend" the government from accusations that Ms Rousseff's dismissal amounted to a coup d'etat. "We can't leave one accusation unanswered," he said during the meeting, which was broadcast live on television. He also told ministers to work closely with the Congress to revive the Brazilian economy. Mr Temer is travelling to China to take part in a summit of the G-20 group of major economies. The dismissal of Ms Rousseff has caused a rift between Brazil and three left-wing South American governments that criticised the move later on Wednesday. Brazil and Venezuela recalled each other's ambassadors. Brazilian envoys to Bolivia and Ecuador have also been ordered home. 'See you soon' Ms Rousseff lost the impeachment battle but won a separate Senate vote that had sought to ban her from public office for eight years. Pledging to appeal against her dismissal, she told her supporters: "I will not say goodbye to you. I am certain I can say: 'See you soon.'" She added: "They have convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup." Image copyright AP Image caption Supporters of Ms Rousseff have held protests against acting president Michel Temer Anti-Temer demonstrations were held in many cities, including Brasilia. Ms Rousseff was suspended in May after the Senate voted to go ahead with the impeachment process. She was accused of moving funds between government budgets, which is illegal under Brazilian law. Her critics said she was trying to plug deficit holes in popular social programmes to boost her chances of being re-elected in 2014. Image copyright AFP Image caption Senators did not back a move to bar Ms Rousseff from public office for eight years Ms Rousseff fought the allegations, arguing that her right-wing rivals had been trying to remove her from office ever since her re-election. Dilma Rousseff Born in 1947, grew up in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte Her father was Bulgarian immigrant and an ex-communist Joined left-wing movement against Brazil's military dictatorship which had seized power in 1964 Detained in 1970 and imprisoned for three years Subjected to torture including electric shocks for her role in the underground resistance Came to political prominence as the protege of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011 Sworn in as Brazil's first female president in 2011 Re-elected to a second term in 2014 Impeached on 31 August 2016 She said that she was being ousted because she had allowed a wide-ranging corruption investigation to go ahead, which resulted in many high-profile politicians being charged. Analysis by Daniel Gallas, BBC South Americas Business Correspondent Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial in the Senate has raised important questions about Brazil's democratic institutions. Was she ousted for having committed a crime - or was that just a pretext to remove a president who had lost control of the economy and politics? Her fiscal manoeuvres were thoroughly examined during the sessions, but it was not just that which was on trial. Her government policies, her U-turn on the economy after the election and corruption in her party were constantly part of the debate. Also, as the trial unfolded, Michel Temer's interim government started its work reforming the economy and outlining new policies. Senators - and Brazilians - knew that the question of condemning Ms Rousseff went beyond just deciding technically whether she was guilty or not. Read Daniel Gallas' analysis in full But senators who voted in favour of her removal said it was Ms Rousseff and the Workers' Party who were corrupt and needed to go. Mr Temer, who will govern until 1 January 2019, has promised to boost Brazil's economy, which is going through its longest and deepest recession in the past quarter of a century. His critics have already warned that he plans to cut many of the popular social programmes introduced by the Workers' Party.[SEP](CNN) Brazil's first female president is out of a job, but not barred from the ballot if she wants to run again. The South American country's Senate voted 61-20 Wednesday to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, finding her guilty of breaking budgetary laws in an impeachment trial. Temer, 75, inherits a tattered economy, along with the keys to the presidential palace in Brasilia, the nation's capital. He met with his Cabinet and promised to tackle unemployment. "I am not saying it is an easy task, since we have almost 12 million people unemployed in this country," he said, according to a CNN translation. "It's a scary number, and there is nothing less dignified than unemployment." Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Freedom fighter – As young Marxist during Brazil's military dictatorship, Dilma Rousseff was charged by a military court with subversion and jailed in November 1970. Rousseff has said she was tortured with electrical shocks by her captors during her imprisonment. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Chief of staff – As former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff, Rousseff took on several high-profile roles. She announced the discovery of Brazil's pre-salt oil reserves, which would have made the country self-sustainable and could have produced up to 100 billion barrels of oil. But the reserve, discovered in 2009, still remains untapped. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Presidential hopeful – Rousseff campaigning for the presidency in 2010. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff President – Dilma Rousseff is sworn in to her first term on January 1, 2011, becoming Brazil's first female president. She's seen here with running mate Michel Temer, who has now succeeded her as president. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Fighting for political life – Rousseff gestures during her testimony during her impeachment trial at the National Congress in Brasilia on August 29, 2016. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: The rise and fall of Dilma Rousseff Deposed – After the Senate voted for her impeachment, Rousseff was officially removed from office Wednesday afternoon. Hide Caption 6 of 6 A general election is scheduled for 2018. Wednesday's vote marks the culmination of a contentious impeachment process that has dragged on for months. It's a political crisis that ordinary Brazilians could do well without as the country, which just hosted the Summer Olympics in Rio, is trying to pull itself out of recession. The Senate's decision is a major blow for Rousseff, a member of the Workers' Party, but it might not mark the end of her political career. While the vote to oust her from office was decisive, a motion to bar her from holding any public office for the next eight years failed. Rousseff, 68, a former Marxist guerrilla, said earlier this week that she had committed no crime and said she was proud she'd been "faithful to my commitment to the nation." JUST WATCHED Rousseff impeachment trial in final phase Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rousseff impeachment trial in final phase 02:50 Sen. Lindbergh Farias of the Workers' Party made an impassioned plea against Rousseff's impeachment. "This is a farce. This is a pretext. This is absolutely irrelevant. There are two types of senators, the one that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote against the impeachment and those that know there was no crime of responsibility and vote in favor," he said, shouting from the Senate floor. Sen. Ronaldo Caiado of the Democrats argued that Rousseff should be ousted, arguing that lawmakers weren't the ones behind the impeachment process. "It began because 90% of the population has said loudly, no more (Workers' Party)," he said. In May, Rousseff called the impeachment proceedings an attempt at a power grab by her rivals. She said her government has long been the target of political sabotage. "When Brazil or when a president is impeached for a crime that they have not committed, the name we have for this in democracy -- it's not an impeachment, it is a coup," she said after the Senate voted to launch the proceedings. The heir-apparent to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff was re-elected by a narrow margin in 2014, but a recession and a cross-party corruption scandal put an end to any political goodwill she might have earned, eventually leading to her ouster. A statement from the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said the UN Secretary-General had "taken note" of the impeachment process and Temer's swearing in.[SEP]BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil’s Senate removed leftist President Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday for breaking budgetary laws, in an impeachment process that has polarized the Latin American country and paralyzed its politics for nine months. Senators voted 61-20 to convict Rousseff for illegally using money from state banks to boost public spending. Her conservative former vice president, Michel Temer, who has run the country since her suspension in May, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. A separate vote will be held on whether Rousseff will be barred from public office for eight years.[SEP]Brazil's Senate on Wednesday voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralyzed Latin America's largest nation and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending. While Rousseff's ouster was widely expected, the decision was a key chapter in a colossal political struggle that is far from over. Rousseff was Brazil's first female president, with a storied career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country's dictatorship. She was accused of breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget. Opposition lawmakers, who made clear early on the only solution was getting her out of office, argued that the maneuvers masked yawning deficits from high spending and ultimately exacerbated the recession in a nation that had long enjoyed darling status among emerging economies. Nonsense, Rousseff countered time and again, proclaiming her innocence up to the end. Previous presidents used similar accounting techniques, she noted, saying the push to remove her was a bloodless coup d'état by elites fuming over the populist polices of her Workers' Party the last 13 years. The opposition needed 54 of the 81 senators to vote in favor for her to be removed. They got many more, winning in a landslide of sorts, 61-20. "Today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage," Rousseff tweeted minutes after the decision. Rousseff won re-election in 2014, garnering more than 54 million votes. In the background of the entire fight was a wide-ranging investigation into billions of dollars in kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras. The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens many of the same lawmakers who voted to remove Rousseff. Rousseff argued that many opponents just wanted her out of the way so they could save their own skins by tampering with the investigation, which Rousseff had refused to do. Many lawmakers and Brazilians nationwide, meanwhile, blamed Rousseff for the graft even though she has never been personally implicated. They argued that she had to know, as many of the alleged bribes happened while her party was in power. Rousseff's removal creates many questions that are not easily answered. Michel Temer, her vice president who became her nemesis, will serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. But Brazilians have already gotten a taste of Temer's leadership, and they are clearly unimpressed. In May, Temer took over as interim president after the Senate impeached and suspended Rousseff. The 75-year-old career politician named a Cabinet of all-white men, a decision roundly criticized in a nation that is more than 50 percent nonwhite. Three of his ministers were forced to resign within weeks of taking their jobs because of corruption allegations, which also follow Temer and threaten his hold on power. When Temer announced the opening of the Olympics on Aug. 5, he was so vociferously booed that he remained out of sight for the remainder of the games. Rousseff's allies have vowed to appeal to the country's highest court. While previous petitions to the court have failed to stop the impeachment process, at the very least legal wrangling will keep the issue front and center. The decision also leaves many question marks over the economy, expected to decline for a second straight year. Temer has promised to pull the country of 200 million people from its recession by tackling reforms that have long been taboo, such as slimming public pensions. But he has not been able to accomplish much the last 3 months as interim president, and it remains to be seen whether Congress will be willing to work with him.[SEP]Brazil's Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, marking a turbulent finale to 13 years of center-left government in Latin America's largest country. Rousseff, a onetime guerrilla turned economist, was convicted on a vote of 61 to 20 of breaking fiscal responsibility law. Brazil’s more conservative Vice President Michel Temer will serve out the rest of her term, till 2018. Though Brazil basked in the world’s attention during this month’s Olympics, it continues to be saddled by a crippling recession, an ongoing investigation into widespread corruption and a crisis in confidence in the political system. Over the last few days, as Rousseff emphatically protested her innocence and accused elites of orchestrating a “coup,” protesters in some cities clashed with police and fires blocked main arteries, but the demonstrations were smaller than those that called for her ouster earlier this year and led to her temporary suspension in May. “I was no fan of Rousseff's government. It made serious mistakes. But at least she was elected legitimately,” said Michelle Brito, 33, who attempted to join a protest against Temer's new government near her work Tuesday night in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, before being turned away by tear gas, explosions, and crowds running from police. “I believe the men who took over did so cynically and with the worst intentions,” Brito said. “They wanted to take power without having to face democracy, and I fear now for how we may suffer. ” Though polls showed a majority of Brazilians wanted Rousseff out before the impeachment process started, a majority also wanted to remove Temer. Brazilians vigorously booed him during the recent opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics. Recent polling suggests a majority preferred new elections and only half the country believed impeachment was being carried out in full accordance with the law. The Supreme Court, however, allowed the Senate to decide if Rousseff's offenses merited impeachment, and much of the country's political and business elite has been united around the idea of a permanent Temer government for months. Temer, who turned on Rousseff to support impeachment, formed an alliance with parts of her coalition and the party that lost the 2014 election. He cannot run for president in 2018 because he has been convicted of breaking campaign finance rules and banned from running for office. The two men behind him in line for the presidency have been accused of corruption, while Rousseff has not. Technically, she was accused of shifting public funds to mask federal deficits. Temer's new administration surprised Brazilians in May when he steered the country sharply to the right and installed a new Cabinet made up of entirely white men in a country that is minority white, then three of his new ministers immediately had to resign amid corruption accusations unearthed in the country's sprawling “Car Wash” corruption probe. Temer, who has served as “interim” president since Rousseff was suspended in May, will now be granted full powers, but may nevertheless face an uphill battle to establish popularity and get the economy back on track. “It's going to be a difficult period for Brazil's economy under Temer, and it would have been difficult under Rousseff. Even if Temer survives [until 2018] and is relatively successful, we don't expect him to be very popular,” says Joao Augusto de Castro Neves, Latin America Director at the Eurasia Group in Washington. Despite the lack of consensus as to whether this the right way to remove Rousseff, he added, “few governments in the world would have survived this perfect storm of political factors. Rousseff lost political support, the country faces a severe recession, and there is an ongoing, massive corruption scandal.” Out of the last four presidents elected in Brazil, Rousseff is the second to depart office early. In 1992, President Fernando Collor resigned before facing impeachment. This may be the first time since the fall of Brazil's dictatorship in the 1980s that a significant portion of the population questions the democratic legitimacy of its leader. The final moments of the lengthy impeachment proceedings offered moments of high drama that captured the attention of the country just after the spectacle of the Rio Games. On Monday, Rousseff took the stand for 14 hours, defending herself emphatically during questioning after reminding the country of the torture she suffered as a revolutionary under Brazil’s dictatorship and said conservatives elites had conspired to overthrow her election and threaten democracy. Brazil's current and former presidents face trials. And the interim president is in hot water too U.S. Congress members express 'deep concern' over threats to democracy in Brazil 9:50 a.m., Aug. 31: This article was updated with Brazil’s Senate voting to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. This article was originally published at 7:15 p.m., Aug. 30[SEP]Brazil’s senate has voted to permanently remove president Dilma Rousseff from office. The decision is the culmination of a year-long fight that paralysed Latin America’s most powerful economy and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending. Brazil’s first female president was accused of breaking fiscal responsibility laws in her management of the federal budget. She denied wrongdoing, and frequently pointed out that previous presidents used similar accounting measures. Ms Rousseff later denounced the senators who removed her from office. She sent a tweet saying that “today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage”. Ms Rousseff won re-election in 2014 with more than 54 million votes. Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who presided over the trial, ruled: “The Senate has found that the president of the federal republic of Brazil, Dilma Vana Rousseff, committed crimes in breaking fiscal laws.” The opposition needed 54 of the 81 senators to vote in favour for her to be removed. They got many more, winning in a landslide of sorts, 61-20. In a second vote about 30 minutes later, Ms Rousseff won a minor victory as a measure to ban her from public office for eight years failed. In the background of the entire fight was a wide-ranging investigation into billions of dollars in kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras. The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens many of the same politicians who voted to remove Ms Rousseff. She argued that many opponents just wanted her out of the way so they could save their own skins by tampering with the investigation. Ms Rousseff’s removal creates many questions that are not easily answered. Michel Temer, her vice-president who became her nemesis, will serve out the remainder of her term until 2018. In May, he took over as interim president after the Senate impeached and suspended Ms Rousseff. The 75-year-old career politician named a cabinet of all-white men, a decision roundly criticised in a nation that is more than 50 per cent non-white. When Mr Temer announced the opening of the Olympics, he was so vociferously booed that he remained out of sight for the remainder of the games.[SEP]Brazil's Senate has voted to permanently remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. Rousseff - the country's first female president - was accused of illegally using money from state banks to boost public spending in order to patch budget holes in 2014, masking the country's problems as it slid into its deepest recession in decades. On Wednesday, the Senate voted to convict her by 61 votes to 20. However, she has not been barred from holding public office. Her conservative former Vice President Michel Temer, who has run the country since her suspension in May, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. A separate vote will be held on whether Rousseff will be barred from public office for eight years. However, Rousseff - who was jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country's dictatorship, during which she was a Marxist guerrilla - has not taken the verdict lying down. In a tweet, she accused the Senate of ignoring the will of the people. 'Today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54million Brazilian votes in the garbage,' she wrote. Rousseff won re-election in 2014 with more than 54million votes. She had earlier confronted her accusers, telling the Senate that she was innocent and warning that the Brazilian democracy is in danger. 'Twice I have seen the face of death close up,' she said. 'When I was tortured for days on end, subjected to abuses that make us doubt humanity and the meaning of life itself, and when a serious and extremely painful illness could have cut short my life,' she said. 'Today I fear only for the death of democracy, for which many of us here in this chamber fought.' The impeachment process that has polarized the Latin American country and paralysed its politics for nine months.[SEP]Brasilia, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday voted to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office, the culmination of a yearlong fight that paralyzed Latin America’s largest nation and exposed deep rifts among its people on everything from race relations to social spending. While Rousseff’s ouster was widely expected, the decision was a key chapter in a colossal political struggle that is far from over. Her vice president-turned-nemesis, Michel Temer, was immediately sworn in as president with Rousseff’s allies vowing to fight her removal. Rousseff was Brazil’s first female president, with a storied career that includes a stint as a Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured in the 1970s during the country’s dictatorship. She was accused of breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget. “The Senate has found that the president of the federal republic of Brazil, Dilma Vana Rousseff, committed crimes in breaking fiscal laws,” said Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, who presided over the trial. Opposition lawmakers, who made clear early on the only solution was getting her out of office, argued that the maneuvers masked yawning deficits from high spending and ultimately exacerbated the recession in a nation that had long enjoyed darling status among emerging economies. Nonsense, Rousseff countered time and again, proclaiming her innocence up to the end. Previous presidents used similar accounting techniques, she noted, saying the push to remove her was a bloodless coup d’etat by elites fuming over the populist polices of her Workers’ Party the last 13 years. The opposition needed 54 of the 81 senators to vote in favor for her to be removed. They got many more, winning in a landslide of sorts, 61-20. “Today is the day that 61 men, many of them charged and corrupt, threw 54 million Brazilian votes in the garbage,” Rousseff tweeted minutes after the decision. Rousseff won re-election in 2014, garnering more than 54 million votes. In a second Senate vote about 30 minutes later, Rousseff won a minor victory as a measure to ban her from public office for eight years failed. The 42-36 vote fell short of the 54 votes needed for passage. In the background of the entire fight was a wide-ranging investigation into billions of dollars in kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras. The two-year probe has led to the jailing of dozens of top businessmen and politicians from across the political spectrum, and threatens many of the same lawmakers who voted to remove Rousseff. Rousseff argued that many opponents just wanted her out of the way so they could save their own skins by tampering with the investigation, which Rousseff had refused to do. Many lawmakers and Brazilians nationwide, meanwhile, blamed Rousseff for the graft even though she has never been personally implicated. They argued that she had to know, as many of the alleged bribes happened while her party was in power. Rousseff’s removal creates many questions that are not easily answered. Temer will serve out the remainder of her term through 2018. He was expected to address the nation in the evening. But Brazilians have already gotten a taste of Temer’s leadership, and they are clearly unimpressed. In May, Temer took over as interim president after the Senate impeached and suspended Rousseff. The 75-year-old career politician named a Cabinet of all-white men, a decision roundly criticized in a nation that is more than 50 percent nonwhite. Three of his ministers were forced to resign within weeks of taking their jobs because of corruption allegations, which also follow Temer and threaten his hold on power. When Temer announced the opening of the Olympics on Aug. 5, he was so vociferously booed that he remained out of sight for the remainder of the games. Rousseff’s allies have vowed to appeal to the country’s highest court. While previous petitions to the court have failed to stop the impeachment process, at the very least legal wrangling will keep the issue front and center. The decision also leaves many question marks over the economy, expected to decline for a second straight year. Temer has promised to pull the country of 200 million people from its recession by tackling reforms that have long been taboo, such as slimming public pensions. But he has not been able to accomplish much the last three months as interim president, and it remains to be seen whether Congress will be willing to work with him. Several polls have shown that Brazilians prefer new elections to solve the crisis. For that to happen, however, Temer would have to be removed from office or resign, something he clearly has no intention of doing. Speaking to the nation in televised address Wednesday evening, Temer hit back at Rousseff. “Putschist is you,” he said, referring to Rousseff’s accusation that he had led the charge to oust her. “It’s you who is breaking the constitution.” Temer said he had tasked his Cabinet with pushing forward budget and pension reforms as well as proposals to create jobs. “From today on, the expectations are much higher for the government. I hope that in these two years and four months, we do what we have declared — put Brazil back on track,” he said. Speaking to supporters at the presidential residence, Rousseff promised to mount a strong opposition, but didn’t elaborate. “This coup is against social movements and unions and against those who fight for their rights,” she said. “Rights for the young people to make history, rights for the black, indigenous, LGBT and women.”[SEP]RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The permanent ouster of deeply unpopular President Dilma Rousseff by Brazil's Senate means that a man who is arguably just as unpopular is now faced with trying to ease the wounds of a divided nation mired in recession. Long known as an uncharismatic backroom wheeler-dealer, Michel Temer inherits a shrinking economy, a Zika virus outbreak that has ravaged poor northeastern states and political instability fed by a sprawling corruption probe that has tarred much of the country's political and business elite — himself included. So far he's struggled in the nearly four months he's served as interim president following Rousseff's May impeachment, which suspended her from office while a final trial was prepared. The Senate's 61-20 vote on Wednesday to permanently remove her means Temer, who had been her vice president, will now serve out her term, which ends in late 2018. Just hours after Rousseff was removed, Temer assured the nation his administration was up to the task. "From today on, the expectations are much higher for the government. I hope that in these two years and four months, we do what we have declared — put Brazil back on track," he said. Temer also denied that the proceedings were a coup against Rousseff, which she repeatedly claimed throughout the process. "Putschist is you," he said, referring to Rousseff. "It's you who is breaking the constitution." Temer said he planned to attend the G20 meetings in China this weekend, mentioning bilateral meetings that leaders from Spain, Japan, Italy and Saudi Arabia have already requested. "We are traveling to show the world that we have political and legal stability," he said. "We have to show that there is hope in the country." Whether Temer can convince Brazilians that he is worth a real shot is unclear. He appeared tone-deaf with his first move in May: appointing an entirely white, male Cabinet to oversee a nation of 200 million people where more than 50 percent identify as black or mixed-race. Three of Temer's ministers had to quit within days of being named because of corruption allegations. And so far he has struggled to build consensus around key reforms, such as slimming the country's pension system. Government ministers are promising progress now that "interim" is no longer part of Temer's title. "With the end of the interim period and a vote of more than 60 senators, the investors will start bringing jobs again," said Cabinet chief Eliseu Padilha. So far that message hasn't resonated with most Brazilians, however. Just 14 percent said they approved of Temer's performance in a July poll by Datafolha. On the flip side, 62 percent said they wanted new elections to resolve the crisis. The poll interviewed 2,792 people July 14-15 and had a 2 percentage point margin of error. New elections would first require that Temer resign, which he has no intention of doing. The son of Lebanese immigrants, the 75-year-old Temer quietly rose through Brazil's political ranks, building a reputation as a negotiator who could forge deals among political rivals. His reserved manner earned him the nickname the "Butler." The only thing flashy about him is his wife, 32-year-old Marcela Temer, an ex-beauty pageant contestant who tattooed Temer's name on her neck. As a leader of the country's biggest party, the ideologically flexible Brazilian Democratic Party Movement, Temer won election as head of the lower house of Congress for nearly a decade. A political marriage of convenience led the leftist Rousseff to choose the Sao Paulo congressman as her vice presidential running mate in 2010. Their formal if frosty relationship endured as the country continued a decade and a half-long boom. But by the time the pair was re-elected in 2014, the economy began to unravel and street protests erupted. Prosecutors and judges uncovered a web of billions of dollars of kickbacks at the state oil giant Petrobras. The two-year probe has ensnared dozens of businessmen and politicians across the political spectrum. Although Rousseff has never been personally implicated, many blame her for the graft because much of it happened while her party was in power. Temer, on the other hand, has been directly implicated: In a plea bargain, former Sen. Sergio Machado said that Temer asked him to channel $400,000 in Petrobras kickbacks to 2012 Sao Paulo mayoral candidate in Temer's party. Temer denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. Temer also is banned from running for office the next eight years because Sao Paulo's electoral court found him guilty of violating campaign spending laws in 2014. Those things add to vehement opposition from Rousseff and her backers, who brand him a "usurper" and say he was brought into office to help squelch the corruption probe and restore the authority the country's elite. "They think that they beat us, but they are wrong," said Rousseff on Wednesday in her first remarks after being removed from office. Late Wednesday night, a group of unhappy Rousseff supporters smashed windows of bank branches, other businesses and a police SUV in the city of Sao Paulo. Anti-riot police tried to quell the demonstration with stun grenades and tear gas. Rousseff supporters have promised to try to impeach Temer, though analysts say that's unlikely. "Temer's party is the biggest in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate. That alone makes an impeachment process unlikely," said Jose Luiz Niemeyer, a professor of international relations at Ibmec, a Rio-based university.[SEP]Brazil’s senate dismissed former president Dilma Rousseff from office on Wednesday in an impeachment trial that draws the curtain on 13 years of leftist Workers Party rule in Latin America’s largest nation. Senators voted 61-20 in favour of ousting her. For more than 10 months, the leftist leader has fought efforts to impeach her for frontloading funds for government social programmes and issuing spending budget decrees without congressional approval ahead of her re-election in 2014. The opposition claimed that these constituted a “crime of responsibility”. Rousseff denies this and claims the charges – which were never levelled at previous administrations who did the same thing – have been trumped up by opponents who were unable to accept the Workers’ Party’s victory. In keeping with her pledge to fight until the end for the 54 million voters who put her in office, Ms Rousseff – a former Marxist guerrilla – ended her presidency this week with a gritty 14-hour defence of her government’s achievements and a sharply worded attack on the “usurpers” and “coup-mongers” who ejected her from power without an election. Her lawyer, José Eduardo Cardozo, said the charges were trumped up to punish the president’s support for a huge corruption investigation that has snared many of Brazil’s elite. This follows secret recordings of Romero Juca, the majority leader of the senate and a key ally of Michel Temer (Ms Rousseff’s conservative former vice president), plotting to remove the president to halt the Lava Jato (car wash) investigation into kickbacks at state oil company Petrobras. While Ms Rousseff was in the upper chamber, her critics heard her in respectful silence. But in a final session in her absence on Tuesday, they lined up to condemn her. As in an earlier lower house impeachment debate , the senators – many of whom are accused of far greater crimes – clearly revelled in the spotlight of their ten-minute declarations. Reflecting the growing power of right-wing evangelism in the country, many invoked the name of God. One cited Winston Churchill. Another sang. Another appeared to be in tears. A tricky transition awaits Mr Temer, who has served as interim president since the senate trial began in May and will finish out her term to the end of 2018. His chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, said in a Twitter message that the government expected 60 to 61 votes against Rousseff, a comfortable majority that would confirm Mr Temer in office. Mr Temer has vowed to boost an economy that has shrunk for six consecutive quarters and implement austerity measures to plug a record budget deficit, which cost Brazil its investment-grade credit rating last year. Earlier in the day, the government said gross domestic product contracted 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, putting the economy on track to post its longest and harshest recession in more than a century. Still, expectations that the political stalemate could end soon with Ms Rousseff’s impeachment helped bolster investment, which expanded in the second quarter for the first time in three years.

President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff is removed from office by a vote of 61–20 in the Senate. Current Acting President Michel Temer will serve out the remainder of her term, which ends January 1, 2019.

LIBREVILLE, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Gabon President Ali Bongo won re-election in a hotly contested weekend election with 49.80 percent of ballots cast, according to final results announced by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya on Wednesday. Bongo's chief rival Jean Ping, who had already announced he won the vote, came second with 48.23 percent, Moubelet said, amid turnout of 59.46 percent of the oil producing country's roughly 600,000 voters. Election commission members from the opposition rejected the result. (Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Mark Heinrich)[SEP]PARIS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping said on Thursday the only solution to break the crisis in the country was for President Ali Bongo to step down and accept defeat in the disputed presidential election. "The only solution is that Bongo recognises defeat, because he was beaten," Ping told France's BFM TV. When asked whether he would contest the results through the constitutional court Ping said it was pointless. "The constitutional court, like Gabon's electoral commission, is a tool of the governing authority. They do what they are told to do," he said. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Ingrid Melander)[SEP]Gabonese President Ali Bongo casts his vote at a polling station in Libreville during the presidential election on August 27, 2016. By Marco Longari (AFP) Libreville (AFP) - Security forces clashed with protestors in Gabon's capital Libreville on Wednesday shortly after authorities announced the re-election of President Ali Bongo by a narrow majority, an AFP reporter said. "Ali must go!" shouted demonstrators as security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to stop them reaching the headquarters of the election commission.[SEP]Gabonese police patrol the streets of the capital Libreville on September 1, 2016. By Marco Longari (AFP) Libreville (AFP) - Police arrested 1,000 people as security forces fanned out across Gabon's capital Thursday after a night of riots and looting that erupted when President Ali Bongo was declared winner of disputed polls. Thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets of Libreville late Wednesday, accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping. His victory is set to extend the Bongo family's almost 50-year rule over the small oil-rich nation. Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces. Ping said two people were killed and 19 hurt in a raid against his headquarters early Thursday, and the national police chief told AFP that more than 200 people had been arrested across the city for looting. But by mid-morning, security forces had sealed off the city centre, which was calm and otherwise deserted, with troops, police and anti-riot squads patrolling the streets. Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya said between 600 to 800 people had been detained in Libreville and 200 to 300 in the rest of the country. As Gabon descended into chaos, the EU called for calm, former colonial power France urged "maximum restraint" and Amnesty International warned against "excessive force." Police chief Jean-Thierry Oye Zue said six officers had been killed in the post-vote riots and agreed there were "very probably" civilian injuries "given the violence with which they attacked us." But he declined to give a total number of fatalities, saying "I cannot tell you that." A Red Cross worker who gave his name as Gildas said one of 15 people injured who was brought in by an army truck had died on Thursday. It was not immediately clear where Ping -- a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official who had earlier declared himself the poll winner -- had taken refuge. A European diplomat said he was safe, however. Internet communications remained cut and the capital scarred by the night of rioting. The parliament building's facade was blackened by fire and its windows were smashed. Protesters had torn down its huge main gate and torched a sentry box at the entrance. "Democracy doesn't sit well with an attack on parliament," Bongo said Thursday. On the city's main artery, the Boulevard Triomphal -- the location of numerous government institutions and foreign embassies -- burnt-out buildings and cars could be seen, while makeshift barricades were still smouldering. The army searched Ping's headquarters "from top to bottom," said an opposition leader, Didjob Ding Duvungui, who was being held for questioning. Between 500 to 600 people were arrested there, he said. A government spokesman said the operation was to catch "criminals" and "looters and thugs" who had earlier set fire to the parliament building. "We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger. They (the international community) should come and help us against the clan (of Bongo)," Ping told AFP. The results of the presidential election -- which gave Bongo 49.8 percent to Ping's 48.23 percent (a gap of less than 6,000 votes) -- remain "provisional" until approved by the constitutional court. The opposition described the election as fraudulent and called for results from each of Gabon's polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of the overall outcome -- a demand echoed by the United States and European Union. Ping told France's Europe 1 radio early Thursday: "Everyone knows that he (Bongo) cheated. Ask in Europe. Everyone knows." Any appeal by Ping would likely focus on disputed results in Haut-Ogooue province, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group. In Saturday's vote, turnout was 59.46 percent nationwide but soared to 99.93 percent in Haut-Ogooue, where Bongo won 95.5 percent of votes. "It's going to be difficult to get people to accept these results," one member of the electoral commission told AFP, asking not to be named. "We've never seen results like these, even during the father's time," he added. Bongo took power in 2009 in a violence-marred election that followed the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had governed the oil-rich former French colony for 41 years. One third of Gabon's population lives in poverty, though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes at $8,300 (7,400 euros) thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. Bongo, 57, campaigned under the slogan "Let's change together", playing up the roads and hospitals built during his first term and stressing the need to break with the bad old days of disappearing public funds and suspect management of oil revenues.[SEP]US troubled by Gabon events, urges restraint by security forces WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it is deeply concerned about events in Gabon and urged restraint by security forces in the oil exporting nation, where official results showed Ali Bongo re-elected president despite his opponent Jean Ping having claimed victory. "The United States is deeply concerned regarding unfolding events in Gabon. We take note of the results released by the electoral commission and urge all sides to temper their rhetoric and encourage their supporters to remain calm," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "We also urge all security forces to act with both restraint and respect for the human rights of all Gabonese citizens." (Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)[SEP]Violence erupted Wednesday after Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya announced the results from Saturday's vote, which showed that incumbent President Ali Bongo defeated opposition candidate Jean Ping by a very slim margin: Bongo had 49.8% of the vote, while Ping, a diplomat and former African Union official, had 48.23. Turnout was 59%, according to the country's election commission. Nearly 600,000 people were registered to vote. The final results must be confirmed by the country's constitutional court within a week. The opposition claimed the results were fraudulent and thousands of people took to the streets of the capital in protest. The Parliament and other government buildings were set ablaze overnight Wednesday into Thursday, as government forces tried to restore order. Shops and businesses were looted. Three people died in the violence, Gabon's Interior Ministry announced in a statement Thursday. Hundreds reportedly were injured. Onlookers watch the smoke rise from a fire amid the clashes. told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. Patrick Obiang, the Red Cross director of operations in Gabon, told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. Bongo's re-election would extend his family's half-century rule over the oil-rich nation by another seven years. Bongo took power from his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009, when similar protests erupted. The US and France have expressed concern about the situation in Libreville and called for restraint by both sides. The US State Department called on the government to release the results from each polling station, saying "elections must credibly reflect the will of the people." The government has faced criticism for its response to restore stability and for reportedly interrupting communications. "I am deeply concerned and saddened about the situation in the Gabonese Republic provoked by the electoral crisis, in particular the arson attacks and disproportionate response of security agencies that has led to unfortunate loss of life and property," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.[SEP]Violence has swept the Gabon capital after President Ali Bongo was declared winner in polls by a slim margin. By Marco Longari (AFP) Libreville (AFP) - Two people were killed and more than a dozen injured as Gabon security forces stormed the opposition's headquarters early Thursday, as violence swept the capital after President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of contested polls. Thousands of angry protesters took to the streets of Libreville accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a thin margin over rival Jean Ping. Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as anti-government protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces, injuring at least six other people. Security forces surrounded the opposition headquarters overnight and stormed the building, killing two and injuring more than a dozen there, a source inside the building told Ping. "They attacked around 1:00 am (0000 GMT). It is the Republican Guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously," said Ping, who was not at the party headquarters himself. The president of the opposition National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, who was inside the besieged building, said security forces were hurling tear gas canisters and had opened fire. "For nearly an hour the building has been surrounded. They want to enter the building... it is extremely violent," he said shortly after the siege began. A government spokesman said the operation was to catch "criminals" who had earlier set fire to the parliament building. "Armed people who set fire to the parliament had gathered at Jean Ping's headquarters along with hundreds of looters and thugs... they were not political protesters but criminals," said Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze. A heavy military and police presence had brought large parts of Libreville to a standstill and internet access has also been cut. "We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger. They (the international community) should come and help us against the clan (of Bongo)," Ping told AFP. Results of the presidential election were announced Wednesday afternoon, handing Bongo a second term and extending the nearly five decade-long rule by his family. The results -- which gave Bongo 49.8 percent to Ping's 48.23 percent -- remain "provisional" until they are approved by the constitutional court. The opposition has described the election as fraudulent and called for voting results from each of Gabon's polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of overall outcome -- a demand echoed by the United States and European Union. "This will help give the people of Gabon -- as well as the international community -- confidence the announced vote tallies are accurate," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said. EU observers, who were barred from the meeting of the electoral commission on Wednesday, said the vote on Saturday was "managed in a way that lacked transparency". Opposition delegates in the electoral commission have vowed to fight for a recount. Any appeal by Ping -- a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official who had earlier declared himself the poll winner -- would likely focus on disputed results in Haut-Ogooue province, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group. In Saturday's vote, turnout was 59.46 percent nationwide but soared to 99.93 percent in Haut-Ogooue, where Bongo won 95.5 percent of votes. "It's going to be difficult to get people to accept these results," one member of the electoral commission confided to AFP, asking not to be named. "We've never seen results like these, even during the father's time," he added. Bongo took power in 2009 in a violence-marred election that followed the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had ruled the oil-rich former French colony for 41 years. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for calm and expressed concern over the clashes and reports of arson, urging political leaders "to address their differences peacefully and to address any disputes they may have through existing constitutional and legal channels", the UN said in a statement. Gabon is a former French colony that has been hit by the global slump in the price of crude oil, its biggest export. One third of Gabon's population lives in poverty, despite the country boasting one of Africa's highest per capita incomes at $8,300 (7,400 euros) thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. Bongo, 57, campaigned under the slogan "Let's change together", playing up the roads and hospitals built during his first term and stressing the need to break with the bad old days of disappearing public funds and suspect management of oil revenues.[SEP]LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Three people were killed and up to 1,100 were arrested in Gabon on Thursday, the government said, in a second day of rioting over the announcement of President Ali Bongo’s re-election and his main rival’s accusation that the vote was rigged. Soldiers patrol a street near opposition campaign headquarters after the election in Libreville, Gabon, August 31, 2016. Life Africa TV/Handout via Reuters Opposition challenger Jean Ping accused the elections commission of inflating Bongo’s score to hand him a slim victory and extend his family’s nearly half-century rule in the oil-producing Central African country for another seven years. Ping called on Bongo to step down. Violent protests raged in at least nine neighborhoods of the capital Libreville, two witnesses and a police source said on Thursday, a day after demonstrators set fire to the parliament building following the results announcement. “We want everyone to see, to tour the city, to witness the level of devastation, destruction, violence organized by certain politicians who do not want to recognize their defeat,” Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said. He told a news conference that several television stations, supermarkets, shops, and private homes had been looted in Libreville and the city hall was targeted by arsonists. Violence erupted in several other cities and provinces as well, he said. Moubelet Boubeya said protesters had used grenades and police had seized AK-47 assault rifles, an accusation an opposition spokesman rejected. Gabon’s sovereign dollar bonds fell across the curve with the 2024 and 2025 issue hitting a seven-week low on the back of the violence. Ping told Reuters in an interview that two people were killed and others wounded when the presidential guard assaulted his party headquarters overnight. He called for international assistance to protect the population against what he described as “a rogue state”. “The only solution is that Bongo recognizes defeat, because he was beaten,” Ping later told France’s BFM TV. He said that contesting the results through Gabon’s constitutional court, the official channel for complaints, was pointless. “The constitutional court, like Gabon’s electoral commission, is a tool of the governing authority. They do what they are told to do,” he said. Bongo’s office accused the Ping camp of planning “coordinated attacks on symbols of the state”, adding that security forces had in response encircled Ping’s headquarters and clashed with his supporters, resulting in one death. Related Coverage Gabon opposition leader Ping says Bongo should recognize defeat: BFM TV WHO WON? WHO LOST? “The elections gave their verdict. I know who won and who lost,” Bongo, first elected in 2009 upon the death of his father Omar Bongo, Gabon’s president for 42 years, told reporters on Thursday. “Who lost? A small group whose only aim is to take power for themselves.” The United Nations called for restraint. Former colonial ruler France, the United States and the European Union urged the authorities to release polling station results for greater transparency. Bongo’s spokesman rejected the request. “Transparency exists,” Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze told BFM TV. “Those who want a bureau by bureau count will only be able to do this by going through the constitutional court.” On Thursday, a witness reported hearing gunfire and blasts in the Nkembo neighborhood, near Libreville’s city center, while another saw protesters pillage shops, turn over rubbish bins to block streets and smash cars in the Avea neighborhood. A heavy police and army presence was visible on the streets throughout the city. “This is just a consequence of the current situation. This is because of the victory of Bongo against Jean Ping,” said witness Alex Mbadinga, 32. Libreville residents said the internet was cut on Thursday. Social media networks including Twitter and Facebook stopped functioning overnight. Earlier in the week, customs officials seized satellite telephones they said had been imported illegally. PATRONAGE SYSTEM French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said there was no room for violence within the political process. “I’m calling, therefore, all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid additional victims.” The office of French President Francois Hollande also called for calm, which “means a process to ensure transparency in the election results”. Bongo won 49.80 percent of votes in Saturday’s election against 48.23 percent for Ping, according to results read by Moubelet Boubeya on Wednesday. The announcement had been delayed by one day. Bongo benefited from a patronage system lubricated by oil money ahead of the vote. But economic headwinds caused by falling oil prices and crude production have led to budget cuts in one of Africa’s statistically wealthiest nations, providing fuel for opposition charges that many ordinary Gabonese citizens have not enjoyed the fruits of oil wealth and suffered under his rule. The government says it plans to diversify the economy through investments in manganese mining and cash crops like palm oil and rubber. Slideshow (3 Images) Ping, a political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of the late president and fathered two children with his daughter. An EU observer mission criticized a “lack of transparency” among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media.[SEP]UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council is deeply concerned by the violence in Gabon following President Ali Bongo’s narrow election victory and is calling for calm, the council president said Thursday. The council discussed the crisis at France’s request and heard a report during a closed-door meeting from UN envoy for central Africa Abdoulaye Bathily, who is working to defuse tensions. Council members “called upon all candidates, their supporters, political parties and other actors to remain calm, refrain from violence or other provocations and to resolve any eventual disputes through established constitutional and legal mechanisms,” said New Zealand’s Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who holds the council presidency this month. The council expressed its “deep concern” and stressed the “importance of a transparent and impartial process” for the elections, he added. Three people were killed and around 1,000 arrested during rioting overnight after Bongo was declared the winner of the election by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping. The European Union and France have called for a transparent verification of the election results. French Ambassador Francois Delattre earlier said the council should “reiterate the critical importance of a procedure guaranteeing the transparency of the results of the election.” During the meeting, Bathily told the council that he was “hopeful” that tensions could be eased in Gabon, which has been ruled by the Bongo family for almost 50 years. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the immediate release of political detainees, and said the United Nations supports calls for a verification of the election results. Ban said he was “deeply concerned and saddened” by the violence, “in particular the arson attacks and disproportionate response of security agencies that has led to unfortunate loss of life and property.” The UN chief called on the government to immediately restore communications, especially the internet, SMS and independent radio and television. Bongo won victory with 49.8 percent of the vote, while Ping picked up 48.23 percent, resulting in a gap of fewer than 6,000 votes, according to provisional results.[SEP]Violence erupted Wednesday after Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya announced the results from Saturday's vote, which showed that incumbent President Ali Bongo defeated opposition candidate Jean Ping by a very slim margin: Bongo had 49.8% of the vote, while Ping, a diplomat and former African Union official, had 48.23. Turnout was 59%, according to the country's election commission. Nearly 600,000 people were registered to vote. The final results must be confirmed by the country's constitutional court within a week. The opposition claimed the results were fraudulent and thousands of people took to the streets of the capital in protest. The Parliament and other government buildings were set ablaze overnight Wednesday into Thursday, as government forces tried to restore order. Shops and businesses were looted. Three people died in the violence, Gabon's Interior Ministry announced in a statement Thursday. Hundreds reportedly were injured. told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. Patrick Obiang, the Red Cross director of operations in Gabon, told CNN on Thursday that while his teams are still assessing the number of casualties, they have seen at least one body of a protester who was killed in the overnight clashes. Bongo's re-election would extend his family's half-century rule over the oil-rich nation by another seven years. Bongo took power from his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009, when similar protests erupted. The US and France have expressed concern about the situation in Libreville and called for restraint by both sides. Onlookers watch the smoke rise from a fire amid the clashes. The US State Department called on the government to release the results from each polling station, saying "elections must credibly reflect the will of the people." The government has faced criticism for its response to restore stability and for reportedly interrupting communications. "I am deeply concerned and saddened about the situation in the Gabonese Republic provoked by the electoral crisis, in particular the arson attacks and disproportionate response of security agencies that has led to unfortunate loss of life and property," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

Ali Bongo is re-elected President of Gabon.

On a trip to China this month, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ex-political prisoner turned de facto leader, outlined her greatest ambition for her country: "To achieve peace and unity among the different peoples of our union." On Wednesday that process begins with the opening of the Union Peace Conference, a major event aimed at ending decades of violence between the Myanmar Army and various ethnic armed groups that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. It is the biggest challenge yet for Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party since their landslide election victory last November. Conflicts continue across the country and, according to the UN, 240,000 people have been displaced by violence in the past five years. Adding to these problems, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar on Wednesday killed several people and damaged dozens of ancient structures dotting the plains of Bagan. Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw walks in Naypyitaw, the country's capital. He is a longtime confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi. (Aung Shine Oo/Associated Press) Considerable weight is being thrown behind the five-day summit. More than 1,600 participants will converge on Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw for the first day, and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon will deliver an opening speech. The conference has support from the international community. Perhaps most notable is China, not only because Myanmar's neighbour is its most important economic partner, but also because many of the ethnic groups occupy territory along the China-Myanmar border and some, such as the United Wa State Army, were once armed by Beijing. "This the grand opening," U Zaw Htay, deputy director general in the office of Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw, told CBC News. "It is the very first step of uniting the country. It the first important step on the road of political dialogue." But the Union Peace Conference, commonly known as the 21st Century Panglong conference, faces a difficult journey. Ethnic fracture lines Myanmar, also known as Burma, is divided into eight main ethnicities and further split into 135 ethnic groups. Many of these ethnicities have been demanding greater autonomy since Myanmar achieved independence from the British nearly 70 years ago. Indeed, the conference, orchestrated by Suu Kyi, will see the Nobel peace laureate follow in the footsteps of her father, independence hero General Aung San. A family rides a motorbike on Aug. 26 past a billboard for the Union Peace Conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. The conference seeks to end decades of armed conflict among ethnic groups. (Associated Press) The original Panglong conference in 1947 secured the support of three ethnic groups in joining a united country and was a key step in securing independence. The general was assassinated several months later, without seeing independence achieved in 1948. However, successive governments have gone back on their promises of self-determination. The result has been decades of sporadic conflicts. International human rights organizations have documented abuses on both sides of these conflicts, but in particular allegations against the Myanmar Army include extrajudicial killings, rape and torture. Army admits killing 5 villagers The army, also known as the Tatmadaw, regularly rejects such allegations, though last month it did admit its soldiers had killed five villagers during an interrogation in the restive northern Shan state. Military personnel clear debris on Aug. 25 at a temple damaged by a strong earthquake in Bagan, Myanmar. The quake damaged nearly 200 temples in the ancient city, famous for its historic Buddhist pagodas. (Associated Press) Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, told CBC News, "The Tatmadaw's crimes, and the failure of any Burma government to hold them accountable for those rights abuses, is the biggest single factor that fosters mistrust between the government and the ethnic groups, and until this is resolved, it's hard to see how these talks will ultimately succeed." Other concerns have been raised about the peace process, such as the lack of women involved. On Monday Yanghee Lee, the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said, "Unfortunately, women will be underrepresented in the coming discussions despite making up over half of the population in Myanmar." Robertson adds, "Far too often, Aung San Suu Kyi is the only woman in the room, and that needs to change for a culture of human rights and peace to take hold and end the abuses of the past." The conference is hailed as ethnically inclusive, however. Last year the previous military-backed government orchestrated a ceasefire agreement that was criticized in some quarters because only eight of 15 invited ethnic armed groups signed up. For this conference all 21 ethnic armed groups were invited, although three were later barred because they refused to release a statement signalling their intent to lay down arms. A woman walks past a damaged pagoda on Aug. 25, a day after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar killed several people and damaged dozens of ancient structures. (Reuters) For many of those caught in the crossfire, their concerns are the ongoing violence that has kept them from their homes. On Monday, the Myanmar Army was reported to have attacked one ethnic armed group, the Shan State Army. Last week, the Myanmar Army used artillery and helicopter gunships to pound positions near the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army, another ethnic armed group. In a tea shop in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, Zing Hkang Pri told CBC News why she does not believe the peace process will bring change. The 55-year-old fled her home in Gin Si village with her children in 2012, after a bomb landed 1.5 metres from her home. She now lives in a crowded camp for internally displaced people in Myitkyina. "I don't have confidence in the peace process," she says. "People talk about peace, but there is still fighting in my village." This week, Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest at the hands of Myanmar's military junta, begins the process that she hopes will prove Zing Hkang Pri and other doubters wrong and finally bring peace to her country.[SEP]NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of representatives of Myanmar's ethnic tribes gathered Wednesday in the country's capital for historic peace talks with the government aimed at ending decades of separatist insurgencies that have claimed thousands of lives. The delegates, dressed in traditional garb and headgear, streamed into a conference hall in Naypyitaw for the five-day talks called by the new government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Although her title is state counsellor she is seen as the country's real leader. Suu Kyi, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of armed forces Gen. Min Aung Hlaing are scheduled to give speeches at the opening of the talks to determine the fate of the country's various ethnic minorities, who make up about 40 percent of the population. "All our people around the country want peace. So I do believe we will be successful in getting it at the conference," said Khun Than Myint, the facilitator of the meeting, whose official title is Union Peace Conference -- 21st Century Panglong. This is a reference to the Panglong Agreement brokered in 1947 by Suu Kyi's late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, in a town called Panglong. This week's conference is being attended by 17 of the 20 main armed groups, including the Karen, Kachin, Shan and Wa, along with other stakeholders. The 1947 deal granted ethnic minorities autonomy and the right to secede if they worked with the federal government to break away from Britain together. Aung San was assassinated the following year and the deal fell apart. Since then, ethnic groups have accused successive, mostly military, governments of failing to honor the 1947 pact, just before Myanmar gained independence from Britain the next year. The first uprising — launched by ethnic Karen insurgents — began shortly after independence. Since then other ethnic groups have also taken up arms. Skirmishes, particularly in northern zones where Kachin insurgents are fighting the army, have displaced more than 100,000 civilians since 2011 alone. At least 100,000 more have sought refuge in squalid camps in neighboring Thailand, and are unlikely to return home until true peace takes hold. The rebel armies control a patchwork of remote territories rich in jade and timber that are located mostly in the north and east along the borders with China and Thailand. They represent various ethnic groups that for decades have been fighting for autonomy while resisting "Burmanization," a push by the Burman ethnic majority to propagate its language, religion and culture in ethnic minority regions. Suu Kyi promised that bringing peace would be her top priority when her government assumed power earlier this year after decades of military rule. The previous military-backed government brokered individual truces with various insurgent groups and oversaw a cease-fire covering eight minor insurgencies last year that fell short of a nationwide deal. "It is still too early to say" whether this Panglong conference is representative of the aspirations of all groups, said Khu Oo Reh, the spokesman of the United Nationalities and Federal Council, a group that represents all ethnic armed groups. "But we really hope that we can achieve real democracy and equality for all ethnic groups, and self-determination in our region."[SEP]Yangon (AP) – Peace talks aimed at ending more than half a century of conflict between Myanmar’s army and an array of armed ethnic rebel groups are due to start in the capital, Naypyitaw, on Wednesday. The talks are the first formal peace negotiations since Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party swept elections last November and took office in April, vowing that national unity would be its top priority. Suu Kyi is expected to address the five-day conference, along with the powerful head of the nation’s military, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and representatives of at least 17 of the 20 main armed groups. Hundreds of delegates are expected to attend. The rebel armies control a patchwork of remote territories rich in jade and timber that are located mostly in the north and east along the borders with China and Thailand. They represent various ethnic groups that for decades have been fighting for autonomy while resisting “Burmanization,” a push by the Burman ethnic majority to propagate its language, religion and culture in ethnic minority regions. A look at why this week’s meeting is significant: Armed ethnic conflict has plagued Myanmar for decades. The first uprising — launched by ethnic Karen insurgents — began shortly after the country gained independence from Britain in 1948. Restoring stability nationwide is crucial to Myanmar’s long-term political and economic health. Ethnic minorities make up about 40 percent of the population, and stability can’t be achieved without their support. Fighting is not only bad for business, it’s a threat to the fragile democratic reform process that began in earnest when the military ceded some of its formal power to a nominally civilian government in 2011. Skirmishes, particularly in northern zones where Kachin insurgents are fighting the army, have displaced more than 100,000 civilians since 2011 alone. At least 100,000 more have sought refuge in squalid camps in neighboring Thailand, and are unlikely to return home until true peace takes hold. Suu Kyi promised that bringing peace would be her top priority when her government assumed power. The previous military-backed government brokered individual truces with various insurgent groups and oversaw a cease-fire covering eight minor insurgencies last year that fell short of a nationwide deal. Suu Kyi’s administration is hoping to build on those gains, but there are still skirmishes between the army and rebels, particularly in Kachin and Shan states. WHO IS TAKING PART, AND WHO ISN’T Suu Kyi said all ethnic armed groups would be invited to the talks, and most of the main rebel movements are taking part, including the Karen, Kachin, Shan and Wa ethnic groups. At least three smaller groups are not: the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army. The MNDAA, made up of ethnic Chinese Kokangs, waged fierce battles with the army in 2015 that displaced tens of thousands of people. This week’s talks are called the “21st Century Panglong Conference,” a reference to the Panglong Agreement brokered in 1947 by Suu Kyi’s late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San. The deal granted ethnic minorities autonomy and the right to secede if they worked with the federal government to break away from Britain together. Aung San was assassinated the following year and the deal fell apart. Since then, ethnic groups have accused successive, mostly military governments of failing to honor the 1947 pact. PROSPECTS FOR PEACE IN THE NEAR TERM Although the formal start of negotiations is a positive step, this week’s meeting is likely to be largely ceremonial, with discussions of contentious issues delayed until later rounds. That has happened plenty of times before — including in January, when Suu Kyi met leaders of the ethnic groups a few months before taking office. An official representing a coalition of rebel groups, the United Nationalities Federal Council, called those talks “a meeting that led to constructive intentions for the future meeting.” Some ethnic rebel groups have said they are not fully prepared for talks yet, and complained the government set the date without consulting them. It’s also not clear whether the handful of rebel groups not attending will join later; the ethnic minorities believe that only a comprehensive agreement including all can succeed. Part of the problem is that distrust between ethnic groups and the army is profound, and the military has retained enormous influence even though Suu Kyi’s party has assumed nominal control of the government. Rebel representatives in Naypyitaw also said Tuesday that Suu Kyi was playing her cards close, and they could not clearly gauge her government’s stance.[SEP]Myanmar's Suu Kyi kicks off peace conference with appeal for unity By Shwe Yee Saw Myint and Antoni Slodkowski NAYPYITAW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi launched a major push to end decades of fighting between the military and myriad rebel groups with an appeal on Wednesday to the country's ethnic minorities to overcome their differences to achieve peace. Suu Kyi has made the peace process a priority for her administration, which faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad after sweeping to power in an election last November to end more than half a century of military-backed rule. Delegates in elaborate ethnic costumes, sporting silver necklaces and hats adorned with peacock feathers, mingled and took photographs with military officers, mainstream majority Bamar politicians and diplomats at the start of the conference. "If all those who play a part ... in the peace process cultivate the wisdom to reconcile differing views for the good of the people ... we will surely be able to build the democratic federal union of our dreams," said Suu Kyi in her opening remarks. "Only if we are all united, our country will be at peace. Only if our country is at peace, will we be able to stand on equal footing with other countries in our region and across the world." Myanmar has been torn by fighting between the military, which seized power in a 1962 coup, and ethnic armed groups almost without a break since the end of the Second World War. The focus on Wednesday was on the symbolic, with few concrete proposals likely to emerge from this week's talks. Delegates expect to meet every six months to discuss issues ranging from security, political representation, language and culture to control of Myanmar's rich mineral resources. "It's the Tatmadaw members and our brethren members of ethnic armed groups, who have been directly suffering from ... the lack of peace in the country, sacrificing their limbs and lives," said army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. "I firmly believe that we will be able to accomplish this great process with our unity and efforts." Myanmar is home to more than a hundred ethnic groups with distinct traditions and cultures, and some representative performed a folk dance on the conference stage celebrating the Southeast Asian nation's ethnic diversity. Among those absent from the conference, however, were any representatives of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims, who face persecution and human rights abuses at the hands of their Buddhist neighbours in northwestern Rakhine State. A day before the conference started, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar to improve the living conditions of the Rohingya, underscoring the challenges facing Suu Kyi in tackling all the country's ethnic divisions. But the fact that Suu Kyi has been able to bring the vast majority of the rebel groups to the negotiating table only five months after taking power is a sign of progress, experts say. Powerful armed groups from regions bordering China, including the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), who refused to sign a ceasefire last October under the previous military-backed government, are now taking part, partly owing to China's tacit support for the talks, observers say. As Myanmar's economy opens up, China is vying for influence with the United States. President Xi Jinping pledged his country would play a "constructive role" in the peace process when Suu Kyi visited China this month. Casting a shadow over the talks is a recent flare-up in fighting in northernmost Kachin State and clashes in northeastern Shan State, which is home to several large groups operating close to borders with China and Thailand. (Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun, Aye Win Myint and Timothhy Mclaughin; Editing by Alex Richardson)[SEP]NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar has a unique opportunity to end decades of ethnic rebellions in various parts of the country, leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday as she promised that her government will guarantee rebel groups equal rights and respect in historic peace talks. Suu Kyi was speaking at the start of the five-day negotiations aimed at ending decades of separatist insurgencies that have claimed thousands of lives. The talks are being attended by representatives of 17 of the 20 major ethnic groups, including the Karen, Kachin, Shan and Wa, who make up 40 percent of the country's population. "This is a unique opportunity for us to accomplish a great task that will stand as a landmark throughout our history," said Suu Kyi, whose official title is state counsellor although she is the real power in the government, above the president. "Let us grasp this magnificent opportunity with wisdom, courage and perseverance and create a future infused with light." The peace talks are called Union Peace Conference -- 21st Century Panglong, a reference to the Panglong Agreement brokered in 1947 by Suu Kyi's late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, in the town of Panglong, when Myanmar was still ruled by Britain. The deal granted ethnic minorities autonomy and the right to secede if they worked with the federal government to break away from Britain together. But Aung San was assassinated the following year and the deal fell apart. Since then, ethnic groups have accused successive, mostly military, governments of failing to honor the 1947 pact. The first uprising — launched by ethnic Karen insurgents — began shortly after independence. Since then other ethnic groups have also taken up arms with roughly the same aim -- to fight for autonomy while resisting "Burmanization," a push by the Burman ethnic majority to propagate its language, religion and culture in ethnic minority regions. The rebel armies control a patchwork of remote territories rich in jade and timber that are located mostly in the north and east along the borders with China and Thailand. Suu Kyi said her National League for Democracy party's aim has always been to hold political negotiations "based on the Panglong spirit and the principle of finding solutions through the guarantee of equal rights, mutual respect and mutual confidence between all ethnic nationalities." "The government that emerged after the 2015 elections is determined to uphold the same principles," she said, referring to the landmark elections that brought the NLD to power after decades of military rule. The previous military-backed government brokered individual truces with various insurgent groups and oversaw a cease-fire covering eight minor insurgencies last year that fell short of a nationwide deal. Skirmishes, particularly in northern zones where Kachin insurgents are fighting the army, have displaced more than 100,000 civilians since 2011 alone. At least 100,000 more have sought refuge in squalid camps in neighboring Thailand, and are unlikely to return home until true peace takes hold. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of armed forces Gen. Min Aung Hlaing are also attending the conference. "All our people around the country want peace. So I do believe we will be successful in getting it at the conference," said Khun Than Myint, the facilitator of the meeting. "It is still too early to say" whether this Panglong conference is representative of the aspirations of all groups, said Khu Oo Reh, the spokesman of the United Nationalities and Federal Council, a group that represents all ethnic armed groups. "But we really hope that we can achieve real democracy and equality for all ethnic groups, and self-determination in our region."[SEP]Ethnic peace talks seek to pave new path for Myanmar Peace talks between Myanmar's government and warring ethnic minorities open Wednesday seeking to end decades of bloodshed and bring investment to Southeast Asia's poorest country. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will give the opening address to hundreds of rebel leaders, lawmakers and military top brass gathered in the capital Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi's freshly minted government is seeking to reshape Myanmar as a federal democracy as the country emerges from decades of oppressive military rule. The Nobel laureate has made bridging the ethnic fault lines that have fractured the country since independence a priority of her newly minted government, which took power in March. The outcome could breathe new life into Myanmar's economy as it struggles to emerge from half a century of exploitation and mismanagement by the former junta. China, India and the West are vying for a share of the vast reserves of jade, tin and prized teak wood in its borderlands that have fuelled conflict with ethnic groups. "Without peace there can be no sustained development," Suu Kyi said during a recent trip to Beijing seeking support for the talks. Wednesday's meeting comes almost 70 years after her father, independence hero Aung San, signed a landmark agreement to devolve powers to some ethnic groups after independence. The deal collapsed after he was assassinated, before Myanmar broke from Britain in 1948, but many hope Suu Kyi can revive that spirit at this week's '21st Century Panglong' conference. Still, few expect the coming days to be anything more than an opening salvo in a peace process that could take years. Fresh fighting in Kachin and Shan states in the run up to the talks have shattered hopes for a unilateral ceasefire the organisers have been pushing. Several rebel groups have failed to down weapons -- a precondition for them to attend -- and remain wary of the ethnic-Bamar central authorities. Suu Kyi's party, also Bamar, got surprisingly strong support from minority communities in November's elections, winning around a third of the vote. But privately, government negotiators say they are hamstrung by working with the army, which still controls borders, defence and a quarter of parliament seats. Distrust of the Tatmadaw, as it is known, runs deep among minorities after decades of oppression, marked by torture, rape and mass killings. Some 220,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Kachin, northern Shan and western Rakhine states, according to UN figures released this week. The conference has nevertheless been hailed as an important first step and one loaded with symbolism in a nation emerging from a dark military past. Ban described the conference as "an important first step" toward peace at a press conference on the eve of the talks. "The steps you have taken towards national reconciliation need to be further strengthened, broadened and consolidated," he told reporters.[SEP]By Shwe Yee Saw Myint and Antoni Slodkowski NAYPYITAW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar to improve living conditions for its Rohingya Muslim minority on Tuesday, ahead of peace talks between leader Aung San Suu Kyi and many of the country's ethnic armed rebel groups. Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya will not be represented at the conference starting on Wednesday, but the fact Ban raised their plight - and used the term for the group that is divisive in Myanmar - may add to international pressure on Suu Kyi to address the issue. "The government has assured me about its commitment to address the roots of the problem," Ban told a news conference in the capital Naypyitaw. "Like all people everywhere, they need and deserve a future, hope and dignity. This is not just a question of the Rohingya community's right to self-identity." Ban and Suu Kyi met reporters as the Nobel Peace Prize laureate launched a push to end decades of fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic rebels. Suu Kyi has made the peace process a priority for her administration, which faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad after sweeping to power in an election last November to end more than half a century of military-backed rule. Tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in western Myanmar, however, are not being tackled as part of that process. Many in the Buddhist majority country regard the largely stateless Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and they are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognised by law. Suu Kyi has asked foreign diplomats and leaders not to use the term "Rohingya" because in her view it is inflammatory. Some 120,000 Rohingya remain displaced in squalid "internally displaced persons" (IDP) camps since fighting erupted in Rakhine state between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012. Thousands have fled persecution and poverty. "I conveyed the concern of the international community about tens of thousands of people who have been living in very poor conditions in IDP camps for over four years," said Ban. He added that if they had lived in the country for generations, all people in Myanmar should enjoy the same legal status and citizenship as everyone else. Many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for that long. Last week Suu Kyi picked former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to lead a commission to stop human rights abuses in Rakhine. Few concrete proposals are to emerge from this week's talks, with delegates expecting to meet every six months to discuss issues ranging from security, political representation and culture to sharing the fruits of Myanmar's mineral riches. The gathering has been compared to the Panglong Conference, a meeting between Suu Kyi's father, Myanmar's national hero General Aung San, and ethnic minorities in 1947 that led to the formation of the Union of Burma after independence from Britain. "The 21st Century Panglong conference is a promising first step," said Ban. "I congratulate all participants for their patience, determination and spirit of compromise." The fact that Suu Kyi has been able to bring the vast majority of the rebels to the negotiating table only five months after taking power is a sign of progress, experts say. Powerful armed groups from regions bordering China, who refused to sign a ceasefire last October under the previous military-backed government, are now set to take part, partly owing to China's tacit support for the talks. As Myanmar's economy opens up, China is vying for influence with the United States. President Xi Jinping pledged his country would play a "constructive role" in the peace process when Suu Kyi visited China this month. Suu Kyi is travelling to Washington in September where she is likely to face questions on the treatment of the Rohingya. Myanmar has been torn by fighting between the military, which seized power in the 1962 coup, and ethnic armed groups almost without a break since the end of the Second World War. Casting a shadow over the talks is a recent flare-up in fighting in northernmost Kachin State and clashes in northeastern Shan State, which is home to several large groups operating close to borders with China and Thailand. The still-powerful military has also strongly opposed talks with three groups that fought it in the remote Kokang area last year unless they disarm. The groups have said they cannot, citing continued pressure from the army. It was unclear whether they would be allowed to attend the summit. Ethnic delegates have complained about what they saw as an arbitrary schedule set by the government. Suu Kyi, who said little at Tuesday's joint appearance with Ban, has not consulted the groups about the date of the conference or the specific agenda, diplomats familiar with the situation said. "I will do my best to let all ethnic leaders attend tomorrow's conference," said Suu Kyi. "It's their own decision whether they attend or not." (Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Aye Win Myint; Editing by Alex Richardson)[SEP]Delegates from one of Myanmar's most heavily armed ethnic groups stormed out of peace talks on Thursday in an early blow to a landmark gathering aimed at ushering in a new era of peace. The five-day conference in the capital Naypyidaw has been hailed as the best chance in a generation for Myanmar to end wars that have raged for up to 70-years, claiming thousands of lives and keeping the country mired in poverty. Among the militias attending is the powerful 20,000-strong United Wa State Army. They stopped fighting the government years back in exchange for control of a remote portion of territory bordering China which is now a notorious drug manufacturing hub. They had originally refused to make this week's talks, arguing they signed their own ceasefire with the previous military government back in 1989. But they eventually agreed to attend following discussions last month with de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and after pressure was applied by China, which retains significant influence over the group. Yet on day two of the talks four USWA delegates walked out, officials said, reportedly after being told they could not address the gathering. Government peace negotiator Khin Zaw Oo told reporters the Wa had been given observer badges, instead of ones allowing them to speak, angering their delegation. But he played down their departure, saying it was a "misunderstanding" that could be solved. "This is a misunderstanding," he said. "Our committee will go and meet them if they are here (in Naypyidaw). We will negotiate." A spokesman for the militia told the Democratic Voice of Burma they had left after being told they were only accredited as observers, calling it discrimination. But Lian Hmung Sahkong, from the Chin National Front, another ethnic group at the talks, denied the Wa faced discrimination. "We give equal rights to them and gave them a front row seat. I would like to confirm again that we did what they demanded," he said. Several complex ethic conflicts are rumbling across Myanmar's borderlands, hampering efforts to build the country's economy after the end of junta rule. Many militias have grown rich from trafficking drugs, illegal gems and timber while deep seated distrust remains among ethnic minorities of the country's notorious military which ruled for decades with an iron fist. Suu Kyi wants to convene a meeting to thrash out the precepts of greater federal autonomy for ethnic groups in exchange for peace. While they have not fought against the military for years, the Wa are accused of producing and trafficking huge amounts of methamphetamine and heroin from their secretive holdout and buying weapons with the proceeds. During a visit by Suu Kyi to Beijing earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to support Myanmar's peace process, comments that were widely perceived to be a boost for her new administration's attempts to bring the Wa into the peace process.[SEP]Myanmar's delicate peace process: four things to know After almost 70 years of violence, Myanmar's new civilian government is holding a major conference this week aimed at brokering peace with ethnic groups that have fought the state since its birth. Here are four things to know about the talks: - What are the talks about? - Since its 1948 independence from British colonial rule, Myanmar has been locked in simmering warfare with a diverse cast of ethnic rebels fighting for control over their lands. By getting all the main players to the table -- rebel leaders, lawmakers and the top army brass -- Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi hopes to reshape the former military dictatorship as a federal democracy. The conference is also personal for the nobel laureate. Suu Kyi is looking to channel the spirit of a 1947 agreement signed by her independence hero father that granted autonomy to several ethnic minority states. This week's peace summit has been dubbed the '21st Century Panglong' in reference to that deal, which fell apart after Suu Kyi's father was assassinated, but which remains the closest modern Myanmar has come to being a unified state. - Why are they happening now? - Suu Kyi has stressed that peace is vital to the political and economic revival she hopes will take root in a nation pummelled by 50 years of military repression. Many people in conflict zones live in grinding poverty, despite the rich reserves of jade and tin, and huge forests of prized teak wood that cover their lands. Control over these lucrative resources lies at the heart of many of the battles, and could be further complicated as foreign businesses pile into the emerging nation, seeking a slice of the pie. - What are the main roadblocks? - After decades of fighting and tortuous debate, it is still unclear what a federal Myanmar would look like. Several insurgent groups refused to commit to eventual disarmament ahead of the conference, as demanded by the military, while others are still actively locked in combat with state troops. The army's legacy of brutal warfare and repression has left many ethnic minorities wary of the generals, who still control powerful branches of the government and economy. Many fear the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar army is known, will renege on any deal that hurts its interests. Meanwhile, some powerful rebel militias that run the lawless border regions, have shown little interest in any deal. - What are the wider repercussions? - Ending the fighting would not only be an extraordinary feat for the fledgling democracy, but a significant step towards opening up Myanmar's poor but fast-growing economy. A peace deal could pave the way for foreign players to bring billions of dollars in aid to the conflict zones and provide the basic services now lacking in many areas. Peace would also open up the north of the country to regional behemoth China, which has been pushing several vast energy and infrastructure projects. But this might be a double-edged sword. The concern is that many of these, particularly planned hydroelectric dams in Kachin and Shan states, could devastate local communities and severely damage the environment. Some ethnic minorities also fear their culture and traditions could be further eroded by the mainly ethnic Bamar central authorities.[SEP]NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Myanmar on Tuesday that the world is very concerned about the tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been living for more than four years in camps in northern Rakhine state after fleeing violence from the Buddhist majority. "They deserve hope," Ban said at a joint news conference with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "All of Myanmar's people, of every ethnicity and background, should be able to live in equality and harmony, side by side with their neighbors." Ban is in Myanmar to attend peace talks aimed at ending half a century of conflict between the government and the country's many armed ethnic minority groups. The talks begin Wednesday in Naypyitaw, the capital. About 2,000 delegates and guests are expected to attend the opening ceremony. Suu Kyi, who leads Myanmar with the title of state counselor and is also foreign minister, said, "We are doing what we can to make sure that all groups can attend, but to attend or not is up to them." Ban also said there is a "heightened expectation" of faster progress under Suu Kyi's leadership on issues facing the country, and that the international community and Myanmar's government should work together to overcome them. He spoke of the country's remarkable journey from military dictatorship toward democracy, but warned too of the many challenges Myanmar faces, including the plight of the Rohingya Muslims. More than 100,000 Rohingya have been living in unsanitary camps since fleeing their homes in Rakhine state starting in 2012, following deadly violence driven largely by Buddhist mobs. Many Buddhists view Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have been living in Myanmar for generations. Even the word "Rohingya" is extremely controversial in Myanmar, though Ban used it without hesitation during the brief news conference. Suu Kyi's government has said it would rather that the term "Muslims in Rakhine" be used. While saying he understood the need for patience in tackling the problem, Ban reiterated that the international community is concerned about the Rohingya's situation. He commended the government for setting up a special advisory commission on the situation in Rakhine state that will be chaired by Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan. It is to convene for the first time next week in Yangon. This is Ban's fifth visit to Myanmar.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi holds historic peace talks to end decades of ethnic conflict in the country.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has resigned, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday, following a string of bombings that prompted public criticism and concerns about intelligence failures before last month’s failed coup. Turkey's Interior Minister Efkan Ala attends a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara July 22, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo The prime minister did not give a reason for the resignation in his brief statement broadcast on Turkish television channels. But Turkey has faced a series of attacks blamed on Islamic State and Kurdish militants, and President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in July that there had been clear intelligence failures in preventing last month’s failed coup attempt. The Interior Ministry portfolio has been filled by Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu, the prime minister said. Soylu said a day after the coup bid that it was clear “America is behind it”, though Erdogan’s spokesman later said he had spoken “in the heat of the moment”. A senior official told Reuters that some of the appointments Ala had made while in post had raised concerns, as well as “his inability to meet expectations in some areas, primarily security.” The interior minister has a high profile role in a nation seeking to stop foreigners crossing the southeastern frontier to join Islamic State in Syria. The minister is also on the front line of efforts to prevent militants infiltrating back into Turkey. In addition, Turkey has been battling an insurgency by the Kurdish militant group PKK that is seeking autonomy in the southeast of the country. The group has launched a series of attacks since a ceasefire broke down last year. The minister has been at the center of a campaign to root out sympathizers of the July 15 coup that sought to topple Erdogan and his government. “Erdogan expects a much more effective fight against Fethullah Gulen organization,” the senior official said, adding that “Soylu is one of the names Erdogan trusts the most.” The Turkish authorities have removed from public duties about 80,000 people suspected of having sympathies with the plotters and with a U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom officials accuse of masterminding the putsch. Earlier on Wednesday, the outgoing interior minister had released new figures about the number of people arrested in the Turkey’s crackdown against Islamic State militants. Ala said 865 people had been arrested since the start of 2016 alone, and more than half of those were foreigners. The new labor minister was named as Mehmet Muezzinoglu, a deputy chairman of Erdogan’s AK Party.[SEP]ISTANBUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has resigned, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday, following a string of bombings that prompted public criticism and concerns about intelligence failures before last month's failed coup. The prime minister did not give a reason for the resignation in his brief statement broadcast on Turkish television channels. But Turkey has faced a series of attacks blamed on Islamic State and Kurdish militants, and President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in July that there had been clear intelligence failures in preventing last month's failed coup attempt. The Interior Ministry portfolio has been filled by Labour Minister Suleyman Soylu, the prime minister said. Soylu said a day after the coup bid that it was clear "America is behind it", though Erdogan's spokesman later said he had spoken "in the heat of the moment". The interior minister has a high profile role in a nation seeking to stop foreigners crossing the southeastern frontier to join Islamic State in Syria. The minister is also on the front line of efforts to prevent militants infiltrating back into Turkey. In addition, Turkey has been battling an insurgency by the Kurdish militant group PKK that is seeking autonomy in the southeast of the country. The group has launched a series of attacks since a ceasefire broke down last year. The minister has been at the centre of a campaign to root out sympathisers of the July 15 coup that sought to topple Erdogan and his government. The Turkish authorities have removed from public duties about 80,000 people suspected of having sympathies with the plotters and with a U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom officials accuse of masterminding the putsch. Earlier on Wednesday, the outgoing interior minister had released new figures about the number of people arrested in the Turkey's crackdown against Islamic State militants. Ala said 865 people had been arrested since the start of 2016 alone, and more than half of those were foreigners. The new labour minister was named as Mehmet Muezzinoglu, a deputy chairman of Erdogan's AK Party.

Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala resigns amid criticism over his handling of a string of ISIL and PKK terror attacks, and is replaced by Süleyman Soylu.

A tiny pterosaur from the age of flying giants is causing a flap among scientists. The rare reptile, with a wingspan of 'only' 1.5 metres (4.9ft), would have been dwarfed by its cousins from the Late Cretaceous era 77 million years ago. Some of them were much larger, with wingspans of up to 11 metres (36 feet), making them the size of a small plane. These new specimen had a wingspan of only 5ft (1.5 metres). Pterosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period were much bigger with wingspans of between four and 11 metres. The fossils of the creature belonged to an azhdarchoid pterosaur. This is a group of short-winged and toothless flying reptiles which dominated the final phase of pterosaur evolution. Previous studies suggest that the Late Cretaceous skies were only occupied by much larger pterosaur species and birds. But what the new specimen, thought to belong to the azhdarchoid pterosaur family, lacks in size it makes up for in terms of scientific importance. Before the discovery in Canada, researchers thought small pterosaurs had been unable to compete with early birds in the Late Cretaceous. Lead scientist Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone, from the University of Southampton, said: 'This new pterosaur is exciting because it suggests that small pterosaurs were present all the way until the end of the Cretaceous, and weren't out-competed by birds. 'The hollow bones of pterosaurs are notoriously poorly preserved, and larger animals seem to be preferentially preserved in similarly aged Late Cretaceous ecosystems of North America. 'This suggests that a small pterosaur would very rarely be preserved, but not necessarily that they didn't exist.' Fossil fragments from the pterosaur were found on Hornby Island, British Columbia, in 2009. A detailed study of the fossils has only now been published in the Royal Society journal Open Science. Pterosaurs - which were not flying dinosaurs - were the earliest vertebrates to develop powered flight, pre-dating birds by millions of years. For some 140 million years they ruled the skies. Eventually they were replaced by birds, which evolved from bird-like dinosaurs. Azhdarchoid pterosaurs were a group of short-winged flying reptiles that shared similarities with birds, including a toothless 'beak'. Co-author Dr Mark Witton, a pterosaur expert from the University of Portsmouth, said: 'The specimen is far from the prettiest or most complete pterosaur fossil you'll ever see, but it's still an exciting and significant find. 'It's rare to find pterosaur fossils at all because their skeletons were lightweight and easily damaged once they died, and the small ones are the rarest of all. 'But luck was on our side and several bones of this animal survived the preservation process. 'Happily, enough of the specimen was recovered to determine the approximate age of the pterosaur at the time of its death. 'By examining its internal bone structure and the fusion of its vertebrae we could see that, despite its small size, the animal was almost fully grown. 'The specimen thus seems to be a genuinely small species, and not just a baby or juvenile of a larger pterosaur type.'[SEP]The largest flying animal known to soar this Earth was a pterosaur. With a wingspan of more than 32 feet, Quetzalcoatlus northropi dominated the skies at the end of the Late Cretaceous, the last days of the Age of the Dinosaurs. But the humongous flying beast may have lived alongside a much tinier cousin. A 77-million-year-old fossil unearthed on Hornby Island in British Columbia, Canada, reveals what may have been the smallest pterosaur to soar in the Late Cretaceous skies. This tiny pterosaur had a wingspan of just under 5 feet, according to the description of the new fossil published Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science. The new individual would have been dwarfed by most of the other pterosaurs known from the time. The smallest pterosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous had a wingspan of about 8 feet, comparable to those of the largest birds today. But the largest pterosaurs, including Quetzalcoatlus, would have stood as tall as a giraffe. "We have this small pterosaur, which is in a time when there aren't meant to be any small pterosaurs," study co-author Mark Witton, a paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth in England, tells The Christian Science Monitor. One of the things scientists ask when they find a surprisingly small animal is whether or not it's a juvenile, Dr. Witton says. So the team probed the microscopic anatomy of the pterosaur's bones to see if it was done growing when it died. This pterosaur might have had a little bit of growing left to do, Witton says, but it was likely close to its full, adult size. And that means they had their hands on a special specimen. "Pterosaurs are rare. Pterosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, where they found their specimen, are even rarer. And smaller pterosaurs, small individuals, are more rare than that," Alexander Kellner, a paleontologist and pterosaur expert at the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who was not part of the study, tells the Monitor. But had this animal lived earlier, it might not have stood out as much. Similarly sized pterosaurs soared through most of the Mesozoic era, Witton says. "It's just at the Late Cretaceous where things get a bit weird." Why don't paleontologists see the smaller pterosaurs continuing along in the fossil record alongside their larger cousins into the Late Cretaceous? "One option is that they genuinely weren't there," Witton says. "People have said that maybe the rise of birds is the problem here. Birds appear in the Jurassic period, they diversify, and they become a very successful group in their own right," he explains. "There's an idea that pterosaurs may have been out-competed by small birds." In other words, birds ousted small-bodied pterosaurs from the ecological niche for small, flying animals. But neither Witton nor Dr. Kellner buy it. Instead, both scientists agree that there is probably just a preservation bias at work. Small-bodied pterosaurs may not have preserved well in the Late Cretaceous fossil record, for whatever reason, says Witton. "We think that there's good evidence for this because we're not finding juveniles," he adds. Even the largest pterosaurs must have been small-bodied at one point in their lifespans, and they probably didn't all survive to adulthood, so these smaller pterosaur bones may simply preserve poorly. And this new discovery supports the idea that small-bodied pterosaurs were indeed around during the Late Cretaceous, Witton says. So perhaps "the Late Cretaceous was not as unusual as we've been thinking it may have been." This fossil doesn't reveal much more about pterosaurs, Witton says. It's not a complete skeleton. "You don't look at this thing and go, wow, that's the nicest thing you've ever seen," he says. "It really looks like it's been chewed up," and some of Witton's colleagues joked that it looked like a piece of rubble. The research team has studied the scraps they have to try to place this individual pterosaur in a clade. "We think that it's an Azhdarchoid pterosaur," Witton says. "These are things with big heads and relatively short wings. They were probably generalist feeders that spent much of their time walking around on the ground, basically eating whatever they could." That would make it a particularly close cousin to the humongous Quetzalcoatlus northropi. But Kellner isn't convinced by that placement on the pterosaur family tree. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy "The material they have is just very incomplete," he says. "I just don't think that they have enough material to be able to make a solid identification as to which pterosaur group those bones belong." Regardless of where the new fossil falls phylogenetically, he says, "they undoubtedly have a small pterosaur species."[SEP]Scientists have discovered a new species of 200-million-year-old pterosaur from the Patagonia region of South America. Remarkably, the brain case of the flying reptile was well preserved, offering scientists a new look at the pterosaur's brain anatomy. The researchers have named this new species 'Allkauren koi' from the native Tehuelche word 'all' for 'brain', and 'karuen' for 'ancient'. Pterosaurs are an extinct group of flying reptiles that lived during most of the Mesozoic Era. This group had an extraordinary adaptation to flight, including pneumatic bones to lighten its weight, and an elongated digit supporting the wings. But the pterosaur skull is known from only a few three dimensionally preserved remains and, until now, there was no information on the intermediate forms. This study provides new information on the origin and type of evolution in this particular group of flying reptiles. The braincase found in this study was only a few dozen millimeters long, suggesting that it was from a small pterosaur species, the researchers said. The fossil of Allkaruen koi was found in northern central Chubut Province, Patagonia Argentina. In order to study the skull anatomy, researchers used computed tomography to observe, in three dimensions, the cranial endocast and the inner ear. 'Allkaruen, from the middle lower Jurassic limit, shows an intermediate state in the brain evolution of pterosaurs and their adaptations to the aerial environment', said Dr Diego Pol, who is part of the research team. 'As a result, this research makes an important contribution to the understanding of the evolution of all of pterosaurs.'[SEP]The study, published in the journal PeerJ, provides new information on the origin, tempo and mode of evolution in this particular group of flying reptiles. Scientists have discovered a new species of pterosaur - an extinct group of flying reptiles - from the early Jurassic period in the Patagonia region of South America. The cranial remains were in an excellent state of preservation, said the researchers who have named this new species ‘Allkauren koi’ from the native Tehuelche word ‘all’ for ‘brain’, and ‘karuen’ for ‘ancient’ Pterosaurs had an extraordinary adaptation to flight, including pneumatic bones to lighten their weight, and an elongated digit supporting a wing membrane. However, pterosaur neuroanatomy is known from only a few three dimensionally preserved remains and, until now, there was no information on the intermediate forms. This study, published in the journal PeerJ, therefore provides new information on the origin, tempo and mode of evolution in this particular group of flying reptiles. “Allkaruen, from the middle lower Jurassic limit, shows an intermediate state in the brain evolution of pterosaurs and their adaptations to the aerial environment,” said one of the researchers Diego Pol from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio in Trelew city, Argentina. “As a result, this research makes an important contribution to the understanding of the evolution of all pterosaurs,” Pol noted. The fossil of Allkaruen koi was found in northern central Chubut Province in Argentina and the remains included a superbly preserved and uncrushed braincase. In order to study the neurocranial anatomy, the researchers used computed tomography to observe, in three dimensions, the cranial endocast and the inner ear. Subsequently, a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the group was performed, including these cranial data and other anatomical features.[SEP]A tiny pterosaur from the age of flying giants is causing a flap among scientists. The rare reptile, with a wingspan of "only" 1.5 metres (4.9ft), would have been dwarfed by its cousins from the Late Cretaceous era 77 million years ago. Some of them were much larger, with wingspans of up to 11 metres (36 feet), making them the size of a small plane. But what the new specimen, thought to belong to the azhdarchoid pterosaur family, lacks in size it makes up for in terms of scientific importance. Before the discovery in Canada, researchers thought small pterosaurs had been unable to compete with early birds in the Late Cretaceous. First dodo skeleton in 100 years to be sold at auction 354 years after bird went extinct Lead scientist Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone, from the University of Southampton, said: "This new pterosaur is exciting because it suggests that small pterosaurs were present all the way until the end of the Cretaceous, and weren't out-competed by birds. "The hollow bones of pterosaurs are notoriously poorly preserved, and larger animals seem to be preferentially preserved in similarly aged Late Cretaceous ecosystems of North America. This suggests that a small pterosaur would very rarely be preserved, but not necessarily that they didn't exist." Fossil fragments from the pterosaur were found on Hornby Island, British Columbia, in 2009. A detailed study of the fossils has only now been published in the Royal Society journal Open Science. Pterosaurs - which were not flying dinosaurs - were the earliest vertebrates to develop powered flight, pre-dating birds by millions of years. For some 140 million years they ruled the skies. Eventually they were replaced by birds, which evolved from bird-like dinosaurs. Azhdarchoid pterosaurs were a group of short-winged flying reptiles that shared similarities with birds, including a toothless "beak". Co-author Dr Mark Witton, a pterosaur expert from the University of Portsmouth, said: "The specimen is far from the prettiest or most complete pterosaur fossil you'll ever see, but it's still an exciting and significant find. "It's rare to find pterosaur fossils at all because their skeletons were lightweight and easily damaged once they died, and the small ones are the rarest of all. But luck was on our side and several bones of this animal survived the preservation process. Giant 4 foot long Tyrannosaurus Rex skull unearthed by museum is 66 million years old "Happily, enough of the specimen was recovered to determine the approximate age of the pterosaur at the time of its death. By examining its internal bone structure and the fusion of its vertebrae we could see that, despite its small size, the animal was almost fully grown. "The specimen thus seems to be a genuinely small species, and not just a baby or juvenile of a larger pterosaur type."[SEP]HSBC and TD Securities priced the Rp5bn ($74.7m) 144a/Reg S 6.6% January 2020 to yield 6.62%, at the tight end of guidance of 6.65% plus or minus 3bp. British Columbia could tighten pricing as the demand was stronger than predicted. After setting out to raise Rp5bn, the order ...[SEP]A TINY pterosaur from the age of flying giants is causing a flap among Portsmouth experts. The rare reptile, with a wingspan of 1.5 metres, would have been dwarfed by its cousins from the Late Cretaceous era 77 million years ago. Some of them were much larger, with wingspans of up to 11 metres (36 feet), making them the size of a small plane. But what the new specimen, thought to belong to the azhdarchoid pterosaur family, lacks in size it makes up for in terms of scientific importance. Fossil fragments from the pterosaur were found on Hornby Island, British Columbia, in 2009. A detailed study of the fossils has only now been published in the Royal Society journal Open Science. Pterosaurs – which were not flying dinosaurs – were the earliest vertebrates to develop powered flight, pre-dating birds by millions of years. Co-author Dr Mark Witton, a pterosaur expert from the University of Portsmouth, said: ‘The specimen is far from the prettiest or most complete pterosaur fossil you’ll ever see, but it’s still an exciting and significant find. ‘It’s rare to find pterosaur fossils at all because their skeletons were lightweight and easily damaged once they died, and the small ones are the rarest of all. But luck was on our side and several bones of this animal survived the preservation process. ‘Happily, enough of the specimen was recovered to determine the approximate age of the pterosaur at the time of its death. By examining its internal bone structure and the fusion of its vertebrae we could see that, despite its small size, the animal was almost fully grown. ‘The specimen thus seems to be a genuinely small species, and not just a baby or juvenile of a larger pterosaur type.’[SEP]BEIJING – Canada is keen to get involved with a new international infrastructure bank in China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated Tuesday – a move that would help the east Asian country’s economic credibility around the world. China founded the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank late last year to provide other countries in the region access to capital for investments in things such as transportation, power and telecommunications projects. The bank has already invested more than US$500 million in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Tajikistan, and Chinese officials have said it plans to loan out US$10-15 billion over the next five years. “My government believes very, very much in the importance of investing in infrastructure,” Trudeau said Tuesday during a roundtable discussion with business leaders. “That’s one of the reasons why we’re looking very favourably at the possibility of joining the AIIB).” Should Canada announce Wednesday that it’s joining, it would be among 57 other member countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and South Korea, which signed on last year in the face of opposition from the U.S. In order to join, countries agree to contribute funds in the form of shares. Australia agreed to contribute $930 million over five years, which the Australian Broadcasting Corp. has said would make that country the sixth-largest shareholder. American officials warned that the new bank would provide loans to developing countries without requiring any caveats about the environment, labour rights or anti-corruption reforms, as are typically included in loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Former Canadian diplomat Charles Burton of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., said a Canadian decision to join the bank would signal that Canada is prepared to see China take a seat at the table in terms of having input on the global economic landscape. “Certainly we’re trying to show that we are prepared to see China take an important in the global economy,” he said. “And by supporting this institution that’s primarily initiated by China indicates that we’re trying to build trust that China will use this institution for the greater good in a liberal, internationalist way and not simply as a device to expand its geopolitical reach.” There is still some wariness in official Ottawa about supporting China’s global influence, particularly with its recent actions the South China Sea, said Paul Evans of the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Asian Research. But he said most officials feel Canada made a mistake by not joining the bank last year. The four projects approved earlier this year addressed many of the concerns western countries had about the new bank, he said, including that China would use it to advance its own strategic and commercial interests. Evans said the Liberal government’s decision to sign on would be symbolically important in terms of Canada-China relations. While the cost – which he estimated will be as much as $1 billion – is high, he said Canadian companies could benefit from the billions of dollars in projects the bank will finance. With files from Lee Berthiaume in Ottawa[SEP]On a recent February evening, Karl Eve received an emergency call from a restaurant owner in Canmore, Alta. The busy eatery had suddenly found itself with no hot water, even though the basement hot water tanks appeared to be working fine. A plumber with 10 years’ experience, Eve eventually traced the problem to a malfunctioning dishwasher and got the hot water flowing again—much to the owner’s relief. It’s the sort of detective work Eve says he loves about his job. He also likes that his plumbing business, which he runs with his wife in nearby Exshaw, provides his family with a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. But it was a career he very nearly missed. Never a fan of textbooks, Eve ended up toiling in a southern Ontario gypsum mine after high school. It was only after moving to Alberta years later that he considered a career in the trades. A chance meeting at a church potluck led to a ride-along with a local plumber and, ultimately, an apprenticeship. “I discovered there was a lot to learn, especially when it came to math,” Eve says of his four years of training, which included eight weeks a year in a classroom. “The amount of education was very surprising to me, but in a positive way. I grasped it with both hands, so to speak.” Eve’s story is more rare than it should be in Canada. Many consider the trades to be low-paying, go-nowhere jobs, if they consider them at all. But it’s a perception not grounded in reality, as Eve’s healthy hourly rate of $90 to $135 suggests. Nor is it one Canada can afford to maintain. Numerous studies warn Canada is facing a massive shortage of skilled workers over the next few decades as millions of baby boomers hit retirement age and exit the workforce. At the same time, the nature of work itself is changing as the country transitions to a so-called knowledge economy that relies on a well-trained and highly educated workforce to produce value-added products and services. Those without the necessary skills could soon find themselves unemployable. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimates there will be 550,000 unskilled workers who won’t be able to find work by 2016. By 2021, it says, the number could be well over a million. At the same time, it’s estimated there will be 1.5 million skilled job vacancies in 2016, and 2.6 million by 2021. Economists call it a skills “mismatch.” The country is in dire need of engineers, health workers and skilled tradespeople. Yet tens of thousands of students continue to pursue degrees in the arts and humanities. The result is an unemployment rate that refuses to fall below seven per cent (about 13.5 per cent among youth), while employers increasingly complain about vacant jobs that promise good wages—particularly in Western Canada, where the oil, gas and mining industries are booming. “The new phenomenon here is that we’re going to be seeing pockets of persistent high unemployment existing right alongside serious worker shortages in particular industries,” says Perrin Beatty, a former member of Parliament and the chamber’s CEO. Hence, Canada not only needs to encourage more people to enter the workforce, but to ensure everyone will be productive once they get there. That’s a tall order in a country where, incredibly, nearly half of all adults don’t have the necessary literacy and numeracy skills to participate in a modern economy. As a result, experts say a dramatic rethink of how our post-secondary system works is in order. Though Canada’s universities are among the best in the world, critics argue for a much greater focus on colleges and polytechnic universities, since the latter are better plugged into the business community. Others say the country needs to do a better job of informing young people about the breadth of high-paying career opportunities in a modern economy. The trend toward “people without jobs, jobs without people” poses the single biggest long-term threat to Canadian economic growth, exacerbating Canada’s already lagging productivity and innovation, according to one recent report. But attempts to head off calamity are so far being met with the usual obstacles. Companies complain about the additional cost of training employees; unions are wary about foreign workers taking local jobs; and parents continue to try and steer their children into a few prestigious professions. Something has to give. “We have a skills problem well on its way to becoming a crisis,” Beatty says. “And you need only look at the demographic wedge that we’re confronting to see that the problem is only going to get worse.” A recent report by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce suggested as much as one-fifth of Canada’s labour market already suffers from too few qualified workers, particularly in the health care, mining, business services and advanced manufacturing sectors. The average unemployment rate for those jobs is just one per cent, while workers in those positions are seeing wage gains of nearly four per cent annually, more than double that of the broader economy—a telltale sign of a labour shortage. At the same time, the CIBC report noted a surplus of employees in occupations such as food services, clerical work, sales and recreational guiding—a group that collectively accounts for about 16 per cent of the workforce. Another study, released last week by the C.D. Howe Institute, noted that the mismatch is especially problematic in the Western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. Evidence of the shortage is already popping up in day-to-day life. In Alberta, the booming oil sands have sucked workers away from dozens of other occupations, some of which—like policing—were already experiencing shortages. As a result, Calgarians who get pulled over by the police are just as likely to be questioned in a British or Scottish accent following a U.K recruitment drive several years ago. Other provinces, meanwhile, are preying on foreign countries that are still recovering from the 2009 global crisis. Saskatchewan is targeting Ireland, which required a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, for a fresh supply of heavy duty mechanics, welders, engineers and machinists. But such cross-border shopping for talent threatens to become a problem in its own right. A survey of 38,000 companies in 41 countries last year by Milwaukee’s ManpowerGroup found that one-third were unable to find enough workers with the right skills, suggesting a global shortage is emerging. One country’s gain can quickly become another’s loss. “Highly skilled people are extremely mobile,” explains Beatty, adding that it creates disincentives for employers and government to pour money into training programs, lest all those newly skilled workers get poached. The flip side of Canada’s skills mismatch—all those bartenders and baristas with expensive university degrees—is also troubling. Not only are underemployed Canadians contributing below their full potential, they’re creating a domino effect by taking jobs away from those without skills who can’t find work. The economic impact is potentially huge. At a time when the Bank of Canada is trying to juice business activity with continued record-low interest rates, CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld argues that Canada’s “labour market mismatch is big enough not only to reduce the effectiveness of monetary policy, but also to limit the growth potential of the labour market and the economy as a whole.” In a recent speech, Diane Finley, the minister of human resources and skills development, compared the situation to a man listening for an oncoming train by putting his ear to the tracks. “Well, folks, it’s time to stop listening for the train, because it’s bearing down on us,” she said, citing a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey that found two-thirds of CEOs ranked the lack of key skills as the biggest threat to their growth prospects. “Canada’s economy is changing, the workplace is changing and we all have to change with it.” Nor is the problem simply constrained economic growth. Although there’s some debate about when the full force of the baby-boomer retirement wave will hit—many Canadians are working past the age of 65 and the lingering effects of the 2009 recession have caused many businesses to hold off on hiring—some experts are forecasting a profound shift in the way the entire economy works. As Canadians get older, on average, they’re expected to spend less money while putting a greater strain on health care, pensions and old-age security. Those services, in turn, will be supported by a declining number of working-age Canadians. “We’re going to be in a hell of a problem unless we find ways to increase the size of the workforce and encourage higher participation rates,” says Rick Miner, the president of Toronto consulting firm Miner & Miner, which published a report on Canada’s labour challenges last year. “We’re not going to have the resources to provide ourselves with the services we’ve come to think of as normal, whether it’s health care or anything else.” Ottawa is taking the threat seriously, and one of the biggest weapons in its arsenal is the country’s immigration system. The federal government has already announced changes, to take effect this spring, that would place a greater emphasis on younger workers and speed up the process employers must go through to hire new Canadians in occupations where there are immediate labour shortages. But immigration alone won’t be a panacea. Many new immigrants tend to settle in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where there are big ethnic communities and established social networks. By contrast, many of the most acute labour shortages are in the country’s hinterlands, where oil and mining companies’ operations are based. There are also problems with the recognition of foreign credentials and language skills, which has traditionally led to a much lower workforce participation rate for first-generation immigrants. Whereas roughly 82 per cent of Canadians between the age of 25 to 54 have historically participated in the labour force, the corresponding number for recent immigrants is just 63 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. It remains to be seen whether policy changes that target workers with high-demand skills will be able to dramatically narrow this gap. Individual industries face their own problems with foreign workers. Beatty, for example, notes that the trucking industry is suffering a critical shortage of drivers, which could have an outsized impact on the economy, given the importance of truck transport to North American supply chains. “Increasingly, we’re having to look at new immigrants to fill those jobs,” he says. “But that poses a problem because security requirements at the border limit the countries drivers can come from if they want admission to the United States.” There’s also the risk of a backlash if foreign workers are perceived to be favoured for jobs that might otherwise go to Canadians. In B.C., a mining company recently found itself the target of a union lawsuit after it hired about 200 foreign temporary workers from China. They’ve since been sent home. Finding more workers is only one side of the equation. “We also need to look at the educational side,” says Miner. “That’s where the real payoff is.” Despite Canada’s solid public schools and high-quality post-secondary institutions, 48 per cent of adults lack sufficient literacy skills “to function well at work and in daily living,” according to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. While Canada actually scores relatively high—about fifth out of 20 developed countries— on basic reading, or “prose” literacy, it falls to the middle of the pack on “document” or “quantitive” literacy skills, which involve things like reading charts and graphs or balancing a chequebook. All of which suggests that many Canadians are increasingly ineligible for the occupations of today, let alone the jobs of tomorrow. High-tech skills are becoming a prerequisite for many jobs. “Everything we do is heavily laden with technology—even down to drywall installation,” says James Knight, the president of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. “I don’t know if you’ve watched this recently, but it’s all done with lasers bouncing around the room.” He estimates nearly 75 per cent of jobs now being created in Ontario require a post-secondary education, but that only about 58 per cent of the population has one. “The people we need require a much more sophisticated level of education,” he says. “And we’re simply not there yet.” Also key is making sure Canadians receive the right training. Miner, for one, argues that government efforts to encourage innovation by pumping billions into university research over the past 30 years may have actually exacerbated the country’s labour woes. While all that money has resulted in exciting discoveries and publications in elite journals, it hasn’t necessarily done a great job in preparing graduates for the workforce. “You have parents that desperately want to make the right decision for their kids. And you can’t fault them if they want their kids to go to university,” Miner says. “But what parents don’t realize is that you can get a great career through college, and better earning potential. But the status just isn’t there.” Universities, on the other hand, cite stats that show graduates have filled 1.3 million of the 1.5 million new professional and management positions created over the past two decades. Knight says it’s ultimately a question of finding the right balance. He argues that colleges are particularly well-suited to bridging the divide between academics and training because they already work closely with industry to develop their programs. He cites a four-year degree at B.C.’s Selkirk College that focuses on geographic information systems, including GPS applications used heavily by the forestry and mining industries. “Where in a university calendar would you find anything about GPS?” he says. “At a time when the principal constraint on economic growth in this country is a shortage of human capital, we really have to think about what we’re emphasizing and where we put our resources.” He adds that the post-secondary system would benefit immensely if students could move more seamlessly between colleges and universities, noting that as many as 20 per cent of college applicants already have a university degree. “Obviously, it’s not efficient to spend six years in post-secondary education when considerably less might have done the job,” he says. Another limitation of the current system, according to a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is that Canadian university research, though top-notch, has a poor track record of finding its way into the commercial sphere. In contrast, colleges are developing a niche for themselves by having faculty and students work closely with smaller companies to develop new products and services—applied research that can be immediately implemented in the marketplace. Nobina Robinson, the CEO of Polytechnics Canada, which represents 11 colleges and institutes of technology, says the trend not only promises to boost Canada’s innovation across a variety of sectors, but will equip future employees with skills that employers need to be successful. “The knowledge economy is always saying we need more M.B.A.s and Ph.D.s,” Robinson says. “But to come up with big discoveries and innovative breakthroughs, you actually need people who can make, design and build things, too.” Among the recommendations Polytechnics Canada has put forward to Ottawa: more government support for applied research and commercialization programs; more focus on apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs; and a requirement that bidders on government contracts create apprenticeship positions as a condition of their bids. Fewer than half of Canadians who register as apprentices every year actually go on to become certified. The reasons are many and vary across provinces and industries, but Robinson cites a general unwillingness among many employers to take on apprentices—possibly because they fear rivals will steal their newly trained workers. A study last year by the Conference Board of Canada showed that investment in employee training among Canadian companies has fallen nearly 40 per cent since 1993. “We need to reward employers through the tax code who invest in training,” Robinson says. She adds that governments could also do a much better job of making the apprenticeship process more attractive. “The philosophical issue is that when you pay an apprentice through [Employment Insurance] to do their in-class portion of their study, they’re being treated as an employee, not a learner,” she says. “If we want more skilled tradespeople, we’ve got to change.” Back in Exshaw, Karl Eve’s wife, Michelle, a former teacher who, incidentally, has two university degrees, says Canadians who believe that university education is the only path to prosperity are selling themselves short. She recalls her own initial feelings when her husband announced he wanted to become a plumber. “I just had that sense, which we’re all a bit guilty of, I think, that the more capable people go to university and the less capable people end up in technical schools,” she says. “But when I saw what Karl was doing, the level of mathematics really impressed me. It’s stuff that most people just don’t know.” And unless more people make a similar discovery, Canada is going to have a lot more to worry about than leaky pipes. Where are all the jobs? Despite persistent high unemployment in Canada, many occupations are expected to face serious shortages of qualified workers over the next decade. The following shows the percentage of job openings that are forecast to go unfilled in each occupation, with more vacancies than actual job seekers. Mine service workers and operators in oil and gas drilling 36% Beware: jobs expected to have too many workers in the next 10 years:

The fossil of a new species of pterosaur is discovered on Hornby Island, British Columbia in Canada.

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And that may also give hope for life forming elsewhere, such as Mars, said study co-author Martin VanKranendonk of the University of New South Wales and director of the Australian Center for Astrobiology. "It gives us an idea how our planet evolved and how life gained a foothold," VanKranendonk said. Scientists had thought it would take at least half a billion years for life to form after the molten Earth started to cool a bit, but this shows it could have happened quicker, he said. That's because the newly found fossil is far too complex to have developed soon after the planet's first life forms, he said. In an outcrop of rocks that used to be covered with ice and snow which melted after an exceptionally warm spring, the Australian team found stromatolites, which are intricately layered microscopic layered structures that are often produced by a community of microbes. The stromatolites were about .4 to 1.6 inches high (1 to 4 centimeters). It "is like the house left behind made by the microbes," VanKranendonk said. Scientists used the layers of ash from volcanoes and tiny zircon with uranium and lead to date this back 3.7 billion years ago, using a standard dating method, VanKranendonk said. "It would have been a very different world. It would have had black continents, a green ocean with orange skies," he said. The land was likely black because the cooling lava had no plants, while large amounts of iron made the oceans green. Because the atmosphere had very little oxygen and oxygen is what makes the sky blue, its predominant color would have been orange, he said. The dating seems about right, said Abigail Allwood , a NASA astrobiologist who found the previous oldest fossil, from 3.48 billion years ago, in Australia. But Allwood said she is not completely convinced that what VanKranendonk's team found once was alive. She said the evidence wasn't conclusive enough that it was life and not a geologic quirk. "It would be nice to have more evidence, but in these rocks that's a lot to ask," Allwood said in an email. Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears and his work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein In this photo provided by Allen Nutman, a rock with the stromatolites, tiny layered structures from 3.7 billion years ago that are remnants from a community of microbes that used to be live there. Scientists have found what they think is the oldest fossil on Earth, a remnant of life from 3.7 billion years ago when Earth¿s skies were orange and its oceans green. In a newly melted part of Greenland, Australian scientists found the leftover structure from a community of microbes that lived on an ancient seafloor, according to a study in Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 journal Nature. (Allen Nutman/University of Wollongong via AP)[SEP]Scientists have found what they think is the oldest fossil on Earth, a remnant of life from 3.7 billion years ago when Earth's skies were orange and its oceans green. In a newly melted part of Greenland, Australian scientists found the leftover structure from a community of microbes that lived on an ancient seafloor, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Nature . The discovery shows life may have formed quicker and easier than once thought, about half a billion years after Earth formed. And that may also give hope for life forming elsewhere, such as Mars, said study co-author Martin VanKranendonk of the University of New South Wales and director of the Australian Center for Astrobiology. "It gives us an idea how our planet evolved and how life gained a foothold," VanKranendonk said. Scientists had thought it would take at least half a billion years for life to form after the molten Earth started to cool a bit, but this shows it could have happened quicker, he said. That's because the newly found fossil is far too complex to have developed soon after the planet's first life forms, he said. In an outcrop of rocks that used to be covered with ice and snow which melted after an exceptionally warm spring, the Australian team found stromatolites, which are intricately layered microscopic layered structures that are often produced by a community of microbes. The stromatolites were about .4 to 1.6 inches high (1 to 4 centimeters). It "is like the house left behind made by the microbes," VanKranendonk said. Scientists used the layers of ash from volcanoes and tiny zircon with uranium and lead to date this back 3.7 billion years ago, using a standard dating method, VanKranendonk said. "It would have been a very different world. It would have had black continents, a green ocean with orange skies," he said. The land was likely black because the cooling lava had no plants, while large amounts of iron made the oceans green. Because the atmosphere had very little oxygen and oxygen is what makes the sky blue, its predominant color would have been orange, he said. The dating seems about right, said Abigail Allwood, a NASA astrobiologist who found the previous oldest fossil, from 3.48 billion years ago, in Australia. But Allwood said she is not completely convinced that what VanKranendonk's team found once was alive. She said the evidence wasn't conclusive enough that it was life and not a geologic quirk. "It would be nice to have more evidence, but in these rocks that's a lot to ask," Allwood said in an email.[SEP]A rock with stromatolites, tiny layered structures that are remnants of a community of ancient microbes. Life on Earth is even older than we thought, Australian scientists said on Thursday as they unveiled fossils dating back a staggering 3.7 billion years. Life on Earth is even older than we thought, Australian scientists said on Thursday as they unveiled fossils dating back a staggering 3.7 billion years. The tiny structures — called stromatolites — were found in ancient rock along the edge of Greenland’s ice cap, and were 220 million years older than the previous record holders. They show that life emerged fairly shortly — in geological terms — after Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, said lead researcher Allen Nutman of the University of Wollongong. And, he added, they offer hope that very basic life may at one point have existed on Mars. “This discovery represents a new benchmark for the oldest preserved evidence of life on Earth,” Professor Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, a geology expert at the University of New South Wales and study co-author, said in a statement. The structure and geochemistry of the rock in which they were found provided clues to a biological origin for the microfossils, he said, which in turn “points to a rapid emergence of life on Earth”. The one-to-four centimetre high Isua stromatolites were exposed after the melting of a snow patch in the Isua Greenstone Belt of Greenland. Stromatolites are formed when microorganisms, such as certain kinds of bacteria, trap bits of sediment together in layers. These layers build up over time to create solid rock. These rocks themselves were never alive, but their existence suggest that the very simple single-cell organisms that made them were present on Earth hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, said the team. Another scientist was more skeptical. Structures that look just like stromatolites can form without the presence of any living organism, Abigail Allwood of the California Institute of Technology wrote in a comment on the study. “The interpretation of stromatolite-like structures has been notoriously difficult in Earth’s oldest rocks,” she wrote, and predicted the study findings would “spark controversy”. The new findings were published in the journal Nature. — AFP[SEP]At a time when our planet was still being pummeled by asteroids, it seems some of the first life on Earth found shelter beneath the lapping waves of a shallow sea. A series of small conical structures discovered in a recently exposed piece of rock in Greenland have been shown to be the oldest fossil of a living organism on Earth. The tiny shapes preserved in the sedimentary rock for 3.7 billion years were created by prehistoric bacteria and reveal new clues about how life emerged on our planet. Stromatolites are layered structures that form in shallow water due to grains of sand and mud being bound together by microorganisms. They provide some of the earliest evidence for life on the planet but can still be found in some locations today. Microbial mats in the early Earth are thought to have created these structures in shallow oceans. However, similar structures can form without biological action as minerals are deposited by water. The type of minerals in the stromatolite and the chemical finger print, can provide clues as to how they formed. According to the fossil record stromatolites are thought to have reached their peak around 1.25 billion years ago and began to decline. By the start of the Cambrian they had fallen to 20 per cent of their abundance. It is thought the evolution of grazing sea creatures could have contributed to their decline. They are now only rarely found in specific locations around the world. The structures, known as stromatolites, suggest even at this early and tumultuous stage in our planet's history, complex life was already thriving. Gelogists discovered them embedded in the rock of an outcrop that recently emerged from the ice in Isua, near Nuuk on the southwest coast of Greenland. Colonies of microbes living in an ancient ocean formed the structures by shaping the sediment around them and gluing it together. They predate the previous oldest known evidence for life – a series of stromatolites found in Pilbara Craton, Australia – by more than 220 million years. It suggests that life emerged rapidly on Earth fairly early in our planet's history. Scientists have long puzzled over whether life fizzled into existence over an extended period of time as it waited for the right conditions to emerge as Earth evolved. Some have suggested that life was actually kickstarted fairly early in the planet's history and since then played a key role in helping to shape the world. According to Professor Allen Nutman, a geologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, and his team who discovered the new fossil, it may have been the latter. Writing in the journal Nature, they said: 'The recognition of 3,700 million-years-old biogenic stromatolites within Isua dolomites indicates that near the start of the preserved sedimentary record, atmospheric CO2 was being sequestered by biological activity. 'The complexity and setting of the Isua stromatolites points to sophistication in life systems at 3,700 million years ago, similar to that displayed by 3,480–3,400 million-years-old Pilbara stromatolites. 'This implies that by 3,700 million years ago life already had a considerable prehistory.' Previous research using genetic studies have estimated the origins of life at more than four billion years ago. This suggests that in around 300 million years, relatively sophisticated microbial communities had emerged from this early primordial soup. As these evolved and led to increases in oxygen in the atmosphere, the evolution of organisms accelerated. Stromatolites can still be found today in some shallow coastal and volcanic regions as grains of sand and mud are bound together by microbial mats of bacteria. The stromatolites discovered in the metacarbonate rocks from Isua measure between 0.4 inches to 1.5 inches high (1-4cm). However, stromatolites are often seen as controversial evidence for microbial life as similar structures can also form through purely chemical and geological processes. Professor Nutman and his colleagues used several lines of evidence to show that the ones they found in Greenland were formed by living organisms. They showed that chemical signatures in the rock suggest they were formed in a shallow marine environment by microbial activity. The steep sided walls of the stromatolites also suggest they were formed by living organisms while layers within the structures indicate they were not formed by physical processes. The presence of low-temperature dolomite in the structures also required microbial activity to form. Writing in an accompanying article in Nature, Dr Abigail Allwood, an earth scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said the findings could have wide reaching implications for whether life may have formed on other planets. She said: 'Earth's surface 3.7 billion years ago was a tumultuous place, bombarded by asteroids and still in its formative stages. 'If life could find a foothold here, and leave such an imprint that vestiges exist even though only a minuscule sliver of metamorphic rock is all that remains from that time, then life is not a fussy, reluctant and unlikely thing. 'Give life half an opportunity and it'll run with it. Suddenly, Mars may look even more promising than before as a potential abode for past life. 'A plethora of Mars missions has shown that around the time that the Isua rocks were forming, Mars did not look too different from Earth from a habitability perspective, with standing bodies of water at the surface.'[SEP]SYDNEY: Life on Earth is even older than we thought, Australian scientists said Thursday as they unveiled fossils dating back a staggering 3.7 billion years. The tiny structures—called stromatolites—were found along the edge of Greenland’s ice cap, and were 220 million years older than the previous record holders. They prove that life emerged fairly shortly—in geological terms—after the Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, said lead researcher Allen Nutman of the University of Wollongong. And, he added, they offer hope that very basic life might at one point have existed on Mars. “This discovery represents a new benchmark for the oldest preserved evidence of life on Earth,” Professor Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, a geology expert at the University of New South Wales and one of the study’s co-authors, said in a statement. “The structures and geochemistry from the newly exposed outcrops in Greenland display all of the features used in younger rocks to argue for a biological origin. It points to a rapid emergence of life on Earth.” The one-to-four centimeter (0.4-1.6 inch) high Isua stromatolites—exposed after the melting of a snow patch in the Isua Greenstone Belt—matched other biological evidence on the evolution of the genetic code that placed the origins of life in a similar period, Nutman said. Stromatolites are formed when microorganisms, such as certain kinds of bacteria, trap bits of sediment together in layers. These layers build up over time to create solid rocks. The rocks themselves were never alive, but their existence shows the very simple single-cell organisms that made them were present on Earth hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought. Vickie Bennett from the Australian National University, who also worked on the study, said the research provided a new perspective on Earth’s history and “turns the study of planetary habitability on its head”. “Rather than speculating about potential early environments, for the first time we have rocks that we know record the conditions and environments that sustained early life,” she said. The discovery could help the hunt for life on Mars, considered the most likely location for microbial life-forms among other planets in the Solar System. The Red Planet is believed to have once run with water and had an atmosphere, which together with warmth, could provide the right conditions for bacterial life. “The significance for Mars is that 3,700 million years ago, Mars was probably still wet and probably still had oceans and so on, so if life develops so quickly on Earth to be able to form things like stromatolites—it might be more easy to detect signs of life on Mars,” Nutman told Agence France-Presse. “Instead of looking at just the chemical signature, we might be able to see things like stromatolites in images (from Mars) sent back to Earth.” The earliest evidence of life on Earth ahead of the Greenland discovery was made in 2006 when Australian and Canadian researchers dated microfossils in rocks from Pilbara’s Strelley Pool Chert formation at more than 3.4 billion years old. Nutman, who has carried out research in remote Greenland where the stromatolites were discovered for more than three decades, said the site was known to be home to some of the world’s oldest rocks. “Importantly, they are locally well-enough preserved and they haven’t been too deformed… so you can still see some of the original features,” he said. The findings are published in the journal Nature. AFP[SEP]Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest fossils — about 3.7 billion years old — which pushes back the previous record by 220 million years and captures the earliest history of our planet. Led by the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Professor Allen Nutman, the team discovered 3.7-billion-year-old stromatolite fossils in the world’s oldest sedimentary rocks, in the Isua Greenstone Belt along the edge of Greenland’s icecap. The discovery of the Isua stromatolite fossils provides a greater understanding of early diversity of life on Earth which researchers say could have implications for our understanding of life on Mars. Prof. Nutman said the fossils predated the world’s previous oldest stromatolite fossils — which were found in Western Australia — by 220 million years. The discovery pushes back the fossil record to near the start of Earth’s geological record and points to evidence of life on Earth very early in its history. The Isua stromatolites, which were exposed by the recent melting of a perennial snow patch, were laid down in shallow sea, providing the first evidence of an environment in which early life thrived. For much of Earth’s history, life was just single cells, and stromatolite fossils are mounds of carbonate constructed by these communities of microbes. “The significance of stromatolites is that not only do they provide obvious evidence of ancient life that is visible with the naked eye, but that they are complex ecosystems,” Prof. Nutman said. “This indicates that as long as 3.7 billion years ago microbial life was already diverse,” he said. “This diversity shows that life emerged within the first few hundred millions years of Earth’s existence, which is in keeping with biologists’ calculations showing the great antiquity of life’s genetic code,” he added. Associate Professor Vickie Bennett, from Australian National University (ANU), said this study provided a new perspective into the history of Earth. “Rather than speculating about potential early environments, for the first time we have rocks that we know record the conditions and environments that sustained early life,” said Prof. Bennett. “Our research will provide new insights into chemical cycles and rock—water—microbe interactions on a young planet,” she said. Martin Van Kranendonk, from University of New South Wales (UNSW), said it was a groundbreaking find that could point to similar life structures on Mars, which 3.7 billion years ago was a damp environment. “This discovery represents a new benchmark for the oldest preserved evidence of life on Earth. It points to a rapid emergence of life on Earth and supports the search for life in similarly ancient rocks on Mars,” Van Kranendonk said. The study was published in the journal Nature.[SEP]Oldest fossils found in Greenland, from time Earth was like Mars OSLO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth has been found in rocks 3.7 billion years old in Greenland, raising chances of life on Mars aeons ago when both planets were similarly desolate, scientists said on Wednesday. The experts found tiny humps, between one and 4 cm (0.4 and 1.6 inches) tall, in rocks at Isua in south-west Greenland that they said were fossilised groups of microbes similar to ones now found in seas from Bermuda to Australia. If confirmed as fossilised communities of bacteria known as stromatolites - rather than a freak natural formation - the lumps would pre-date fossils found in Australia as the earliest evidence of life on Earth by 220 million years. "This indicates the Earth was no longer some sort of hell 3.7 billion years ago," lead author Allen Nutman, of the University of Wollongong, told Reuters of the findings that were published in the journal Nature. "It was a place where life could flourish." Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago and the relative sophistication of stromatolites indicated that life had evolved quickly after a bombardment by asteroids ended about 4 billion years ago. "Stromatolites contain billions of bacteria ... they're making the equivalent of apartment complexes," said Martin Van Kranendonk, a co-author at the University of New South Wales who identified the previously oldest fossils, dating from 3.48 billion years ago. At the time stromatolites started growing in gooey masses on a forgotten seabed, the Earth was probably similar to Mars with liquid water at the surface, orbiting a sun that was 30 percent dimmer than today, the scientists said. Those parallels could be a new spur to study whether Mars once had life, the authors said. "Suddenly, Mars may look even more promising than before as a potential abode for past life," Abigail Allwood, of the California Institute of Technology, wrote in a commentary in Nature. The Greenland find was made after a retreat of snow and ice exposed long-hidden rocks. Greenland's government hopes that a thaw linked to global warming will have positive spin-offs, such as exposing more minerals. Nutman said the main controversy was likely to be that the fossils were in metamorphic rocks, reckoned to have formed under huge stress with temperatures up to 550 degrees Celsius (1,022°F) - usually too high to preserve any trace of life. Still, Van Kranendonk told Reuters that dried-out biological material could sometimes survive such a baking, adding he was "absolutely convinced" by the Greenland fossils. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

The oldest fossil (stromatolite) that had life is discovered in the melting snow at the Isua Greenstone Belt of Greenland.

Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping said on Thursday two people were killed and many wounded when the presidential guard and police attacked his party’s headquarters overnight after an election narrowly won by President Ali Bongo. Ping called for international assistance to protect the population of the oil-producing state and said Saturday’s election was stolen by Bongo, who was declared the winner on Wednesday. The result gives the president a further seven years in power in the country of 1.8 million people. Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years. Opposition supporters greeted the election result with anger. Demonstrators in the capital Libreville clashed with police and set part of the parliament building on fire. Police also fired teargas in clashes with around 100 opposition supporters, according to a Reuters witness. Spokesmen for the police and the presidential guard were not immediately available for comment. “Everybody knows that I won the election,” Ping said in a telephone interview, adding that the electoral commission’s figures were based on false documents. “The (Bongo) family are repeating same scenario for almost half a century. The opposition can win the elections but they have never had access to power… We need assistance from the rest of the world to protect the population of Gabon from a clan of mercenaries, a rogue state,” he said. France, the United States and the European Union all urged calm and called upon Gabonese authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the United Nations also urged restraint. Bongo won 49.80 percent of votes against 48.23 percent for Ping, on a turnout of 59.46 percent, according to results given region by region by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya. “This victory by such a tight score obliges … each of us to respect the verdict of the ballot box and our institutions,” Bongo said in the text of a victory speech distributed to reporters. Ping, a political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of the late president and fathered two children with his daughter. His avenue for contesting the result appeared uncertain. Elections in Africa are frequently disputed but it is unusual for results to be overturned. Ping said he was not calling on his supporters to protest because they were already under so much pressure from authorities. He said he feared arms would be planted in his party headquarters and he could be arrested as a result. There was no independent confirmation of events at the headquarters. Voting was peaceful but the election followed a bitter campaign in which both sides traded accusations of fraud. Several Libreville residents said social media, including Facebook and Twitter, were not functioning. An EU observer mission criticised a “lack of transparency” among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media. Former colonial ruler France’s foreign ministry said the way in which the results were announced was a source of concern. “We think it is necessary to publish the results of all the polling stations. The credibility of the election as well as Gabon’s international reputation are at stake,” it said. The statement was echoed by the U.S. Department of State, which urged all sides to “temper their rhetoric and encourage their supporters to remain calm”. It also called upon Gabon’s security forces to exercise restraint. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he called “on all political leaders to address their differences peacefully and to address any disputes they may have through existing constitutional and legal channels”.[SEP]Libreville (AFP) - Gabon security forces were attempting to storm the opposition headquarters early Thursday, leaving several people injured, party leader Jean Ping told AFP, hours after President Ali Bongo claimed victory in contested polls. "They attacked around 1:00 am (0000 GMT). It is the republican guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously," said Ping, who was not at the party headquarters himself.[SEP]Gabon opposition leader says two killed, many wounded after disputed vote LIBREVILLE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping said on Thursday two people were killed and many wounded when the presidential guard and police attacked his party's headquarters overnight after an election narrowly won by President Ali Bongo. Ping called for international assistance to protect the population of the oil-producing state and said Saturday's election was stolen by Bongo, who was declared the winner on Wednesday. The result gives the president a further seven years in power in the country of 1.8 million people. Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years. "Everybody knows that I won the election," Ping told Reuters, adding that the electoral commission's figures were based on false documents. "The (Bongo) family are repeating the same scenario for almost half a century. The opposition can win the elections but they have never had access to power... We need assistance from the rest of the world to protect the population of Gabon from a clan of mercenaries, a rogue state," he said. Opposition supporters greeted the election result with anger. Demonstrators in the capital Libreville clashed with police and set part of the parliament building on fire. It burned for hours before being extinguished, witnesses said. On Thursday there were fresh clashes in the impoverished Nkembo neighbourhood near the centre of the capital. Gunfire and explosions could be heard, witnesses said. A government spokesman was not immediately available for comment. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an immediate end to violence. France is Gabon's former colonial power and retains strong economic and cultural links. "Within the framework of a political process, there's no room for violence," Ayrault said in a statement. "I'm calling, therefore, all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid additional victims." France, the United States and the European Union urged calm and called on authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the United Nations also urged restraint. Bongo won 49.80 percent of votes against 48.23 percent for Ping, on a turnout of 59.46 percent, according to results given region by region by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya. "This victory by such a tight score obliges ... each of us to respect the verdict of the ballot box and our institutions," Bongo said in the text of a speech distributed to reporters. Ping, a political insider who has served as foreign minister and African Union Commission chairman, was a close ally of the late president and fathered two children with his daughter. His avenue for contesting the result appeared uncertain. Elections in Africa are frequently disputed but it is unusual for results to be overturned. Ping said he was not calling on his supporters to protest because they were already under so much pressure from authorities. He said he feared arms would be planted in his party headquarters and he could be arrested as a result. Voting was peaceful but the election followed a bitter campaign in which both sides traded accusations of fraud. Opposition suspicions were heightened when the release of results was delayed earlier in the week. An EU observer mission criticised a "lack of transparency" among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media. France's Foreign Ministry also said the way in which the results were announced was a source of concern. "We think it is necessary to publish the results of all the polling stations. The credibility of the election as well as Gabon's international reputation are at stake," it said. (Additional reporting by Matthew Mpoke Bigg in Accra, Tim Cocks in Dakar and Joe Bavier in Abidjan; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Toby Chopra)[SEP]Gabon opposition says two killed as security forces storm HQ Two people were killed and more than a dozen injured as Gabon security forces stormed the opposition's headquarters early Thursday after disputed polls, the party leader Jean Ping told AFP. "There are two dead and many injured according to a reliable source," said Ping, who was not at the headquarters building. Violence has swept the capital Libreville since President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of polls by a slim margin over Ping, a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official.[SEP]Gabon security forces were attempting to storm the opposition headquarters early Thursday, leaving several people injured, party leaders said, hours after President Ali Bongo claimed victory in contested polls. "They attacked around 1:00 am (0000 GMT). It is the republican guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously," said opposition presidential candidate Jean Ping, who was not at the party headquarters himself. The president of the opposition National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, who was inside the besieged building, said security forces were hurling tear gas canisters and had opened fire. "For nearly an hour the building has been surrounded. They want to enter the building... it is extremely violent," he said. The government could not be reached for comment. Results of the presidential election were announced Wednesday afternoon, handing Bongo his third term by a thin margin over a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official Ping. Angry protesters took to the streets shortly after the announcement, and set fire to the parliament building as they accused the government of stealing the election. The opposition has described the election as fraudulent and called for voting figures from each of Gabon's polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of overall result -- a demand echoed by the United States and European Union.[SEP]Supporters of Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping have taken to the streets to protest the outcome of the presidential election. By Marco Longari (AFP) Libreville (AFP) - Gabon's opposition leader said security forces killed two people and wounded 19 at his headquarters Thursday, as violence erupted after President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of disputed polls. Thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets of Libreville late Wednesday, accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping. Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces. By mid-morning Thursday, security forces had sealed off the city centre, which was calm and otherwise deserted, and were making arrests around the opposition headquarters, AFP journalists said. It was not immediately clear where Ping -- a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official who had earlier declared himself the poll winner -- had taken refuge. Scenes of pillaging were reported from outlying districts and telephone and internet communications were cut. The parliament building's facade was blackened by fire and its windows were smashed. Protesters had torn down its huge main gate and torched a sentry box at the entrance. On the city's main artery, the Boulevard Triomphal -- the location of numerous government institutions and foreign embassies -- burnt-out buildings and cars could be seen, while makeshift barricades were still smouldering. Security forces had surrounded the opposition headquarters overnight and stormed the building, killing two and injuring more than a dozen there, Ping told AFP. "They attacked around 1:00 am (0000 GMT). It is the Republican Guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously," said Ping, who was not himself at the party headquarters. The president of the opposition National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, who was inside the besieged building, said security forces were hurling tear gas canisters and had opened fire. "For nearly an hour the building has been surrounded. They want to enter the building... it is extremely violent," he said shortly after the siege began. A government spokesman said the operation was to catch "criminals" who had earlier set fire to the parliament building. "Armed people who set fire to the parliament had gathered at Jean Ping's headquarters along with hundreds of looters and thugs... they were not political protesters but criminals," said Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze. "We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger. They (the international community) should come and help us against the clan (of Bongo)," Ping told AFP. The results of the presidential election, announced earlier Wednesday, handed Bongo a second term and extended his family's nearly five-decade-long rule. However, the results -- which gave Bongo 49.8 percent to Ping's 48.23 percent (a gap of less than 6,000 votes) -- remain "provisional" until approved by the constitutional court. The opposition described the election as fraudulent and called for results from each of Gabon's polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of the overall outcome -- a demand echoed by the United States and European Union. "This will help give the people of Gabon -- as well as the international community -- confidence the announced vote tallies are accurate," said US State Department spokesman John Kirby. Ping told France's Europe 1 radio early Thursday: "Everyone knows that he (Bongo) cheated. Ask in Europe. Everyone knows." EU observers said the vote was "managed in a way that lacked transparency" and opposition delegates in the electoral commission have already vowed to fight for a recount. Any appeal by Ping would likely focus on disputed results in Haut-Ogooue province, the heartland of Bongo's Teke ethnic group. In Saturday's vote, turnout was 59.46 percent nationwide but soared to 99.93 percent in Haut-Ogooue, where Bongo won 95.5 percent of votes. "It's going to be difficult to get people to accept these results," one member of the electoral commission told AFP, asking not to be named. "We've never seen results like these, even during the father's time," he added. Bongo took power in 2009 in a violence-marred election that followed the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had governed the oil-rich former French colony for 41 years. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for calm and voiced concern over the clashes and arson, urging political leaders "to address their differences peacefully and to address any disputes they may have through existing constitutional and legal channels." Former colonial power France said it was "extremely concerned" by the situation and urged "maximum restraint" on all sides. One third of Gabon's population lives in poverty, though the country boasts one of Africa's highest per capita incomes at $8,300 (7,400 euros) thanks to pumping 200,000 barrels of oil a day. Bongo, 57, campaigned under the slogan "Let's change together", playing up the roads and hospitals built during his first term and stressing the need to break with the bad old days of disappearing public funds and suspect management of oil revenues.[SEP]LIBREVILLE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Loud explosions and gunfire resounded through the Nkembo neighbourhood of Gabon’s capital on Thursday as security forces clashed with protesters angry at an election victory for President Ali Bongo they said was rigged, witnesses said. Clashes over the election result started on Wednesday when the parliament was partially set on fire. Overnight, security forces assaulted the headquarters of opposition leader Jean Ping, according to Ping and witnesses. (Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Toby Chopra)[SEP]An employee walks past debris as he attempts to salvage items from a looted shop in Libreville on September 1, 2016. By Marco Longari (AFP) Libreville (AFP) - The swankiest street in Gabon's capital was Thursday littered with the smouldering detritus of a night of election riots. On Boulevard Triomphal smoking barricades, torched buildings and blackened car chassis lay in testament to the wave of anger that swept over the city after Wednesday's announcement that President Ali Bongo had been reelected by the slimmest of margins. Among the many important buildings on this boulevard is the national assembly, which was set ablaze by protestors who also managed to break down the building's massive front door. Many of parliament's windows burst in the heat of the fire, the guardhouse was burned to ashes and all vehicles in the car park reduced to shells. On Thursday, police used tear gas to prevent crowds gathering outside parliament and continued to detain people coming out of the building. Very similar damage was done to the nearby office of the pro-government daily Union newspaper, which did not publish on Thursday. A shopping mall was also set on fire. Down the road lies the headquarters of opposition candidate Jean Ping, who has rejected the results of Saturday's poll as fraudulent. Security forces stormed the HQ in the early hours of Thursday. Ping said two people were killed and 19 injured. A Red Cross worker later said one of the injured, who had been taken to hospital later died. Many makeshift roadblocks fashioned by protestors from tree trunks, rubble and furniture continued to smoulder Thursday. Shops ravaged by looters and more torched cars on Democracy Roundabout, at the end of the boulevard, showed that it suffered the worst of the violence. Soldiers were deployed at a fuel station to deter further looting. After the announcement that Bongo had won 49.8 percent of the vote, fewer than 6,000 ballots more than Ping, thousands of people took to the streets to accuse the government of stealing the election. Police said more than 200 people had been arrested for looting.[SEP]Libreville (AFP) - Two people were killed and more than a dozen injured as Gabon security forces stormed the opposition's headquarters early Thursday after disputed polls, the party leader Jean Ping told AFP. "There are two dead and many injured according to a reliable source," said Ping, who was not at the headquarters building. Violence has swept the capital Libreville since President Ali Bongo was declared the winner of polls by a slim margin over Ping, a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official.[SEP]LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — An opposition official says more than two dozen supporters who were detained in Gabon after election results were announced have been released. Paul-Marie Gondjout with the National Union opposition party said late Friday the 27 people blocked inside the opposition candidate's campaign headquarters by security forces were allowed to leave after more than 24 hours. Their candidate, Jean Ping, has claimed election fraud after narrowly finishing second. Election officials say the vote was won by incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose father had ruled the country since the 1960s. Burnt out cars are seen outside a government building, following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked. (AP Photo/Joel Bouopda) Ping's supporters have taken to the streets in protest, and at least three people have been killed. A government spokesman has said security forces seized Ping's headquarters with the 27 people inside because the protests allegedly were being planned there. Gabonese Police patrol a street following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked.( AP Photo/Joel Bouopda) Gabonese Police stand guards on a barricade following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked. (AP Photo/Joel Bouopda) Barricades are seen on a street following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked.(AP Photo/Joel Bouopda) Gabonese Police stand guards on a barricade following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked.( AP Photo/Joel Bouopda) A man walk past a barricade following an election protest in Libreville, Gabon, Thursday Sept. 1, 2016. Gabon's newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate's party headquarters overnight, killing at least one person and injuring more than a dozen amid fiery protests that have seen hundreds detained and the internet blocked. (AP Photo/Joel Bouopda)

Large explosions and gunfire are reported in the Gabonese capital Libreville as security forces clash with supporters of opposition presidential candidate Jean Ping protesting the election results indicating a narrow victory by President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Soldiers detained people near the opposition headquarters Gabon's opposition leader Jean Ping has told the BBC a presidential guard helicopter bombed his headquarters and killed two people. A government spokesman said the operation was to root out "criminals" who had set fire to parliament. Protestors took to the streets on Wednesday claiming fraud after it was announced that President Ali Bongo had been narrowly re-elected. Some 1,000 people have been arrested, officials say. In a national address, Mr Bongo said "democracy does not sit well with an attack on parliament". Protests and gunfire continued in the capital Libreville on Thursday. US state department spokesman John Kirby said events in Gabon were being closely monitored by the international community and "appropriate actions" were being considered. "We deplore the escalation of violence," he said, adding that the US urged "all parties to come together peacefully in this critical time". The official election result, announced on Wednesday afternoon, gave Mr Bongo a second seven-year term with 49.8% of the vote to Mr Ping's 48.2% - a margin of 5,594 votes. But Mr Ping said the election was fraudulent and "everybody knows" he won. Internet cut Mr Ping won in six out of nine provinces but disputes the result in Mr Bongo's home province of Haut-Ogooue, where turnout was 99.93% and 95% of votes were for the president. Turnout in the other provinces was between 45% and 71%, according to Gabon's interior ministry. EU election monitor spokesperson Sarah Crozier told BBC Newsday "it's not a very common result, that's for sure". Gabon election: Bongo v Ping Image copyright Getty Images Mr Bongo took office in 2009 after an election marred by violence He succeeding his father Omar Bongo who had come to power in 1967 and was Africa's longest serving leader Veteran diplomat Mr Ping had served as chair of the African Union He had been a close ally of Omar Bongo and had been his foreign minister He had two children with Omar Bongo's daughter, Pascaline Mr Ping has called for voting figures from each polling station to be made public. The US and EU have also called for the results to be published, while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged calm. Former colonial power France, which retains strong economic and political ties to the country, also said it was "deeply concerned". The BBC's Charles Stephane Mavoungou reports from Libreville that on Thursday people in the capital have been unable to access the internet, including social media. The Boulevard Triomphal, home to Gabon's parliament, was covered in burnt-out cars and lined with torched buildings on Thursday, reports the AFP news agency. It said police used tear gas to prevent crowds from gathering again and arrested people as they emerged from remains of the parliament. Police chief Jean-Thierry Oye Zue said six officers had been killed in the protests but declined to give an overall casualty figure, AFP reports. Oil-rich Gabon has one of the highest per-capita incomes in Africa, but few of its 1.6 million people feel the benefit. Image copyright AFP Image caption Smoke and flames poured from the national assembly building on Wednesday Image copyright AFP Image caption Police patrolled the area around the parliament on Thursday Image copyright AFP Image caption They prevented large crowds from gathering and removed some barricades[SEP]Gabon's top opposition candidate Jean Ping declared Friday that he was the rightful winner of the presidential election, accusing the country's incumbent leader of using fraud to cling to power. The move sets the stage for a protracted dispute over the election, as President Ali Bongo Ondimba also has declared victory. On Friday, Ping called for the release of results from individual polling stations. Results released by election officials showed Bongo won by a mere 1.57 percentage points. "The whole world knows today who is the president of the Republic of Gabon. It's me, Jean Ping," he told reporters. "Each time the Gabonese people have chosen their president, the dark forces are always gathered to place he who was not chosen as head of state. Together we have decided that this time things however will be different." Bongo's father had ruled the oil-rich country since the 1960s until his death in 2009 when his son then came to power. Ping's supporters already have taken to the streets in protest, and at least three people have been killed in the unrest. On Friday, Ping said citizens had "strongly demonstrated their legitimate anger." The U.S. Embassy in Libreville said in a statement on its website Tuesday that Gabon's voters were not "well served by the many systemic flaws and irregularities that we witnessed," including the late opening of polling stations and "last minute changes to voting procedures." The embassy said the government should publish results by polling station. European Union observers have criticized a "lack of transparency" on the part of institutions organizing the vote.[SEP]Gabon's presidential guard attacked the opposition party headquarters overnight, killing one person and injuring at least 20, opposition representatives said Thursday following protests against the re-election of this central African country's president. President Ali Bongo Ondimba beat opposition candidate Jean Ping by a slim margin, setting the stage for unrest. Bongo won with 49.8 percent of the vote, while Ping had 48.2 percent. The constitutional court must finalize provisional results, which came a day later than expected Around 1 a.m. Thursday, soldiers in green berets identifying them as the presidential guard shot live rounds during an attack on Ping's opposition headquarters, injuring at least 20 people, according to Paul Marie Gondjout, an opposition electoral representative who was there. Ping's campaign director, Rene Ndemezo'o Obiang, said one person was killed. Ping was not in the building. A resident said government forces also attacked the RTN opposition radio and television station. Before the attack on the opposition headquarters, police fired tear gas at hundreds of opposition demonstrators in the capital, Libreville, who responded by setting fire to cars and debris in front of the National Assembly. Flames and smoke rose in the night sky. Witnesses said demonstrators in several other districts vandalized a mall, looted a bank and burned buildings, including one belonging to the vice prime minister. Looting and clashes also followed Bongo's previous election win in 2009, when he came to power after the death of his father, longtime ruler Omar Bongo. European Union observers criticized what they called a "lack of transparency," and the EU called for electoral officials to publish results from all polling stations. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged political leaders and their supporters "to refrain from further acts that could undermine the peace and stability of the country." He also called on security forces to exercise restraint.

Military helicopters bomb the headquarters of Union of Forces for Change, according to opposition leader Jean Ping, killing at least two people. Internet is also cut in the capital, Libreville.

Turkish air strikes kill 3 PKK militants in southeast Turkey - military ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Turkish jets killed three Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in southeastern Turkey near the border with Iraq in air strikes on Thursday, the military said.[SEP]ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Turkish jets killed three Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in southeastern Turkey near the border with Iraq in air strikes on Thursday, the military said. The strikes near the town of Cukurca in a mountainous part of the border province of Hakkari come after a series of attacks launched by the PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey. A ceasefire broke down just over a year ago. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall)[SEP]Soldier killed in clash with Kurdish forces in Turkey ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says one Turkish soldier was killed and one wounded after Kurdish militants shot at security forces during a military operation in the southeastern province of Siirt. Anadolu said Thursday that operations are ongoing to catch the perpetrators, with air support. Violence between the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and Turkish security forces resumed last year after the collapse of a two-year peace process. Since then, more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed, according to Anadolu. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the clashes. Last week, Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border to fight the Islamic State group and to halt the advance of Syrian Kurdish groups affiliated with the PKK.[SEP]It’s a strange combination of dysfunction and durability we’re witnessing in Turkey today. Last month it seemed NATO’s second largest army was in free fall. A failed coup, engineered—if we are to believe Turkey’s official narrative—by a shadowy Islamist cult with tentacles stretching around the world and led by a septuagenarian supervillain living in Pennsylvania, who laid bare a military establishment riven with micro-fissures. Last week, that same military launched an offensive into the world’s most dangerous conflict, sending tanks, fighter jets and special forces across Turkey’s southern border into Syria. The move took many observers by surprise. Was this a show of force, some asked, a messsage to the world that the Turkish military was still intact and capable? What did the timing mean? Only days earlier, another suicide bombing attributed to the so-called Islamic State had rocked Turkey, targeting a Kurdish wedding in the country’s southeast and claiming 54 lives, 22 of them children. Turkey’s response to the worst terrorist incident in the country this year was unequivocal: “Daesh should be completely cleansed from our borders,” Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister told a news conference after the attack, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “We are ready to do what it takes for that.” Still, some experts were skeptical. Islamic State militants have controlled the stretch of the Turkish border from Jarablus and approximately 50km west since June 2013. It was the first segment of the border the militants captured and has been a critical supply route for them ever since. In May 2013, the group reportedly carried out its first attack on Turkish soil, in the border town of Reyhanli, killing 51. Since then, they have been involved in numerous attacks, including a brutal double suicide bombing that left 103 dead in Ankara, the Turkish capital, in October 2015. Why did another attack warrant such an extreme response, particularly at a time when Turkey’s military was still recovering from the failed coup? Within days, the answer to that question became clear. Islamic State fighters fled from Jarablus on the first day of the offensive. Turkey then quickly turned its sights on Syrian Kurds, known locally as the YPG, who had pushed west across the Euphrates River, backed by U.S. airstrikes, and driven Islamic State fighters out of Manbij, a city 30 km south of Jarablus. The Kurds had been eyeing Jarablus and the Islamic State-controlled territory to its west for some time. It is the only region along the Turkish border they do not control and taking it would create a contiguous Kurdish territory stretching from the Iraq border to Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline. For the Turks, that is tantamount to a national disaster. They remain committed to their view that the YPG represents more of an existential threat to Turkey than the Islamic State. No cajoling or reasoning has managed to change their minds. Indeed, western powers have had a difficult time convincing Turkey of anything in recent years. Last spring, Turkish negotiators scored a major win after they arm-twisted the European Union into accepting a controversial refugee deal that included 6 billion Euros (or $8.7 billion in Canadian currency) and the promise of visa-free travel for Turks in the EU. It has openly accused the U.S. of puppeteering the coup attempt and demanded American officials turn over the man they accuse of orchestrating it, though they have yet to provide any evidence of his involvement. Despite this, the U.S. last week claimed to have supported the Turkish military push into Syria, a move the Pentagon had vigorously opposed for years. Somehow, Turkey managed to get its way, again, despite its increasingly combative foreign policy posturing and sometimes ludicrous demands. But it’s not so hard to understand why. Turkey’s geopolitical wins reflect the key role it plays in so many of the world’s most pressing concerns, and its leaders know it. Solving Europe’s refugee crisis will be impossible without Turkish cooperation; finding a durable solution to the Syrian war will require Turkey’s active participation. Containing Russia, combating Islamic extremism, finding a sustainable balance between international human rights norms and Islamic values—all these missions require Turkey. It’s no wonder Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party are acting like spoiled brats. In today’s world, they can get away with pretty much whatever they want. The push into Syria is only the latest example. A recent report by the Wall Street Journal, citing both Turkish and American officials, claims that the Jarablus offensive was supposed to be a joint venture between the U.S. and Turkey, originally intended to force the YPG into focusing its efforts on Raqqa, the Islamic State capital east of the Euphrates, while Turkey would take on Islamic State to the west, along its border. Thus the two American allies could be kept well apart and out of conflict with each other. But the Turks pulled the trigger early, catching the Americans, and the Kurds, by surprise. Now, the U.S. finds itself playing referee. During his August visit to Ankara, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned the Kurds that they risk losing U.S. support if they do not stay to the east of the Euphrates River. The Kurds announced they would comply but on Sunday, Turkish media reported Turkish forces moving south toward Manbij, sparking clashes with YPG fighters. The U.S. issued a second warning, this time to the Turks. U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter argued that the YPG “will and is withdrawing” across the Euphrates and that Turkey should remain focused on fighting the Islamic State. It’s unlikely it will comply. Turkey’s leaders know what they want, and they know there is little the U.S., or anyone else, can do to stop them. But what they want may not be what is best—for Turkey, for Syria, or for the rest of the world.[SEP](IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A well placed source in the Ministry of Interior, Iraq, informed on Friday that Turkey renewed air strikes on ISIS in Syria, extending operations along a 90 km corridor near the Turkish border. Ankara says it is clearing ISIS and protecting it from Kurdish militia expansion. Turkey has said it has no plans to stay in Syria and simply aims to protect its frontier from ISIS and the Kurdish YPG militia. It may be mentioned here that Turkey’s 10-day-old offensive has alarmed the West. , It is the first major incursion into Syria by Turkey since the war began five years ago US has voiced concerns about Turkish strikes on Kurdish-aligned groups that Washington has backed in its battle against ISIS. Germany said it did not want to see a lasting Turkish presence in an already tangled conflict.[SEP]In this Wednesday photo, Iraqi firefighters battle large fire at oil wells as they are trying to prevent the flames from reaching the residential neighbourhoods in Qayyarah, Iraq (AP photo) LONDON — Iraqi state oil firm SOMO and Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan have begun jointly exporting crude oil from the giant Kirkuk oilfield again after cutting a preliminary deal on revenue-sharing, trading sources said on Thursday. The development signals a breakthrough in relations between Baghdad and Erbil, which have been disputing how to share oil and budget revenues for several years amid fiscal problems on both sides and their fight against the terror group, Daesh, militants. The Kirkuk flows, usually amounting to 150,000 barrels per day and exported via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, had been suspended since March as Baghdad pushed Kurdistan to cut a new deal. Before March, Kirkuk flows were unilaterally handled by Kurdistan. SOMO, the State Oil Marketing Organisation, had seen no cargoes exported on its behalf from Ceyhan since mid-2015, when Kurdistan began independent sales of its own crude and Kirkuk oil. "Shipments on behalf of SOMO have resumed as of six o'clock this morning... While final details of the revenue-sharing deal are still being worked out, the current flows of Kirkuk are being split 50/50 between SOMO and Kurdistan," one shipping source familiar with the operations said. Besides Kirkuk, Kurdistan produces around 500,000 barrels per day of crude from its own fields and those will still be marketed independently by the semi-autonomous region. But the compromise over Kirkuk could be the first step towards a comprehensive deal involving all Kurdish oil. Baghdad has insisted SOMO is the only entity that can market Iraqi crude. Kurdistan started independent exports after accusing Baghdad of not respecting a previous revenue-sharing deal and not transferring enough money from the federal budget. Baghdad, which exports most of its oil from the Gulf, has said Erbil was not exporting enough crude under that deal. Kurdistan urgently needed Kirkuk flows to resume because its own exports do not cover its budget needs, forcing the region to borrow billions of dollars from Turkey, oil firms and trading houses guaranteed by future oil sales. Lost revenues from the halt in Kirkuk flows had been estimated at more than $1 billion since March. Last week, Baghdad said that if a new revenue deal were not reached, oil from Kirkuk could be exported by truck via Iran. This week, SOMO blacklisted three ships involved in exporting Kurdish oil. However, a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi and Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government, seems to have broken the ice this week with a preliminary deal reached on Kirkuk oil. The trading source said final details on how to split the Kirkuk flows could be worked out by mid-September. Ezat Sabir, head of the Finance Committee in the Kurdish Council of Ministers, said his understanding was that the 50/50 split of Kirkuk oil would remain until the year-end, after which Baghdad and Erbil would try to return to full revenue-sharing. Erbil has said it was ready to hand over all oil exports to SOMO if Baghdad agreed to transfer $1 billion to Erbil from the federal budget each month.[SEP]Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed 10 Turkish soldiers and a village guardsman in two separate incidents in Turkey, state media reported on Saturday. Eight Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes with rebels in the eastern province of Van on Friday, the governor’s office said, quoted by state-run news agency Anadolu. Eight soldiers were also injured in the same operation against the “separatist terror organisation”, the name Turkey gives to the PKK, Anadolu reported. Late on Friday, two soldiers and a village guard were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Mardin in the restive southeast blamed on the PKK, the agency reported. The guard killed was part of a group of local residents who cooperate with Turkish security forces against the PKK, listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. Three security guards were also wounded. In a statement, the Van governor’s office said the condition of those in hospital was “good”, although their treatment continued. Thirteen PKK fighters were killed by Turkish jets around Tendurek mountains in Van province, the office said, while Anadolu reported that the operation supported by the air force continued. Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July, Anadolu reported over 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK in renewed fighting. The government has responded with military operations against the group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said. It is not possible to independently verify the toll. Activists claim innocent civilians have also been killed in the offensives. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984.[SEP]ANKARA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Turkish air strikes destroyed three buildings used by Islamic State on Friday in north Syria, the military said, the latest action in a 10-day cross-border offensive by Turkish-backed forces that is targeting jihadists and Kurdish militias. The warplanes struck Arab Ezza and al-Ghundura, which lies a short distance south of the Turkish border and west of the town of Jarablus, which was the first place seized by Turkish-backed forces when they crossed the border on Aug. 24 into Syria. Turkey has said it wants to clear a swathe of territory running 90 km (55 miles) along its border with Syria. The sites hit on Friday are roughly midway along the line being targeted by Turkey. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Nick Tattersall)[SEP]Bali, identified by Turkish prosecutors as the most senior Islamic State figure in Turkey, asked a fellow militant in the border city of Gaziantep to draw up a list of potential targets. Cash, suicide bombers and equipment would be sent from Syria, he said. "Turkey has waged war on us ... so we're waging war back," the Turkish national wrote in an email from Syria, according to documents prepared by Ankara prosecutors and reviewed by Reuters. "I asked who should we hit and they say it does not matter; be it PKK (Kurdish militants), be it Turkish soldiers, be it tourist spots. Whatever you have planned." The email was sent to Yunus Durmaz, who prosecutors say co-founded Islamic State's Gaziantep cell along with Bali. Durmaz provided a long list of possible targets, including NATO Patriot missile batteries, foreign missions, U.N. offices and a popular nightclub in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya. Documents that form part of a judicial investigation into the cell, which Turkish prosecutors say carried out at least two major bombings last year, give a rare insight into the genesis and operations of the wider Islamic State network in Turkey. Islamic State has grown increasingly active in Turkey, according to the government which blames it for seven suicide bombings across the country over the past year, though the group has not claimed responsibility for the attacks. The prosecution documents show how suspected members of the Gaziantep cell set up safe houses to accommodate fighters, facilitated the passage of some to Syria, rented depots to store weapons and ammunition, paid salaries, kept records of expenses and made bombs and suicide vests with components purchased inside Turkey. Having a strong presence in Turkey has been crucial to Islamic State's Middle Eastern battle plans and their attempts to strike at the West, as they use the NATO country as a transit route for fighters and equipment. Hundreds of Turks have been recruited to fight in Syria, while weapons experts say Turkey has become the most important source for components to make improvised bombs used by Islamic State forces. Turkey has also been used as the gateway between the group's territory, in Iraq and Syria, and Europe - where it has carried out attacks in countries including France and Belgium. The country is also traditionally a popular destination for Western tourists, who have been struck in at least two of the Turkish bombings blamed on Islamic State earlier this year. The documents regarding the Gaziantep cell were prepared by prosecutors based on suspects' testimonies, email exchanges, security camera footage and digital evidence collected during police raids. An official at Ankara's main courthouse verified the documents were genuine. The Ankara prosecutors' office could not be reached for comment on the cell or the investigation. Turkey, initially seen by Western allies as a reluctant partner in the fight against Islamic State, stepped up its campaign in July 2015 by opening by its Incirlik air base to the U.S.-led coalition, making bombing raids on the group's positions in northern Syria easier and more frequent. The country then became a primary target. "The planes are hitting us here more," Bali wrote to his fellow Turkish national Durmaz in the email last summer. "I know you have a tough job, but console the hearts of devout Muslims. Hit them ... so we can be happy." The Turkish attacks blamed on Islamic State have been a factor in Turkey's decision to send troops and tanks into northern Syria for the first time last month in an attempt to drive back the group from its border. Bali and Durmaz's Turkish cell carried out at least two major bombings, the prosecution documents say: one in July 2015 in the southeastern town of Suruc, where 35 mostly Kurdish activists were killed, and a twin suicide attack in Ankara last October, when more than 100 people died. Durmaz was also the mastermind of two more attacks carried out earlier this year, Gaziantep governor's office said in a statement on Thursday. The two men, helped by a core of around a dozen accomplices, trained at least 150 fighters for attacks across Turkey, according to the documents. Their cell ran at least two safe houses and four depots in Gaziantep. The group bought at least 1.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate - a chemical used in agriculture but also to make bombs. Police have also seized hand grenades, machine guns, ammunition and bombmaking components such as fuses, ball bearings and explosives in raids on the cell since last October. "Data points to Turkish Islamic State members manufacturing explosives inside Turkey, including the vests used in at least three, but perhaps more, attacks inside Turkey since 2015," said Aaron Stein, a Turkey specialist at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based international affairs think-tank. "The vests are far better constructed than the ones used by Islamic State in France and Belgium. These guys are far better trained in bombmaking." A February report by the UK-based Conflict Armament Research said Turkey was a hub for acquiring bomb-making components which can then be shipped to Syria and Iraq. "Turkey is the most important choke point for components used in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices by Islamic State forces," it said. The seven suicide bombings blamed on Islamic State in Turkey since July 2015 have killed more than 250 people. But the group has not claimed responsibility for any of them. This may be a deliberate strategy, experts say, by a group which has boasted about bombings elsewhere in the world. "They are connected with Raqqa," said a senior security official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. "The bombings are a result of instructions from their leaders." "But they see Turkey as a recruitment area and they don't want to openly say they are targeting a Muslim society. Leaving it as a question works better than spelling it out." Such considerations may also explain why the targets in Turkey have largely been Kurdish interests or foreign tourists. Suspected cell member Yakub Sahin said in testimony to prosecutors that he was told that rallies in Suruc and Ankara were targeted because they were members there of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an outlawed group fighting the Turkish state for Kurdish autonomy. "They are all enemies of God," Durmaz is said to have told Sahin when he expressed doubt over the killing of civilians. The PKK is closely linked to Kurdish militia fighters in Syria fighting Islamic State. The Suruc and Ankara rallies were both attended by largely civilian pro-Kurdish activists. It is unclear when the Gaziantep cell was founded, but police began monitoring some members in 2012. Some suspects were detained last year and at least eight have fled to Syria, according to media reports and a police source. Durmaz himself was killed in May when he detonated a suicide vest he was wearing during a police raid on a Gaziantep safe house. Bali's whereabouts are unknown. The Gaziantep governor's office declined to comment on the investigation into the cell. Prosecutors, who launched the investigation after the Ankara bombing last October, say the cell used safe houses to accommodate fighters - both those smuggled into Turkey from Syria, and others en route to Syria to fight for Islamic State. Hundreds of Turkish citizens are thought to have traveled to fight in Syria over the past four years. In 2012-2014, many joined Islamist groups including Jabhat al-Nusra fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - who Turkey wants to see ousted. Some later shifted to Islamic State after the group proclaimed its caliphate in 2014. Turkish officials say at least 700 Turks have joined Islamic State, but some diplomats say the number could be more than 10 times that. "There was no secret," said one resident in the sleepy border town of Elbeyli, adjacent to Islamic State-held territory, describing vehicles regularly crossing the border at night. He declined to be named for fear of retribution. "Some people made a fortune out of this and there is still demand. Unless you wipe out its roots, it will not end."[SEP]ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey says eight soldiers were killed and eight wounded in clashes with Kurdish militants in the country's east. The governor's office of Van released a statement Saturday on operations against members of the "separatist terror organization," Turkey's description of the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK. The statement says 11 militants were killed in the Friday operations around Tendurek mountain. The three-decade-long conflict between Turkey and the PKK has killed an estimated 40,000 people. The state-run Anadolu news agency says more than 600 Turkish security personnel and thousands of PKK militants have been killed since a fragile cease-fire collapsed. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have also been killed in the clashes.

Turkish Armed Forces claims that it has killed three Kurdistan Workers' Party fighters in air strikes in southeastern Turkey near the borders with Iraq.

Some of the world’s biggest buyers have stopped trading with Korindo after the emergence of footage claiming to show illegal burning in Papua province A Korean palm oil company has been dropped by buyers after footage emerged that allegedly shows the illegal burning of vast tracts of tropical forest on lands it holds concessions for in Indonesia. Some of the world’s biggest palm oil trading producers including Wilmar, Musim Mas and IOI have stopped using palm oil sourced from Korindo, much of which is destined to meet European demand. Korindo’s alleged deforestation of pristine woodland in Papua province also threatens to destroy the last sanctuary of several birds of paradise and the tree kangaroo, according to a report by a new environmental alliance called Mighty. The group has collected evidence from drones, remote sensors, GPS satellites, and videographers and photographers on the ground, which it says proves that Korindo has flouted Indonesia’s no-burning laws and violated responsible sourcing requirements. Bustar Maitar, Mighty’s campaign director in Papua, told the Guardian: “Korindo is clear-cutting forests and then starting fires to clear the land of remaining biomass. That is forbidden by Indonesia’s regulations but during last year’s forest fires, most of the blazes in the Papua region happened in Korindo’s concessions.” “There are a lot of animal species and flora here that haven’t even been discovered yet,” Maitar added. “If these kinds of land clearing activities continue, they may never be.” But Koh Gyeong Min, Korindo’s head of sustainability, denied that the firm had been responsible for any illegal forest burning. “It is not true actually,” he said. “We followed all of the Indonesian regulations and acquired all the proper licences from the government for all areas of operation within our group.” “I also would like to ask: do the local NGOs or residents have any evidence about our company that they have brought to the Indonesian government or the local courts? As far as I know there have been no cases of that.” Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away? | George Monbiot Read more The allegations come as south-east Asia’s 2016 burning season is just beginning. On 30 August, the Indonesian government warned that haze from fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan could reach Malaysia and Singapore in the days ahead. More than 3,000 hotspots have been detected in the Indonesian archipelago in the last month, with maps released by Greenpeace of Riau and West Kalimantan showing that many are occurring on industrial plantation concessions in the same areas that burned last year. Yuyun Indradi, Greenpeace Indonesia’s forest campaigner said: “Companies that refuse to take steps to prevent fires have not just ash, but blood on their hands.” Wildfires in Indonesia’s tropical forests last year are thought likely to have contributed to the premature deaths of more than 100,000 people, and to have emitted more CO2 than the whole of the UK that year. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Native forest cleared for palm oil plantations. Photograph: Yerimia Leo/Mighty Korindo is active in Indonesia’s north Malaku region as well as Papua, holding around 620 square miles of forest concessions in total. The company, whose promotional video calls on viewers to “make the Earth green”, has already cleared around 193 square miles of forest. Maitar said that Korindo had not responded to letters sent by the new alliance, and that the new report was aimed at putting pressure on the Indonesian government. Several major buyers of Korindo’s palm oil acted to cut the firm out of their supply chains after hearing of the allegations. A spokeswoman for Musim Mas told the Guardian that it wanted to see Korindo engage with civil society groups and adopt a “No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policy. “During this period we will continue to stop buying the palm oil temporarily and monitor Korindo’s progress,” she said. NDPEs have become a palm oil industry standard in south-east Asia but the Mighty campaign argues that they are not working. Glenn Hurowitz, Mighty’s US campaign director, said that Korindo had been able to deforest 113 square miles of land since 2013, despite clearly visible satellite evidence of 894 hotspots in that period. “This investigation shows the true face of the palm oil industry in Indonesia even after No Deforestation policies,” Hurowitz said. “The current, mostly confidential company-by-company system is inadequate. We urgently need a transparent, systematic approach, as well as further action by government and prosecutors.” One of Malaysia’s largest palm oil companies, IOI – which was itself suspended from a sustainability scheme for not doing enough to prevent deforestation - said that its third party suppliers had also “decided to temporarily stop sourcing from Korindo” after hearing the allegations. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Korindo’s alleged deforestation of pristine woodland in Papua province also threatens to destroy the last sanctuary the tree kangaroo. Photograph: Tim Laman/NG/Getty Images The palm oil giant Wilmar told the Guardian that it too had contacted Korindo after a heads up about the new evidence. “Due to a lack of progress from the supplier, and in view of the serious allegations, Wilmar has ceased procuring from Korindo with effect from June 2016,” a spokeswoman said. None of the companies would reveal how much money they spent on ensuring that third-party palm oil suppliers did not cause environmental damage. Gyeong Min said that after a demand from Wilmar earlier this year, Korindo began a “high-carbon stock assessment” which would be published later this month. “We also announced a temporary moratorium for our remaining plantation area,” he said. Last month, a Korindo subsidiary called PT Tunas Sawa Erma declared a three-month suspension of new forest clearings across 25,000 hectares of territory, while it developed a NDPE policy. But Mighty says that the moratorium did not extend to all Korindo operations. “A couple of months ago we visited their concessions and the land clearing was still happening,” Maitar said. “In our experience with other companies, all activities involving the cutting down of forests should be stopped, while they are doing these sorts of assessments.”[SEP]Korean firm burns rainforest for palm oil in Indonesia, report says JAKARTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A South Korean-owned company is cutting down primary rainforests for timber and then setting fires to clear the land to plant oil palm in apparent violation of Indonesian law, according to an investigation by environmental groups. The investigation points to "systematic and widespread use of fire" by the Jakarta-based Korindo Group PT, which adds to the pall of smoky haze choking large parts of Southeast Asia during the annual dry season, the environmental groups said in a report published on Thursday. Korindo has already cleared more than 50,000 hectares (193 square miles) of tropical lowland forest for palm oil plantations in the remote provinces of Papua and Maluku, and at least 75,000 hectares are at "immediate risk" of being cleared, the report said. "I've never seen evidence so strong to prove that a company intentionally burned," AidEnvironment Indonesia senior consultant Erik Wakker told Reuters in a telephone interview. One of Korindo's main customers, Wilmar International Ltd. , told Reuters the company has stopped buying palm from Korindo for violating it's "no deforestation" policy, the company said in an emailed statement. Korindo blamed local people living near its timber concession area for "lighting fires for hunting wild animals living in the forests". "Accusations that the Korindo Group were a big contributor to the smoke and haze in 2015 and consequently had an impact on the economy and damaged the environment in Indonesia are not true," the company said in a statement. Indonesia's environment ministry has sent a team to Papua "to collect material and information", after they were presented with the findings from the report, the ministry's law enforcement director Muhammad Yunus told Reuters. Indonesia is home to the world's third-largest area of tropical forests. It is also the world's fifth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gases widely blamed for global warming, largely due to deforestation. Korindo holds a total of 160,000 hectares (619 square miles) of oil palm concessions in eight areas of Papua and Maluku, according to the report, and an estimated 900,000 hectares of logging areas that could also be converted. It is one of the largest plantation companies in eastern Indonesia. Around 90 percent of the world's palm oil crop grows in Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia's President Joko Widodo in April imposed a moratorium on expanding palm oil plantations, with the industry under mounting pressure from global companies that use palm oil in products, ranging from soups to soaps and chocolates, to adhere to environmentally sustainable plantation practices. Consumer giants, such as Unilever and Kellog, are increasingly demanding "sustainability certification" from watchdog groups, including no use of fire to clear land, before buying products from palm oil producers. Last year's forest fires in Indonesia burned 2.5 million hectares, an area the size of Great Britain, causing total economic losses of $16 billion, a World Bank report said. Many forest communities throughout Indonesia practice "slash and burn" agriculture, using fire to clear land. But the World Resources Institute, which runs an extensive database on forest fires in Indonesia, says more than a third of the fires last year were on pulp wood concessions, and a good proportion of the rest were on palm oil plantations. Under Indonesian law, a company found guilty of clearing land by burning can be fined up to 10 billion rupiah ($735,000), and the management faces up to 10 years in jail. Companies that fail to control fires started elsewhere but which spread into their concession land also face punishment. Korindo Group employs around 20,000 people across 30 affiliated companies mainly involved in plywood, paper and pulp and palm oil, according to the company's website. It is majority-owned by South Korea's Seung family. The sparsely populated province of Papua is the Indonesian half of an island shared by Papua New Guinea, and home to indigenous communities. Mighty Southeast Asia director Bustar Maitar said plantation companies like Korindo compensate Papuan communities for clearing the forests that once provided them with food. "They get some compensation and they finish their money at markets. They want to go hunting again but there's no more forest. And then because they have no more money and they can't go hunting they go back to complain to the company. So social conflicts keep going because the community no longer has a way to support themselves from day to day." The environmental groups used satellite images that recorded "hot spots" and infrared pictures showing fires, along with photos and videos taken on the ground, the report said. During a trip to Korindo's concessions in Papua this year, Maitar said researchers found extensive stacking, a process used to heap woody debris leftover from land clearing into long piles that serve as a pathway for fires. "Once it's dry, they set it alight," Maitar said. Wakker at AidEnvironment said the Korindo case poses a challenge for President Widodo after his moratorium on clearing new land for plantations. "The big question is whether (the president) will have those permits withdrawn or not," said Wakker. "If he allows them to continue clearing that land it's going to be the largest deforestation project in Indonesia."[SEP]KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Malaysia aims to "harmonise" its palm oil export duty plan with the more competitive Indonesian levies in a bid to win global market share, a Malaysian minister said in first ever official remarks on what the country's palm sector has long been seeking. Malaysia has always trailed Indonesia as the world's No.2 producer and exporter of palm oil mainly because of lower land and labour costs in its larger Southeast Asian neighbour. This gap widened further after Indonesia in 2015 imposed levies on shipments that both improved downstream margins and increased its dominance of major markets like India and China. Indonesian refined, bleached and deodorised crude palm olein has this year been selling at a discount of around $10 to average Malaysian prices, hurting refiners in Malaysia and prompting calls for a common export policy from them. "I have suggested harmonizing the tax duty structure (to Indonesia)... It's not good competing with one another. It's a lose-lose situation to keep undercutting (one another)," Mah Siew Keong, Malaysia's minister of plantation industries and commodities, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "The market has changed. China used to be our biggest market, now it is number three," said Mah, adding Malaysia needed to hunt for new markets and diversify. Chinese imports of Malaysian palm plunged 49 percent in the first half of 2016 from a year ago to 0.6 million tonnes, while its purchases from Indonesia only fell 0.2 percent to 1.2 million tonnes. Malaysia will look to win back market share in China and enter markets such as Africa, Korea and Japan, said Mah. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is also working from Iran to target Central Asian countries, he said. Having more oleochemical plants built abroad would also add value to Malaysia's downstream palm industry, said Mah. "In Europe we are quite represented. In America, we have not gone there aggressively enough," he added. Mah expects Malaysia's palm oil output to climb to 20 million tonnes in 2017 if weather normalises for the rest of this year, recovering from a projected drop in 2016 due to the impact of dryness linked to an El Nino weather event. Analysts expect Malaysian palm oil output to slip to 19 million tonnes in 2016, from 19.96 million tonnes in 2015. The drop in production this year will, however, not be as drastic as the 16 percent decline seen in the first half, said Mah, as output has picked up over July and August. Mah retained his palm price forecast of 2,500-2,600 ringgit per tonne for 2017. Benchmark prices are currently near a three-week low of 2,487 ringgit ($610.46).

A South Korean palm oil company is accused of causing the wildfires in Indonesia.

"Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation," Mr Musk tweeted. "Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon." Dramatic footage broadcast by ABC News showed the rocket burst into a roaring ball of flame amid what appeared to be a succession of blasts - sending its payload tumbling to the ground as a dense plume of black smoke filled the air. "At approximately 9:07am ET (1307 GMT), during a standard pre-launch static fire test for the Amos-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle," the firm said. "Per standard operating procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries." But the explosion destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that the Falcon 9 was due to deliver into orbit on Saturday - drawing a dismayed reaction from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.[SEP]An explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its satellite cargo during routine test firing at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday, two days before it had been due to blast off and place the satellite in orbit. SpaceX said there were no injuries and that an “anomaly” during the static fire test resulted in the loss of the rocket and the communications satellite owned by Israel-based Spacecom, which was going to be used by Facebook. The large blast shook the launchpad leased by SpaceX at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station just after 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT), sending a thick plume of black smoke pouring into the air. Musk said on Twitter that the loss of the rocket had occurred while it was being filled with propellant and that the problem originated around the upper stage oxygen tank. It was not immediately known to what extent SpaceX’s launchpad was damaged or what the impact would be on the dozens of NASA and commercial satellite missions on its launch schedule. People in buildings far from the facility felt the shock waves, but local authorities said residents were not at risk. “Heard/felt weird BOOMS this morning as SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded … Thank God no injuries!” one local woman, Evie Hedman, wrote on Twitter. Robin Seemangal, a space reporter with the Observer newspaper, quoted a source at the facility who told him it felt like the office they were in had been hit by lightning. “We actually thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad,” Seemangal wrote in a tweet, quoting his source. The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial rocket launches in the United States, will work with SpaceX to understand the cause of the accident, said agency spokesman, Hank Price. SpaceX had been due to launch its 29th Falcon 9 rocket before dawn on Saturday, carrying the AMOS-6 satellite owned by Israel’s Space Communication. Facebook would have been among the customers for bandwidth on that satellite. Last year, Facebook said it was partnering with Eutelsat Communications to boost data connectivity to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Thursday’s launchpad explosion could derail the sale of Spacecom for $285 million to Beijing Xinwei Technology Group. The companies unveiled the agreement last week, but said it was contingent on the successful launch of the satellite and completion of its in-orbit tests. In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Spacecom said the satellite’s loss will have “a significant impact” on the company, and it would continue to provide updates about the situation. Its shares closed down 8.9 percent at 38.95 shekels. In a post from Africa, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said he was deeply disappointed at the loss of the satellite, which he said would have provided connectivity to many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent. “We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided,” he wrote. SpaceX had planned to dispatch as many as nine more missions before the end of the year, including two flights to place a 20-member satellite network into orbit for Iridium. SpaceX, one of two companies that fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA, was next scheduled to take off in November for the orbiting laboratory, which flies 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. “NASA still is assessing what impacts, if any, the incident will have on future missions,” spokesman Michael Curie said in an email. Shares of Musk’s companies Tesla Motors and SolarCity were down 4 percent at $203.65 and 5.5 percent at $19.50, respectively, in morning trade. Tesla and SolarCity are not tied financially to SpaceX and it was not immediately clear if the explosion had affected their prices. SpaceX says it has a backlog of more than $10 billion worth of launch orders from customers including NASA and commercial companies. On Wednesday, it said it had signed its first customer to use a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket, but that launch was not due until later this year. The rocket that blew up on Thursday had never been flown before. The Hawthorne, California-based company was founded by Musk in 2002 and began launching its Falcon 9 rockets in June 2010, racking up 27 successful flights and one failure in a little more than six years. SpaceX had recovered from a June 2015 launch accident that destroyed a load of cargo headed for the space station. Earlier this year, it successfully broke a monopoly by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, to win a military satellite launch contract. The pad where SpaceX’s rocket was being prepared for launch is one of two operated by the company. Its other site is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX also has leased one of the old space shuttle launchpads at the Kennedy Space Center, adjacent to SpaceX’s current launch site. A fourth U.S. site is under construction in Texas. Musk set up SpaceX with the goal of slashing launch costs to make travel to Mars affordable. The company plans to fly its first unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2018 and to send humans to the red planet as early as 2024. Musk is expected to unveil details of his Mars program at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, next month. The blast at Cape Canaveral marks a setback for the California-based private space firm and Musk, who wants to revolutionize the launch industry by making rocket components reusable. Dramatic footage broadcast by ABC News showed the rocket burst into a roaring ball of flame amid what appeared to be a succession of blasts — sending its payload tumbling to the ground as a dense plume of black smoke filled the air. “At approximately 9:07 am ET (1307 GMT), during a standard prelaunch static fire test for the Amos-6 mission, there was an anomaly at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 resulting in loss of the vehicle,” the firm said. “Per standard operating procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries.” Facebook was contracted to use the Amos-6 to provide broadband internet coverage for large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and other remote parts of the world as part of the social media giant’s Internet.org initiative. “Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well,” Zuckerberg said, referring to the solar-powered plane being developed by Facebook to make the internet available in remote areas. European satellite operator Eutelsat — Facebook’s partner in the project — said in a statement it was committed to expanding broadband access in Africa despite the loss of the Amos-6. A NASA spokeswoman told AFP that emergency services at the nearby Kennedy Space Center were monitoring the situation and conducting air quality tests to ensure there is no threat to the health of staff. Officials at the center advised workers to remain inside until further notice, but Brevard County Emergency Management said there was no threat to the public from the incident. The Amos-6 was the heaviest payload to date for a SpaceX rocket, with an estimated value of between $200 million-300 million, according to John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. The accident- comes just over a year after a Falcon 9 rocket failed after liftoff on June 28, 2015, destroying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the International Space Station (ISS). Before that, SpaceX had logged 18 successful launches of the Falcon 9 — including six of 12 planned supply missions to the ISS carried out as part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. It had carried out another eight successful launches since June 2015, including last month when a Falcon 9 successfully placed a Japanese communications satellite in orbit, and then landed intact on a floating drone ship. Before then the firm lost several rockets as it attempted to land them upright on an ocean platform at the end of a flight — a crucial part of its strategy for reusable spacecraft. While the blast is likely to disrupt SpaceX plans for six more launches between now and January 2017, experts made clear that such incidents are a normal part of the space learning curve. “It’s clearly a setback, but how great the setback is and how long the delay, it’s impossible to know until there is more information available,” said Logsdon. He noted that the launchpad damaged on Thursday was distinct from the one that will serve to launch SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, intended to ferry astronauts to the ISS starting in late 2017. Loizos Heracleous, a professor of strategy at Warwick Business School, said such setbacks were par for the course — and would not affect SpaceX’s stated long-term goals of slashing the cost of space flight through the use of reusable rockets, and eventually colonizing Mars. “SpaceX is gathering valuable experience, and each accident brings lessons on how to enhance the integrity of the craft for future missions,” he said. “Given that SpaceX is working to provide NASA with a way to transport not just cargo, but also astronauts to the International Space Station, it is r six more launches between now and January 2017. “It’s clearly a setback, but how great the setback is and how long the delay, it’s impossible to know until there is more information available,” said Logsdon. A NASA spokeswoman told AFP that emergency services at the nearby Kennedy Space Center were monitoring the situation and conducting air quality tests to ensure there is no threat to the health of staff. Officials at the center advised all staff to remain inside until further notice. SpaceX had successfully launched a Falcon 9 last month, sending a Japanese communications satellite into orbit and then landing the rocket on a floating drone ship. The explosion comes just over a year after a Falcon 9 rocket failed just after liftoff, on June 28, 2015, destroying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The firm has also lost several rockets as it attempted to land them upright on an ocean platform at the end of a flight.[SEP]An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Thursday (Reuters photo) MIAMI — An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on Thursday on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida during a test, destroying it along with its payload, but causing no injuries, the private space firm said. The blast marks a major setback for California-based SpaceX and its founder, internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who wants to revolutionise the launch industry by making rocket components reusable. A dense plume of black smoke filled the air following the blast, which destroyed the Israeli communications satellite that Falcon had been due to deliver into orbit on Saturday. Facebook was due to use the Amos-6 satellite to provide broadband internet coverage for swathes of sub-Saharan Africa as part of the social media giant's Internet.org initiative. The US space agency NASA said the incident took place shortly after 9:00am (1300 GMT). "SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today's static fire, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload," the company said. "Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries." Brevard County Emergency Management said there was no threat to the public from the incident. Amos-6 was the heaviest payload to date for a SpaceX rocket, with an estimated value of between $200 and $300 million, according to John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. The accident — the second of its kind in the firm's history — is expected to significantly disrupt SpaceX plans for six more launches between now and January 2017. "It's clearly a setback, but how great the setback is and how long the delay, it's impossible to know until there is more information available," said Logsdon. A NASA spokeswoman told AFP that emergency services at the nearby Kennedy Space Centre were monitoring the situation and conducting air quality tests to ensure there is no threat to the health of staff. Officials at the center advised all staff to remain inside until further notice. SpaceX had successfully launched a Falcon 9 last month, sending a Japanese communications satellite into orbit and then landing the rocket on a floating drone ship. The explosion comes just over a year after a Falcon 9 rocket failed just after liftoff, on June 28, 2015, destroying a Dragon cargo capsule bound for the International Space Station. The firm has also lost several rockets as it attempted to land them upright on an ocean platform at the end of a flight.[SEP]An explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX during routine test firing at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday, shaking buildings miles away and sending a thick plume of black smoke pouring into the air. SpaceX said in a statement there were no injuries, but that an “anomaly” during the static fire test resulted in the loss of the rocket and the Israeli communications satellite it had been due to carry into space at the weekend. A spokesman for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station said there was a “significant” explosion just after 9am ET (2pm irish-time) at Launch Complex 40, which is leased by SpaceX. “Our emergency management teams are responding right now,” said the spokesman, Bryan Purtell. The explosion tore through the launch site during a test firing of the Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the launch of the communications satellite owned by Spacecom which had been scheduled for before dawn on Saturday. People in buildings several miles from the facility wrote on social media that they felt the blast, and live television images showed thick black smoke coming from the site. Local authorities said residents were not at risk. “There is NO threat to general public from catastrophic abort during static test fire at SpaceX launch pad,” the Brevard County Emergency Management Office said in a tweet. Robin Seemangal, a space reporter with the Observer newspaper, quoted a source at the facility who told him it felt like the building they were in had been hit by lightning. “We actually thought the building was collapsing, it shook us so bad,” Seemangal wrote in a tweet, quoting his source. It was not immediately known if SpaceX’s launch pad was damaged or what the impact would be on the dozens of NASA and commercial satellite missions on its launch schedule. SpaceX had recovered from a June 2015 launch accident that destroyed a load of cargo headed for the International Space Station. The pad where SpaceX’s rocket was being prepared for launch is one of two operated by the company. Its other launch site is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of slashing launch costs to make travel to Mars affordable. The company plans to fly its first unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2018 and send humans to Mars as early as 2024.[SEP]An explosion rocked SpaceX’s launch site in Florida on Thursday morning, destroying a Falcon 9 rocket set for liftoff this weekend and its payload, the company has confirmed. The explosion occurred at Cape Canaveral Air Force station shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific time, sending dark clouds of smoke into the sky and shaking buildings miles away. SpaceX said in a statement that while preparing for a static test fire, an “anomaly on the pad resulted in the loss of the vehicle and its payload.” SpaceX was set to launch an Israeli communications satellite this weekend. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and no one was injured, SpaceX said. Kennedy Space Center’s Emergency Operations Center is “monitoring the situation” and is standing by for assistance if required, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Martin said in a statement. The explosion could be a huge setback for SpaceX, which this week announced that it had signed its first customer to launch a satellite with a reusable rocket. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has estimated that reusing rockets could eventually cut launch costs 30%. The Hawthorne company, whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has already hit major milestones, proving that it can successfully land its rocket boosters. The company must prove that it can safely and reliably reuse rockets to fulfill its core mission to increase the frequency and lower the cost of launches. In June 2015, a SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station disintegrated over the Florida coast two minutes after liftoff. 7:37 a.m.: This article was updated with confirmation from SpaceX 7:10 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 6:40 a.m.[SEP]The 604-ton Falcon 9 rocket was being fueled with a potent mix of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant when an explosion quickly enveloped the launch pad in flames. The ensuing fireball delivered a blow to the efforts of two high-profile billionaires: SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. The rocket, scheduled to launch Saturday, was carrying a satellite designed to bring the Internet to remote villages in Africa and help the social media giant expand its global footprint. Instead, the satellite and rocket were destroyed in several fiery explosions — loud enough to be heard 40 miles away — as wind spread a plume of black smoke so large and thick it showed up on weather radar. “We heard what sounded like a huge thunder strike,” said Evan Zimny, 23, who works about five miles away in an office building that shuddered from the blast as ceiling tiles fell. “The building and window shook rapidly and loudly and (that) lasted a couple of seconds,” he said. There were no reported injuries. Musk said the explosion took place as the rocket was being fueled for a test ahead of a planned weekend launch. The cause was not immediately known, he said. But even as the smoke was clearing, the ramifications started to become apparent. They stretched from SpaceX’s Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters to aerospace companies in Israel to rural Africa. In recent years, the commercial space industry has grown in size and importance. Last year, SpaceX received approval from the Air Force to compete for Pentagon contracts, pitting the firm against United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. that had long enjoyed a monopoly on national security launches. Several other private companies — including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic — are also racing to launch satellites and tourists into orbit. “Today’s SpaceX incident — while not a NASA launch — reminds us that spaceflight is challenging,” NASA tweeted. “Our partners learn from each success & setback.” Industry analysts said the explosion could delay space launches. Saturday’s planned liftoff would have been the ninth by SpaceX in 2016, with eight more planned by the end of the year. “It’s clear there will be some sort of delay,” said Phil Smith, senior space analyst at the Tauri Group. The explosion — the second Falcon 9 failure in 14 months for SpaceX — could also be a setback to Musk’s efforts to prove that his company can quickly and safely launch and reuse rockets. Just this week, SpaceX had announced that it had signed its first customer to launch a satellite with a reused booster. SpaceX, whose full name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., charges at least $62 million for each launch. This spring, the company landed its first big Pentagon job — an $83 million contract from the Air Force to launch a global positioning system satellite from Cape Canaveral in 2018. Uzi Rubin, former chief of Israel’s missile defense program, said rocket launches are never foolproof. But major mishaps usually don’t happen during launch preparations, he said. “The Falcon 9 up till now was very reliable,” Rubin said. “There’s always a chance of failure, but usually it happens after the launch. This time it happened on the launch pad.” In the long run, however, analysts said there would be few impacts on the burgeoning launch and small satellite industries, as well as on SpaceX. Bill Ostrove, aerospace and defense analyst at market research firm Forecast International, pointed to SpaceX’s 93 percent launch success rate, which is “right in the ballpark” of the industry’s average of 95 percent. “Considering they do have a decent success rate, I don’t see much harm being done to the industry as a whole,” he said. Still, the explosion was another blow to Musk, the Los Angeles entrepreneur who also runs Tesla Motors Inc. He began his summer by learning that federal regulators were investigating the Autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S electric car after a fatal crash. And SpaceX was still trying to ramp back up after another Falcon 9 rocket exploded in midair minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in June 2015. Lost in the blast was $110 million in cargo for the International Space Station. After an investigation of that incident, Musk said that the company believed the rocket disintegrated after a small steel band purchased from a subcontractor snapped under pressure. The explosion caused SpaceX to reduce its launches last year to only six. Another billionaire’s ambitions also took a hit Thursday. The Amos-6 satellite sitting atop the SpaceX rocket was going to beam high-speed Internet and other digital services to sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and parts of Europe as part of an effort by Facebook to provide Internet access to poorly connected areas. “I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent,” Zuckerberg, who was in Africa, said in a Facebook post. It was the first attempt by the company’s Internet.org initiative to deliver Internet signals from space. But Zuckerberg said Facebook was working on other technologies, such as an unmanned solar-powered plane that can transmit the Internet to remote locations. “We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided,” he said. The Amos-6 satellite was a total loss, said Space Communication, the Tel Aviv company that was going to operate it. Known as Spacecom, the company had contracts with the Israeli government to use the satellite, which was meant for broadcast and telecommunications, as well as with Facebook. Spacecom’s stock fell nearly 9 percent in trading in Tel Aviv on Thursday. The satellite’s manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, took out an insurance policy on the Amos-6 worth $285 million — the same amount as the total value of the satellite, according to a person familiar with the matter. That policy, also known as a marine cargo insurance policy, covers transit and pre-launch processing of the satellite from the factory to the launch site. Spacecom’s insurance policy doesn’t cover risk of loss until the launch.[SEP]During a pre-launch test this morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was sitting on a launchpad ahead of a scheduled launch this Saturday to take an AMOS-6 communications satellite into orbit for the Israeli company Spacecom. That satellite is a joint effort between Facebook and France’s Eutelsat to provide internet connectivity to 14 African countries. Some reports indicated that the explosion shook office buildings some distance away. Engadget reports that SpaceX was static firing the Falcon 9 engines ahead of this weekend’s launch at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), a process that’s standard procedure. During that test, the Air Force Museum at the Kennedy Space Center closes, however SpaceX does have a personnel building close to the launchpad. The Verge reports the US Air Force 45th Space Wing says there no known casualties and there’s not a threat to the general public. Last year, a Falcon 9 broke up shortly after launch on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX says the explosion was caused by “an anomaly” on the launchpad, but the area was clear so there were no injuries. The company didn’t offer any word on an exact cause and it may be a while before more information is discovered, but the Falcon 9 and its payload, the AMOS-6 satellite, were both destroyed.[SEP]NASA says SpaceX was conducting a routine test-firing of its rocket when the blast occurred. An explosion rocked the SpaceX launch site in Florida on Thursday. NASA says SpaceX was conducting a test-firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred on Thursday morning. The test, considered routine, was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Buildings several kilometres away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky. Additional details were not immediately available. But sirens could be heard in the aftermath. The rocket was supposed to hoist an Israeli satellite this weekend.[SEP]Smoke rises from a SpaceX launch site Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA said SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when a blast occurred. (AP Photo/Marcia Dunn) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An explosion has rocked the SpaceX launch site in Florida. NASA says SpaceX was conducting a test firing of its unmanned rocket when the blast occurred Thursday morning. The test, considered routine, was in advance of a planned Saturday launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Buildings several miles away shook from the blast, and multiple explosions continued for several minutes. A cloud of dark smoke filled the overcast sky. Additional details were not immediately available. But sirens could be heard in the aftermath. The rocket was supposed to hoist an Israeli satellite this weekend.[SEP]A rocket operated by the aerospace company SpaceX has exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral where it was being test-fired ahead of a launch. The force of the blast shook buildings several miles away and sent a plume of smoke high above the complex. In a statement, the company blamed the blast on “an anomaly” and said no-one had been injured. It said the rocket’s payload, a communications satellite due to launch on Saturday, was also destroyed. Facebook, in partnership with Eutelsat Communications, had been due to use the Israeli-built Amos-6 satellite to deliver broadband internet coverage for swathes of sub-Saharan Africa as part of its Internet.org initiative. Experts said the satellite was valued at more than $200m (£150m). Cape Canaveral Air Force Station said a “significant” explosion happened just after 09:00 (14:00 GMT) at Launch Complex 40, which is leased by SpaceX. “Our emergency management teams are responding right now,” said spokesman Bryan Purtell. SpaceX is aiming to create a new era of reusable rockets and affordable private space travel and has used its Falcon-9 rocket to take supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). In December last year, the California-based company successfully landed a Falcon-9 back on Earth after a mission to launch orbiting satellites – a first in rocketry. It went on to recover five more boosters, with most of them returning to an ocean platform. The idea is to re-fly these rockets, and the first such “second hand” vehicle is scheduled to launch in October. SpaceX is run out of Hawthorne near Los Angeles by Elon Musk, who made his fortune with internet companies. As well as being the rocket company’s CEO, he also heads up the Tesla electric car company. Whatever the details of what went wrong at the launch-pad, this is bad news for one of the most ambitious-ever space programmes. SpaceX has big dreams for cheap, frequent and distant space travel. This test-firing was meant to be routine, part of an accelerating series of launches. Beyond it, SpaceX is looking to make history by re-using one of the massive first stages that was returned to Earth intact. The company is also preparing to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Most exotic of all, the company’s boss, Elon Musk, is due later this month to unveil his plans for a Mars colony, and how that would take effect. There had been talk of the first SpaceX unmanned mission to the Red Planet in a couple of years’ time. All its timetables will now be in jeopardy. The Falcon-9 booster is designed to return to Earth, touching down on land or a floating platform An employee at the Kennedy Space Center took this image of the blast For more on this story and video go to: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37247077

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes during a routine firing test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX say there were no injuries, but that an "anomaly" during the static fire test resulted in the loss of the rocket and the Israeli Amos-6 communication satellite it was carrying.

Residents of a small community on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island have been told they can return to their homes, after a severe earthquake at sea sparked a tsunami warning. The 7.1 quake struck 169km (105 miles) north-east of Gisborne on Friday morning local time. Authorities asked people in the Tolaga Bay area to leave their homes. Some damage to property has been reported, but no injuries. The quake caused a tsunami but it has had no noticeable impact, an emergency worker told New Zealand radio. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii tweeted that only a 21cm (8in) wave had been measured. Local civil defence officials said it was now safe for Gisborne residents to return, but advised them to stay away from beaches, streams and estuaries, saying the tsunami threat had not entirely lifted. Residents were told to head for high ground or far inland if they felt another strong quake. The quake occurred at 04:37 local time (16:37 GMT) at a depth of 19km (12 miles), US monitors say, and was followed by a series of large aftershocks. Residents across North Island said they felt shaking and rattling as the quake struck but there were no immediate reports of serious damage. In 2011, the city of Christchurch on South Island was devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that left 185 people dead. Each year more than 15,000 earthquakes are recorded in New Zealand, but only about 150 are large enough to be felt.[SEP]New Zealand civil defence authorities have ordered the evacuation of several coastal areas over fears that a major 7.1 offshore earthquake could cause a Tsunami. An initial “potential” warning was raised to a Tsunami after a wave measuring 30cm was generated near the East Cape about 90 minutes after the quake struck on Friday morning. "The first tsunami activity has arrived. Tsunami activity will continue for several hours," the Civil Defence organisation, responsible for national emergency management, said in a statement, AFP reports. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras. The warning covers the East Coast of the North Island and the upper South Island. The quake hit at at 4:37 am, 103 miles northeast of the city of Gisborne and had a depth of 19.1 miles, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Twitter users in North Island reported being woken up by shaking. Those living in Gisborne, which has a population of around 45,000, have been told to evacuate to higher ground or go as far inland as possible. Residents in coastal areas of the East Cape region were also being advised to evacuate by local civil defence officials, Radio New Zealand reported. New Zealand media reported some power outages in the east coast region. Civil defence public information officer Sheridan Gundry said the emergency management centre has been activated Shape Created with Sketch. The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Show all 10 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 1/10 Chile 1960 (Magnitude: 9.5) 2010 AFP 2/10 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 (Magnitude: 9.2) 3/10 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 (Magnitude: 9.1) 4/10 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 (Magnitude: 9.0) 2011 IFRC 5/10 Kamchatka 1952 (Magnitude: 9.0) 6/10 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 (Magnitude: 8.8) 2010 Getty Images 7/10 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 (Magnitude: 8.8) 8/10 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 (Magnitude: 8.7) 9/10 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 (Magnitude: 8.6) 2005 Getty Images 10/10 Assam - Tibet 1950 (Magnitude: 8.6) 1/10 Chile 1960 (Magnitude: 9.5) 2010 AFP 2/10 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 (Magnitude: 9.2) 3/10 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 (Magnitude: 9.1) 4/10 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 (Magnitude: 9.0) 2011 IFRC 5/10 Kamchatka 1952 (Magnitude: 9.0) 6/10 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 (Magnitude: 8.8) 2010 Getty Images 7/10 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 (Magnitude: 8.8) 8/10 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 (Magnitude: 8.7) 9/10 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 (Magnitude: 8.6) 2005 Getty Images 10/10 Assam - Tibet 1950 (Magnitude: 8.6) The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management and its scientific advisors were still assessing the severity of the tsunami threat. The US National Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake did not pose any danger of a tsunami on the Pacific coast of Canada or the United States. The Chilean Navy also said it did not expect a tsunami on the coast of the South American nation. Independent news email Only the best news in your inbox Independent news email Only the best news in your inbox Enter your email address Continue Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid Email already exists. Log in to update your newsletter preferences Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive morning headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email Update newsletter preferences The USGS originally reported the quake as a 7.2 magnitude but later downgraded it to 7.1. New Zealand is located on the Australasian and Pacific tectonic plates boundary, which form part of the “Ring of Fire” and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year. Additional reporting by Reuters[SEP]A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of New Zealand – sparking fears of a potential tsunami threat. The quake was estimated at a depth of around 18 miles off the country's north island, 352 miles northeast of Wellington, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of causalities. No Pacific-wide tsunami warning has been issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, but officials in New Zealand said there was a 'potential threat'. A 'very small' tsunami has already hit the country's northern coast, according to USGS geophysicist John Bellini. New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called 'Ring of Fire', and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year. In a series of tweets, New Zealand’s Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management warned people to stay out of the water. It said: 'There is a potential tsunami threat for New Zealand following the 7m earthquake near Te Araroa at 4.38NZ time today.' The quake happened just after 5.30pm British time. It comes around 24 hours after a separate 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of New Zealand's north island. That quake happened at 10.04am local time on Thursday and its epicentre was near the town of Te Araroa on the east coast of the island. It had a depth of 25 kilometres and was felt by people north of Te Araroa in Auckland and the Great Barrier Island, the New Zealand Herald reported. There were no reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warnings put in place.[SEP]New Zealand has been warned a tsunami could strike after a massive earthquake rocked the nation. The 7.1 magnitude quake hit the coast of the southern hemisphere country in the early hours of Friday morning local time. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage as the quake hit 105 miles northeast of Gisborne, and had a depth of 19.1 miles. A short while after the earthquake struck, the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management warned of the potential of a tsunami hitting coastal areas. It said in a statement on its website: "MCDEM and scientific advisors are in the process of assessing the situation to determine the severity of the threat to New Zealand. "Meanwhile, people in coastal areas should note that strong tsunami currents and surges are possible. "Listen to the radio and TV for further assessment and updates." Twitter users in New Zealand's North Island reported being woken up by shaking. The quake did not pose any danger of a tsunami on the Pacific coast of Canada or the United States, the US National Tsunami Warning Center said. The Chilean Navy also said it did not expect a tsunami on the coast of the South American nation. The USGS originally reported the quake as a 7.2 magnitude but later downgraded it to 7.1.[SEP]A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has hit off the coast of New Zealand's North Island. The earthquake happened at 10.04am local time on Thursday and its epicentre was near the town of Te Araroa on the east coast of the island. It had a depth of 25 kilometres and was felt by people north of Te Araroa in Auckland and the Great Barrier Island, the New Zealand Herald reported. The South Island would also have felt the earthquake as far south as Christchurch, which is more than 1,100 kilometres away from the epicentre. It was initially recorded as a 5.0-magnitude earthquake, 100km from Te Araroa, before it was upgraded, according to GeoNet. Following the earthquake, New Zealand's Earthquakes Commission tweeted: 'We hope everyone is okay up on the after that one. Take care of each other and remember the actions - drop, cover and hold.' There have been no reports of damage or injuries so far, and there are no tsunami warnings in place. GeoNet seismologist Bill Fry said the earthquake was felt most on the north-east coast. 'The further away from the epicentre the less shaking you feel, so the lower intensity you would have felt,' Mr Fry told Daily Mail Australia. 'By the time it got to shore [the intensity] would not have been severe enough to cause serious damage.' Mr Fry said the intensity would have been felt at least 500 kilometres away. 'There is a special situation along the eastern coast which means waves travel very efficiently towards Wellington,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'We've got a rigid structure, like a string tied between two cups, and because of special situation we get a felt reports from a long, long away.' Mr Fry added it was 'very unlikely' the earthquake would have been felt in the Great Barrier Reef but he was not on location to confirm reports.[SEP]A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has struck off the coast of New Zealand, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake hit 169km northeast of Gisborne and had a depth of 30km, the USGS said. Twitter users in New Zealand’s North Island reported being woken up by shaking. The quake did not pose any danger of a tsunami on the Pacific coast of Canada or the US, the US National Tsunami Warning Centre said. The Chilean navy also said it did not expect a tsunami on the coast of the South American nation. The USGS originally reported the quake as of 7.2-magnitude, but later downgraded it to 7.1.[SEP]Officials in New Zealand have issued a tsunami warning after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the North Island coast. Residents of Tologa Bay were told to evacuate after the quake hit around 105 miles northeast of Gisborne at a depth of 19.1 miles. Buildings were rocked by the quake, which happened shortly before 4.40am local time. Rupert Barrett tweeted: "I woke up to a minor shake and I thought it was gonna end but then it got 3x worse and the whole house started shaking." Another Twitter user wrote: "We're right on the beach so we're in a tsunami evacuation zone right now. "Woke up nauseous our whole house was shaking." There were no immediate reports of any damage to buildings or injuries.[SEP]Evacuations were under way in New Zealand Friday after a tsunami warning was issued following a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck before dawn off the east coast of the North Island. An initial "potential" warning was upgraded to a tsunami after a wave measuring 30 centimetres was generated near the sparsely populated East Cape about 90 minutes after the earthquake struck. "The first tsunami activity has arrived. Tsunami activity will continue for several hours," the Civil Defence organisation, responsible for national emergency management, said in a statement. The warning covered the East Coast of the North Island and the upper South Island. The shallow tremor was estimated at a depth of around 30 kilometres (18 miles) off the coast, according to the US Geological Survey. It was centred 167 kilometres (103 miles) from the nearest main town, Gisborne, which has a population of around 45,000. Radio New Zealand reported that residents in coastal areas of the East Cape region were being advised by local civil defence officials to evactuate. Civil defence public information officer Sheridan Gundry said the emergency management centre has been activated. The earthquake, which struck at 4:37am (1637 GMT) was felt over much of the country but there were no immediate reports of damage. New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called "Ring of Fire", and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.[SEP]The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a strong magnitude-7.1 earthquake about 160 km off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii reports that no tsunami of significant strength is expected. The quake registered 167 km off the North Island coast in the South Pacific Ocean. The quake comes a day after a magnitude-5.7 quake registered in the same area, 100 km northeast of Te Araroa on the North Island’s east coast.[SEP]WELLINGTON: New Zealand issued a “potential” tsunami warning Friday after a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake stuck off the east coast of the North Island. The shallow tremor was estimated at a depth of around 30 kilometres (18 miles) off the coast, some 167 kilometres from Gisborne, according to the US Geological Survey said. New Zealand’s civil defence organisation, responsible for the nation’s emergency management, said it had issued “a tsunami potential threat advisory in all New Zealand coastal areas”. Radio New Zealand reported that residents in coastal areas of the East Cape region were being advised by local civil defence officials to evacuate. Civil defence public information officer Sheridan Gundry said the emergency management centre has been activated. The earthquake, which struck at 4:37am (1637 GMT) was felt over much of the country but there were no immediate reports of damage and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a warning. New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called “Ring of Fire”, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake occurs off the north east coast of North Island, New Zealand. A tsunami warning was issued after the earthquake, and waves of 0.3m have been reported near Gisborne.

Malaysia confirms first case of Zika, launches measures to contain spread of virus KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Malaysia confirmed on Thursday its first case of Zika after a woman tested positive for the virus following a three-day visit to neighbouring Singapore on August 19. The 58-year-old woman had showed signs of a rash and fever one week after returning from Singapore, according to Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam. "We are carrying out control measures against aedes mosquitoes near the woman's home to prevent the spread of the virus," he said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the virus was discovered in the woman's urine sample. Subramaniam initially said the woman's "child" had also tested positive for Zika in Singapore. He later clarified that the child was in fact an adult daughter who is working in Singapore and has not returned to Malaysia. Subramaniam said they have already intensified vector control activities in Taman Botani in Klang, where the infected woman's home is located, and urged residents to allow officers despatched to the area to enter their homes and carry out fogging and larvicidal spraying. Singapore announced the first locally contracted case of Zika late on Saturday, and the number of diagnosed infections has grown steadily this week. A pregnant woman was among those diagnosed with Zika infections in Singapore, as the number of confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the city-state rose to 115. Subramaniam said on Thursday that a total of five Malaysians have so far been identified as having tested positive for Zika in Singapore. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.[SEP]The 58-year-old woman had showed signs of a rash and fever one week after returning from Singapore, according to Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam. "We are carrying out control measures against aedes mosquitoes near the woman's home to prevent the spread of the virus," he said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the virus was discovered in the woman's urine sample. Subramaniam initially said the woman's "child" had also tested positive for Zika in Singapore. He later clarified that the child was in fact an adult daughter who is working in Singapore and has not returned to Malaysia. Subramaniam said they have already intensified vector control activities in Taman Botani in Klang, where the infected woman's home is located, and urged residents to allow officers despatched to the area to enter their homes and carry out fogging and larvicidal spraying. Singapore announced the first locally contracted case of Zika late on Saturday, and the number of diagnosed infections has grown steadily this week. A pregnant woman was among those diagnosed with Zika infections in Singapore, as the number of confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the city-state rose to 115. Subramaniam said on Thursday that a total of five Malaysians have so far been identified as having tested positive for Zika in Singapore. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.[SEP]KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Malaysia reported its first case of Zika on Thursday, a woman who tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus after a visit to neighbouring Singapore, where 115 people have so far been infected, many of them foreigners. The 58-year-old victim had shown signs of a rash and fever one week after her return from Singapore on August 21, said Malaysian Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam. "We are carrying out control measures against aedes mosquitoes near the woman's home to prevent the spread of the virus," he told a news conference. The Zika virus, which has spread through the Americas and the Caribbean since late last year, is generally a mild disease but is a particular risk to pregnant women. It has been linked to microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said Singapore is the only Asian nation with an active Zika virus transmission. Officials in the city-state, one of the world's largest financial centres and busiest travel hubs, reported the first locally transmitted infection on Saturday and said on Wednesday the number had jumped to 115. Singapore authorities detected infections in people living outside the initial outbreak area and have identified a potential second cluster. A pregnant woman was among the victims, they said. "Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge from more areas," Singapore's Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong said in a statement on Wednesday. "We must work and plan on the basis that there is Zika transmission in other parts of Singapore and extend our vector control efforts beyond the current affected areas." Five Malaysians in Singapore had tested positive for Zika, including the latest victim's adult daughter, who works in Singapore, the Malaysian minister said. Twenty-one Chinese nationals, 13 Indians, six Bangladeshis, and an Indonesian are also among the 115 cases of Zika reported in Singapore, foreign officials said. Many are believed to be overseas workers at building sites in Singapore, although the Singapore government has not given details of the victims by nationality. The United States, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia have warned pregnant women not to travel to Singapore. The outbreak and advisories come as the tourism industry in Singapore already faces weak global economic growth. Singapore's Tourism Board said it was premature to consider any impact on the sector, adding it remained a "safe travel destination". More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport every year. In the first half of this year, tourism arrivals topped 8 million, around 1 million more than a year earlier. Malaysia has asked people visiting Singapore to use repellent and cover up to avoid mosquito bites. Tens of thousands of people travel between the two nations each day, by boat, air and across two land border crossings. Both Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia have stepped up protective measures following the Singapore outbreak, intensifying checks on people arriving from Singapore, introducing thermal scanners and posting paramedics at airports and border checkpoints. Zika is carried by mosquitoes, which transmit the virus to humans, but a small number of cases of sexual transmission have been reported in the United States and elsewhere. A case of suspected transmission through a blood transfusion in Brazil has raised questions about other ways Zika may spread. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, however.[SEP]India confirms 13 of its nationals test positive for Zika in Singapore NEW DELHI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - India's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that 13 of its nationals had tested positive for the Zika virus in Singapore, after an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease that at first affected three dozen workers on a construction site. "According to our mission in Singapore 13 Indian nationals have tested positive for Zika in Singapore," Vikas Swarup, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said in response to a Reuters inquiry. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Michael Perry)[SEP]Risk that Zika will spread further in U.S, elsewhere - WHO GENEVA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Singapore has handled its Zika outbreak in a textbook fashion so far, while the United States could see the disease spread beyond Florida despite mosquito-control measures, officials at the World Health Organization said on Friday. Speaking after a meeting of the WHO's emergency committee on Zika, its chairman David Heymann said the disease continued to constitute an international health emergency although the risk to people attending the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro this month was low. "This extraordinary event is rapidly becoming, unfortunately, an ordinary event. And Zika is beginning to spread, continuing to cause outbreaks in many countries around the world," Heymann told a news conference. Singapore, with a "very technologically advanced health system", was able to identify the disease "very early", Heymann said. "But in other countries where it might enter at some time, that might not be the case." Peter Salama, head of disease emergencies and outbreaks at the WHO, said the virus was likely to keep spreading. Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local U.S. transmission of the illness. There have been 49 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus in a small area of Miami Salama, asked about Florida and the risk of spread elsewhere in the United States, said: "In terms of further spread, yes, a risk. As we said, the U.S. is no exception. Wherever there is a competent vector, in this case the Aedes aegypti (mosquito), there is a risk that the virus will spread." Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities. Brazil has confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in the past year. Although there is no vaccine and scientists don't yet know how to stop Zika, they foresaw a low risk of the virus spreading at the Olympic Games last month in Brazil, the country hardest hit by the virus, during the winter season there. Nobody returning from the Games, neither travellers nor athletes, has reported Zika symptoms, although most cases of the disease are asymptomatic, Salama said. "Certainly we feel fairly confident that the risk assessment that there would be no significant increased transmission due to the Olympics is very much on track," he said. Singapore, now with 189 known cases, has had a textbook response with transparency and quick reporting, Salama said. "The way the government of Singapore has handled the outbreak in Singapore really represents in many cases a role model...remembering that the first case was only confirmed really just a little over a week ago," he said. Heymann said Singapore was expected to complete genetic sequencing of the virus by next week, which would show which strain was causing the outbreak there. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Tom Miles and Mark Trevelyan)[SEP]JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia is screening travelers from neighboring Singapore for the mosquito-borne Zika virus as the city-state reports a growing number of infections and its first case of a pregnant woman testing positive. Indonesian Health Ministry spokesman Oscar Primadi said Thursday that health officials are recommending that the Foreign Ministry issue an advisory against nonessential travel to Singapore, particularly for pregnant women. Singapore issued a statement on Wednesday evening saying it had identified 22 new Zika cases in one particular area of the city and its first case involving a pregnant woman. Zika has mild effects for most people but doctors believe infection during pregnancy can result in babies with small heads, which is known as microcephaly, and other serious developmental disorders. Singapore had 155 cases as of Wednesday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising travelers to Singapore to take precautions such as protecting themselves against mosquito bites, and because the virus can also be sexually transmitted, to use condoms or not have sex. Primadi said thermal imaging equipment to detect abnormal body temperatures was installed at eight Indonesian ports with routes serving Singapore, including the capital Jakarta's airport. He said travelers will also be given a health questionnaire so they will recognize symptoms and know to immediately report to health authorities. On Thursday, Malaysia's Health Ministry said a 58-year-old woman who traveled to Singapore had become that country's first Zika case. Health Minister S. Subramaniam said the woman and her husband visited Singapore for three days from Aug. 19. The woman developed a rash a week after her return and later tested positive for Zika in her urine, he said. Her daughter in Singapore tested positive for Zika on Tuesday. "We can conclude that it is rather easy to get infected by the virus when visiting places that has outbreak, including Singapore," he said. "Proactive action from the community can help stop the spread of Zika virus in Malaysia." Subramaniam said the virus was believed to be imported from Singapore because the woman started experiencing symptoms on the same day as her daughter. The ministry has started control activities such as eliminating mosquito breeding sites and fog spraying in her residential area and other places that the patient had visited. Indonesia has not yet reported any local Zika infections but an Indonesian woman in Singapore is among those infected there. Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed to this story.[SEP]Laurie Garrett is a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. (CNN) Thirty-five years ago, alert physicians in the United States spotted a new disease, caused by a virus that had been in circulation, unnoticed, for decades in people, and millennia in monkeys. The virus had hit pay dirt, racing through the gay sexual revolution where one man might have sex with 30 other men a year, giving the virus exponential rates of infection Over time, the virus' transmission shifted, especially in Africa, from rare cases of monkey-to-human transmission to general heterosexual spread, with women today five times more likely to be newly infected compared to men, thanks to sexual cultures that favor male promiscuity. That was HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, which currently infects more than 37 million people living all over the world. A key lesson of AIDS is that a virus—in HIV's case, infecting African monkeys—might pass rarely, but repeatedly, to human beings for decades before arriving in a context of epidemic potential. Adapting to new modes of transmission and targeting novel species, the microbe can exist for thousands of years before beginning to achieve previously unimaginable feats, with devastating impact. Now the world is facing a virus that seems poised to make a similar leap: the Zika virus. Like HIV, Zika originated in central Africa, very rarely infecting human beings, and circulating among rainforest primates. Unlike HIV, Zika had the ability to fly, carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from one monkey or human, to another. Since reaching Brazil in 2013, where it has spread explosively over the last 12 months, Zika has demonstrated capabilities not seen, or extremely rarely noted, with any other insect-carried microbes. If Zika finds its way into an especially sexually active community, it could well become a threat not only in America's southern, mosquito-infested states, but anywhere in the world. Like HIV, the Zika virus would likely find its way into populations that feel discriminated against by the general population, and take its toll disproportionately among teenage girls and young women. Meanwhile, in all tiers of public health across America, scientists and officials are scrambling to rob other budgets in order to finance research and mosquito control measures. At local levels, this ironically means things like sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) programs are losing money, so that counties can hire mosquito abatement experts. Vital questions about Zika, especially as a sexually transmitted disease linked to birth defects, are going unanswered, thanks to the research funding gap. Instead, 90% more Zika cases were registered among women, compared to the female rates for dengue. Neighboring Colombia has also seen far more Zika in females, with young women accounting for two-thirds of the 65,726 cases diagnosed by mid-April 2016. Critics charge that both the Brazilian and Colombian studies may simply reflect the greater fear women have about exposure to Zika during pregnancy, prompting more of them to seek medical care. The researchers disagree, insisting that the higher rates of diagnosed Zika are seen in young women, whether or not they are pregnant or are trying to conceive. When microbes gain capacity to be sexually transmitted, they rarely disappear from the human population group in which they emerged. Fewer still—less than half—were aware that Zika could be passed sexually. In the absence of such knowledge, sexually active Americans are unlikely to use condoms. Around the world, intriguing puzzles abound. Jacqueline Silva de Oliveira lives in Santos, Brazil, where she contracted Zika during her pregnancy—either via a mosquito or sexually, it is not known—and gave birth to twins in February. Today, Lucas is a healthy, happy infant, but his twin sister, Laura, suffers in agonizing pain thanks to Zika microcephaly -- which slaughters brain cells and results in complete remodeling of the brain in development. The couple took a holiday in the Caribbean nation of Martinique, returned to France, and underwent more tests. The man's blood was free of Zika, but about a month after they were back in France, the woman became infected. Examination of her partner's semen revealed Zika. Neither of them ever had symptoms of illness, nor felt any reason to avoid sex or use condoms, as they were a married couple trying to have a baby. Here at home, time is running out. Researchers desperately need funding to provide the tools required to forestall a sexually transmitted Zika epidemic in the United States. In the absence of those tools, women will make difficult choices, deferring pregnancies for months, perhaps years, and seeking abortions. The stalemate on Capitol Hill may actually increase the likelihood that more American babies will be born with terrible malformations and neurological deficits. And, equally horribly, that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of couples will seek abortions based on suspicion of Zika infection, possibly terminating some healthy pregnancies.[SEP]Of the 26 new cases, 24 were linked to existing clusters while two cases have no known links to any existing cluster, they said. The sequencing analysis of the Zika virus found in two patients from an existing cluster in Aljunied Crescent/Sims Drive, showed that the virus was not imported from South America, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and NEA said. "The analysis found that the virus belongs to the Asian lineage and likely evolved from the strain that was already circulating in Southeast Asia. The virus from these two patients was not imported from South America." The MOH and NEA said a research team that conducted the analysis would release more details shortly. The Malaysian health ministry said earlier on Saturday that it had detected the first case of a locally transmitted Zika infection in Malaysia, in a 61-year-old man in the state of Sabah. The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects.[SEP]Six Bangladesh nationals have been tested positive with the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Singapore, the High Commission of Bangladesh said on Thursday. ‘We have been informed yesterday by MOH (the ministry of health) that of those tested positive, as of 12 noon on 30 August, 6 are Bangladeshi nationals,’ Mahbub Uz Zaman, high commissioner of Bangladesh to Singapore told Reuters by email. ‘We have also been informed that the patients are presented with mild symptoms and have either recovered or recovering. We are in touch with the ministry of health in this regard.’[SEP]Nearly half of Americans polled say they are wary of traveling to places in the U.S. where people have been infected with the Zika virus by mosquitoes, such as parts of Florida. A poll released on Americans' health care attitudes by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 48 percent would be uncomfortable traveling to Zika infection areas within the U.S., and up to 61 percent felt uneasy about traveling to Puerto Rico or non-U.S. Zika zones. More than two-and-a-half billion people are at risk of developing the Zika virus, scientists have warned. It comes as the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak of Zika remains an international health emergency and noted the virus is continuing to infect new countries. Malaysia has also confirmed its first case of the virus after authorities in Singapore confirmed they have detected more than 150 people with the virus. New analysis of travel, climate and mosquito patterns in parts of Asia and Africa found people in these regions were particularly at risk. Most Zika cases contacted directly through mosquito bites in Florida are in the Miami area, not the tourist mecca of Orlando which is home to the Walt Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld theme parks. 'There are no non-travel related cases in Orange County or central Florida,' Gov. Rick Scott said earlier this week at an appearance in the Orlando area. But Miami is a major tourism draw, with more than 15.5 million people making overnight visits to the city and its nearby beaches last year. And overall, Florida set a new record for tourism with more than 105 million people from out of state and other countries visiting the state in 2015. As of Wednesday, the state Department of Health has reported 47 non-travel related Zika cases in Florida. The arts district of Wynwood north of downtown Miami and a section of Miami Beach have been singled out as mosquito transmission areas. The Kaiser poll also found that a third of those interviewed believe Congress should make it a top priority to pass legislation increasing money to combat the virus. President Barack Obama proposed $1.9 billion in emergency funding for Zika in February, but Congress has been unable to agree on a final bill. Poll respondents identifying as Democrats were more likely than Republicans or independents to view Zika funding as a top priority for Congress, according to the poll. Scott, a Republican, has repeatedly called on Congress to send the president a Zika funding bill, calling the issue one of urgent international importance. 'We still need the federal government to show up,' Scott told reporters recently in Miami. 'It's not just a Florida issue.' The poll of 1,211 adults conducted Aug. 18-24 has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ZIKA The Zika (ZEE'-ka) virus was first discovered in monkey in Uganda in 1947 - its name comes from the Zika forest where it was first discovered. It is typically transmitted through bites from the Aedes species of mosquitoes. They are aggressive feeders, commonly biting multiple people in quick succession, fueling the spread of the virus. They are most active during mid-morning and then again between late afternoon and nightfall. Scientists have found Zika can be transmitted sexually - from both men and women. Couples should abstain or wear condoms for eight weeks if either partner has traveled to a country with a Zika outbreak, regardless of whether they have symptoms. A mother can pass the virus to her unborn baby during pregnancy. There are two ways this can happen: through the placenta, and through the amniotic sac. Since the virus can live in the womb lining, there is a chance the baby can become infected during birth. The majority of people infected with Zika virus will not experience symptoms. Those that do, usually develop mild symptoms - fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes - for no more than a week. There is no specific treatment for the virus and there is currently no vaccine. CAN THE SPREAD BE STOPPED? Individuals can protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellents. They could also wear long sleeves and long pants - especially during daylight, when the mosquitoes tend to be most active, health officials say. Eliminating breeding spots and controlling mosquito populations can help prevent the spread of the virus.

A pregnant woman is discovered to be infected by the Zika virus after cases jump to over 100 in Singapore.

Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari has been admonished by a senior factional ally and is facing further scrutiny after it was revealed he backed China's position in the South China Sea dispute at an event with a Chinese-Australian political donor who has previously forked out for his legal bills. In a June press conference for Chinese media, Senator Dastyari pledged to respect China's position in the hostile dispute with other Asian nations and the United States, at odds with the Labor Party's position, The Australian Financial Review reports. The senator is also reported as saying "the South China Sea is China's own affair", calling on Australia to remain neutral and drop its opposition to China's air defence zone in the region. Labor frontbencher Tony Burke, a senior figure of Senator Dastyari's own NSW right faction, has now restated the party's "crystal clear" stance on the issue and Coalition minister Josh Frydenberg labelled the reports "very worrying".[SEP]Labor Senator Sam Dastyari appeared to contravene his party's policy on the international dispute over the South China Sea at a press conference in Sydney with a Chinese donor who paid some of his travel expenses, it has been reported. During the press conference, Dastyari also advised Australia to drop its opposition to China's air defence zone in the region where tempers have been fraying over the disputed waters, the Financial Review reports. Dastyari's views, which were reported in the Chinese media, directly clash with his party's official stance on the issue which opposes China's aggressive sabre rattling over the South China Sea. It was reported that the moves tried to get Australia's support toward's China's controversial position on the South China Sea issue, with the outgoing US Ambassador to Australia John Berry wary of the implications. For this reason Berry urged Australia to be more vigilant when it came to transparency around political donations. But Senator Dastyari has already been called the 'Manchurian candidate' by Senator Cory Bernardi after he admitted in the Senate he was wrong to ask Minshen Zhu of Top Education Institute, to pay an expenses bill of $1,670 for him. The senator did so because he had exceeded his publicly funded travel entitlements, but to counteract this Dastyari said he had instead donated the amount to charity. Articles in the Chinese media have emerged revealing that at the June 17 campaign press conference Senator Dastyari made it clear he would respect China's stance on the South China Sea. Political donor and philanthropist Huang Xiangmo was also pictured attending the Sydney get-together beside Senator Dastyari. He had complained that Australian MPs were not delivering on donations from the Chinese community. 'The South China Sea is China's own affair. On this issue, Australia should remain neutral and respect China's decision,' Mr Huang said.[SEP]He found fame on the 2015 series of The Bachelor. And personal trainer Sam Wood has confessed he's 'guilty' of looking up his own name on Google to see whether he's making news. Asked if he's ever Googled himself during a question and answer segment on TheFIX, the 36-year-old laughed: 'Definitely not before the show, but yes, since the show just to keep tabs on things.' During the same interview, the Tasmanian-born hunk also revealed he would get eyebrow tattoos to improve his looks. 'I keep getting told I don't have any eyebrows,' he chuckled in response to a question about having plastic surgery. 'So maybe something to do with the eyebrows,' Sam added. The former reality TV star has been settling into family life after his fiancée Snezana Markoski moved from Perth to Melbourne with her 11-year-old daughter Eve. The fitness entrepreneur has a fantastic relationship with his step-daughter and the pair are often seen hanging out on social media. Sharing a snap of their little family on Instagram before heading to the zoo, Sam wrote: '#zoolife #familytime (sic)' The trio are living in a $1.4 million home that was purchased by the couple earlier this year. Revealing the move in July, Sam shared on his Facebook page: 'When you've spent all night cleaning the house as your fiancée and her beautiful little girl are finally coming to live and you know it still isn't clean enough.' Sam met the busty beauty on The Bachelor last year and became engaged in December during a romantic getaway to his home state.[SEP]To have no voice is the new norm for disabled people, a by-product of a political climate in which politicians vote in Westminster, then care packages around the country are cut. For Sam St Pierre, who has severe cerebral palsy as well as learning difficulties, the problem is literal. “She’s sharp as a razor,” her mum Alison says, but because she communicates with a mixture of signing and speech, she struggles to tell strangers what’s happening to her. With Sam’s permission, I talk to her mum on her behalf. Her daughter, Alison says, is now desperate. In a small bungalow punctured with the sound of constant shrieks, 36-year-old Sam has – in her mum’s words – been “left to rot”. For over a decade, Sam had been happy living in a busy residential home in Preston, Lancashire: she had friends, went horse riding twice a week and was learning to swim. But in 2014, following an incident in which she complained of an assault by a staff member, Sam had to move. At this point, things only got worse. In a village 30 miles away, Lancashire county council offered up their solution: a supported tenancy for the elderly with severe disabilities. Or as Alison, 56, calls it: “like a holding place or a morgue.” The bungalow sits set back from the other houses on the street – “Children don’t even knock on the door at Halloween”, Alison says – and Sam can’t get outside because the layout of the garden blocks her wheelchair and walking frame. Now, at only 36, for the last two years Sam has spent her days stuck inside with two elderly women: one 79-year-old, too frail to move, and a 61-year-old with autism and Alzheimer’s. Neither is able to communicate or respond to Sam. The place is run on “skeleton staff” – two carers for three people – and often, that’s down to one. In a typical weekend, Sam is left to sit by herself in her bedroom. “It was sold to me as a package of independence,” Alison says. “They take her to Asda. That’s about it.” Alison is disabled herself – two major surgeries on her legs and hips after a car crash – but removes Sam for hours whenever she can. She’s exhausted, emotionally as much as physically. What’s worse for the family is that 20 miles away in Hebden Bridge – five minutes from Sam’s mum, sister and newborn niece – is a safe, busy residential house with an opening. “You walk in the place and there’s music, it’s bustling,” Alison says. “All her own age.” A empty bedroom has been waiting for Sam there for 12 months. The problem is that the council won’t pay for it. “It’s the cuts, the cuts, isn’t it?” Alison says. The fees for Sam’s current home are £850 a month. The new house will accept £1,250 (Alison says they’ve already dropped their fees twice). That’s less than the council was spending on the home Sam was living in before she was assaulted but in the current climate, that’s an ignored detail. A spokesperson for Lancashire county council told me they’ve given “careful consideration” to Sam’s needs and believe that “her current placement is suitable”. They add that “it has been suggested to us that Ms St Pierre is moved [from local authority supported living accommodation] to private residential care outside of the county at significant additional cost. However, we have to make decisions about placements based on an approach that is fair and equitable to all of the people we support.” Left where she is, Alison says her daughter is fading away in front of her eyes. “She used to laugh and joke. All that’s gone now.” Sam has developed stress-related seizures (“She turns blue. She just keeps going in and out.”), which were virtually unknown before she was moved there. She’s been hospitalised for them – she fell out of bed once – and the doctors have tripled her medication. “Sam’s desperately unhappy and the social care team agrees that her health has deteriorated significantly,” Alison stresses. “I don’t know how the council could leave her there.” A fortnight after we talk, Alison emails me, distraught. It’s Sam’s birthday and she’s found out the bedroom in Hebden Bridge – Sam’s hope – has been taken. Alison’s been to visit the replacement home the council allocated via email: another home housing residents up to 80 years old, that is 40 miles away from Sam’s family. Staff were friendly but tired, Alison says. “One told me it’s a private house and they’re worked day after day without a break”. The sofas were stained with bodily fluid, she says. There were holes in the plaster on the walls and dirty floors. The lounge stank of urine. Alison thinks about hiring a lawyer but she has no way of affording it. Besides, she says, legal help would take time and “I’m not sure Sam will last.” She contacts the council daily – report after report, email after email, letter after letter – but says they refuse to meet with her. “Sam, she’s being so brave,” Alison says, pausing. “She can’t write an email or speak to an MP. If you haven’t got a voice – if you literally haven’t even got the speech – who’s going to fight?”[SEP]The 60th anniversary of the first Jack Nicklaus-Sam Snead golf match contested at Urbana Country Club occurred last month, and Pro Football Hall of Famer/London native Dick LeBeau recently passed along an interesting story about the time he met Snead in the late-1960s when Snead was well past his prime as a golfer. “When I was a player for the Detroit Lions, I once sat in a golf cart with Sam Snead for 30 or 40 minutes and watched scores come in at a U.S. Open qualifier he was playing in,” said LeBeau. “When I was introduced to him and he sat down in my cart, one of the first things he asked was how much I weighed. It was later in my career then and I was playing at about 180 pounds (to save a step or two). Sam said that was what he weighed when he played football in high school and I could just feel him thinking, ‘I could have played professional football.’ “I vividly remember thinking that this was all wrong to have one of the greatest golfers of all time sitting there watching the scoreboard like I used to do at the Ohio Amateur to see if my 76 was going to make the match play round. “Sam sat in the cart until it started looking pretty certain that he was not going to make it – he didn’t – and I don’t think he ever tried to make the Open field again. “He said good-bye, walked a little ways to a helicopter, got in and flew away.” Todd Michael was the winner of the framed 16×20 autographed photo of Jack Nicklaus that was recently raffled off at Urbana Country Club. The raffle for the autographed photo – donated by Nicklaus himself – raised $234 for the United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties. Trivia Time – Jannon Roland averaged 29.5 points per game her senior basketball season at Urbana High School in 1992-93. This week’s question – How many U.S. Open titles did Sam Snead win? Reach Steve Stout at 652-1331 (ext. 1776) or on Twitter @udcstout[SEP]The line has been repeated so many times that people are almost as familiar with Sam Allardyce’s alter ego as they are with the man himself. Sam Allardici. The manager Allardyce could have been, if only he had been born near the Dolomites and not Dudley. A coach who would have sailed through positions at Real Madrid and Inter Milan, deftly sidestepping the toil at Bolton and Blackburn on his way to the best jobs in Serie A or La Liga. ‘I won’t ever be going to a top-four club because I’m not called Allardici, just Allardyce,’ said England’s manager during his time with West Ham. ‘It wouldn’t be a problem to me to go and manage those clubs because I would win the double or the league every time. ‘Give me Manchester United or Chelsea and I would do the same. It’s not where I’m suited to, it’s just where I’ve been for most of the time.’ And now he has the chance to prove that. For if ever a team needed the bold, the brilliant Sam Allardici right now, it is England. They need a manager with ambition, a manager whose teams can play, a manager with the confidence to be successful. Sam Allardyce may be the best available in a country where English managers do not rise to the top; but this Allardici figure, the finest coach Real Madrid never had, what a coup it would be to get him instead. So far, though, mixed reviews. England’s new manager allowed the names in his starting XI for Sunday’s match with Slovakia to be made public on Friday, which took guts, but the team itself bore a striking resemblance to Roy Hodgson’s first England team of the 2016 European Championship. There were two changes and perhaps there would have been three had Fraser Forster not been injured in training. As it is, John Stones comes in for Chris Smalling at centre half; Jordan Henderson for Dele Alli in midfield. Actually, it is Wayne Rooney’s reversion to No 10 from midfield that has forced Alli out — Allardyce then preferring Henderson in the deeper role beside Eric Dier. No clues on how the team will play — that would be taking the new openness a little too far — but it could be 4-2-3-1, or even a tweaked 4-4-2. Either way, Allardyce’s assertion that England did not play too disastrously in the European Championship — others share this belief, not least Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp — would appear to be reflected in his selection. There is no reservoir of talent outside the England squad; there really isn’t too much beyond the starting XI. Allardyce has pretty much picked the same team, in the same shape, as Roy Hodgson. It isn’t revolution. It isn’t even evolution. It’s more of the same, repackaged. This is where Signor Allardici comes in. What has to be hoped is this radical figure can take Hodgson’s group and transform them. There is no place for Michail Antonio — the one new face in the squad — no place for Danny Drinkwater, excluded by Hodgson at the last. Barring late injuries, eight of the team who started England’s last game against Iceland in June will retain their places against Slovakia in Trnava. Daniel Sturridge, Alli and Smalling are the only casualties. It was Bobby Robson who, in September 1982, named the team before his opening game against Denmark in Copenhagen, throwing the sheet of paper on the table in an act of great drama. ‘Sepp Piontek, I’ve picked my team and we’re coming to get you,’ he told a delighted press pack. Unfortunately, the printers went out on strike later that day, so nobody got to read Robson’s bold challenge to the Danish manager. Probably just as well. England led twice, both goals through Trevor Francis, but Jesper Olsen equalised for Denmark in the 89th minute. The Danes won at Wembley a year later, meaning England failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championship finals and Robson offered to resign. So confidence by itself is of little use. Luiz Felipe Scolari admits agonising over the make-up of his 23-man group, but that did not prevent him naming Brazil’s team for the first game of the 2002 World Cup on the day he announced his squad. He also detailed how they would play: three defenders, two guarding midfield players, two wing-backs. Despite handing the opposition this knowledge, Brazil won that World Cup. Then again, Scolari had Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Allardyce is not exactly over- burdened with all-time greats. So he has to think anew. A sign of that, perhaps, was his decision to let the players go home on Wednesday, reconvening Thursday. To many this was a surprise, Allardyce limiting his time with the team when it was felt he would use the opportunity of a week together to pump his philosophy into them. Maybe he’s smarter than that. Maybe he has identified that what England players need is decompression. In conversation with this newspaper last month, Rooney said it could be advantageous to mirror club preparation. ‘If you think about the way club football works during the season, you play a game, you go home, you’re with your kids, your wife or girlfriend, you put it away for a while and then go into training the next day,’ said Rooney. ‘It’s a very different environment to just being totally wrapped up in football, with no time to step outside that world. ‘I think we need to have the down time you get with clubs, to chill out, to have that few hours in the day when we forget about it. If you’re watching football, talking football, thinking about football 24/7, then your head’s constantly working, you never get those moments. ‘And I think that’s the start, really, to try to get the lads working more like they do at home. ‘I don’t see why some days after training the manager can’t say, ‘‘Right, I’ll see you at 9am tomorrow’’ and then that time is your own.’ Maybe Allardyce has discussed this issue with his captain. It would be a departure, certainly, a fresh approach. He’s definitely not the boot camp commander he has been painted. Whether he’s Sam Allardici, though, we are about to find out.[SEP]He's the former Bachelor with a ripped physique and isn't shy about showing if off on social media. But Sam Wood has revealed he's not opposed to changing a thing to two about his physical aesthetics, telling TheFIX he would get eyebrow tattoos. Asked what he'd choose if he 'could get any plastic surgery done,' the 36-year-old chuckled: 'I keep getting told I don't have any eyebrows, so maybe something to do with the eyebrows.' The admission came about while the fitness business owner was asking a series of 28 questions about himself. The former reality TV star also spoke about plans for his wedding to Bachelor winner Snezana Markoski. The gym owner revealed that the Macedonian beauty would prefer 'something a bit more gangster' than his choice of David Grey's tunes as their wedding song. Meanwhile, earlier this week, the personal trainer told Yahoo! Be the couple's wedding plans have halted. 'It was kind of put on the back burner till the girls moved to Melbourne and settled in,' Sam said. The groom-to-be also revealed the couple could marry as soon as March but it all hinges on his blushing bride. 'It's up to Snez really with the wedding - I mean I'm relatively happy for her to have whatever sort of wedding she wants - so she's gonna find a venue and we've gotta make sure it's available on the date,' he said. Sam and Snezana met on last year's season of the Network Ten dating show, and became engaged in December during a trip back to the hunk's home state of Tasmania. After almost a year of living in different cities, Snezana moved to Melbourne into a home that she bought with Sam, along with her 11-year-old daughter Eve.[SEP]She has inside knowledge of what it takes to win The Bachelor. But that did not stop Snezana Markoski being a little hesitant when Sam Wood asked if he could place a $25,000 bet on the winner of this series in a hilarious radio prank. The former Bachelor phoned his fiancee on Fitzy and Wippa's show on Thursday and told her they could get a $100,000 return on 4/1 odds if they backed Nikki Gogan. But Snezana did not seem convinced by the minimum $25,000 bet, saying: 'Why does it have to be 25. It’s not the NBA or something, it’s the f***ing Bachelor.' Sam told her he had met someone who gave him a 'tip' in the coffee shop at Channel 10. 'I've got to speak quickly, I was just in the coffee shop at 10 and I bumped into a guy I met on the show and he’s told me who wins The Bachelor,' he told the Nova 969 show. 'He said he's pretty sure is the winner, Nikki. 'So I’ve rung a mate who has got a betting account and he’s said he could put 4/1 on it. But we have to put a minimum bet on of 25,000.' He added: 'Obviously I don’t want to throw 25,000 without getting your permission.' Sam then asked whether she was OK with the idea of taking part in a 'dodgy' bet. But Snezana did not seem to mind, saying: 'I don’t care about the dodginess'. Snezana then voiced her concern about splashing out $25,000. The radio presenters then interjected, saying: 'Do you know how many Gucci handbags you could buy for $100,000?' The brunette beauty then laughed along and said: 'You are such an a***hole.' Earlier in the segment, Sam had joked that Snezana could 'rip' through $25,000. 'Snez is pretty trusting with the money stuff, she spends $25,000 pretty quick,' he said. 'It all equals out, We’ve been decorating the house. She’ll rip through that.'[SEP]Australian foodie Stephanie Alexander once wrote that if you hear visitors arriving at the front gate, your scones should be in the oven by the time they are at the door. Somewhat unconvinced, I confronted her about it. She laughed and said that it depended on the length of your garden path. I like the sentiment though; scones don't really need the effort that people think they do. In fact, the less effort, the better. Don't overwork the dough; you are merely combining the ingredients. I always have countless pieces of leftover cheese in the fridge. It drives the others insane. I refuse to throw them out because they are perfect for cheese scones. The stronger the cheese, the better. For a sweet version, leave out the cheese, parsley and cayenne and add a quarter cup of sugar, half a cup of chopped dates and zest of a lemon. READ MORE: * Recipes: Keep things simple for summer with scones and salad * Three ways with... citrus * Ruth's pikelet and scone secrets MY CHEESE SCONES Serves: depends how greedy you are Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Into a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne. Grate in the cold butter and rub through the dry ingredients. Add the cheeses and parsley and combine well. Create a well in the centre of the mixture, pour in the milk and bring in the dry ingredients gently, combining everything until you have a soft, consistent dough. Take care not to overwork the dough. Roll out to a thickness of about an inch and a half, then cut into squares or use a round cutter. Transfer to a flat oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush with beaten egg. Bake for five minutes at 200ºC, then bring the temperature down to 180ºC and bake for another 8-10 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them rest and cool for five minutes before serving with lashings of good butter – the salted Lewis Road stuff is pretty good. Sam Mannering is the author of Food Worth Making (poshgiraffepublishing.co.nz) Photograph & Styling/ Jason Creaghan

Iranian-born Australian politician Sam Dastyari pledges his support for China's position in the dispute.

Hanoi has officially reacted to Phnom Penh’s request to “identify” and “take strong action against” Vietnamese nationals who purportedly left insulting comments on Cambodian Premier Hun Sen’s Facebook page, criticizing him for supporting Beijing’s claims over the South China Sea. In a written statement, Le Hai Binh, spokesman for the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the personal opinions apparently posted by Vietnamese writers “do not reflect Vietnam’s stance.” “We ... do not support those who used freedom of speech to make personal insults and provocative attitude in order to drive a wedge between the peoples of the two countries,” the spokesperson said. Last week, the Cambodian government condemned the “verbal attacks” accusing Hun Sen of betraying his eastern neighbor as “immoral” and “highly offensive.” Huynh Ngoc Chenh, a Vietnamese media expert, said he was surprised by Vietnam’s response. “It shows the increased impact of social media — Facebook in particular — on the ruling authorities, especially the Vietnamese ones,” said Chenh, adding that even Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Xuan Phuc was recently forced to publicly apologize after his motorcade swept through narrow Hoi An streets reserved for pedestrians, resulting in widespread rounds of condemnation on Facebook. Premier's response The Cambodian premier on Monday took to the social network to hit back at his South China Sea detractors, calling on Vietnam to respect Cambodian sovereignty and "[educate] their people not to bother me anymore." "Again, I want to reaffirm with you that I am not a Vietnamese puppet serving the benefits of Vietnamese country, and I’m also not a boss of Vietnam," the Cambodian leader posted. "I’m not asking Vietnam to serve Cambodian political interest either. The South China Sea conflict should [be resolved] ... peacefully by the Chinese and Vietnamese governments. It’s better than [resolving] it through war, as you’ve mentioned in your comment on my Facebook.” Filipinos and Vietnamese residents shout during a Filipinos and Vietnamese residents shout during a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in the financial district of Makati, east of Manila, Philippines, Aug. 6, 2016. They called on China to respect the international arbitration ruling favoring the Philippines on the disputed group of islands in the South China Sea. Filipinos and Vietnamese residents shout during a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in the financial district of Makati, east of Manila, Philippines, Aug. 6, 2016. They called on China to respect the international arbitration ruling favoring the Philippines on the disputed group of islands in the South China Sea. Ou Virak, founder of the Phnom Penh-based Future Forum think tank, told VOA's Khmer service that although he agreed the criticism of his premier didn't reflect the stance of Vietnamese officials, he questioned Hun Sen's political prudence in personally responding to the slights of random internet users, let alone in the manner of a formal diplomatic statement. "I believe there are people who build the premier's Facebook page," he said. "If he does not like how people comment [on his posts], he can just ignore them." Vietnamese spokesperson Binh told VOA's Vietnamese service that the foreign ministry attaches importance to “friendly, neighborly and comprehensive relations with Cambodia,” and that it has "made efforts to maintain these ties for the common interests of two peoples.” Border dispute On Tuesday, Vietnam and Cambodia concluded closed-door discussions on a territorial border dispute, jointly agreeing to "seek international consultants to advise on ways to demarcate the border.” Var Kim Hong, leader of the Cambodian delegation, told reporters that the two sides “failed to reach an accord.” Tran Cong Truc, a former Vietnamese official in charge of border affairs who has repeatedly engaged with Cambodian counterparts, struck a slightly more optimistic tone. Var Kim Hong (R) shakes hands with Vietnamese Depu FILE - Chairman of Cambodia's border committee Var Kim Hong, right, shakes hands with Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung before a meeting about the border between Cambodia and Vietnam in Phnom Penh, Aug. 29, 2016. FILE - Chairman of Cambodia's border committee Var Kim Hong, right, shakes hands with Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung before a meeting about the border between Cambodia and Vietnam in Phnom Penh, Aug. 29, 2016. "Vietnam has shown its willingness to solve the border issue by agreeing to have a third party, especially France, joining in the demarcating process," he said, adding that France prepared the original map delineating the shared border during the colonial era. The head of the Cambodian delegation, however, said Phnom Penh observes the border with Vietnam as it was set in 1983, according to maps of Indochina — the former French colonial territory that now comprises Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Tensions have mounted in recent weeks as Phnom Penh has accused Hanoi of illegally digging ponds and building outposts inside Cambodian territory — assertions that Vietnam denies. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Vietnamese and Khmer services. VOA's Ith Sothoeuth and Hul Reaksmey contributed reporting from Phnom Penh.[SEP]Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "On behalf of President Obama and the American people, it is with great pleasure that I wish the people of Vietnam a joyous National Day this September 2. "The relationship between our two countries and peoples is stronger than it has ever been. We are poised to make even more progress in the months and years ahead as we work together to implement the historic initiatives announced during President Obama’s visit to Vietnam in May. "I was honored to accompany President Obama on his visit -- my third trip to Vietnam as Secretary of State -- and was struck, as I always am, by the remarkable transformation in our bilateral relations. "From the first time that I stepped foot in Vietnam as a young soldier in 1968 to my most recent visit in May, I’ve seen incredible changes taking shape, from the growing city skylines to the pulsating entrepreneurial energy to the increasing flow of people, goods, and ideas from every corner of Vietnam to the United States and elsewhere. "In the midst of these changes, what remains constant for me, and what I’ve always loved about Vietnam, is the warmth, and generosity, and ingenuity of the Vietnamese people. "It is their resiliency and innate desire to move beyond the shadow of the past toward a more prosperous, healthy, and free society for their children and future generations that had shaped Vietnam’s trajectory. "Vietnam is a country of tremendous potential, and I’m confident it will have a bright future thanks to the dedication of its young people, business community, and active civil society. "We look forward to continuing to deepen our comprehensive and increasingly strategic partnership with Vietnam to advance our shared interest in building and sustaining a rules-based order, not only in the Asia-Pacific region but throughout the world. "On this festive occasion, I wish the people of Vietnam peace and prosperity in the coming year."

Cambodia and Vietnam fail to agree on a resolution regarding their border dispute.

Martial Law victims attend the oral arguments on the hero's burial for the late President Ferdinand Marcos. Photo by LeAnne Jazul/Rappler MANILA, Philippines – Victims of horrifying acts of torture during Martial Law recounted their painful experiences before Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Wednesday, August 31. Etta Rosales, former chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) who experienced the atrocities of the dictatorship, recounted: "They had a gun and they threatened me to answer the question, otherwise they [would] shoot [me]." She was also raped, tortured, and went through electric shock and Russian roulette. Rosales is among the petitioners asking the Supreme Court to stop the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, which President Rodrigo Duterte had allowed supposedly for the country to be able to move on from that period of history. Read related stories: Worse than death: Torture methods during Martial Law #NeverAgain: Martial Law stories young people need to hear Another petitioner in one of the cases, Trinidad Herrera, told the Chief Justice about her terrible experience under the dictatorship. "'Pinatanggal nila ang aking blusa at 'nilagay ang linya ng kuryente sa suso ko. Pumasok pa ang kuryente sa katawan ko hanggang di ko na nakayanan," Herrera tearfully recalled during oral arguments on the petition against a hero's burial for the late president Ferdinand Marcos. (They ordered me to remove my blouse and they applied electric shock on my breast. Electricity went through my body until I couldn't take it anymore.) "They even put water on the floor so that the electricity would enter my body," she added in Filipino. Another victim, Fe Mangahas, shared: "They would scare me again by touching me and breathing down my neck and then I felt something like naihi ako (I peed). I figured it was blood because at the time I did not realize I was two months pregnant." "When they found out I was pregnant I was released, but I was asked to report weekly about my whereabouts. I had to do this every Saturday for a year," she added. Other victims also detailed what they went through when they were captured by uniformed men. Maria Christina Rodriguez said her captors burned her skin with cigarette. Her fingers were swollen because of bullet-pressing. Maria Christina Bawagan said her thighs were hit until they looked like rotten vegetables. She was sexually abused, with her captors inserting objects into her vagina and touching her breasts while blindfolded. She said she may never know who exactly tortured her, but she clearly remembered their voice. Each of these women remembered the exact date they were captured and went through the life-scarring experience. Sereno asked the petitioners, who are claimants for compensation under Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparations Act, to speak before the court. (READ: What the gov’t still owes Martial Law victims) She told them, "The Court is listening." Not about the money During her interpellation of former Akbayan Representative Ibarra Gutierrez III, lawyer for one of the petitioning groups, Sereno asked if the monetary compensation for the victims was not sufficient. Gutierrez responded: "No, your Honor, because the law explicitly acknowledges to recognize the [victims and their heroism and sacrifices]." He also said that money is not equivalent to the restoration of dignity of the victims. The late strongman's state burial, he said, would "prolong and extend" the suffering of the victims. Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) Chairperson Lina Sarmiento, who was one of the resource persons invited, said that out of over 75,000 claims, they have only finished processing 17,000. HCRVB can only start distributing the compensation after every case has been settled because the P10 billion funds allotted will be divided according to the intensity of human rights violations experienced by each victim. Sarmiento said they are hoping to finish the work before May 12, 2018, when their office expires. Non-repetition Also appearing as a resource person, CHR Chairperson Chito Gascon said the state has an obligation for "non-repetition" of the trauma they experienced during Martial Law. "There is a commitment on the part of the state [to] non-repetition, [that] the victims should not be exposed to re-traumatization," he told Chief Justice Sereno. Gascon stressed that local and international laws acknowledge reparations as a "positive act that the stake must undertake to [prevent] impunity." – Rappler.com Other stories from the SC oral arguments on the Marcos burial cases: [SEP]“Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani will not heal our wounded country.” MANILA – Even as President Duterte said the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) is meant “to heal” the nation, his decision only opened an old wound, one that has to do with bringing the tyrant and his family to face punishment for their crimes against the people. Outside the Supreme Court gate today, Aug. 31, that gaping wound divided demonstrators into two groups: those who oppose the LNMB burial, and those who support it. The demonstrations were held as the high court heard the oral arguments for the six petitions filed opposing the Marcos burial. But the groups may as well be divided according to what they hold to be truths: victims and activists who say that Marcos was one of the most corrupt despot in the world who plundered the nation’s coffers and committed crimes against humanity, and the Marcoses and supporters who dismiss all these as lies. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the Campaign against the Return of the Marcoses in Malacañang (Carmma) led martial law activists and other progressive groups to show support for the petitions against the Marcos burial in LNMB, which, they said, completes his family’s return to Malacañang – the consequence of the failure of post-martial law administrations to bring the Marcoses to justice. “Along with the dictator’s remains, the Marcos family also wants to bury the memory of the crimes of martial law. They want to bury the lessons of history, specially the atrocities committed by the dictator. In burying the truth about Marcos. They hope that their family will rise again to occupy the highest post of the land,” said Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general. Danny Dela Fuente, spokesperson of the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda), and one of the petitioners, said the Marcoses and their supporters have “refused to move on” because they long to return to power. The late dictator’s son and namesake, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. lost the vice presidency by a small margin to Leni Robredo in the recent elections. “The Marcos family and their cronies could not move on from the fact that the Filipino people toppled the Marcos dictatorship due to its puppetry to the US, massive plunder of public funds, oppression of already impoverished Filipinos, and human rights abuses. The Marcos family could not move on from the fact that even the US Hawaii court found Marcos guilty of human rights abuses on 9,539 counts,” he said. Dela Fuente said the Marcoses even refuse to accept Republic Act 10368, the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, which gives financial compensation to martial law victims, using the $10 billion recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth. Several national leaders of progressive groups, such as Elmer “Bong” Labog, chairperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), attested to how they became victims of the Marcos dictatorship as youth activists. Labog was a 17-year-old freshman at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and a member of the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK) when he and scores of other student activists were “invited” by Marcos to Malacañang on Sept. 23, 1972. “PC (Philippine Constabulary) men came to the campus in truckloads, and brought us instead to Camp Vicente Lim,” he told Bulatlat, where they were tortured and detained for a year. Another massive arrest came in 1982, when hundreds of trade union leaders were arrested, including KMU leaders Crispin Beltran and Bert Olalia. Before the oral arguments started, one of the petitioners, Trinidad Herrera-Repuno spoke at the program outside the SC gate and recalled how soldiers tortured her by electrocution, with wires tied to her thumb, and later to her nipples. Dr. Beng Rivera-Reyes, secretary general of the Health Alliance for Democracy recalled how her Uncle Claudio was killed by soldiers as he went out at dawn to bring the carabao to pasture in their village in Capaz, Tarlac in 1979. “It was a very quiet funeral, no one was speaking,” Reyes recalled, then only five years old. It was common to hear about other villagers getting killed, arrested or disappeared. After Marcos was ousted, she realized how such were meant to spread fear and repress the people. But arrests, torture, killings and disappearances continue after martial law, said Evan Hernandez of Hustisya, whose daughter Beng was killed by paramilitary men and soldiers in 2002. “Marcos started it all,” she said. “And now he will be buried a hero?” “You communists, listen up. If Marcos did not declare martial law, we would all be communists now. You were arrested because you were communists!” said a woman’s voice on a loud speaker on the side of the “loyalists.” Among the Marcos loyalist groups were the foundation, Friends of Imelda R. Marcos, or FIRM-24 K. Its members came in uniform red shirts, from as far as Angono, Rizal province and Laguna. Several women in their sixties told Bulatlat that they are “Imelda supporters,” who have been meeting regularly in Luneta, Manila for the past 11 years. Other groups carried the initials “BBM,” such as the Buong Bansa Magkaisa. The Marcos loyalists danced and flashed the “V” sign, as they played blaring music accompanied by live drums. The activists played the song “Makibaka, huwag matakot” on their own sound system. “Marcos, Hitler, diktador, tuta!” chanted the activists. “Marcos, Marcos pa rin,” chanted back the “loyalists.” One even shouted “Mabuhay ang (Long live) martial law!” The scene was almost reminiscent of the time after the Marcos ouster, as their supporters tried to rally themselves to pave the way to bring the dictator and his family back to the country. “Burying the dictator in the LNMB will not heal our wounded country,” said a joint statement by the Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, Institute of Social Order, and John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues. The groups said it “buries peace by erasing the memory o the violence that his regime inflicted on our nation.”[SEP]TWO JUSTICES of the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenged the petitioners seeking to stop the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, pointing out there are no clear rules on who should be buried in the military-owned cemetery. Even wives of former secretaries of Defense are buried at the Libingan, contrary to the position of the anti-Marcos petitioners that only “heroes” should be buried there, Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro said during oral arguments on six consolidated petitions against the internment. “[S]pouses of Secretaries of National Defense are allowed to be buried there. Are they heroes? Can we say there are guidelines? There’s not even a body which will determine who are heroes, who should avail [themselves]of this privilege to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Is the Court the one to determine, in the absence of any guidelines [on]who are the bayani (heroes)?” de Castro said. She was questioning defeated senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares, one of the human rights victims during the Marcos regime questioning the Duterte administration’s approval of the burial of the late strongman at the Libingan in Taguig. “You have to explain what is meant by ‘bayani’ … based on existing rules, laws and regulations pertaining to this cemetery in Fort McKinley, now Fort Bonifacio, because there seems to be no established guidelines as to who are heroes, as to who are disqualified [to be buried in that cemetery],” de Castro said. She also challenged the petitioners to prove their argument that the Libingan is the same as the “National Pantheon for Presidents of the Philippines, National Heroes and Patriots of the Country” ordered built by Republic Act (RA) 289. “[O]r is it just a war memorial for which it was originally created?” she asked. Will of the people Associate Justice Jose Perez likewise pointed out that RA 289 does not provide guidelines on who are “worthy of public emulation and inspiration.” Petitioners, he noted, seem to want the high tribunal to bear the responsibility of proclaiming Marcos as not deserving of national esteem and therefore not worthy of burial at the Libingan, rather than leave it to the people. Perez said President Rodrigo Duterte’s 16 million votes during the polls implies ratification or public approval, which empowers him to decide on the burial of Marcos. During the campaign, Duterte, whose father served as a Cabinet official under Marcos, repeatedly said he would bury the late strongman at the military cemetery. “Is that not a decision of the sovereign people themselves? And what the electorate voted in favor of, we will now nullify? Can you not say that it was the electorate, the sovereign people, who favor the burial [at the Libingan]?” Perez asked. ‘Not worthy’ The petitioners, mostly Martial Law victims, focused on the argument that Marcos should not be given honors because he is considered a dictator. “A dictator responsible for countless human rights violations does not deserve a place in the pantheon. The dishonored cannot join the honored; Marcos is not worthy of emulation and inspiration,” Colmenares said. The former party-list congressman said Marcos should never be buried on publicly owned land. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, whose brother Hermon disappeared during Martial Law and was never found, said “far from being a hero, former President Ferdinand Marcos was a despot, an oppressor of the Filipino people, during the dark era of Martial Law.” “A Marcos hero’s burial would glorify a dictator, distort history, aggravate the injustice to human rights violation victims and their families and mock the heroism of desaparecidos (disappeared) and other victims of Marcos’ atrocities,” Lagman added. Bound by statutes Barry Guttierez, who represented Martial Law victims like former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales, said Duterte was constitutionally bound by statutes that recognize the Marcos regime’s atrocities, such as Republic Act 10368 that gave reparations to human rights victims. Rosales and other victims, including Nilda Lagman-Sevilla, Ma. Cristina Rodriguez, Fe Mangahas, Hilda Narciso and Ma. Cristina Bawagan, took turns telling their stories. CHR Chairman Jose Luis Martin Gascon said domestic and international laws impose upon the government the obligation of “non-repetition,” and Marcos’ burial at the Libingan would expose victims to “re-traumatization.” Penciled by Imelda Close to the end of the oral arguments, former Interior secretary Rafael Alunan was summoned to read the agreement he had reached, on behalf of the Ramos administration, with the Marcoses on the return of the former President’s remains from Hawaii in 1993. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo had said the agreement, in which Marcos was to be buried in his home province of Ilocos Norte, was no longer binding. Alunan said the fourth paragraph of the memorandum of agreement was controversial because former first lady Imelda Marcos penciled the words “temporarily interred” on the document to replace “buried on the 9th of Sept.” Alunan said Mrs. Marcos countersigned it but he did not. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno ordered the Solicitor General to request an original of the agreement from former President Fidel Ramos. Sereno adjourned the oral arguments and called for another session at 10 a.m. on September 7.[SEP]The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has weighed in on the issue of whether former President Ferdinand Marcos is a hero by submitting to the Supreme Court (SC) 54 pages of attachments to its Consolidated Comment including 11 documents supposedly showing that Marcos was recognized by the government as a soldier, war hero and Medal of Valor recipient. The documents were submitted in support of the OSG’s position that Marcos’ remains that have been unburied for more than two decades should be interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery). According to the Solicitor General, Marcos was called to active duty on November 15, 1941 as a Third Lieutenant under the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). He remained a professional soldier until he left the military service in 1963 with the rank of colonel. The USAFFE was active from 1941 to 1946. The OSG said Marcos earned his Medal of Valor for “prevention of the possible decimation of withdrawing USAFFE troops in a ‘suicidal action against overwhelming [Japanese] enemy forces,’ thus helping delay the inevitable fall of Bataan.” Annex 14 referred to General Order No. 167 dated October 16, 1968, which contained a two-page narrative of Marcos’ stand together with his men defending Salian Junction along the Abucay Line against the advance of the Japanese forces. “For five days from 22 to 26 January 1942, he [Marcos] and his men stubbornly held their position at the junction in spite of additional severe casualties suffered, and successfully blocked the enemy’s determined advance…,” according to the document. The same document, signed by Lt. Gen. Alfonso Arellano, then Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Chief of Staff, said Marcos only had “a hundred fighting men against a regiment of about 2,000 highly-trained and well-equipped Japanese troops” when they defended Salian Junction. Other documents submitted by the Solicitor General to the High Court included checks from the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) that were issued to Marcos’ widow, former First Lady now Rep. Imelda Marcos of Ilocos Norte, in 2003 and 2004. The PVB checks were supposedly for the pension of Marcos as a retired soldier while the LBP checks were issued as “payment of gratuity pay/Medal of Valor.” Also attached to the OSG’s Consolidated Comment was a two-page Certification dated March 4, 1986, issued by the AFP General Headquarters and signed by Philippine Army Lt. Col. Antonio Martin citing records stating that “Colonel Ferdinand E. Marcos [was a]recipient of a ‘Medal of Valor,’ three ‘Distinguished Conduct Stars’ and two ‘Distinguished Service Stars,’ among others.” The Medal of Valor is the Philippines’ highest military honor that recognizes acts of courage and bravery above and beyond the call of duty. It is awarded by the President of the Philippines to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and allied military personnel, including recognized guerrilla forces. However, the Supreme Court is not expected to discuss whether or not Marcos was a war hero during the second round of oral arguments on September 7, according to two lawmakers. The reason is that the SC “will not rule on a question of fact, that is whether the [Medal of Valor] is real,” Rep. Sherwin Tugna of party-list group Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption said. “The [High Court] only decides on questions of law, not questions of fact,” Tugna pointed out. The issue, Rep. Harry Roque of party-list group Kabayan also earlier said, is “whether he [Marcos] is entitled to be buried [at the Heroes’ Cemetery].” The High Court recently stopped plans to bury Marcos at the Taguig cemetery, acting on a petition of victims of human rights violations against allowing interment of Marcos’ remains there. Roque had filed a bill proposing to change the name of the Libingan ng mga Bayani to “Libingan ng mga Bayani at mga Dating Pangulo” (Cemetery for Heroes and Former Presidents) as a means to prevent public unrest in wake of opposition from some sectors to the planned burial of Marcos’ remains at the Hero’s Cemetery. ROMY P. MARIÑAS[SEP]President Rodrigo Duterte is now the most powerful President in the nation’s history—more powerful than the late former President Ferdinand Marcos ever was at the height of Martial Law. This appears to be the confident view of many political observers and well-known CEOs. This is because where Marcos needed to declare Martial Law to impose authoritarian rule, DU30 has done so without declaring Martial Law. He has done and is doing anything and everything he wants to do simply by insisting that his motive is “pure,” and that the end justifies the means. And there’s been nothing and no one to stop him. Where Marcos needed to abolish Congress to do away with venal and useless politicians, DU30 simply decided to make them part of his adopted PDP-Laban in order to railroad everything he wants to acquire a semblance of legality—from the restoration of the capital sentence for heinous crimes, to the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility from 15 years old to nine, to the revision of the present Constitution according to the wishes of the President. Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez gave a terrifying demonstration of this when he spoke before the Philippine Constitution Association at the Manila Golf Club on Tuesday evening. Where Marcos needed a military tribunal to try Lim Seng, the Chinese illegal drugs manufacturer, for drug dealing, and to condemn him to death by musketry, DU30 only had to order the Philippine National Police to eliminate suspected drug pushers, (1,800 as of the latest count), and to jail 700,000 drug users, who have opted to surrender rather than get killed by the police or vigilantes. To sweeten the pot, he has offered a bounty of P2 million for every “drug lord” killed. And where Marcos, who died 30 years ago, continues to be savaged by the so-called victims of Martial Law for acts committed by the State in self-defense, DU30 has refused to be intimidated by any threat of being held accountable for his current acts against drug suspects after he leaves the presidency. He nonchalantly tells those who denounce his methods that he “doesn’t give a damn,” he’s simply trying to solve a serious problem of his country. The UN special rapporteur on summary executions (Agnes Callamard) has spoken, saying “claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the government from its international obligations and do not shield state actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings.” So have the US State Department, the White House, and Amnesty International on human rights. So has Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on warrantless arrests and impunity. So have Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, former CBCP President and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar V. Cruz, and Manila Cardinal-Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle on the moral law and the right to life. So have 300 international nongovernmental organizations, which signed a letter denouncing DU30’s policies and demanding that international drug control agencies state unequivocally that such killings “do not constitute acceptable drug control measures.” While he relishes the honor and homage paid to him by the public and the local media, he has refused to be swayed by the critical nudging by the international press. TIME magazine has spoken. The New York Times has spoken. The Washington Post has spoken. The Los Angeles Times has spoken. The Economist of London has spoken. The Guardian and The Daily Mail have spoken. Japan Times has spoken. The South China Morning Post has spoken. CNN and Bloomberg have spoken. BBC has spoken. Al Jazeera has spoken. Russia Today has spoken. And so have we. We have not heard from Suddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Die Zeit or Spiegel in Germany. Or from Le Figaro, Le Monde or L’Humanite in Paris. Or from Corriere della Sera, La Republica or La Stampa in Italy. And we may not hear much from People’s Daily or the English-language China Daily in Beijing. Or from Yomiuri Shimbun with a circulation of 9,240,00, Asahi with 7,210,000 and with 3,300,000 in Tokyo. But we cannot simply ignore the sober message of the largest and oldest English language paper in Japan (founded in 1897). In a recent editorial, Japan Times said, “The (Philippine) drug problem may well constitute a national crisis, but that cannot excuse the shredding of the rule of law and extrajudicial killings. Human rights extend to the guilty and the innocent alike.” Quoting UN figures, the editorial said the Philippines had the highest metamphetamine use in East Asia in 2012, and according to the Philippine National Police chief, it has 3.7 million drug users. In 2013, the drug trade was worth $8.4 billion, and between 2010 and 2015, 623 government officials and employees were arrested on drug-related offenses; 6,000 anti-drug operations were conducted nationwide. But it pointed out that Thailand under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra waged a similar war on drugs, in which 3,000 innocent victims were killed without making a dent in the trafficking or use of illegal drugs. “Loss of innocent lives or the settling of scores under the guise of cleaning up the drug trade is one problem,” the editorial said. “Even more worrying over the long run is the erosion of the rule of law in a country with a long history of abuse of power. Filipinos have struggled to reclaim their democracy and it has been a long and frustrating process. Duterte is only the most recent in a long line of autocrats who have been irritated by the inefficiencies of a democratically elected government. Corruption has been and continues to be a real problem in the Philippines. But the solution to that problem is rigid and neutral application of the law —not its disregard.” DU30 tends to dismiss the world press as an inconvenience and irrelevancy. However, as president of a sovereign country with an active role in the world community, he has to deal with individuals, governments and institutions that cannot be indifferent or neutral to international public opinion. He would be meeting with some of them in Vientiane, Laos during the Asean summit conference next week, and hosting them or their successors at the Asean summit next year in Manila. One of these will be US President Obama, who has expressed a keen desire to talk to him precisely about the things where he has, so far, dismissed as external “interference” the interest expressed by other governments and institutions. Obama will be leaving the White House by January 20 next year, but until then he carries a big stick. This is one meeting the international media and the diplomatic community will be watching keenly. I listened to Speaker Alvarez at the Philconsa monthly meeting on Monday evening, and came out of it feeling scared. In the one-minute invocation which I was asked to give, I offered a simple prayer: “As we prepare to address the many constitutional ills of our government, Lord, speak to us through our Speaker, and permit him not to stray so that we may not be left groping in the dark. In the dialogue that will follow, give us the courage to speak if the truth is with us, and give our honored Guest the curiosity to inquire if there are things You have revealed to the simple which You have hidden from the wise.” In his speech, Alvarez did not refer to any infirmity of the present Constitution, which needs to be cured, other than the “highly centralized” unitary state that must now be replaced by a federal system, pursuant to the desire of the President. But in addition to changing the territorial structure from unitary to federal, Alvarez also spoke of changing the present bicameral Congress into a unicameral assembly or parliament under a system similar to the French. This means a thorough-going revision of the Constitution, not simply a matter of amending it. This is a task for the sovereign Filipino people, through their delegates in a constitutional convention, rather than for a rubber-stamp Congress. But Alvarez said the President has decided that the proposed constitutional changes should come from the present Congress, convened as a constituent assembly (con-ass), in order to save on expenses, among other things. The President will also appoint a group of experts to draft the initial proposed changes, which, presumably upon his approval, will be submitted to the con-ass. The idea could not have frightened me if it had been presented as a proposal for mature deliberation and debate, but it was presented as something already carved in stone, because it’s what the President wanted. This compelled me to ask the first question. I said that there’s no doubt we need to revisit the Constitution. It is technically flawed. However, in proposing any amendment to, or revision of, the Constitution, we have to be guided strictly by what the same Constitution says on how, and by whom, amendments or revisions should be proposed. Under Article XVII, only the Congress sitting as a con-ass, and the Filipino people, through a constitutional convention or by direct initiative, may propose constitutional changes. There is no mention of any role for the President. And yet this point seemed completely lost on Alvarez. He made it unmistakably clear that the constitutional revisions that would be proposed, and the manner by which they would be proposed, were decreed by the President, like imperial edicts. What was scary was the cold finality with which he delivered his lines, like Augustine (in a nobler context) informing his flock that the Pope had ratified the condemnation of the Pelagian heresy, which denied the primitive state in Paradise and original sin, by the councils of Milevi and Carthage. Roma locuta; causa finitaest, said Augustine—Rome has spoken; the cause is finished. Bar this Congress, let the people do their thing Even without DU30’s overt intervention, the present Congress lacks the moral integrity and competence to propose anything on the people’s behalf. The present state of the Congress is surreal. The so-called House super-majority was cobbled after so many unprincipled opportunists migrated to DU30’s adopted party, which did not quite have five visible members before the election. Even the minority was formed with the tacit benediction of the majority. In the Senate, the only organic member of the PDP-Laban, Koko Pimentel, became the Senate president, while former Senate president Franklin Drilon, who should be leading the Senate minority in a morally sensitive environment, now manipulates Pimentel as Senate president pro-tempore. The sovereign Filipino people cannot and must not allow this unprincipled and opportunistic Congress to propose a revision to the Constitution at the behest of a constitutionally excluded authority. DU30, being smarter than all his minions, should reject the devil’s temptation to get involved, as strongly as Christ rejected it at the desert, and let the people, who are ultimately wiser than their machine-elected “leaders,” do what the Constitution prescribes.

Female victims of the martial law dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos speak at the Philippine Supreme Court about how they endured torture during Marcos' regime.

The immunity of opposition Senator Thak Lany (pictured) is on the line after Prime Minister Hun Sen accused her of "slander" and "incitement". Facebook Thak Lany immunity vote today The Senate is set to vote today on whether to strip the senatorial immunity of opposition Senator Thak Lany, after the body’s permanent committee yesterday decided to hold a plenary session following a request by the Appeal Court. A letter released after the 13-member committee’s meeting, signed by the Senate Secretary-General Um Sarith, stated that the session would be held at 8am. According to Senate spokesman Mam Bunneang, 10 committee members voted to send the court’s request to remove Lany’s immunity to a full vote. Lany has been accused by Prime Minister Hun Sen of “slander” and “incitement” for allegedly suggesting he was involved in the murder of prominent political analyst Kem Ley. While the motion to remove her immunity requires a two-thirds majority vote, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party holds more than enough seats in the chamber to approve it. Commenting on the swift granting of the Appeal Court request, Bunneang said that there was no stipulated timeframe for such matters and the committee also wanted to ensure senators could quickly return to their communities to register to vote.[SEP]PHNOM PENH, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Cambodia's Senate stripped an opposition senator of immunity from prosecution on Thursday, allowing a court to charge her over comments about Prime Minister Hun Sen amid increasing nervousness over speaking out against the government. Hun Sen filed a suit against Senator Thak Lany for accusing him in a speech of being behind the July killing of government critic Kem Ley. A lawyer for Lany, who now faces charges of defamation and incitement, denied the senator had ever made such an allegation. "Today, we give the rights to the court to bring charges, the immunity was successfully stripped," Senate spokesman Mam Bunneang told reporters, adding that all 46 ruling Cambodian People's Party Senators voted in favour. Critics have become increasingly worried about speaking their minds about authorities, said Ou Virak of the Future Forum think tank. "Following the death of Kem Ley, many critics have been afraid to speak out," Virak said. Hun Sen has ruled with an iron fist for more than 30 years, defeating all challenges to his authority, but he faces a young electorate which appears increasingly hungry for change. In recent months, tension has been rising between Hun Sen and an opposition hoping to challenge his grip in local elections next year and a general election in 2018. Several members of the opposition and activists have been jailed as part of what they say is a government crackdown to silence critics ahead of the elections. On July 10, Kem Ley, a prominent activist and frequent critic of Hun Sen, was murdered in the capital Phnom Penh and Ley's family have fled abroad fearing for their safety. A suspect has been arrested and police said they believed Kem Ley was killed because of a debt. Activists believe his murder was political. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Nick Macfie)[SEP]BANGKOK, June 29 – Thailand’s First Army Region Commander, Lt-Gen Udomdej Sitabutr on Wednesday denied as spurious the idea that Thai troops will attack Cambodia on July 1 as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sun reportedly claimed. The Thai military has a clear policy that it will not invade other countries but will retaliate only after being attacked first, he said. Gen Udomdej said the Cambodian military has moved more infantry units closer to Thailand’s northeastern border province of Sa Kaeo, however, there has been no report of reinforcement of armoured vehicles or heavy weapons. The move, he said, has not affected the border situation. However, the first army region commander said he has ordered his subordinates to step up security measures including a strict check on people and vehicles which approach the border checkpoint and sought negotiation to ease problems such as talks by the regional border committee earlier scheduled in April. Cambodia however has not yet responded to that. Gen Udomdej also denied reports which link the border situation to an attempt to provide an excuse to cancel Thailand’s general election on July 3. Thailand on Saturday announced its departure from the World Heritage Convention (WHC) at the WHC meeting in Paris, saying the World Heritage Committee failed to heed its request seeking postponement of Cambodia’s unilaterally-proposed Preah Vihear temple management plan, as Thailand fears that it may threaten national sovereignty. ‪‪Ties between the neighbours have been strained since Preah Vihear temple was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008. In April, Cambodia asked the court to clarify its 1962 ruling on the ancient Hindu temple on its disputed border with Thailand following recent deadly armed clashes between the two neighbouring countries. The court, based in The Hague, ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of 4.6-square-kilometre of the surrounding area. (MCOT online news)

The Parliament of Cambodia plans to strip political immunity for opposition politician Thak Lany of the Cambodia National Rescue Party alliance after she criticized Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Story highlights Suicide bombers attack Peshawar and Mardan Friday morning 13 dead in Mardan, one killed on outskirts of Peshawar Peshawar, Pakistan (CNN) At least 14 people were killed Friday in the latest suicide attacks by a Pakistani Taliban splinter group targeting Christians and lawyers in the country, authorities say. Both attacks were claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Pakistan's Tehreek-i Taliban (TTP) -- also known as the Pakistani Taliban -- which has killed scores of people in previous attacks targeting both groups in the country this year. In the city of Mardan, in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at least 13 people were killed and another 53 injured in an attack at the city's district courts Friday, District Police Officer Faisal Shehzad told CNN. The attacker threw a hand grenade at the court gates, then blew blew himself up after security prevented him from entering, Senior Police Superintendent Shafiullah Khan said. Four of those killed were lawyers, according to Amir Hussain, the president of the Mardan Bar Association. Read More[SEP]Twin attacks have hit Pakistan today after 12 were killed in a suicide blast at a courthouse and four Taliban bombers tried to blow themselves up in a Christian colony. The bodies of lawyers, police officers and civilians have been recovered from the wreckage at the court building in the city of Mardan in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. On the same day, gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a Christian colony near the town of Peshawar, killing one civilian, before being shot dead by soldiers. In Mardan a suicide bomber launched a grenade at the district court before detonating his explosives, according to government spokesman Mushtaq Ghani. He said that lawyers, policemen and passers-by were among those killed in the attack. Some of the 52 wounded were critically injured, Ghani said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for second attack. Earlier, four suicide bombers who tried to attack a Christian colony were killed in a gunfight with security forces. Soldiers backed by army helicopters exchanged gunfire with militants in suicide vests who had tried to storm into the colony near Warsak Dam, just north of Peshawar in the northwest of the country. Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway Taliban faction, claimed responsibility for the attack. 'Four suicide bombers with arms and ammunition entered the Christian Colony at Warsak after hitting a security guard at 5.50am,' the Pakistan army said in a statement. 'Security forces promptly responded and surrounded the area. Exchange of fire took place and all four terrorists were killed,' it said, adding that two paramilitary soldiers, a policeman and two security guards were wounded in the gunfight. The 'situation is under control,' the statement said, adding that troops were now carrying out a house to house search of the area. Discrimination and violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, where Muslims account for more than 90 percent of the population. The Pakistani Taliban in particular routinely target minority groups, and in 2011 gunned down Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who was federal minister for minority affairs. A Taliban suicide bomber targeted Christians in a park in the eastern city of Lahore at Easter this year, killing more than 70 people, including many children. Taliban militants stormed a school in Peshawar in December 2014, killing more than 150 people, mostly children, in Pakistan's deadliest-ever terror attack. The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.

Islamic militants attack Christian sections of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaving 13 dead in the city of Mardan.

Police investigators inspect the area of a market where an explosion happened in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr., Reuters Andanar: Initial reports say IED shrapnel were found in blast site DAVAO CITY (6TH UPDATE) - A huge explosion rocked a busy night market Friday evening in Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60 others, police and local officials said. A statement from Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, released through the local government's official Facebook page, confirmed the initial 10 victims who died on the spot. Two other blast victims were reported dead at the South Philippines Medical Center. A Davao City police report handed to President Rodrigo Duterte at a closed-door meeting with officials from concerned agencies raised the death toll to 14. It said 67 others were confirmed injured. The cause of the explosion has yet to be determined. "Right now, we cannot yet give definite answer to as to who is behind this as we are also trying to determine what really exploded," said Paolo, a son of President Duterte. "It's a sad day for Davao and for the Philippines." The explosion happened at around 10 p.m., a time when many people flock to the popular night market in Roxas Avenue, according to Davao City police Insp. Katherine Dela Rey in an interview with DZMM. Online images show emergency teams rushing people out of the night market, which was reopened only three weeks ago after being shut down, in wheelchairs and stretchers. Police have since cordoned off the area. Members of Davao City 911, the Philippine Army, Explosive Ordnance Division (EOD) and Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) also arrived at the scene. SWAT in Davao: pic.twitter.com/9PLW98Fkz0 — Fr. Jboy Gonzales SJ (@jboygonzalessj) September 2, 2016 More photos: now in front of Ateneo de Davao Roxas Ave gate is this scene: pic.twitter.com/nasMvoJrRI — Fr. Jboy Gonzales SJ (@jboygonzalessj) September 2, 2016 Police Regional Office 11 Director Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, in a statement, called for calm and asked people to refrain from "creating/passing misleading or unverified reports to avoid confusion and panic." "The PNP is assuring the public that the situation is being handled carefully. A thorough investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of the explosion and checkpoints/chokepoints were already established at all exit points in the city. We call on all the people to be vigilant at all times and report to the police any suspicious packages or persons," said Gaerlan. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, quoting initial reports, told ABS-CBN News that components of a suspected improved explosive device (IED) were found at the blast site in Davao City. "Sa initial reports ay mayroong nakitang shrapnel from a mortar-based improvised explosive device," he said. Andanar, however, said it is not yet confirmed if an IED indeed caused the explosion. "No. You can say na mayroong initial report na galing sa isang mortar-based na IED." He added that Davao City has been placed on high alert. Checkpoint inilatag sa Doña Carmen Commonwealth kaugnay ng paglalagay sa QC sa heightened alert | via @RPfredcipres pic.twitter.com/dTjq1Vn6Ax — DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) September 2, 2016 Ateneo de Davao University, which is near the night market, has issued a lockdown and warned its students to avoid the area moments after the incident. "To all the students and bystanders in the Roxas night market, please stay away from the area and give way to the ambulances and police," an announcement posted on the university's official Twitter account read. Locals and tourists frequent the Roxas Night Market for bargain items and food. - with reports from Paul Palacio, Hernel Tocmo, and Jasper Magoncia, ABS-CBN News; DXAB[SEP]DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine police blamed Islamic State-linked rebels on Saturday for a bombing that killed 14 people in President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown and dealt a blow to the firebrand leader’s bloody crackdown on narcotics and militancy. Investigators said Abu Sayyaf, a southern Philippine group notorious for acts of piracy, kidnappings and beheadings, had claimed responsibility for Friday’s night bombing at a Davao street market, although police said they were still trying to authenticate the claim. The attack rattled the normally peaceful home city of Duterte, who typically spends his weekends there, some 980 kilometers away from the capital Manila. He was in Davao at the time of the bombing but far from the site of the blast outside a hotel where he often holds meetings. National police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said the bomb was home-made and fragments of mortar were found at the site, where two “persons of interest” had been caught on camera. The bomb was likely to have been planted by Abu Sayyaf, he said, to divert the military’s attention from its operations to flush them out of their strongholds on the islands of Basilan and Jolo. The military on Tuesday agreed to deploy a further 2,500 troops to carry out Duterte’s order to “destroy” Abu Sayyaf. “From being offensive, they want us to be defensive,” Dela Rosa told a news conference late on Saturday. Duterte canceled what would have been his first overseas visit on Saturday, to Brunei, and declared a nationwide “state of lawlessness” to deal with what he called an extraordinary security situation. “I must declare a state of lawless violence in this country,” Duterte told reporters after visiting the blast site, where he assured the public that martial law had not been imposed. Rallyists display placards condemning the bombing at a market in Davao city during a candlelight protest in front of the Catholic church in Quiapo city, metro Manila, Philippines September 3, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco “I have this duty to protect this country,” he said. POWERFUL ENEMIES Police and military promised to act in accordance with his “state of lawlessness”, although there was some confusion about what that actually entailed. Duterte’s office said it referred to a constitutional clause that states the president has full power over the armed forces. The bombing came as the abrasive former prosecutor wages war on narcotics kingpins and street dealers, Islamist rebels and corrupt bureaucrats, scoring big points in opinion polls but at a risk of making powerful enemies. Rumors have swirled of a plot to assassinate Duterte, 71, which he has shrugged off as part of his job. The talk has been fueled by his controversial crackdown on drugs that saw him elected by a huge margin, but condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations. More than 2,000 alleged drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte’s June 30 inauguration. Critics are alarmed at the sheer number whose deaths have been attributed to vigilantes, and the president and police chief’s apparent support for it. Duterte’s tough stance on crime has ensured Davao has been spared the kind of violence that has dogged other parts of Mindanao, a large island province where several Islamist militant groups operate, including Abu Sayyaf. Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword”, has previously used an Islamic State flag in some of its propaganda videos and runs what is among Asia’s most lucrative kidnap rackets. It has this year decapitated two Canadian hostages and held Norwegian, Indonesian, Malaysian and Japanese citizens. Slideshow (16 Images) The group has long been a thorn in the side for the military and has used its ransom earnings to entrench its network and invest in modern weapons, boats and radar technology. The White House offered condolences and assistance to the Philippines, a key regional ally. Duterte is expected to meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Laos next week, when he attends a the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits.[SEP]Police investigators inspect the area of a market where an explosion happened in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr., Reuters ZAMBOANGA CITY (1st UPDATE) - The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has claimed responsibility for the blast in Davao City which left 14 dead and more than 60 wounded on Friday evening. READ: Davao blast death toll rises to 14; 67 others hurt ASG spokesperson Abu Rami said the Davao attack is a "call for unity to all mujahideen in the country" amid the all-out offensive of the military against the group. Rami said that the attack in Davao City is not part of a tactic to divert the attention of government forces who have been pursuing the bandits in Sulu and Basilan. He warned that similar attacks should be expected in the coming days. President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week ordered intensified operations to finish off the 400-strong terror group, following the death of 15 soldiers in a clash in Patikul, Sulu. After the explosion in Davao, Duterte also declared a "state of lawlessness," where he will "invite uniformed personnel to run the country." READ: Duterte declares 'state of lawlessness' The military and the Philippine National Police earlier dismissed circulating text messages about an imminent attack.[SEP](CNN) At least 14 people have been killed and dozens hurt in an explosion at a night market in Davao City in the Philippines, according to the Philippines News Agency, quoting a police official. Earlier, Chief Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, the director of Region 11 of the Philippine National Police, told CNN Philippines that 12 people were killed and 60 injured. He said 10 people died at the scene and two died after being taken to the Southern Philippines Medical Center. He said the situation was fluid, and a maximum deployment of police and armed forces was called in to secure the region. He asked the public to be vigilant, adding that the government was on the watch "in case there are other attacks." He said Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whose hometown is Davao City, was heading to the explosion site. It occurred at a busy night market known to attract thousands on Mindanao, the southern Philippine island where the city is located. Paolo Duterte, Davao City's vice mayor and the President's son, told CNN Philippines that 60 people were injured in the blast. The Philippines News Agency said three of them are in critical condition. All victims appear to be adults, Gaerlan said. Authorities were still trying to confirm the cause of the explosion, he said. While the city was not on lockdown, there was an alcohol ban in place, and officials had asked people in the area to return to their homes. Davao City was on high alert, with police checkpoints set up throughout the city, officials said. Noel Vilanueva, medical director of Davao Doctors Hospitals, told CNN Philippines that four patients were brought to the facility, one of whom required surgery for a leg injury. That patient had metal fragments in the wounds. Presidential spokesman Martin Andanar mentioned the possible involvement of the Islamist militant Abu Sayyaf group or drug lords, according to CNN affiliate ABS-CBN. Duterte campaigned on a no-nonsense approach to crime and the Philippine Daily Inquirer's "Kill List" -- regarded as one of the most accurate records of the killings of suspected drug dealers by police and vigilantes -- has recorded 832 deaths since Duterte assumed office June 30. Police say at least 239 drug suspects were killed in the three weeks after Duterte's inauguration. And government troops have been battling Abu Sayyaf, which remains outside the country's sputtering peace process. Andanar said components of a suspected improved explosive device were found at the scene of the explosion, according to ABS-CBN. Leonor Rala, a 19-year-old medical technology student at San Pedro College, told CNN she was in her dorm and about to go to bed when she heard an explosion. She said she initially thought something had fallen on the roof of a neighboring building. She then went down to survey the scene of the blast, about 100 yards from her dorm. Emergency teams were already in place. "I am really scared to go out," she said. "The roads are closed and nobody's allowed to go out of the city. There are bomb threats everywhere and some of my schoolmates are victims of the explosion and now dead." She continued: "We're very terrified because Davao City was known to be the safest city in the Philippines and a situation like this is very rare." Witness Janoz Laquihon told CNN Philippines he was at the scene when the explosion happened. "I saw some smoke. I thought it's just barbecue. A few minutes later ... a big blast." Witness Father Jboy Gonzales told CNN Philippines that he saw more than 30 people being loaded onto ambulances. "[A] lot of people are wounded, shocked, traumatized," he said. Davao City Government tweeted on its official account: "Let us pray for the victims of this unfortunate incident, especially for those who died." Duterte made his name in politics as the mayor of Davao City. His term in office was noted for his hardline stance on drug crime that he has now incorporated into his national policies . It has resulted in more than 1,900 people being killed in a crackdown, which has drawn criticism at home and abroad.[SEP]DAVAO CITY: Authorities on Saturday blamed the notorious Abu Sayyaf terrorist and kidnap group for the bombing of a night market in President Rodrigo Duterte’s home city that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens. An improvised explosive tore through the bustling market in the heart of Davao City and close to one of its top hotels just before 11:00 p.m. on Friday. Authorities said the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of bandits that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State group, most likely carried out the attack in response to a military offensive launched against it last week. Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte believed the terrorists were behind the blast. “The Office of the President texted and confirmed that was an Abu Sayyaf retaliation. For the city government side, we are working on that it is an Abu Sayyaf retaliation,” Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is also the President’s daughter, told CNN Philippines. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Abu Sayyaf had struck back after suffering heavy casualties on its stronghold of Jolo island in Sulu, about 900 kilometers from Davao. “We have predicted this and warned our troops accordingly but the enemy is also adept at using the democratic space granted by our Constitution to move around freely and unimpeded to sow terror,” Lorenzana said in a statement. Duterte, who was in Davao at the time of the attack but not near the market, told reporters before dawn Saturday that it was an act of terrorism, as he announced extra powers for the military under a “State of Lawless Violence.” At least 14 people were killed and another 67 were wounded in the explosion, police said. Sixteen of the injured were in critical condition, a local hospital director told reporters. Philippine National Police chief Ronald de la Rosa called on the public to remain calm but vigilant. “We will not be cowed by this single act of terrorism; these people don’t deserve an inch of space in a civilized society,” he said in Camp Crame. The President visited the blast casualties at the San Pedro Hospital, the Southern Philippines Medical Center, Angel Funeral Parlor and the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes. “I suggest that the citizens also do their part by being vigilant and at this time, you can go anywhere but be sure if your hairs on your nape stand up, there’s something that’s afoot. Then maybe just get out as soon as possible,” he told reporters. Pregnant woman dies Durian vendor Maribel Tabalwon, 34, told AFP chaos broke out after the blast. She helped rescue three victims but one of them, a woman seven months pregnant, eventually died. “The blast was so loud the ground shook. She was crawling but she was lucky enough no one trampled her during the stampede. She was shaking and bleeding.” Davao, which has a population of two million people, is the biggest city in Mindanao, where Islamic rebels have waged a decades-long separatist insurgency that has claimed more than 120,000 lives. Duterte had been mayor of Davao for most of the past two decades, before winning presidential elections in a landslide in May and being sworn in on June 30. He became well known for bringing relative peace and order to Davao with hard line security policies, while also brokering deals with local Muslim and communist rebels. Duterte in recent weeks pursued peace talks with the two main Muslim rebel groups, each of which has thousands of armed followers. Their leaders have said they want to broker a lasting peace. But the Abu Sayyaf, a much smaller and hardline group infamous for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, has rejected Duterte’s peace overtures. In response, Duterte deployed thousands of troops onto the small and remote island of Jolo to “destroy” the group. The military reported 15 soldiers died in clashes on Monday, but also claimed killing dozens of Abu Sayyaf gunmen. While Davao has been regarded as relatively safer than the rest of Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic groups have carried out deadly attacks there in the past. In 2003, two bomb attacks blamed on Muslim rebels at Davao’s airport and the city’s port within a month of each other killed about 40 people. Duterte initially raised the possibility of drug lords carrying out Friday’s attack as a way of fighting back against his crime war. More than 2,000 people have died in his unprecedented anti-crime crackdown, drawing widespread international condemnation over an apparent wave of extrajudicial killings.[SEP]AT LEAST 10 people were killed and 60 others were injured when an explosion struck a crowded night market on Roxas Avenue in President Rodrigo Duterte’s home city of Davao Friday night, authorities said. The explosion occurred around 10:20 p.m. close to one of Davao City’s top hotels that is popular with tourists and business people, city police spokeswoman Sr. Insp. Catherine de la Rey said. President Rodrigo Duterte, the former mayor of the city, and aide Christopher Go went to the blast site. Police suspected that an improvised explosive caused the blast, but presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a television interview there was “nothing definite yet” as regards the details of the explosion. ”We don’t want to cause anxiety,” Abella told CNN Philippines. Those injured in the blast were rushed to the Southern Philippines Medical Center. In a statement, Davao Region police director Chief Supt. Manuel Gaerlan said: “The PNP is assuring the public that the situation is being handled carefully. A thorough investigation is being conducted to determine the cause of the explosion and checkpoints/chokepoints were already established at all exit points in the city.” ”We call on all the people to be vigilant at all times and report to the police any suspicious packages or persons. Please refrain from creating/passing misleading or unverified reports to avoid confusion and panic,” he added. Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, one of the President’s sons, likewise said authorities were on top of the situation. “Right now, we cannot yet give a definite answer as to who is behind this as we are also trying to determine what really exploded,” he said. “Let us pray for the victims of this unfortunate incident, especially for those who died. Let us pray for those who are being treated in different hospitals and pray for their quick recovery. There are at least 10 people who perished because of the incident and a number were reported wounded,” he added. The blast occurred amid military offensives against the IS-linked Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu province. Jihadists have earlier threatened to retaliate against military and civilian targets.[SEP]DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/01 Sept) — The Task Force Davao has assured Dabawenyos that there are no threats directed at the city from the Abu Sayyaf despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to “destroy them.” Speaking in Thursday’s iSpeak Forum at the City Hall, TF Davao deputy commander Col. George Lalaquil said they have not received reports from the intelligence community that the city, where Duterte served as mayor for 22 years, is under threat amid Duterte’s war against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists. He said TF Davao is coordinating closely with other military units outside the city, which increases the military’s position to deter possible terror attacks not only within but also outside the city. “All relevant information is always shared to the appropriate unit that needs to act on it,” he said. Lalaquil said TF Davao is now conducting more random monitoring activities day in and day out and setting up more checkpoints at all entry points both by land and sea in order to secure the city. He said TF Davao has enough number of Special Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary (SCAA) members and regular troops who do the security patrols while another platoon from the10th Infantry Division will agument the security force. A press release issued by the City Information of Office (CIO) on Wednesday, said the Presidential Security Group (PSG) has doubled the security of the President’s family, most especially his grandchildren, following Duterte’s naming of alleged involvement of politicians, high ranking police officials and judges. Duterte’s son, Paolo, the city’s vice mayor, told reporters that their security has been beefed up. “Akong gipabantayan og maayo sa among pamilya kay among mga anak (I requested that security of our children be intensified),” he said. The President has four children, three with his former wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman – Paolo, Sara, the incumbent mayor, and Sebastian, and one with partner Honeylet Avancena. The President has nine grandchildren. Paolo has five, Sebastian has two and Sara has two, and will soon have five. Sara is pregnant and the ultrasound result indicates she will have triplets. The press release quoted the Vice Mayor as saying threats have always been part of their lives but security measures have been undertaken to ensure their protection. as saying that threats have always been part of their lives but they “have always been “Kami tanan alerto (All of us are ready),” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)[SEP]At least 12 people died and dozens were injured when a bomb tore through a bustling night market in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's home city on Friday, authorities said. The blast occurred just before 11:00pm (1500 GMT), leaving bodies strewn amid the wreckage of plastic tables and chairs on a road that had been closed to traffic for the market in the heart of Davao city. An improvised explosive device caused the explosion, presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said, adding drug traffickers opposed to Duterte's war on crime or Islamic militants may have been responsible. "There are many elements who are angry at our president and our government," Andanar told DZMM radio, after referring to the drug traffickers and the militants. "We are not ruling out the possibility that they might be responsible for this but it is too early to speculate." Twelve people were confirmed killed and more than 30 others injured, according to Ernesto Abella, another presidential spokesman. Davao is the biggest city in the southern Philippines, with a population of about two million people. It is about 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) from the capital of Manila. The blast occurred in the centre of Davao, close to one of the city's top hotels that Duterte sometimes holds meetings in, as well as a major university. "The force just hurled me. I practically flew in the air," Adrian Abilanosa, who said his cousin was among those killed, told AFP shortly afterwards. Duterte was in Davao on Friday but was not near the market when the explosion occurred, according to his aides. They said he went straight into meetings with security chiefs following the blast. Davao is part of the southern region of Mindanao, where Islamic militants have waged a decades-long separatist insurgency that has claimed more than 120,000 lives. Communist rebels, who have been waging an armed struggle since 1968, also maintain a presence in rural areas neighbouring Davao. Duterte had been mayor of Davao for most of the past two decades, before winning national elections in a landslide this year and being sworn in as president on June 30. Duterte became well known for bringing relative peace and order to Davao with hardline security policies, while also brokering local deals with Muslim and communist rebels. However in 2003, two bomb attacks blamed on Muslim rebels at Davao's airport and the city's port within a month of each other killed about 40 people. Duterte has in recent weeks pursued peace talks with the two main Muslim rebel groups. Its leaders have said they want to broker a lasting peace. However Duterte also ordered a military offensive to eliminate the Abu Sayyaf, a small but extremely dangerous group of militants that has declared allegiance to Islamic State and vowed to continue fighting. Fifteen soldiers died on Monday in clashes with the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo island, one of the Abu Sayyaf's main strongholds about 900 kilometres from Davao. Presidential spokesman Andanar referred to the fighting on Jolo when he speculated on who may have been behind Friday's bomb attack. The Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for three bomb attacks in 2005 -- one in Davao, one in a nearby city and a third in Manila -- that killed eight people. The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for kidnapping foreigners to extract ransoms, said it conducted the 2005 attacks in response to an offensive against it at that time. Andanar on Friday also raised the possibility of drug lords carrying out the attack as a way of fighting back against Duterte's war on crime. Duterte has made eradicating illegal drugs the top priority of the beginning of his presidency. Security forces have conducted raids in communities throughout the country to arrest or kill drug traffickers. More than 2,000 people have died in the war on crime. The United States, the United Nations and rights groups have expressed concern about an apparent wave of extrajudicial killings. But the United States quickly released a statement expressing deep condolences for Friday's blast.[SEP]Philippines president: Explosion that killed 15 was act of terrorism Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said an explosion in Davao City that killed at least 15 people Friday night was an act of terrorism and he placed the country on lockdown, the official Philippines News Agency reported. About 69 people were hurt in the explosion that happened around 10 p.m. Friday (10 a.m. ET) at the Roxas night market near Ateneo de Davao University, said Chief Inspector Catherine Dela Rey, spokeswoman for Davao City Police. The market is known to attract thousands. Duterte authorized the police and military to search cars and frisk people at checkpoints, the PNA said. He put the nation under a “state of lawlessness,” saying he has not declared martial law and has not suspended the writ of habeas corpus. “We have to confront the ugly head of terrorism,” Duterte said, standing near the explosion site on Roxas Avenue in Davao City, his hometown. “We will take this as a police matter about terrorism.” No group has claimed responsibility, but Duterte said it’s possible the explosion “could be a reprisal” from extremists. Presidential spokesman Martin Andanar mentioned the possible involvement of the Islamist militant Abu Sayyaf group or drug lords, according to CNN affiliate ABS-CBN. Duterte campaigned on a no-nonsense approach to crime and the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s “Kill List” — regarded as one of the most accurate records of the killings of suspected drug dealers by police and vigilantes — has recorded 832 deaths since Duterte assumed office June 30. Police say at least 239 drug suspects were killed in the three weeks after Duterte’s inauguration. And government troops have been battling Abu Sayyaf, which remains outside the country’s sputtering peace process. Andanar said components of a suspected improved explosive device were found at the scene of the explosion, according to ABS-CBN. Duterte people should submit to searches and frisking at checkpoints. “We know that this is not a fascist state. I cannot control the movement of the citizens of the city and every Filipino has the right to enter and leave Davao. It is unfortunate we cannot stop and frisk anybody for just any reason,” he said. MORE FROM THIS SECTION[SEP](CNN) Police in the Philippines are looking for three people they want to question -- one man and two women -- in connection with the blast at a crowded market in Davao City that killed 14 people Friday night. Philippines National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa told CNN Saturday the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device made of mortar rounds -- which pointed to extremist groups being behind the deadly explosion. Dela Rosa told reporters at a news conference in the southern Philippines city Saturday evening that authorities had eight witnesses, and a sketch of one suspect. Sixty-eight people were injured in the explosion at the crowded night market in President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown, Dela Rosa said. Fifteen of the injured are in critical condition, CNN Philippines reported, citing Southern Philippines Medical Center director Leopoldo Vega. Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte -- the President's son -- said the city had received a bomb threat two days before the blast, CNN affiliate ABS-CBN reported. On Saturday morning, during a visit to the blast site, Duterte told reporters that Islamist militants could be responsible. "We are not new to this kind. It is always connected with the Abu Sayyaf or in Central Mindanao," he said, according to a statement from his office. "But this is not the first time that Davao City has been sacrificed in the altar of violence." He said he had warned the public that there could be blowback from intensified government military operations against the pro-ISIS Islamist group Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province, where 8,000 troops deployed in recent weeks. "We have always been ready for this. I warned, I remember warning everybody that there could be a reprisal because of the pressure there in Sulu which is going on," Duterte said. Abu Sayyaf is a violent extremist group that split from the established Philippines separatist movement Moro National Liberation Front in 1991. The group, which remains outside the country's sputtering peace process, has the stated aim of establishing an independent Islamic state on the southern island of Mindanao, on which Davao City is located. The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, with a large Muslim population in the south. Duterte has described the attack as an act of terrorism, and declared the nation in "a state of lawlessness," authorizing police and the military to search cars and frisk people at checkpoints. The "state of lawlessness" is the mildest of the three executive powers the president can order, giving him the power to summon the military and work more closely with police, but falls short of being a declaration of martial law. The president can only impose martial law in case of invasion or rebellion, Duterte's spokesman said. "It's not martial law but I am inviting now the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military and the police to run the country in accordance with my specifications," he said, according to CNN Philippines. Duterte, who visited a morgue early Saturday to pay respects to the dead, said people should submit to searches and frisking at checkpoints for the sake of public safety. "We know that this is not a fascist state. I cannot control the movement of the citizens of the city and every Filipino has the right to enter and leave Davao. It is unfortunate we cannot stop and frisk anybody for just any reason," he said. Police and military are on high alert across the country, and authorities have urged the public to be vigilant in case of further attacks. Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City, has faced domestic and international criticism since taking national office for his hardline stance on suspected drug offenders. The Philippine Daily Inquirer's "Kill List" -- regarded as one of the most accurate records of the killings of suspected drug dealers by police and vigilantes -- has recorded 832 deaths since Duterte assumed office June 30. Police say at least 239 drug suspects were killed in the three weeks after Duterte's inauguration. Leonor Rala, a 19-year-old medical technology student at San Pedro College, told CNN Friday night that she was terrified after the blast struck near her dorm. She said she initially thought something had fallen on the roof of a neighboring building. She went down to survey the scene of the blast, about 100 yards from her dorm. Emergency teams were already in place. "I am really scared to go out," she said. "Some of my schoolmates are victims of the explosion and now dead." She continued: "We're very terrified because Davao City was known to be the safest city in the Philippines and a situation like this is very rare."

An explosion at a night market in Davao City, Philippines, kills at least 14 people and injures 60. President of the Philippines and former Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte was in the city at the time. Abu Sayyaf have claimed responsibility for the attack.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has recalled all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones equipped with batteries it has found to be fire-prone and halted their sales in 10 markets, denting a revival of the firm’s mobile business. Koh Dong-jin, head of the South Korean company’s smartphone business, declined to comment on how many phones needed to be replaced, but said Samsung had sold 2.5 million of the premium devices so far. Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Koh expressed regret over the recall, which will affect markets including South Korea and the United States. Models in China feature a different battery and are not being recalled by Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone vendor. The recall comes just over two weeks after the company launched its latest premium phone, which features an outsized screen and high-resolution camera. It follows reports of the 988,900 won ($885) phone igniting while charging. The manufacturer plans to replace not only phones with faulty batteries sold to consumers, but also retailer inventories and units in transit. Nomura estimated that more than 1 million units have been sold to end consumers. “I can’t comment on exactly how much the cost will be, but it pains my heart that it will be such a big number,” Koh said. Strategy Analytics said the combined cost of the recall and lost sales would lop $5 billion off Samsung’s smartphone revenue this year and cut smartphone profit margin by 1.5 percent. The scale of the recall is unprecedented for Samsung, which prides itself on its manufacturing prowess. While recalls in the smartphone industry do happen, including for rival Apple Inc, the nature of the problem for the Galaxy Note 7 is a serious blow to Samsung’s reputation, analysts said. The company should act quickly to minimize damage to its smartphone recovery, after a string of product successes had reversed a fall in market share, they added. CUSTOMERS PUT ON HOLD The phone first launched in 10 markets in North America, Asia and the Middle East. Further roll-outs have occurred since in markets like China, where sales started just this week. Its wider availability, set for coming weeks, is now on hold. While there are occasional reports of phones catching fire or otherwise burning users, documented cases that lead to widespread product recalls remain relatively rare. Samsung said it was aware of 35 reports of affected Note 7 batteries. In 2007, the largest battery recall in consumer electronics history took place when Nokia, then the world’s top mobile handset maker, offered to replace 46 million phone batteries produced for it by Japanese maker Matsushita Battery. An employee poses for photographs with Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 new smartphone at its store in Seoul, South Korea, September 2, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji Germany’s biggest operator, Deutsche Telekom, said it had stopped delivering orders for the Galaxy Note 7, while French operator Orange said on its website that it had stopped pre-sales of the phone and postponed its planned sales launch - scheduled for Friday. In Britain, mobile carriers EE and Vodafone continue to accept pre-orders for the Note 7 on their sites. A Vodafone spokesman said its planned Sept. 19 sales launch could now slip, but the company was waiting for more details from Samsung to decide. U.S. operators have been taking pre-orders since early August. All major wireless carriers, including No. 1 U.S. wireless provider Verizon Communications Inc, said they had stopped selling the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung said in a separate statement it started an exchange program in the country for the Note 7. Major U.S. retailers Best Buy and Target also said they had halted sales of the Note 7. Verizon said that if a customer wants to return or exchange the Galaxy Note 7, it would waive through Sept. 30 the restocking fee it charges customers. T-Mobile US, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, said in a statement it would also waive restocking and shipping charges to customers who want to return the recalled phone. SECOND-HALF HOPES Samsung has said it aimed for the Note 7 to maintain strong sales momentum in the second half of the year against stiffening competition from the likes of Apple, which is widely expected to release its latest iPhone next week. Strategy Analytics said Samsung will likely sell fewer than 10 million Note 7s this year compared with its previous estimate of 14 million globally. Samsung said new sales of the Note 7 in affected markets would resume after it deals with replacements, a process it expects will begin in about two weeks. The firm would extend refund periods for affected customers and offer exchanges for other Samsung phones, Koh said. Investors sold Samsung shares after the delay announcement on Thursday, stripping about $7 billion from the firm’s market value, which remains just off recent record highs. Sentiment recovered somewhat in trading on Friday as the shares rose 0.6 percent compared with 0.3 percent in the broader market. Credit Suisse said a recall or major shipment delays could wipe 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) from Samsung’s 2016 operating profit estimate of 30.2 trillion won in an “absolute worst case” scenario. But the brokerage said that scenario was unlikely, as it expected Samsung to resolve the problem before the fourth quarter. HI Securities analyst James Song said the replacement costs may be somewhat limited as Samsung could recycle components of the recalled phones. Slideshow (7 Images) “It is clever for Samsung to replace the affected models, not offering fixes,” he said, adding this would help consumer confidence. Samsung’s mobile division accounted for about 54 percent of the firm’s January-June operating profit of 14.8 trillion won. ($1 = 1,117.4300 Korean won)[SEP]Samsung Elec says to halt Galaxy Note 7 sales on battery problem SEOUL, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Friday it will halt the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and will prepare replacement devices for phones already sold after finding problems with the battery cell used. Samsung, in a statement, said it will take about two weeks to prepare replacement devices for the phones already sold. It was not clear when new sales of the devices would begin. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)[SEP]SEOUL, South Korea—Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. recalled all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones equipped with batteries it has found to be fire-prone and halted their sales in 10 markets, denting a revival of the firm's mobile business. Koh Dong-jin, head of the South Korean company's smartphone business, expressed regret over the recall, which will affect markets including South Korea and the United States, at a news conference on Friday. Models in China feature a different battery and are not being recalled by the world's biggest smartphone vendor. The recall comes just over two weeks after the launch of Samsung's latest premium phone, which features an outsized screen and high-resolution camera, and follows reports of the $885 phone igniting while charging. Koh, who declined to comment on the number of phones needing replacement, said Samsung had sold 2.5 million of the premium devices so far. The manufacturer plans to replace not only phones with faulty batteries sold to consumers, but also retailer inventories and units in transit. "I can't comment on exactly how much the cost will be, but it pains my heart that it will be such a big number," he said. The scale of the recall is unprecedented for Samsung, which prides itself on its manufacturing prowess. While recalls in the smartphone industry do happen, including for rival Apple Inc. the nature of the problem for the Galaxy Note 7 is a serious blow to Samsung's reputation, analysts said. It must act quickly to minimize damage to its smartphone recovery, after a string of product successes had reversed a fall in market share, they added. The phone first launched in 10 markets in North America, Asia and the Middle East. Further roll-outs have occurred since in markets like China, where sales started just this week. Its wider availability, set for coming weeks, is now on hold. Germany's biggest operator Deutsche Telekom said it had stopped delivering orders for the Galaxy Note 7, while French operator Orange said on its website that it had stopped pre-sales of the phone and postponed its planned sales launch - scheduled for Friday. In Britain, mobile carriers EE and Vodafone continue to accept pre-orders for the Note 7 on their sites. A Vodafone spokesman said its planned September 19 sales launch could now slip, but was waiting for more details from Samsung to decide. U.S. operators have been taking pre-orders since early August. The No.1 U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Communications Inc. said it has stopped selling the Galaxy Note 7 in light of customer safety. If a customer wants to return or exchange the Galaxy Note 7, Verizon said it would waive the restocking fee it charges customers through September 30. T-Mobile US, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, also said it has suspended sales, while AT&T and Sprint could not be reached immediately for comment.[SEP]Samsung has suspended sales of its Galaxy Note 7, two weeks after the flagship smartphone's launch, after finding batteries in some of the gadgets exploded while they were charging. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile business, said customers who had already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones, regardless of when they purchased them. Samsung is issuing what amounts to its first global recall of the flagship smartphone because it has not found ways to specify which phones may endanger users. Note 7s are being pulled from shelves in 10 countries, including South Korea and the US. Mr Koh said the company's investigation found that a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers caused the phone to catch fire. He refused to name the supplier. "There was a tiny problem in the manufacturing process so it was very difficult to find out," he told reporters at a news conference. Some buyers reported their phones had caught fire or exploded while charging, sharing photos of scorched phones on social media. Samsung said it had confirmed 35 cases in South Korea and overseas. There have been no reports of injuries related to the problem. Samsung said it has sold more than a million Note 7 smartphones since the August 19 launch. It has manufactured about 2.5 million Note 7 phones so far, some of them still in inventory. Mr Koh said they will be returned and swapped for new ones. The company estimated it would take about two weeks to begin swapping old Note 7s for new phones. China is not affected by the sales suspension. The company said it used a battery made by another supplier for the version sold in China.[SEP]SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on Friday after finding some of their batteries exploded or caught fire. Samsung’s Note 7s are being pulled from shelves in 10 countries, including South Korea and the United States, just two weeks after the product’s launch. Customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones in about two weeks, said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile business. He apologized for causing inconvenience and concern to customers. The recall, the first for the new smartphone, comes at a crucial moment in Samsung’s mobile business. Apple is expected to announce its new iPhone next week and Samsung’s mobile division was counting on momentum from the Note 7’s strong reviews and higher-than-expected demand. Samsung said it had confirmed 35 instances of Note 7s catching fire or exploding. There have been no reports of injuries related to the problem. The company said it has not found a way to tell exactly which phones may endanger users out of the 2.5 million Note 7s already sold globally. It estimated that about 1 in 42,000 units may have a faulty battery. Samsung’s official statement was silent on whether customers should stop using their phones, and it didn’t say whether the problems happened while the phones were charging or during normal use. This summer, Samsung ran into a quality-control issue with another smartphone, a niche model called the Galaxy S7 Active. Consumer Reports found that the phone didn’t live up to its water-resistance promises. Samsung said that relatively few phones were affected and that it had identified and fixed the manufacturing problem. Samsung said it would replace devices under warranty if it failed, but it declined to let customers swap phones otherwise or to issue a broader recall. On the Note 7, after complaints surfaced online, Samsung found that a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers caused the phone to catch fire. Koh refused to name the supplier. “There was a tiny problem in the manufacturing process, so it was very difficult to figure out,” Koh told reporters at a news conference. “It will cost us so much it makes my heart ache. Nevertheless, the reason we made this decision is because what is most important is customer safety.” Customers’ reports of scorched phones prompted Samsung to conduct extra quality controlling tests and delay shipments of the Note 7s this week before the recall. South Korean high school teacher Park Soo-Jung said she had rushed to buy the new phone, pre-ordering and then activating it on Aug. 19, its official launch date. The 34-year-old living in the port city of Busan said that she was bruised when she rushed out of bed after her phone burst into flames, filling her bedroom with smoke stinking of chemicals. She’s having second thoughts about buying another newly released device, especially after losing all her personal data stored in the destroyed Note 7, she said. “If the exploded phone had burned near my head, I would not have been able to write this post,” she said in a popular online forum Thursday, where she shared a photo of the scorched Note 7 and described dousing the flames. China is not affected by the sales suspension. The company said it used a battery made by another supplier for the Note 7s sold in China. Lee can be reached on Twitter: www.twitter.com/YKLeeAP Her previous works can be found on: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/youkyung-lee[SEP]Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on Friday after finding some of their batteries exploded or caught fire. Samsung's Note 7s are being pulled from shelves in 10 countries, including South Korea and the United States, just two weeks after the product's launch. Customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones in about two weeks, said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile business. He apologized for causing inconvenience and concern to customers. The recall, the first for the new smartphone though not the first for a battery , comes at a crucial moment in Samsung's mobile business. Apple is expected to announce its new iPhone next week and Samsung's mobile division was counting on momentum from the Note 7's strong reviews and higher-than-expected demand. Samsung said it had confirmed 35 instances of Note 7s catching fire or exploding. There have been no reports of injuries related to the problem. The company said it has not found a way to tell exactly which phones may endanger users out of the 2.5 million Note 7s already sold globally. It estimated that about 1 in 42,000 units may have a faulty battery. Samsung didn't say whether customers should stop using their phones, or whether explosions and fires could happen when the phone wasn't charging. Consumers who complained publicly said the problem came while the phone was being charged. "The ball is in Samsung's court to make this right. Consumers want information about what's going on and peace of mind that this is not going to happen again," said Ramon Llamas, who tracks mobile devices at research firm IDC. "No one wants to wake up at 1, 2 or 3 (in the morning) and find out your smartphone's on fire." He added that while phone combustions are unusual, "35 instances are 35 too many." This summer, Samsung ran into a quality-control issue with another smartphone, a niche model called the Galaxy S7 Active. Consumer Reports found that the phone didn't live up to its water-resistance promises. Samsung said that relatively few phones were affected and that it had identified and fixed the manufacturing problem. Samsung said it would replace devices under warranty if it failed, but it declined to let customers swap phones otherwise or to issue a broader recall. On the Note 7, after complaints surfaced online, Samsung found that a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers caused the phone to catch fire. Koh refused to name the supplier. "There was a tiny problem in the manufacturing process, so it was very difficult to figure out," Koh told reporters at a news conference. "It will cost us so much it makes my heart ache. Nevertheless, the reason we made this decision is because what is most important is customer safety." The phones start at $850 in the U.S., more expensive than most phones. In the U.S., Samsung said it will let customers downgrade to a Galaxy S7 and refund the price difference. Or customers can get a replacement Note 7 as early as next week. Customers' reports of scorched phones prompted Samsung to conduct extra quality controlling tests and delay shipments of the Note 7s this week before the recall. South Korean high school teacher Park Soo-Jung said she had rushed to buy the new phone, pre-ordering and then activating it on Aug. 19, its official launch date. The 34-year-old living in the port city of Busan said that she was bruised when she rushed out of bed after her phone burst into flames, filling her bedroom with smoke stinking of chemicals. She's having second thoughts about buying another newly released device, especially after losing all her personal data stored in the destroyed Note 7, she said. "If the exploded phone had burned near my head, I would not have been able to write this post," she said in a popular online forum Thursday, where she shared a photo of the scorched Note 7 and described dousing the flames. China is not affected by the sales suspension. The company said it used a battery made by another supplier for the Note 7s sold in China.[SEP]Tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Friday it will halt the sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets , including Ireland, and will prepare replacements for phones already sold after finding problems with the battery cell. The phone was due to go on sale in Ireland, and across Europe, today, and was set to sell from €149 in Ireland. In a statement, Samsung said the problems have been reported in 35 phones globally, and that the company is conducting a thorough inspection with its suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. “However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7,” the company said. Samsung said it will voluntarily replace Galaxy Note 7s that Irish customers already have, over the coming weeks. For more information customers can contact 01-6950367. The scale of the recall is unprecedented for Samsung, which prides itself on its manufacturing prowess. While recalls in the smartphone industry do happen, including for rival Apple, the nature of the problem for the Galaxy Note 7 is a serious blow to Samsung’s reputation, analysts said. Analysts said the firm must act quickly to minimise damage to its smartphone recovery, after a string of product successes had reversed a fall in market share at the world’s biggest smartphone seller. The firm has said it aimed for the Note 7 to maintain strong sales momentum in the second half of the year against stiffening competition from the likes of Apple, which is expected to release its latest iPhone next week. “I am concerned more about a potential reduction in sales than recall costs,” said analyst Jay Yoo at Korea Investment and Securities. “The recall is likely to be a blow to earnings.” Samsung said new sales of the Note 7 in affected markets would resume after it deals with replacements, a process it expects will begin in about two weeks. Investors sold Samsung shares after the delay announcement on Thursday, stripping about $7 billion from the firm’s market value. Sentiment recovered somewhat in Friday trade as the shares rose 0.6 per cent compared with 0.3 per cent in the broader market. Credit Suisse said a recall or major shipment delays could wipe 1.5 trillion won (€1.19bn) from Samsung’s 2016 operating profit estimate of 30.2 trillion won in an “absolute worst case” scenario. But the brokerage said that was unlikely, as it expected Samsung to resolve problem before the fourth quarter of the year.[SEP]Samsung is set to issue a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone as soon after its investigation into explosion claims found batteries were at fault. The move comes after reports that batteries in some of the jumbo smartphones exploded while they were being charged. Samsung launched the latest version of the Note series just two weeks ago. Samsung Electronics declined to comment on the report, but said it was conducting the inspection with its partners. • Everything we know about the new iPhone7 before its release next week "We will share the findings as soon as possible. Samsung is fully committed to providing the highest quality products to our consumers," the company said. Shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone were delayed in South Korea this week for extra quality control testing. Citing an unnamed company official, Yonhap said Samsung's investigation found that faulty batteries caused the phone to catch fire. The number of the Galaxy Note 7 phones with a faulty battery accounts for "less than 0.1%" of the products on the market and Samsung is discussing how to resolve the issue with Verizon and its other partners, the official told Yonhap. The battery issue is a fresh blow to Samsung's smartphone business that has been on a recovery track. • Apple instruct magic circle firm in legal fight with EU over £11bn tax bill Samsung reported stellar earnings that beat market expectations in the latest quarter and its stock price was at a record high before the Note 7's battery problems dented investor sentiment. Samsung's share rose 0.8% early on Friday. The stock closed 2% lower in the previous session. Despite the investigation in South Korea, Samsung went ahead with its scheduled launch on Thursday of the Galaxy Note 7 in China. Company officials did not reply to questions about how Samsung determined which phones are deemed safe and which require further testing. It did not say if those phones are different from the ones sold in South Korea. Yonhap News said five or six explosions were reported by consumers. It cited pictures of severely damaged phones shared in local online communities, social media and YouTube. There were no confirmed reports of any injuries. It is unusual for Samsung to confirm a delay in sales of a device, and rare for it to cite a quality issue. The Galaxy Note 7 smartphone is the latest in Samsung's Note series that feature a giant screen and a stylus. The Note series smartphones are one of the most expensive line-ups released by Samsung and usually inherit designs and features of the Galaxy S series that debut in the spring. Samsung also added an iris scanner to the Note 7, which lets users unlock the phone by detecting patterns in the eyes. Samsung launched the Note 7 on August 19 in some markets, including South Korea and the US. Even before the issue of battery explosions emerged, supplies were not keeping up with higher-than-expected demand for the smartphone. For UK customers who already have Galaxy Note7 devices, they will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks. For more information customers need to contact the customer service team on 0330 7261000.[SEP]Samsung Electronics recalled all of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones on Friday after finding batteries of some of the flagship gadgets exploded or caught fire. Samsung's Note 7s are being pulled from shelves in 10 countries, including South Korea and the United States, just two weeks after the product's launch. Customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones in about two weeks, said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile business. He apologized for causing inconvenience and concern to customers. The recall, the first for the new smartphone, comes at a crucial moment in Samsung's mobile business. Apple is scheduled to announce its new iPhone next week and Samsung's mobile division was counting on momentum from the Note 7's strong reviews and higher-than-expected demand. Samsung said it had confirmed 35 instances of Note 7s catching fire or exploding. There have been no reports of injuries related to the problem. The company said it has not found a way to tell exactly which phones may endanger users out of the 2.5 million Note 7s already sold globally. It estimated that about 24 out of 1 million units may have a faulty battery. After complaints surfaced online, Samsung found that a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers caused the phone to catch fire. Koh refused to name the supplier. "There was a tiny problem in the manufacturing process, so it was very difficult to figure out," Koh told reporters at a news conference. "It will cost us so much it makes my heart ache. Nevertheless, the reason we made this decision is because what is most important is customer safety." Customers' reports of scorched phones prompted Samsung to conduct extra quality controlling tests and delay shipments of the Note 7s this week before the recall. South Korean high school teacher Park Soo-Jung said she had rushed to buy the new phone, pre-ordering and then activating it on Aug. 19, its official launch date. The 34-year-old living in the port city of Busan said that she was bruised when she rushed out of bed after her phone burst into flames, filling her bedroom with smoke stinking of chemicals. She's having second thoughts about buying another newly released device, especially after losing all her personal data stored in the destroyed Note 7, she said. "If the exploded phone had burned near my head, I would not have been able to write this post," she said in a popular online forum Thursday, where she shared a photo of the scorched Note 7 and described dousing the flames. China is not affected by the sales suspension. The company said it used a battery made by another supplier for the Note 7s sold in China.[SEP]Technology giant Samsung Electronics says it is suspending the sales of its brand new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones over faulty batteries. Speaking on Friday, Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile business, adds that replacement devices for phones already sold will be made available to customers. The new Galaxy Note 7 was launched two week ago

Samsung Electronics recalls all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that have fire-prone batteries, and halts sales in 10 markets. A Samsung official says phones with the problematic battery account for less than 0.1 percent of those sold.

TAMPA, Fla.—Hurricane Hermine tore a path of destruction across Florida on Friday, Sept. 2, leaving more than 253,000 homes and businesses without power, flooding low-lying areas and raising concerns about the spread of the Zika virus due to the massive pools of standing water left behind. The first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma more than a decade ago, Hermine came ashore early on Friday near St. Marks, Florida, 20 miles south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. It was set to snarl Labor Day holiday travel after battering Florida's $89-billion tourism industry. The tempest headed toward the Atlantic seaboard on a path where tens of millions of Americans live, causing storm watches and warnings stretching to New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center said. One homeless man was hit by a tree and died, Florida Governor Rick Scott said, but officials have not confirmed whether the death was storm-related. "Now is the time to come together. There is a lot of work to do," Scott told a news conference, warning people to look out for downed power lines and avoid driving in pools of standing water. Concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battles an outbreak of the Zika virus. "... It is incredibly important that everyone does their part to combat the Zika virus by dumping standing water, no matter how small. Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes," Scott said. According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 47 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus through local mosquitoes. Active transmission is thought to be occurring only in two small areas around Miami. As the sun rose on Friday morning on Hudson Beach, just north of Tampa, cars sat askew in the middle of flooded out roads. Palm fronds, tree branches and garbage cans were scattered about. Overnight, Pasco County crews rescued more than a dozen people and brought them to shelters after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in nearby New Port Richey, around 12:30 a.m. CDT on Friday as emergency workers carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," he said. A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 60 miles per hour at 7 a.m. CDT, according to the NHC. The tropical storm was expected to reach the coastal Carolinas later Friday, then move offshore from North Carolina on Saturday. Forecasters said it could strengthen over the sea. In Cedar Key, an island community in northwest Florida, waters rose more than 9.5 feet, among the highest surges ever seen, the National Weather Service said. Officials in the affected region on Friday warned that homes continued to be threatened by high water and implored people to avoid flooded roads. "This is one of the worst that we have seen in the city in a long time, and unfortunately, it is not over yet," Mayor Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, Florida, told reporters. On its current path, the storm could dump as much as 15 inches of rain on coastal Georgia, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared emergencies in affected regions. As it moved north across Florida, the storm continued to whip up heavy rain. Trees blocked roads and bridges were shut to assess the damage caused by high waters, the Florida Department of Transportation said.[SEP]Residents of the Sandpiper Resort survey the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico into their neighborhood as winds and storm surge from Hurricane Hermine affect the area on Thursday, September 1, in Holmes Beach, Florida. Workers install storm shutters on a storefront as they prepare for Hurricane Hermine on September 1. A resident of the Sandpiper Resort in Holmes Beach, Florida, surveys the rising water coming from the Gulf of Mexico because of Hurricane Hermine. Sgt. Andy Pace and Lt. Allen Ham with the Franklin County Sheriff's Department jump-start one of their vehicles as Hurricane Hermine approaches. Traffic moves along US 98 as Hurricane Hermine approaches Eastpoint, Florida, on September 1. Power crews with Pike Electric in South Carolina arrive in Carrabelle, Florida, on the Florida Gulf Coast as Hurricane Hermine approaches on September 1. Sunken and beached boats line the shoreline in Eastpoint, Florida, as Hurricane Hermine approaches.[SEP]How to prepare for a hurricane[SEP]TAMPA, Fla. -- Winds from strengthening Hurricane Hermine lashed at Florida's northern Gulf Coast late on Thursday, forcing residents to evacuate some coastal areas and stock up on provisions ahead of what the state's governor warned would be a lethal storm. Hermine, expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in more than a decade, also posed a Labor Day weekend threat to states along the northern Atlantic Coast that are home to tens of millions of people. On Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, N.J. Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 season around midafternoon when its sustained winds reached 75 mph. Located about 85 miles south of Apalachicola, Fla., late afternoon, it was expected to make landfall early on Friday. Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches of rain in some parts of the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet. Isolated tornadoes were forecast. After battering coastal Florida, Hermine is expected to weaken and move across the northern part of the state into Georgia, then southern U.S. coastal regions on the Atlantic. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags. Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida's 67 counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties in northwestern Florida and voluntary evacuations were in place in at least three more counties. "This is life threatening," Scott told reporters on Thursday afternoon. "You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life." In coastal Franklin County, people on barrier islands and low-lying areas on the shore were being evacuated. "Those on higher ground are stocking up and hunkering down," said Pamela Brownlee, the county's director of emergency management. The last hurricane to make landfall in Florida was Wilma in 2005, the hurricane center said. Towns, cities and counties were hastily preparing shelters for people and pets and placing electric line repair crews on standby ahead of the storm. The storm was expected to affect many areas inland of the Gulf Coast. In Leon County, which includes the state capital of Tallahassee, more than 30,000 sandbags were distributed. At Maximo Marina in St. Petersburg, Florida, dock master Joe Burgess watched anxiously as waters rose 6 inches over the dock at high tide on Thursday afternoon, before slowly receding. "If we get hit with a real storm head on, all the provisions you can make aren't going to matter out here," he said, ready to use a chainsaw to cut beams on covered slips if rising water pushed boats dangerously close to the roof. "It'd be pretty catastrophic." On its current path, the storm also could dump as much as 10 inches of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods there. Still, many people in Florida, whose population has swelled since the last hurricane struck, saw Hermine less as a threat than entertainment. Manatees on the Bay, a restaurant and bar on the waterfront in the Tampa Bay region, was offering storm drink specials including beer and shots. "We thought about doing a hurricane," said owner Perry Murphree, referring to the name of a popular sweet cocktail. "But I don't want to tempt fate."[SEP]TAMPA, Fla -- Winds from strengthening Hurricane Hermine lashed at Florida's northern Gulf Coast late on Thursday, forcing residents to evacuate some coastal areas and stock up on provisions ahead of what the state's governor warned would be a lethal storm. Hermine, expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in more than a decade, also posed a Labor Day weekend threat to states along the northern Atlantic Coast that are home to tens of millions of people. On Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, N.J. Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 season around midafternoon when its sustained winds reached 75 mph. Located about 85 miles south of Apalachicola, Fla., late afternoon, it was expected to make landfall early on Friday. Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches of rain in some parts of the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet. Isolated tornadoes were forecast. After battering coastal Florida, Hermine is expected to weaken and move across the northern part of the state into Georgia, then southern U.S. coastal regions on the Atlantic. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags. Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida's 67 counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties in northwestern Florida and voluntary evacuations were in place in at least three more counties. "This is life threatening," Scott told reporters on Thursday afternoon. "You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life." In coastal Franklin County, people on barrier islands and low-lying areas on the shore were being evacuated. "Those on higher ground are stocking up and hunkering down," said Pamela Brownlee, the county's director of emergency management. The last hurricane to make landfall in Florida was Wilma in 2005, the hurricane center said. Towns, cities and counties were hastily preparing shelters for people and pets and placing electric line repair crews on standby ahead of the storm. The storm was expected to affect many areas inland of the Gulf Coast. In Leon County, which includes the state capital of Tallahassee, more than 30,000 sandbags were distributed. At Maximo Marina in St. Petersburg, Florida, dock master Joe Burgess watched anxiously as waters rose 6 inches over the dock at high tide on Thursday afternoon, before slowly receding. "If we get hit with a real storm head on, all the provisions you can make aren't going to matter out here," he said, ready to use a chainsaw to cut beams on covered slips if rising water pushed boats dangerously close to the roof. "It'd be pretty catastrophic." On its current path, the storm also could dump as much as 10 inches of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods there. Still, many people in Florida, whose population has swelled since the last hurricane struck, saw Hermine less as a threat than entertainment. Manatees on the Bay, a restaurant and bar on the waterfront in the Tampa Bay region, was offering storm drink specials including beer and shots. "We thought about doing a hurricane," said owner Perry Murphree, referring to the name of a popular sweet cocktail. "But I don't want to tempt fate."[SEP]A restaurant in Tallahassee, Florida, has been using Hurricane Hermine to try and attract new customers. The Cuban eatery put a sign outside their restaurant yesterday advising passers-by to come inside and get drunk as the impending storm loomed. The message read: 'Come and get smashed B4 your house does.' A Reddit user by the name of IamLasagna who spotted the lettering shared a picture online with the caption: 'Gordo's back at it again in Tallahassee with a solid Hurricane Prep Tip.' It isn't the first time that Gordos has made a name for itself over its use of words. The word Gordo is actually Spanish and translates as fat. The 'life-threatening' hurricane Hermine is Florida's first for 11 years. It made landfall shortly after 1.30am as it careered past St Marks, south east of Tallahassee. The huge storm - which has knocked out power for more than 132,000 people - is then expected to push further into Georgia, the Carolinas and up the East Coast as a tropical storm, with the potential for heavy rain and flooding. Some parts of eastern Florida could be hit with 20 inches of rain in the next 24 hours and dozens of towns in Hermine's path have been evacuated.[SEP]Hurricane Hermine made landfall in Florida's Big Bend area early on Friday - the first hurricane to hit the state in more than a decade. The Category 1 storm hit just east of St Marks at about 1.30am EDT(0530 GMT) with winds of around 80mph (129kph), according to the US National Hurricane Centre. Projected storm surges of up to 12ft (3.7m) threatened a wide swathe of the coast and an expected drenching of up to 10in (25.4cm) of rain carried the danger of flooding along the storm's path over land, including the state capital, Tallahassee, which had not been hit by a hurricane since Kate in 1985. As of 2am EDT (0600 GMT) on Friday, Hermine was centred about 35 miles (56km) south-east of Tallahassee, and was moving north-northeast. It was expected to drop back down to a tropical storm before pushing into Georgia, the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for heavy rain and deadly flooding. The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm which arrived on October 24 2005. It swept across the Everglades and struck heavily populated south Florida, causing five deaths in the state and an estimated 23 billion US dollars of damage. Many took no chances with Hermine. Tallahassee resident Tom Duffy, 70, said on Thursday that he planned to reserve a hotel room for Friday night in the neighbouring state of Alabama if downed trees caused the kind of power cuts he expected. Even before the storm's final approach to land, the city government tweeted that there were already some 32,000 outages reported around the capital city. "We've dodged bullet after bullet after bullet," Mr Duffy said, but added that Hermine has taken "dead aim" at the city, where blustery winds sent trees swaying before dawn. In Carrabelle, on the coast just 60 miles (97km) south-west of Tallahassee, Courtney Chason was keeping an eye on the storm surge as docks and boat houses were slowly being battered as the storm approached late on Thursday. "I've never seen it this high, it's pretty damn crazy. I've been in this area for 30 years but I've never seen it like this. I hope it doesn't get any higher, we need lots of prayers." Residents on some islands and other low-lying, flood-prone areas in Florida had been urged to clear out. Flooding was expected across a wide swathe of the marshy coastline of the Big Bend - the mostly rural and lightly populated corner where the Florida peninsula meets the Panhandle. Florida Governor Rick Scott warned of the danger of strong storm surges, high winds, downed trees and power outages, and urged people to move to inland shelters if necessary and make sure they have enough food, water and medicine. "You can rebuild a home, you can rebuild property, you cannot rebuild a life," he said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon, adding that "we are going to see a lot of flooding". Mr Scott, who declared an emergency in 51 counties, said 6,000 National Guardsmen were poised to mobilise for the storm's aftermath. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina also declared states of emergency. Across the Florida line in south Georgia, about a dozen people had already arrived by Thursday evening at a Red Cross shelter that opened at a city auditorium in Valdosta which is normally used for banquets and gospel concerts. Cynthia Arnold left her mobile home for the shelter with her brother and her five-year-old grandson, saying: "I'm not just going to sit there and be ignorant." Rainfall of 4in (10cm) to 10in (25.4cm) were possible along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas by Sunday. Lesser amounts were forecast farther up the Atlantic Coast, because the storm was expected to veer out to sea.[SEP]TAMPA, Fla.—Hurricane Hermine tore a path of destruction across Florida on Friday, Sept. 2, leaving more than 253,000 homes and businesses without power, flooding low-lying areas and raising concerns about the spread of the Zika virus due to the massive pools of standing water left behind. The first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma more than a decade ago, Hermine came ashore early on Friday near St. Marks, Florida, 20 miles south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. It was set to snarl Labor Day holiday travel after battering Florida's $89-billion tourism industry. The tempest headed toward the Atlantic seaboard on a path where tens of millions of Americans live, causing storm watches and warnings stretching to New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center said. One homeless man was hit by a tree and died, Florida Governor Rick Scott said, but officials have not confirmed whether the death was storm-related. "Now is the time to come together. There is a lot of work to do," Scott told a news conference, warning people to look out for downed power lines and avoid driving in pools of standing water. Concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battles an outbreak of the Zika virus. "... It is incredibly important that everyone does their part to combat the Zika virus by dumping standing water, no matter how small. Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes," Scott said. According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 47 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus through local mosquitoes. Active transmission is thought to be occurring only in two small areas around Miami. As the sun rose on Friday morning on Hudson Beach, just north of Tampa, cars sat askew in the middle of flooded out roads. Palm fronds, tree branches and garbage cans were scattered about. Overnight, Pasco County crews rescued more than a dozen people and brought them to shelters after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in nearby New Port Richey, around 12:30 a.m. CDT on Friday as emergency workers carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," he said. A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 60 miles per hour at 7 a.m. CDT, according to the NHC. The tropical storm was expected to reach the coastal Carolinas later Friday, then move offshore from North Carolina on Saturday. Forecasters said it could strengthen over the sea. In Cedar Key, an island community in northwest Florida, waters rose more than 9.5 feet, among the highest surges ever seen, the National Weather Service said. Officials in the affected region on Friday warned that homes continued to be threatened by high water and implored people to avoid flooded roads. "This is one of the worst that we have seen in the city in a long time, and unfortunately, it is not over yet," Mayor Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, Florida, told reporters. On its current path, the storm could dump as much as 15 inches of rain on coastal Georgia, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared emergencies in affected regions. As it moved north across Florida, the storm continued to whip up heavy rain. Trees blocked roads and bridges were shut to assess the damage caused by high waters, the Florida Department of Transportation said.[SEP]TAMPA, Fla.—Hurricane Hermine tore a path of destruction across Florida on Friday, Sept. 2, leaving more than 253,000 homes and businesses without power, flooding low-lying areas and raising concerns about the spread of the Zika virus due to the massive pools of standing water left behind. The first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma more than a decade ago, Hermine came ashore early on Friday near St. Marks, Florida, 20 miles south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. It was set to snarl Labor Day holiday travel after battering Florida's $89-billion tourism industry. The tempest headed toward the Atlantic seaboard on a path where tens of millions of Americans live, causing storm watches and warnings stretching to New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center said. One homeless man was hit by a tree and died, Florida Governor Rick Scott said, but officials have not confirmed whether the death was storm-related. "Now is the time to come together. There is a lot of work to do," Scott told a news conference, warning people to look out for downed power lines and avoid driving in pools of standing water. Concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battles an outbreak of the Zika virus. "... It is incredibly important that everyone does their part to combat the Zika virus by dumping standing water, no matter how small. Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes," Scott said. According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 47 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus through local mosquitoes. Active transmission is thought to be occurring only in two small areas around Miami. As the sun rose on Friday morning on Hudson Beach, just north of Tampa, cars sat askew in the middle of flooded out roads. Palm fronds, tree branches and garbage cans were scattered about. Overnight, Pasco County crews rescued more than a dozen people and brought them to shelters after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in nearby New Port Richey, around 12:30 a.m. CDT on Friday as emergency workers carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," he said. A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 60 miles per hour at 7 a.m. CDT, according to the NHC. The tropical storm was expected to reach the coastal Carolinas later Friday, then move offshore from North Carolina on Saturday. Forecasters said it could strengthen over the sea. In Cedar Key, an island community in northwest Florida, waters rose more than 9.5 feet, among the highest surges ever seen, the National Weather Service said. Officials in the affected region on Friday warned that homes continued to be threatened by high water and implored people to avoid flooded roads. "This is one of the worst that we have seen in the city in a long time, and unfortunately, it is not over yet," Mayor Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, Florida, told reporters. On its current path, the storm could dump as much as 15 inches of rain on coastal Georgia, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared emergencies in affected regions. As it moved north across Florida, the storm continued to whip up heavy rain. Trees blocked roads and bridges were shut to assess the damage caused by high waters, the Florida Department of Transportation said.[SEP]TAMPA, Fla -- Winds from strengthening Hurricane Hermine lashed at Florida's northern Gulf Coast late on Thursday, forcing residents to evacuate some coastal areas and stock up on provisions ahead of what the state's governor warned would be a lethal storm. Hermine, expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in the state in more than a decade, also posed a Labor Day weekend threat to states along the northern Atlantic Coast that are home to tens of millions of people. On Thursday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center extended a tropical storm watch to Sandy Hook, N.J. Hermine became the fourth hurricane of the 2016 season around midafternoon when its sustained winds reached 75 mph. Located about 85 miles south of Apalachicola, Fla., late afternoon, it was expected to make landfall early on Friday. Hermine could dump as much as 20 inches of rain in some parts of the state. Ocean storm surge could swell as high as 12 feet. Isolated tornadoes were forecast. After battering coastal Florida, Hermine is expected to weaken and move across the northern part of the state into Georgia, then southern U.S. coastal regions on the Atlantic. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina on Thursday declared emergencies in affected regions. In South Carolina, the low-lying coastal city of Charleston was handing out sandbags. Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 51 of Florida's 67 counties, and at least 20 counties closed schools. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of five counties in northwestern Florida and voluntary evacuations were in place in at least three more counties. "This is life threatening," Scott told reporters on Thursday afternoon. "You can rebuild a home. You can rebuild property. You cannot rebuild a life." In coastal Franklin County, people on barrier islands and low-lying areas on the shore were being evacuated. "Those on higher ground are stocking up and hunkering down," said Pamela Brownlee, the county's director of emergency management. The last hurricane to make landfall in Florida was Wilma in 2005, the hurricane center said. Towns, cities and counties were hastily preparing shelters for people and pets and placing electric line repair crews on standby ahead of the storm. The storm was expected to affect many areas inland of the Gulf Coast. In Leon County, which includes the state capital of Tallahassee, more than 30,000 sandbags were distributed. At Maximo Marina in St. Petersburg, Florida, dock master Joe Burgess watched anxiously as waters rose 6 inches over the dock at high tide on Thursday afternoon, before slowly receding. "If we get hit with a real storm head on, all the provisions you can make aren't going to matter out here," he said, ready to use a chainsaw to cut beams on covered slips if rising water pushed boats dangerously close to the roof. "It'd be pretty catastrophic." On its current path, the storm also could dump as much as 10 inches of rain on coastal areas of Georgia, which was under a tropical storm watch, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods there. Still, many people in Florida, whose population has swelled since the last hurricane struck, saw Hermine less as a threat than entertainment. Manatees on the Bay, a restaurant and bar on the waterfront in the Tampa Bay region, was offering storm drink specials including beer and shots. "We thought about doing a hurricane," said owner Perry Murphree, referring to the name of a popular sweet cocktail. "But I don't want to tempt fate."

Residents of the American state of Florida prepare for the impact of Hurricane Hermine which is expected to make landfall today. A state of emergency has been declared in 51 of the 67 counties in the state.

Hurricane Hermine tore a path of destruction across Florida on Friday, leaving more than 253,000 homes and businesses without power, flooding low-lying areas and raising concerns about the spread of the Zika virus due to the massive pools of standing water left behind. The first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Wilma more than a decade ago, Hermine came ashore early on Friday near St Marks, Florida, 30km south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 130kph and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. It was set to snarl US Labour Day holiday travel after battering Florida's US$89-billion tourism industry. The tempest headed toward the Atlantic seaboard on a path where tens of millions of Americans live, causing storm watches and warnings stretching to New Jersey, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. One homeless man was hit by a tree and died, Florida Governor Rick Scott said, but officials have not confirmed whether the death was storm-related. "Now is the time to come together. There is a lot of work to do," Scott told a news conference, warning people to look out for downed power lines and avoid driving in pools of standing water. Concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battles an outbreak of the Zika virus. "... It is incredibly important that everyone does their part to combat the Zika virus by dumping standing water, no matter how small. Any amount of standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes," Scott said. According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 47 cases of Zika in people believed to have contracted the virus through local mosquitoes. Active transmission is thought to be occurring only in two small areas around Miami. As the sun rose on Friday morning (Saturday NZT) on Hudson Beach, just north of Tampa, cars sat askew in the middle of flooded out roads. Palm fronds, tree branches and garbage cans were scattered about. Overnight, Pasco County crews rescued more than a dozen people and brought them to shelters after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in nearby New Port Richey, around 1.30am local time (5.30pm NZT) on Friday as emergency workers carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," he said. A weakening Hermine moved across southern Georgia, blowing winds of 95km at 8am local time (12am Saturday NZT), according to the NHC. The tropical storm was expected to reach the coastal Carolinas later on Friday (Saturday NZT), then move offshore from North Carolina on Saturday (Sunday NZT). Forecasters said it could strengthen over the sea. In Cedar Key, an island community in northwest Florida, waters rose more than 2.9 metres, among the highest surges ever seen, the National Weather Service said. Officials in the affected region on Friday (Saturday NZT) warned that homes continued to be threatened by high water and implored people to avoid flooded roads. "This is one of the worst that we have seen in the city in a long time, and unfortunately, it is not over yet," Mayor Rick Kriseman of St Petersburg, Florida, told reporters. On its current path, the storm could dump as much as 38cm of rain on coastal Georgia, and the Carolinas. Forecasters warned of "life-threatening" floods and flash floods. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared emergencies in affected regions. As it moved north across Florida, the storm continued to whip up heavy rain. Trees blocked roads and bridges were shut to assess the damage caused by high waters, the Florida Department of Transportation said.[SEP]Tropical Storm Hermine moves northeast across the Carolinas on Friday afternoon in this satellite image from the National Hurricane Center. The storm slammed into Florida's Big Bend around 1:30 a.m. EDT Friday as a category 1 hurricane. Forecasters expect it to regain strength when it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. Image courtesy National Hurricane Center/NOAA Beach trash cans are strewn along the dunes from high winds along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo A woman picks up her small dog after tides surged along the beach in high winds from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo A and and daughter hold themselves against high winds along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo A young girl struggles to walk along the beach in high winds along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo A surfer struggles to hold on to his surfboard in high winds along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo A young man uses a raining parachute to pull his boogie board along the incoming tide as winds reach 50-mph along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo The Storm Warning flag flies above the beach in high winds along the coast from Tropical Storm Hermine in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, on September 2, 2016. Beach goers were discouraged from entering the water due to rip currents, turbulent waves and winds exceeding 50-mph. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The Sunshine State hardly lived up to its namesake on Friday, as Hurricane Hermine stormed ashore and left behind a soggy mess that killed one person and left a quarter-million others without electricity, authorities said. Hermine arrived about 1:30 a.m. EDT Friday at Florida's Big Bend area and carved a path between Tampa and the Panhandle with hurricane-force winds and torrential rains. Officials said a 56-year-old man died when he was hit by a falling tree. John Mayes had been sleeping in a tent behind a gas station in Ocala when a tree fell without warning. Emergency workers had to cut through the tree to get to him, but they declared him dead on the spot. RECOMMENDED Hawaiian islands prepare for Hurricane Lester Several Homes and businesses in Taylor County, located in the Panhandle area, were damaged from rising flood waters and at least 10 feet of storm surge. In Pasco County, unconfirmed reports of a tornado overturned a tractor trailer and downed trees. RELATED Hawaiian islands prepare for Hurricane Lester Florida Gov. Rick Scott said crews began assessing damages Friday afternoon and said the storm cut power to about 253,000 customers. He warned residents to begin cleanup with caution. After reaching shore, Hermine immediately began losing strength -- as storms pick up their speed from warm water in the oceans -- and was downgraded to a tropical storm early Friday as it headed northeast. By early Friday evening, it was located over North Carolina -- about 15 miles east of Charlotte, N.C. -- and making its way to the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said. RELATED Oil prices edge higher on Gulf of Mexico weather woes Video: CBS Evening News "We expect to see downed traffic lights, road signs and power lines that must be avoided. We also expect to have significant amounts of flood water along coastal and inland areas," Scott said earlier Friday. Hermine was the first hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Forecasters said the storm, the eighth named system of the year, made landfall just south of Tallahassee as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing with it winds of 80 mph. By late Friday, tropical storm warnings had been discontinued for Florida's Gulf Coast, but meteorologists said tornadoes are possible for North and South Carolina throughout Friday night. The National Hurricane Center said the storm should re-strengthen once it moves into the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday and picks up more steam from the warm water there. "The combination of a storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. There is the possibility of life-threatening inundation during the next 48 hours at most coastal locations between the North Carolina/Virginia border and Bridgeport, Conn.," the National Hurricane Center said. A tropical storm watch has been posted for parts of New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island as Hermine continues north. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned the storm could cause severe damages, including flooding. "I don't want anyone to take this one lightly," he said Friday morning. "There are some elements of this storm that are very, very troubling."[SEP]Hurricane Hermine, the first hurricane to strike Florida in more than a decade, made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast early Friday morning, pummeling small seaside towns with powerful 80 mph winds and heavy rain. The Category 1 hurricane crashed ashore early Friday near St. Marks, a tiny town with a population of less than 300, in the low-lying, marshy Big Bend area, where the state's peninsula meets the Panhandle. In St. Marks, the storm surge flooded the Riverside Café, the Sweet Magnolia Inn and Bo Lynn’s Grocery, the community’s only grocery store. Yet it did not reach the post office as it did when Hurricane Kate swept through the region in 1983. “It just came up like a torrent, like you’re on the river rapids,” said Denise Waters, owner of the Sweet Magnolia Inn, which began to fill with 18 inches of water around dusk Thursday night. Storm water pooled in all the lower rooms, damaging her etched-glass doors and baby grand piano, and leaving mud all over her baseboards. “Oh boy, it’s a mess, for sure,” Waters said, as her husband, Andy, drove 15 miles to visit his 92-year-old mother, who had taken refuge in a hotel. “I don’t know what we’re going to do as she needs oxygen and all the hotels have lost power.” After pounding through a mostly undeveloped area of Wakulla County, full of national wildlife refuges and forests, Hermine stormed on to the state’s capital of Tallahassee, which has a population of more than 181,000. Hermine downed trees and tree limbs and knocked down power lines, blocking roads and cutting off power to more than 253,000 utility customers across Florida. Yet there were few reports of fatalities or injuries. In Marion County in Central Florida, a homeless man was hit by a tree, but officials were waiting for the coroner to confirm the death was storm related. At least 59 shelters were operational in Florida on Thursday night, serving approximately 300 people, the governor’s office said. The American Red Cross reported that five shelters were open in Georgia, sheltering 140 people. “We got a little less rain that we thought,” said Florida Gov. Rick Scott in a Friday morning news briefing. “What I worry about now is people driving in standing water, people touching power lines… We need to be careful. By end of the day, hopefully a lot of this will be cleaned up.” In Tallahassee, a tree fell on to Amy Park’s brick home about 11:45 p.m. Thursday night, creating a 10-by-10-foot hole in the middle of her living room and another in her kitchen. As rain poured through the roof, flooding her home, her husband and a friend emptied buckets through the night. “We have six kids sleeping on mattresses in the hallway right now,” she said in an interview with local television station WCTV. “The house is actually flooding, so we’ve grabbed pillows, blankets, couch cushions, anything we can to try to stop flooding from coming into the hallway where the children are.” As the hurricane traveled north, residents were urged to remain indoors and not travel unless absolutely necessary as crews from the Florida Department of Transportation cleared debris and fallen trees from roads. A few hours after landfall, Hermine weakened into a tropical storm as it moved further inland toward Georgia, according to the National Hurricane Center. At 11 a.m. EDT, it was about 55 miles west-southwest of Savannah, Ga., with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Hermine is forecast to move up into the Carolinas late Friday and Saturday, with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 175 miles from the center. Tropical storm warnings has been extended northward, all the way up to Fenwick Island, Del. Major cities, such as New York City and Long Island, are now under a tropical storm watch. A few hours after landfall, Hermine weakened into a tropical storm as it moved further inland toward Georgia, according to the National Hurricane Center. At 5 a.m., it was about 20 miles west of Valdosta, Ga., with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Hermine is forecast to move farther inland across southeastern Georgia on Friday and into the Carolinas on Friday night and Saturday, with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 175 miles from the center. Hermine is the first hurricane to strike the state since Wilma hit just south of Marco Island in southwest Florida in 2005, killing five people and causing $20 billion in damage. Governors in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina have declared states of emergency in a swath of counties: Gov. Rick Scott for 51 Florida counties, Gov. Nathan Deal for 56 Georgia counties and Gov. Pat McCrory for 33 North Carolina counties. Friday morning, the Weather Channel reported that 16 million people were under a tropical storm warning and 6 million were under a tropical storm watch. As the National Weather Service in Tallahassee forecast a storm tide of up to 9 feet that could lead to flooding, mandatory evacuations were in effect across low-lying, coastal areas of Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor, Dixie and Levy counties. Voluntary evacuations were issued along the coast of Walton, Gulf and Jefferson counties. “We’re right in the target, directly in the bull’s-eye,” said Steve Spradley, director of emergency management for Florida’s Taylor County, as a slow, steady rain soaked his region in the bend of the panhandle. “It’s quiet. We’re just sitting and waiting and planning.”[SEP]Tropical storm and flooding watches and warnings were in effect along the Atlantic seaboard from South Carolina north to Rhode Island as the potentially life-threatening storm moved along a stretch inhabited by tens of millions of Americans. "Hermine not only threatens to foil weekend getaways at the beach, but has the potential to cause damage in some communities and pose risk to the lives of those who venture in the surf or on the seas," said Alex Sosnowski, a meteorologist, on Accuweather.com. The storm was projected to creep north along the Carolina coast, then gather strength after moving offshore into the Atlantic on Saturday morning, possibly reaching near-hurricane intensity by late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. The threat of severe weather caused officials in Atlantic City to cancel concerts over the weekend and beaches to close in several coastal communities. Labor Day weekend plans for thousands of vacationers who were headed to popular beach spots along the Atlantic seaboard were dampened after the storm battered Florida's $89 billion tourism industry. "We’ll probably stay inside watching movies or going to the movie theater," Joan Whalen told an ABC affiliate in Virginia after canceling plans to head to the beach for the weekend. Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore early on Friday near the Gulf shore town of St. Marks, 20 miles (30 km) south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. As of 2 a.m. EDT, the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was about 115 miles (185 km) west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where 60 mph (95 kmh) winds were reported, the hurricane center said. Early Saturday morning, crews in Wilmington, North Carolina rescued several people who were sitting on top of their vehicle after a flood engulfed their street, photos from local media showed. At least one tornado was reported touching down in North Carolina on Saturday, causing at least one injury, local media reported. On Friday the storm passed near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leaving some 51,000 power outages across the state, said state emergency management spokesman Derrec Becker. Becker said localized flooding hit low-lying areas across the state, and there were widespread reports of "downed power lines, downed trees, trees on cars and some flooded cars," along with isolated incidents of tree-damaged homes. A total of about 150,000 households were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, utility companies reported on Saturday. Emergency declarations remained in effect for all or parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Overnight, crews in Pasco County, Florida, rescued more than a dozen people after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa, as emergency teams carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house, and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," Jewett said. One storm-related death was reported by authorities in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a fallen tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. In addition to powerful winds extending up to 185 miles (295 km) from its center, Hermine was expected to unleash a dangerous storm surge in the Hampton Roads area of tidewater Virginia, where flooding could become 3 to 5 feet deep, the NHC warned. The storm also could douse several southeastern and mid-Atlantic states with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain through Sunday, the agency said. New Jersey, still mindful of devastation from superstorm Sandy in 2012, was on high alert as emergency officials advised residents to prepare for flooding, high winds and a surge of seawater. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday activated his state's emergency operations center and ordered officials to stockpile resources, including sandbags and generators. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said residents should avoid beach waters for fear of life-threatening riptides. In Florida, concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battled an outbreak of the Zika virus.[SEP]There's a storm brewing, and it's not just in the Gulf Of Mexico, but on Twitter — over the name of a hurricane that is due to hit the Gulf Coast of Florida on Thursday night. The argument is over whether storm Hermine should have been named after the Harry Potter character Hermione or even the late Cincinnati gorilla, Harambe. More than 2,500 people have already signed a Change.org petition urging the World Meteorological Organization to change the name to pay tribute to Harambe, who was shot dead in May after a young boy fell into his enclosure at the city's zoo. 'Tropical Storm Hermine sounds terrible, and is disrespectful to the great Harambe. To honor Harambe, a renaming is required to continue his legacy,' the petition notes. A number of Twitter users appear to be campaigning for the storm to be renamed Hermione after one of Harry Potter's best wizarding friends. On social media Wednesday, the National Weather Service made it clear the name didn't have anything to do with Hermione Granger, one of the lead characters from the wildly popular Harry Potter series. 'We now have TS Hermine in the Gulf of Mexico! This is pronounced 'her-MEEN' instead of a certain character's name,' NWS in Huntsville said. In German versions of the fictional series, however, Hermione is named 'Hermine,' the feminine form of the name Herman. Despite the good intentions of the general public, the names for tropical storms come from a pre-determined list that see each season start at the beginning of the alphabet, alternating between genders, on a six-year cycle. The names are only retired if a storm is particularly deadly or catastrophic. Only then, can new names be introduced. It was a system that was developed by the World Meteorological Organization in 1979 to avoid confusion if more than one storm system developed at the same time. Hermine, the French version of Hermione, is derived from the Greek messenger god, Hermes, and is the eighth tropical storm of the year. In 2010, a different Tropical Storm Hermine killed four people and caused extensive flooding in Texas.[SEP]Hurricane Hermine wreaked havoc across Florida on Friday, causing widespread power outages and flooding before diminishing into a tropical storm and plowing up the Atlantic Coast into the Carolinas with a still-potent mix of high winds and heavy rains. The first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, Hermine swept ashore early on Friday near the Gulf shore town of St Marks, 20 miles (30 km) south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. Torrential downpours and high surf left parts of some communities under water early Friday, with mandatory evacuations ordered in parts of five northwestern Florida counties. State officials said electricity had been knocked out to nearly 300,000 homes and businesses by afternoon. One storm-related death was reported by authorities in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a fallen tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. Hermine was expected to snarl Labor Day holiday travel as it churned northeast for several more days after battering Florida’s $89 billion tourism industry. While maximum sustained winds had weakened to 50 mph (80 kph), the tempest headed to the Atlantic seaboard along a path inhabited by tens of millions of Americans, prompting storm watches and warnings as far north as Rhode Island. As of 9:00pm EDT (0100 GMT), the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was passing near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leaving some 51,000 power outages across the state, said state emergency management spokesman Derrec Becker. Becker said localised flooding hit low-lying areas across the state, and there were widespread reports of ‘downed power lines, downed trees, trees on cars and some flooded cars,’ along with isolated incidents of tree-damaged homes. One mobile home was virtually sliced in two by a fallen tree, but authorities had no reports of serious storm-related injuries or fatalities, Becker added. Likewise, emergency officials reported no storm deaths in Georgia, which Hermine swept through on its way to South Carolina, but said at least 100,000 utility customers were without power at one point. Emergency declarations remained in effect for all or parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. The storm was projected to creep north along the Carolina coast Friday night, then gather strength after moving offshore into the Atlantic on Saturday morning, possibly reaching near-hurricane intensity by late Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. In addition to powerful winds extending up to 185 miles (295 km) from its center, Hermine was expected to unleash a dangerous storm surge in the Hampton Roads area of tidewater Virginia, where flooding could become 3 to 5 feet deep, the NHC warned. The storm also could douse several southeastern and mid-Atlantic states with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain through Sunday, the agency said. New Jersey, still mindful of devastation from superstorm Sandy in 2012, was on high alert as emergency officials advised residents to prepare for flooding, high winds and a surge of seawater. New York governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday activated his state’s emergency operations center and ordered officials to stockpile resources, including sandbags and generators. New York City mayor Bill De Blasio said residents should avoid beach waters for fear of life-threatening riptides. ‘I say that to people who go the beach, I say that to surfers: Don’t even think about it,’ De Blasio told reporters. In Florida, concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battled an outbreak of the Zika virus. ‘It is incredibly important that everyone does their part to combat the Zika virus by dumping standing water, no matter how small,’ Florida governor Rick Scott told a news conference. Overnight, crews in Pasco County, Florida, rescued more than a dozen people after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa, as emergency teams carried out a mandatory evacuation. ‘The canal started creeping up toward the house, and even though it wasn’t high tide it looked like it was coming inside,’ Jewett said.[SEP]Sept 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. East Coast faces a potential mix of dangerously high winds and heavy rains over the long holiday weekend as Tropical Storm Hermine plowed up the Atlantic Coast on Saturday, leaving a path of destruction in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Tropical storm and flooding watches and warnings were in effect along the Atlantic seaboard from South Carolina north to Rhode Island as the potentially life-threatening storm moved along a stretch inhabited by tens of millions of Americans. "Hermine not only threatens to foil weekend getaways at the beach, but has the potential to cause damage in some communities and pose risk to the lives of those who venture in the surf or on the seas," said Alex Sosnowski, a meteorologist, on Accuweather.com. The storm was projected to creep north along the Carolina coast, then gather strength after moving offshore into the Atlantic on Saturday morning, possibly reaching near-hurricane intensity by late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. The threat of severe weather caused officials in Atlantic City to cancel concerts over the weekend and beaches to close in several coastal communities. Labor Day weekend plans for thousands of vacationers who were headed to popular beach spots along the Atlantic seaboard were dampened after the storm battered Florida's $89 billion tourism industry. "We'll probably stay inside watching movies or going to the movie theater," Joan Whalen told an ABC affiliate in Virginia after canceling plans to head to the beach for the weekend. Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore early on Friday near the Gulf shore town of St. Marks, 20 miles (30 km) south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. As of 2 a.m. EDT, the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was about 115 miles (185 km) west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where 60 mph (95 kmh) winds were reported, the hurricane center said. Early Saturday morning, crews in Wilmington, North Carolina rescued several people who were sitting on top of their vehicle after a flood engulfed their street, photos from local media showed. At least one tornado was reported touching down in North Carolina on Saturday, causing at least one injury, local media reported. On Friday the storm passed near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leaving some 51,000 power outages across the state, said state emergency management spokesman Derrec Becker. Becker said localized flooding hit low-lying areas across the state, and there were widespread reports of "downed power lines, downed trees, trees on cars and some flooded cars," along with isolated incidents of tree-damaged homes. A total of about 150,000 households were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, utility companies reported on Saturday. Emergency declarations remained in effect for all or parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Overnight, crews in Pasco County, Florida, rescued more than a dozen people after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa, as emergency teams carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house, and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," Jewett said. One storm-related death was reported by authorities in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a fallen tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. In addition to powerful winds extending up to 185 miles (295 km) from its center, Hermine was expected to unleash a dangerous storm surge in the Hampton Roads area of tidewater Virginia, where flooding could become 3 to 5 feet deep, the NHC warned. The storm also could douse several southeastern and mid-Atlantic states with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain through Sunday, the agency said. New Jersey, still mindful of devastation from superstorm Sandy in 2012, was on high alert as emergency officials advised residents to prepare for flooding, high winds and a surge of seawater. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday activated his state's emergency operations center and ordered officials to stockpile resources, including sandbags and generators. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said residents should avoid beach waters for fear of life-threatening riptides. In Florida, concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battled an outbreak of the Zika virus.[SEP]Sept 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. East Coast faces a potential mix of dangerously high winds and heavy rains over the long holiday weekend as Tropical Storm Hermine plowed up the Atlantic Coast on Saturday, leaving a path of destruction in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Tropical storm and flooding watches and warnings were in effect along the Atlantic seaboard from South Carolina north to Rhode Island as the potentially life-threatening storm moved along a stretch inhabited by tens of millions of Americans. "Hermine not only threatens to foil weekend getaways at the beach, but has the potential to cause damage in some communities and pose risk to the lives of those who venture in the surf or on the seas," said Alex Sosnowski, a meteorologist, on Accuweather.com. The storm was projected to creep north along the Carolina coast, then gather strength after moving offshore into the Atlantic on Saturday morning, possibly reaching near-hurricane intensity by late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. The threat of severe weather caused officials in Atlantic City to cancel concerts over the weekend and beaches to close in several coastal communities. Labor Day weekend plans for thousands of vacationers who were headed to popular beach spots along the Atlantic seaboard were dampened after the storm battered Florida's $89 billion tourism industry. "We'll probably stay inside watching movies or going to the movie theater," Joan Whalen told an ABC affiliate in Virginia after canceling plans to head to the beach for the weekend. Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore early on Friday near the Gulf shore town of St. Marks, 20 miles (30 km) south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. As of 5 a.m. EDT, the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was about 60 miles (95 km) west-northwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where 60 mph (95 kmh) winds were reported, the hurricane center said. Early Saturday morning, crews in Wilmington, North Carolina rescued several people who were sitting on top of their vehicle after a flood engulfed their street, photos from local media showed. At least one tornado was reported touching down in North Carolina on Saturday, causing at least one injury, local media reported. On Friday the storm passed near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leaving some 51,000 power outages across the state, said state emergency management spokesman Derrec Becker. Becker said localized flooding hit low-lying areas across the state, and there were widespread reports of "downed power lines, downed trees, trees on cars and some flooded cars," along with isolated incidents of tree-damaged homes. A total of about 150,000 households were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, utility companies reported on Saturday. Emergency declarations remained in effect for all or parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Overnight, crews in Pasco County, Florida, rescued more than a dozen people after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa, as emergency teams carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house, and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," Jewett said. One storm-related death was reported by authorities in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a fallen tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. In addition to powerful winds extending up to 185 miles (295 km) from its center, Hermine was expected to unleash a dangerous storm surge in the Hampton Roads area of tidewater Virginia, where flooding could become 3 to 5 feet deep, the NHC warned. The storm also could douse several southeastern and mid-Atlantic states with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain through Sunday, the agency said. New Jersey, still mindful of devastation from superstorm Sandy in 2012, was on high alert as emergency officials advised residents to prepare for flooding, high winds and a surge of seawater. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday activated his state's emergency operations center and ordered officials to stockpile resources, including sandbags and generators. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said residents should avoid beach waters for fear of life-threatening riptides. In Florida, concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battled an outbreak of the Zika virus. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Gareth Jones)[SEP]Hurricane Hermine dropped to a tropical storm but then regained strength Saturday as it drenched coastal North Carolina and Virginia on a path up the East Coast. Hermine (her-MEEN) could approach hurricane intensity again Sunday as it spins over the Atlantic Ocean, lashing coastal areas as far north as Massachusetts through a soggy Labor Day weekend. "Anyone along the U.S. East Coast needs to be paying close attention this weekend," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Hermine was centered just off North Carolina's Outer Banks, with top sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), moving east-northeast at 15 mph (24 kph). Tropical Storm Warnings were extended through New York City to Rhode Island, and a dangerous storm surge was expected from Virginia to New Jersey. Hermine rose up over the Gulf of Mexico and became the first hurricane to hit Florida in more than a decade, wiping away beachside buildings, toppling trees onto homes and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity as it plowed onward to the Atlantic Coast. About 300,000 homes were without electricity in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott said Saturday morning. Other outages included more than 107,000 without power in Georgia, 21,000 in South Carolina, 45,000 in North Carolina and 53,000 in Virginia. "I want everybody to have their power. I want them to be able to take a hot shower," Scott said. Governors Terry McAulliff of Virginia and Larry Hogan of Maryland declared states of emergency for coastal areas and warned of life-threatening storm surges. In Florida's Big Bend area, the storm surge crumpled docks and washed out homes and businesses. A homeless man died from a falling tree south of Gainesville, Scott said. Scott observed damage in the coastal communities of Cedar Key and Steinhatchee by helicopter, and pledged state help for damaged businesses. Hermine spawned a small tornado over North Carolina's Outer Banks, knocking over two trailers and injuring four people. In Virginia Beach, the storm forced Bruce Springsteen to move a Saturday night concert to Monday. Further up the coast, Amtrak cancelled or altered some service as the storm approached. New Jersey officials ordered swimmers out of the surf. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo activated New York's Emergency Operations Center to begin preparations. In Valdosta, Georgia, Hermine didn't cause much damage other than the holes in Nick Wykoff's roof from a burly pecan tree that was toppled in strong winds. He, his wife and their small children were unhurt. The timing couldn't be worse for communities along the coast that count on Labor Day weekend festivals for revenue. In Savannah, Georgia, Bacon Fest was canceled Friday and the Craft Brew Fest had to move beer tents indoors. Back in Florida, the surge at Dekle Beach damaged numerous homes and destroyed storage buildings and a 100-yard fishing pier. The area is about 60 miles southeast of St. Marks, where Hermine made landfall at 1:30 a.m. An unnamed spring storm that hit the beach in 1993 killed 10 people who refused to evacuate. This time, only three residents stayed behind. All escaped injury. In nearby Steinhatchee, Bobbi Pattison wore galoshes and was covered in black muck as she stood in her living room amid overturned furniture and an acrid smell. Tiny crabs darted around her floor. "I had a hurricane cocktail party last night and God got even with me," she said with a chuckle. Only wet sand and rubble remained where her bar once stood. Pattison and two neighbors managed to set upright a large wooden statue of a sea captain she had carved from wood that washed ashore in the 1993 storm. The last hurricane to strike Florida was Wilma, a powerful Category 3 storm that arrived on Oct. 24, 2005. It swept across the Everglades and struck heavily populated south Florida, causing five deaths in the state and an estimated $23 billion in damage. The Florida governor declared an emergency in 51 counties and said about 6,000 National Guardsmen stood ready to mobilize for the storm's aftermath. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina also declared emergencies. Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro and Curt Anderson in Miami; Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Gary Fineout, Joe Reedy and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida; Russ Bynum in Valdosta, Georgia, and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.[SEP]Tropical storm and flooding watches and warnings were in effect along the Atlantic seaboard from South Carolina north to Rhode Island as the potentially life-threatening storm moved along a stretch inhabited by tens of millions of Americans. "Hermine not only threatens to foil weekend getaways at the beach, but has the potential to cause damage in some communities and pose risk to the lives of those who venture in the surf or on the seas," said Alex Sosnowski, a meteorologist, on Accuweather.com. The storm was projected to creep north along the Carolina coast, then gather strength after moving offshore into the Atlantic on Saturday morning, possibly reaching near-hurricane intensity by late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. The threat of severe weather caused officials in Atlantic City to cancel concerts over the weekend and beaches to close in several coastal communities. Labor Day weekend plans for thousands of vacationers who were headed to popular beach spots along the Atlantic seaboard were dampened after the storm battered Florida's $89 billion tourism industry. "We’ll probably stay inside watching movies or going to the movie theater," Joan Whalen told an ABC affiliate in Virginia after canceling plans to head to the beach for the weekend. Hermine, the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, swept ashore early on Friday near the Gulf shore town of St. Marks, 20 miles (30 km) south of the capital of Tallahassee, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and churning up a devastating storm surge in coastal areas. As of 2 a.m. EDT, the fourth named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season was about 115 miles (185 km) west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where 60 mph (95 kmh) winds were reported, the hurricane center said. Early Saturday morning, crews in Wilmington, North Carolina rescued several people who were sitting on top of their vehicle after a flood engulfed their street, photos from local media showed. At least one tornado was reported touching down in North Carolina on Saturday, causing at least one injury, local media reported. On Friday the storm passed near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, leaving some 51,000 power outages across the state, said state emergency management spokesman Derrec Becker. Becker said localized flooding hit low-lying areas across the state, and there were widespread reports of "downed power lines, downed trees, trees on cars and some flooded cars," along with isolated incidents of tree-damaged homes. A total of about 150,000 households were without power in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, utility companies reported on Saturday. Emergency declarations remained in effect for all or parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Overnight, crews in Pasco County, Florida, rescued more than a dozen people after their homes were flooded. Richard Jewett, 68, was rescued from his home in New Port Richey, just north of Tampa, as emergency teams carried out a mandatory evacuation. "The canal started creeping up toward the house, and even though it wasn't high tide it looked like it was coming inside," Jewett said. One storm-related death was reported by authorities in the northern Florida town of Ocala, where a fallen tree killed a homeless man sleeping in his tent. In addition to powerful winds extending up to 185 miles (295 km) from its center, Hermine was expected to unleash a dangerous storm surge in the Hampton Roads area of tidewater Virginia, where flooding could become 3 to 5 feet deep, the NHC warned. The storm also could douse several southeastern and mid-Atlantic states with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain through Sunday, the agency said. New Jersey, still mindful of devastation from superstorm Sandy in 2012, was on high alert as emergency officials advised residents to prepare for flooding, high winds and a surge of seawater. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday activated his state's emergency operations center and ordered officials to stockpile resources, including sandbags and generators. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said residents should avoid beach waters for fear of life-threatening riptides. In Florida, concerns over the standing water in which mosquitoes breed intensified as the state battled an outbreak of the Zika virus.

Hermine, as a Category 1 storm, kills one person and leaves a quarter-million others without electricity during its trek through Florida. Now a tropical storm over North Carolina, Hermine should re-strengthen when it moves into the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow. Tropical storm warnings and watches are issued from Georgia to Rhode Island.

ALMATY, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov is critically ill, his government said on Friday, paving the way for the first transfer of power in Central Asia’s most populous nation since 1989. Reinforcing the impression that a change of leadership is imminent, the president of the country’s neighbor Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, planned to travel to Uzbekistan on Saturday, a Kazakh government source told Reuters. The two countries have long vied for regional leadership of the former Soviet states in Central Asia, and both men have held power since independence. The Uzbek government – which has denied widespread speculation that Karimov, 78, may already have died – said in a statement on Friday that his health had sharply worsened. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now The veteran leader has been in hospital since suffering a stroke last Saturday. Nazarbayev’s office could not be reached for comment on Friday and a government spokesman declined to comment on his travel plans. Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan, a major cotton exporter also rich in gold and natural gas, in an authoritarian style since 1989, first as a Communist leader, and then as president from 1991. He has no obvious successor and analysts say the transition of power is likely to be decided by a small group of senior officials and family members. If, however, they fail to reach compromise, open confrontation could destabilize the nation of 32 million that has become a target for Islamist militants. A hint at who is going to succeed Karimov may come with the government’s announcement of his death and whoever it names to head of the commission in charge of organizing the funeral. (Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Aditional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; editing by John Stonestreet) Contact us at editors@time.com.[SEP]Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Steve Rosenberg assesses the legacy of Islam Karimov The Uzbek government has confirmed the death of President Islam Karimov, six days after he was taken to hospital with a suspected brain haemorrhage. One of Asia's most authoritarian leaders, Mr Karimov, 78, died after 27 years in power. His funeral will be overseen by Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, seen as a potential successor. Rights groups say Mr Karimov repressed opposition to his rule but for supporters he represented stability. He will be buried on Saturday in his home city of Samarkand and three days of mourning will be observed. A United Nations report has described the use of torture under Mr Karimov as "systematic". The late leader often justified his strong-arm tactics by highlighting the danger from Islamist militancy in the mainly Muslim country, which borders Afghanistan. Expressing his condolences in a statement (in Russian), Russian President Vladimir Putin described Mr Karimov as a statesman "who had contributed to the security and stability of Central Asia" and who would be a "great loss for the people of Uzbekistan". Reading the signs: Analysis by Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Moscow Image copyright AP Image caption Police outside the Tashkent hospital where Islam Karimov was being treated The official announcement of Islam Karimov's death came on Friday night but Turkey's prime minister had sent condolences to Tashkent hours earlier - live on television, suggesting the funeral invitations had already gone out. So why did the Uzbek authorities hold back with their statement? It is possible they were focussed on practicalities - preparing the burial site and gathering suitably senior world dignitaries for the send-off. Perhaps, too, Uzbekistan's powerful security service was stalling, watching for any hint of unrest or a power grab? But Islam Karimov ruled for more than a quarter of a century without naming a successor so the delay could well point to a struggle for power behind the scenes. It is hard to know, in such a closed system. That has left Uzbekistan-watchers trying to read the signs. In Soviet times, whoever led the funeral commission would end up running the country. That may mean Prime Minister Mirziyoyev is the man to watch but for Uzbekistan all this is unprecedented and it is early days. Image copyright AP Image caption Police could be seen guarding an area in Samarkand on Friday 'Immense pain' President Putin addressed his message to Uzbek senate leader Nigmatulla Yuldashev who, under the constitution, becomes acting president pending early elections. Mr Yuldashev is unlikely to fill the presidential role more permanently, analysts say. Mr Mirziyoyev has been in office since 2003 and his deputy, Rustam Azimov, is also seen as a key player. News of Mr Karimov's death was finally confirmed after several foreign leaders and diplomatic sources reported it on Friday, following days of rumours that he had already died. "Dear compatriots, it is with an immense pain in our hearts that we inform you of the death of our dear president," a state TV presenter said. Image copyright Instagram Image caption Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva's post One of Mr Karimov's daughters, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, posted a black square on Instagram with the words: "He left us... I choose my words and cannot believe it myself..." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some say Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev could have the upper hand Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim broke news of the death at a televised meeting of his cabinet. Reports from diplomatic sources suggested several regional leaders were making plans to visit Samarkand for the funeral. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to represent Russia. How rumours grew: Sunday : President Karimov "receiving in-patient treatment", Uzbek cabinet of ministers announces : President Karimov "receiving in-patient treatment", Uzbek cabinet of ministers announces Monday : Daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva writes on Instagram that he has suffered a brain haemorrhage : Daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva writes on Instagram that he has suffered a brain haemorrhage Wednesday : Government cancels some celebrations for independence day on Thursday : Government cancels some celebrations for independence day on Thursday Thursday : Mr Karimov's independence day speech read out on state TV by a presenter : Mr Karimov's independence day speech read out on state TV by a presenter Friday: Government confirms death Some human rights groups say the Uzbek government is one of the most repressive in the world, notably after a crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005, when hundreds were killed. Mr Karimov's followers argue that curbs on freedom are a small price to pay for law and order. "Yes of course, it's a price for stability, because we see what is happening now in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, in Afghanistan and even in Europe - you cannot defend yourself from the terrorist attacks," Sherzod Igamberdiev, a lawyer in Tashkent, told BBC News. "If you put all your efforts into stopping terrorism, you will have criticism, but we live here, we know the situation on the inside, we are satisfied with him, we love him." Republic of Uzbekistan Capital: Tashkent Population 32 million Area 447,400 sq km (172,700 sq miles) Major languages Uzbek, Russian, Tajik Major religion Islam Life expectancy 68 years (men), 74 years (women) Currency Uzbek som Analysts say Mr Karimov has played Russia, China and the West against each other to keep Uzbekistan from total isolation and to receive limited US aid. Strains in relations with Moscow have appeared intermittently, notably when Tashkent suspended its membership of a Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. In 2014, Russia wrote off most of Uzbekistan's foreign debt to Moscow, forgiving $865m.[SEP]Karimov saw himself as the protector of his Central Asian nation against the threat of militant Islam. Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov, who diplomatic sources said on Friday had died aged 78 after suffering a stroke, saw himself as the protector of his Central Asian nation against the threat of militant Islam. To his critics, he was a brutal dictator who used torture to stay in power. Karimov, who steered his former Soviet republic to independence from Moscow in 1991, tellingly chose Tamerlane, the 14th century Central Asian ruler and conqueror with a penchant for mass murder, as Uzbekistan’s national hero. Karimov brooked no dissent during his 27 years at the helm, stubbornly resisted pressure to reform the moribund Uzbek economy and jealously guarded his country’s independence against Russia and the West. In a typically feisty rebuff to Western calls to respect human rights, Karimov said in 2006: “Do not interfere in our affairs under the pretext of furthering freedom and democracy, Do not...tell us what to do, whom to befriend and how to orient ourselves.” Under his rule, Uzbekistan, a country of 32 million people straddling the ancient Silk Road that links Asia and Europe, became one of the world’s most isolated and authoritarian nations. Karimov regularly warned of the threat posed by militant Islamists to the stability of the Central Asian region, but his critics accused him of exaggerating the dangers to justify his crackdowns on political dissent. “Such people must be shot in the head,” he said of the Islamists in a speech to parliament in 1996. “If necessary, if you lack the resolve, I'll shoot them myself.” Uzbekistan’s relations with the United States and the European Union were frozen after his troops brutally suppressed a popular uprising in the eastern town of Andizhan in May 2005. Hundreds of civilians were killed, according to reports by witnesses and human rights groups. Karimov shut down a U.S. military air base in Uzbekistan, established after the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda on the United States. The West imposed a set of sanctions on Uzbekistan and slapped a visa ban on senior Uzbek officials, prompting Karimov to seek improved ties with Soviet-era overlord Russia. But as the West slowly softened its stance on Uzbekistan, a producer of cotton, gold and natural gas, Karimov provided a vital transit route for cargo supplies for the U.S.-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan. — Reuters[SEP]Islam Karimov, who crushed all opposition in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan as its only president in a quarter-century of independence from the Soviet Union, has died of a stroke at age 78, the Uzbek government announced Friday. Karimov will be buried Saturday in the ancient city of Samarkand, his birthplace, the government said in a statement. His younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, said in a social media post Monday that he had been hospitalized in the capital of Tashkent after a brain hemorrhage Aug. 27. On Friday, she posted again, saying: “He is gone.” Little other information was available. Media freedom and human rights have been harshly repressed ever since he became leader in 1989 while it was still a republic of the Soviet Union. One of the world’s most authoritarian rulers, Karimov cultivated no apparent successor, and his death raised concerns that the predominantly Sunni Muslim country could face prolonged infighting among clans over its leadership, something its Islamic radical movement could exploit. “The death of Islam Karimov may open a pretty dangerous period of unpredictability and uncertainty in Uzbekistan,” Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the Tass news agency. Given the lack of access to the strategic country, it’s hard to judge how powerful the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan might be. Over the years, the group has been affiliated with the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and it has sent fighters abroad. Under the Uzbek constitution, if the president dies his duties pass temporarily to the head of the senate until an election can be held within three months. However, the head of the Uzbek senate is regarded as unlikely to seek permanent power and Karimov’s demise is expected to set off a period of jockeying for political influence. Karimov was known as a tyrant with an explosive temper and a penchant for cruelty. His troops machine-gunned hundreds of unarmed demonstrators to death during a 2005 uprising, he jailed thousands of political opponents, and his henchmen reportedly boiled some dissidents to death. He came under widespread international criticism from human rights groups, but because of Uzbekistan’s location as a vital supply route for the war in neighboring Afghanistan, the West sometimes turned a blind eye to his worst abuses. Noting Karimov’s death, President Barack Obama said in a statement the U.S. “reaffirms its support for the people of Uzbekistan.” “This week, I congratulated President Karimov and the people of Uzbekistan on their country’s 25 years of independence,” Obama said in the statement. “As Uzbekistan begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, and to a future based on the rights of all its citizens. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “saddened” at Karimov’s death and paid tribute to his efforts “to develop strong ties between Uzbekistan and the United Nations as well as strengthen regional and global peace and security,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Ban singled out Karimov’s promotion of the treaty to establish the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone which entered into force in 2009. Uzbekistan, a country of 30 million people famous for its apricot orchards, cotton fields and ancient stone cities along the Silk Road, had been one of the Muslim world’s paragons of art and learning. But Karimov cracked down on any form of Islam that wasn’t patently subservient to him. His leadership style was epitomized by propaganda posters often displayed in Uzbekistan that depicted him alongside Tamerlane, a 14th-century emperor who had conquered a vast region of West, South and Central Asia. He was known to shout and swear at officials during meetings and it was widely rumored that in bursts of anger he would beat officials and throw ashtrays at them. Under Karimov, the economy remained centralized, with a handful of officials controlling the most lucrative industries and trade. A 1996 ban on the free convertibility of the national currency, the som, blocked trade and foreign investment, while unemployment soared and poverty was widespread. Endemic corruption stymied development, despite considerable resources of natural gas and gold, along with its cotton exports. Millions of Uzbeks have flooded into Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan to support their families with remittances that amount to a sizable part of the country’s GDP. Karimov was suspicious of the West and infuriated by its criticism of his human rights record, but he also dreaded Islamic militancy, fearing it could grow into a strong opposition. He unleashed a harsh campaign against Muslims starting in 1997 and intensifying in 1999 after eight car bombs exploded near key government buildings in Tashkent. The explosions killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. “I am ready to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, for the sake of peace and tranquility in the country,” Karimov said afterward. “If a child of mine chose such a path, I myself would rip off his head.” In the next few years, thousands of Muslims who practiced their faith outside government-controlled mosques were rounded up and jailed for alleged links to banned Islamic groups. In 2004, a series of bombings and attacks on police killed more than 50 people and sparked a new wave of arrests and convictions. Following 9/11, the West overlooked Karimov’s harsh policies and cut a deal with him in 2001 to use Uzbekistan’s Karshi-Khanabad air base for combat missions in Afghanistan. During a May 2005 uprising in the eastern city of Andijan, Uzbek troops fired on demonstrators, killing more than 700 people, according to witnesses and human rights groups. It was the world’s worst massacre of protesters since the 1989 bloodbath in China’s Tiananmen Square. Angered by U.S. criticism of the crackdown, Karimov evicted U.S. forces from the base. He later quietly softened his position, allowing Uzbekistan to be part of the Northern Distribution Network supply route for Afghanistan, whose utility declined when Russia dropped out of the network in 2015. The United States in turn agreed to start the sale of non-lethal military goods to his regime. Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was born on Jan. 30, 1938, and studied economics and engineering in what was then a Soviet republic, rising through the Communist Party bureaucracy. In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made Karimov Uzbekistan’s Communist Party chief in the wake of a huge corruption scandal that involved top Uzbek officials. At the time, Karimov was seen as a hard-working and uncorrupt Communist. On March 24, 1990, the local parliament elected him president of the Uzbek Socialist Republic, and in December 1991, just days after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Karimov won the presidency in a popular vote. Shaken by a series of ethnic and religious riots in the turbulent years surrounding the Soviet collapse, Karimov was obsessed with stability and security. He said Uzbekistan would follow its own path of reform and would build democracy and a market economy without the turmoil and crises of most other former Soviet nations. After his 1991 election, the fledgling democratic opposition was banned and forced into exile. The media were muzzled by censorship. Law enforcement and security services grew increasingly powerful and abusive, and the use of torture in prisons was labeled “systematic” by international observers. Karimov’s death would “mark the end of an era in Uzbekistan, but almost certainly not the pattern of grave human rights abuses, said Denis Krivosheev, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. “His successor is likely to come from Karimov’s closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated.” Karimov was a distant leader. His annual New Year’s address to the nation was always read by a TV anchor. His wife rarely appeared in public, and his vacations were never announced. But the public was constantly reminded of his leadership by banners with quotes from his speeches posted on buildings and billboards. All of his election victories were landslides, but none were recognized as free or fair by international observers. His only challenger in 2000, Abdulkhafiz Dzhalolov, said he himself voted for Karimov. His nephew, opposition journalist Jamshid Karimov, was forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution after a series of articles criticizing his uncle and other officials. Karimov’s oldest daughter, Gulnara, generated media buzz over her immense wealth, fashion shows and music videos done under the stage name GooGoosha. Sometimes touted as a potential successor, she was both admired and despised at home. In 2014, she used her Twitter account to accuse Uzbekistan’s security services of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against her and deceiving her father. Her tweets then stopped, prompting speculation that she and her 15-year-old daughter were under house arrest in Tashkent. Word of Karimov’s death began spreading even before the Uzbek government announced it Friday night, with officials in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan saying leaders from those countries would attend his funeral and the Turkish prime minister offering condolences. Uzbekistan celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday, which is perhaps why the government had delayed any news about Karimov. Photos carried Friday by the respected Central Asian news website Fergana.ru showed what appeared to be undertakers in Samarkand working on a plot in the cemetery where Karimov’s family is buried. The Samarkand airport said it would be closed to all flights except specially approved aircraft Saturday, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s website. Uzbek opposition blogger Nadezhda Atayeva said Friday that Uzbek authorities appeared to be cracking down on communication channels. Speaking from western France, she said an opposition contact told her via Skype that government officials had been told to turn off their phones and Internet speeds had slowed. As he spoke, she said, the signal went dead.[SEP]Uzbekistan has been plunged into the greatest period of uncertainty in its post-Soviet history following the death of strongman dictator Islam Karimov. The 78-year-old, who crushed all opposition in the Central Asian country as its only president in a quarter-century of independence from the Soviet Union, died of a stroke yesterday. He will be buried at a ceremony today in his home city of Samarkand in central Uzbekistan. The country will then begin three days of mourning. His death follows days of speculation that officials were delaying making his death public, with no clear successor for the iron-fisted ruler lined up. Karimov suffered a stroke last weekend and fell into a coma. Despite his brutal quarter century rule earning him a reputation abroad as one of the region's most savage despots, people in Karimov's hometown mourned his passing and youths wore black clothes. His younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, said in a social media post Monday that he had been hospitalized in the capital of Tashkent after a brain hemorrhage Aug. 27. On Friday, she posted again, saying: 'He is gone.' One of the world's most authoritarian rulers, Karimov cultivated no apparent successor, and his death raised concerns that the predominantly Sunni Muslim country could face prolonged infighting among clans over its leadership, something its Islamic radical movement could exploit. Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, told the Tass news agency: 'The death of Islam Karimov may open a pretty dangerous period of unpredictability and uncertainty in Uzbekistan.' Viewed as a tough-guy enforcer, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 58, appears to be the front-runner to take over long term after he was named head of the committee organising Karimov's funeral. Technocrat Mirziyoyev, who has served as prime minister since 2003, is reported to have close ties to the former president's family and to key security bosses. According to rights activists the former governor of Karimov's home region of Samarkand has been in charge of making sure the country fulfils its annual cotton quotas. That places him at the heart of a industry that is crucial to the Uzbek economy - it is one of the world's leading cotton producers - but is accused of forcing over a million citizens, including children, to pick the cotton each year. Deputy premier and finance minister Azimov, 57, is reportedly viewed by foreign diplomats as more friendly to West, although he is still a key member of Karimov's inner circle. The former banker - in place since 2005 - has been touted as a possible replacement after apparently weathering power struggles. After years at the heart of the Uzbek elite Azimov is implicated in the vast web of corruption that has purportedly seen those close to Karimov amass vast fortunes. After news emerged that Karimov was in hospital rumours flew that Azimov had been placed under house arrest, but they were quickly denied and he has been named as part of Karimov's funeral committee. The country's powerful security chief Inoyatov, who has held the post since 1995, has long been seen as the key power behind the throne. At 72 the former KGB officer may not take the top job himself but the long-time Karimov ally looks likely to have a decisive say in who does. Inoyatov's reputation is seriously tarnished for his alleged role in the bloody suppression of protests in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005 - when hundreds of demonstrators are believed to have been gunned down in a massacre. While officially he controls Uzbekistan's security service he also effectively exerts control over the army and other law enforcement agencies. According to Uzbekistan's constitution, senate leader takes over temporarily until early elections are held within three months. But commentators describe Yuldashev as a little-known 'non-entity' who is unlikely to have the clout to impose himself in the long run. Still likely to play a big role are Karimov's widow Tatyana and his younger daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. Karimova-Tillyaeva, Uzbekistan's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, took to social media during her father's illness to confirm he had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She told the BBC in rare comments in 2013 that she did not foresee a career in politics for herself, insisting she was focused on her young family. She also said that she had not spoken to her older sister Gulnara for 12 years. Once seen as a potential heir to her father's throne one-time socialite, pop star and business magnate Gulnara, 44, spectacularly fell from grace in a bitter family feud and was placed under house arrest in 2014. Gulnara, a former ambassador to the UN in Geneva, is being probed in Europe over a $330 million telecoms corruption scandal. He lead a fearful regime and led through brutal repression, his critics have said. Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: 'Islam Karimov leaves a legacy of a quarter century of ruthless repression. 'Karimov ruled through fear to erect a system synonymous with the worst human rights abuses: torture, disappearances, forced labour, and the systematic crushing of dissent.' Nevertheless Karimov's visitors in his last year included US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Given the lack of access to the strategic country, it's hard to judge how powerful the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan might be. Over the years, the group has been affiliated with the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and it has sent fighters abroad. Under the Uzbek constitution, if the president dies his duties pass temporarily to the head of the senate until an election can be held within three months. However, the head of the Uzbek senate is regarded as unlikely to seek permanent power and Karimov's demise is expected to set off a period of jockeying for political influence. Karimov was known as a tyrant with an explosive temper and a penchant for cruelty. His troops machine-gunned hundreds of unarmed demonstrators to death during a 2005 uprising, he jailed thousands of political opponents, and his henchmen reportedly boiled some dissidents to death. He came under widespread international criticism from human rights groups, but because of Uzbekistan's location as a vital supply route for the war in neighboring Afghanistan, the West sometimes turned a blind eye to his worst abuses. 'When we found out about his death, all my family - by wife, my son's wife, the children - we were all crying, we couldn't believe it,' one local man, 58, told AFP, refusing to give his name. 'It is a great loss for every Uzbek. He made our country free and developed.' State television in the tightly-controlled nation earlier showed soldiers loading a coffin onto a plane for what it described as Karimov's final journey to Samarkand, with two women who appeared to be his wife and younger daughter weeping on the tarmac. Authorities said Karimov's coffin would be displayed in a city square for people to pay their last respects before he is buried in a nearby cemetery later Saturday next to other family members. Eyewitnesses told AFP that they had seen the funeral cortege pass but that the event was open only to guests with official invitations. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to fly in for the funeral, along with a coterie of leaders from former Soviet republics including Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Loyalist Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev heads the organising committee for the funeral, in a sign that he could be the frontrunner to take over long-term from Karimov. Under Uzbek law, senate head Nigmatulla Yuldashev has now become acting president until early elections are held. Noting Karimov's death, President Barack Obama said in a statement that the US 'reaffirms its support for the people of Uzbekistan'. 'This week, I congratulated President Karimov and the people of Uzbekistan on their country's 25 years of independence,' Obama said in the statement. 'As Uzbekistan begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, and to a future based on the rights of all its citizens.' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was 'saddened' at Karimov's death and paid tribute to his efforts 'to develop strong ties between Uzbekistan and the United Nations as well as strengthen regional and global peace and security,' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Ban singled out Karimov's promotion of the treaty to establish the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone which entered into force in 2009. China's Foreign Ministry called Karimov "a sincere friend" who promoted a strategic partnership between the two countries. His death "is a great loss of the Uzbek people," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, according to state media. Uzbekistan, a country of 30 million people famous for its apricot orchards, cotton fields and ancient stone cities along the Silk Road, had been one of the Muslim world's paragons of art and learning. But Karimov cracked down on any form of Islam that wasn't patently subservient to him. His leadership style was epitomized by propaganda posters often displayed in Uzbekistan that depicted him alongside Tamerlane, a 14th-century emperor who had conquered a vast region of West, South and Central Asia. He was known to shout and swear at officials during meetings and it was widely rumored that in bursts of anger he would beat officials and throw ashtrays at them. Under Karimov, the economy remained centralized, with a handful of officials controlling the most lucrative industries and trade. A 1996 ban on the free convertibility of the national currency, the som, blocked trade and foreign investment, while unemployment soared and poverty was widespread. Endemic corruption stymied development, despite considerable resources of natural gas and gold, along with its cotton exports. Millions of Uzbeks have flooded into Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan to support their families with remittances that amount to a sizable part of the country's GDP. Karimov was suspicious of the West and infuriated by its criticism of his human rights record, but he also dreaded Islamic militancy, fearing it could grow into a strong opposition. He unleashed a harsh campaign against Muslims starting in 1997 and intensifying in 1999 after eight car bombs exploded near key government buildings in Tashkent. The explosions killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. "I am ready to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, for the sake of peace and tranquility in the country," Karimov said afterward. "If a child of mine chose such a path, I myself would rip off his head." In the next few years, thousands of Muslims who practiced their faith outside government-controlled mosques were rounded up and jailed for alleged links to banned Islamic groups. In 2004, a series of bombings and attacks on police killed more than 50 people and sparked a new wave of arrests and convictions. Following 9/11, the West overlooked Karimov's harsh policies and cut a deal with him in 2001 to use Uzbekistan's Karshi-Khanabad air base for combat missions in Afghanistan. During a May 2005 uprising in the eastern city of Andijan, Uzbek troops fired on demonstrators, killing more than 700 people, according to witnesses and human rights groups. It was the world's worst massacre of protesters since the 1989 bloodbath in China's Tiananmen Square. Angered by U.S. criticism of the crackdown, Karimov evicted U.S. forces from the base. He later quietly softened his position, allowing Uzbekistan to be part of the Northern Distribution Network supply route for Afghanistan, whose utility declined when Russia dropped out of the network in 2015. The United States in turn agreed to start the sale of non-lethal military goods to his regime. Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was born on Jan. 30, 1938, and studied economics and engineering in what was then a Soviet republic, rising through the Communist Party bureaucracy. In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made Karimov Uzbekistan's Communist Party chief in the wake of a huge corruption scandal that involved top Uzbek officials. At the time, Karimov was seen as a hard-working and uncorrupt Communist. On March 24, 1990, the local parliament elected him president of the Uzbek Socialist Republic, and in December 1991, just days after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Karimov won the presidency in a popular vote. Shaken by a series of ethnic and religious riots in the turbulent years surrounding the Soviet collapse, Karimov was obsessed with stability and security. He said Uzbekistan would follow its own path of reform and would build democracy and a market economy without the turmoil and crises of most other former Soviet nations. After his 1991 election, the fledgling democratic opposition was banned and forced into exile. The media were muzzled by censorship. Law enforcement and security services grew increasingly powerful and abusive, and the use of torture in prisons was labeled "systematic" by international observers. Karimov's death would "mark the end of an era in Uzbekistan, but almost certainly not the pattern of grave human rights abuses, said Denis Krivosheev, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. "His successor is likely to come from Karimov's closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated." Karimov was a distant leader. His annual New Year's address to the nation was always read by a TV anchor. His wife rarely appeared in public, and his vacations were never announced. But the public was constantly reminded of his leadership by banners with quotes from his speeches posted on buildings and billboards. All of his election victories were landslides, but none were recognized as free or fair by international observers. His only challenger in 2000, Abdulkhafiz Dzhalolov, said he himself voted for Karimov. His nephew, opposition journalist Jamshid Karimov, was forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution after a series of articles criticizing his uncle and other officials. Karimov's oldest daughter, Gulnara, generated media buzz over her immense wealth, fashion shows and music videos done under the stage name GooGoosha. Sometimes touted as a potential successor, she was both admired and despised at home. In 2014, she used her Twitter account to accuse Uzbekistan's security services of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against her and deceiving her father. Her tweets then stopped, prompting speculation that she and her 15-year-old daughter were under house arrest in Tashkent. Word of Karimov's death began spreading even before the Uzbek government announced it Friday night, with officials in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan saying leaders from those countries would attend his funeral and the Turkish prime minister offering condolences. Uzbekistan celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday, which is perhaps why the government had delayed any news about Karimov. Photos carried Friday by the respected Central Asian news website Fergana.ru showed what appeared to be undertakers in Samarkand working on a plot in the cemetery where Karimov's family is buried. The Samarkand airport said it would be closed to all flights except specially approved aircraft Saturday, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's website. Uzbek opposition blogger Nadezhda Atayeva said Friday that Uzbek authorities appeared to be cracking down on communication channels. Speaking from western France, she said an opposition contact told her via Skype that government officials had been told to turn off their phones and Internet speeds had slowed. As he spoke, she said, the signal went dead. Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Angela Charlton in Paris and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.[SEP]An honour guard stands near a portrait of Uzbek President Islam Karimov during a mourning ceremony following Karimov’s death, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday (Reuters photo) ALMATY — Islam Karimov, president of Uzbekistan for the past quarter of a century, was buried in his home city of Samarkand on Saturday, leaving behind a power vacuum in a nation that serves as a bulwark against militancy in Central Asia. Karimov, who was 78, died from a stroke. After a funeral rite in Samarkand's ancient Registan Square attended by hundreds of men — some of whom were in tears — his body was buried at the city's Shah-i-Zinda cemetery, two attendees told Reuters. Karimov was derided by Western governments as a dictator who violated human rights, but for many people in Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet state which borders Afghanistan, he is the only head of state they have ever known. With no obvious successor, Karimov's death has triggered an outpouring of grief, mixed with uncertainty about the future. "I still can't believe it happened," said a 39-year-old resident of the capital, Tashkent, who was among thousands who lined the main thoroughfare early on Saturday to watch the funeral cortege pass by en route to Samarkand. "I don't know what happens now, I am lost," said the man, who declined to be identified. How the power vacuum is filled in Uzbekistan is of urgent concern to Russia, the United States and China, all powers with interests in the volatile Central Asia region, where Uzbekistan is the most populous state. Central Asia analysts say a small circle of senior officials and Karimov family members will have been meeting behind closed doors to try to agree on anointing a new president. The funeral rites offered clues as to who might be in the running. At the Samarkand ceremony, Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 59, and Finance Minister Rustam Azimov, 57, were allocated spots in the front row, nearest to Karimov's coffin. If the elite fail to agree among themselves on a transition, the resulting instability could be exploited by militants who in the past have staged violent attacks in Uzbek cities and want to make Uzbekistan part of a “caliphate”. Karimov jailed, killed or exiled most of the militants inside Uzbekistan. Many have since joined the Taliban in Afghanistan and Daesh in Iraq and Syria, where they have become battle-hardened. An upsurge in militant violence in Uzbekistan would pose a threat to the United States, which is trying to contain the insurgency in Afghanistan, to Russia — home to millions of Uzbek migrant workers — and to China, which worries about Central Asian Islamists making common cause with separatists from its mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority. Many people had anticipated that Karimov would be succeeded by his older daughter Gulnara, a businesswoman and pop star, but she fell from favour two years ago and there was no sign of her on Saturday among the family members in the funeral cortège. At Tashkent airport, as the coffin was being loaded onto a plane bound for Samarkand, Karimov's wife, Tatiana, and his younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, stood at the foot of the aircraft steps. His daughter, dressed all in black, was dabbing her eyes with a white handkerchief. Karimov's death could unleash a new round of jockeying between Russia, the United States and China, which are all trying to bring Central Asia, with its oil and gas reserves and metal ore, into their sphere of influence. In a statement offering his condolences, US President Barack Obama said his country stood with Uzbekistan as it "begins a new chapter in its history". Alexei Pushkov, the pro-Kremlin head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's parliament, responded on Twitter that Obama was "mistaken if he thinks the new chapter is going to be written in Washington". The most prominent foreign dignitaries at the funeral were Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmon and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Karimov was the head of the local Communist Party in Uzbekistan when it was still a Soviet republic, and he remained at the helm after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. While other newly independent Soviet republics were convulsed by wars, economic upheaval and political turmoil, life for people in Uzbekistan stayed largely stable, safe and predictable — a state of affairs that Karimov's supporters touted as his great achievement. "The people of Uzbekistan associate the huge achievements of the country since independence with President Karimov's name," a state television anchor, in a black suit and tie, said on Saturday in an elegy that was preceded by sombre music. But the stability came at a cost. Elections were held but were not democratic, according to international observers. To ensure Uzbekistan could earn foreign currency from exporting cotton, people — including children — were press-ganged into going into the fields to help with the harvest, witnesses have told Reuters. Citing a militant threat, Karimov cracked down ruthlessly on anyone deemed to be a religious extremist. Growing a beard or renouncing alcohol was sometimes enough to earn arrest. Rights groups say detainees were tortured. In the Uzbek city of Andizhan in May 2005, security forces killed around 500 mostly unarmed people who had been protesting against local officials, witnesses and rights groups said. Karimov put the death toll at 169 and said his forces had put down an armed uprising. Karimov's own family were not immune from the harsh treatment. In a letter smuggled to a BBC journalist in 2014, Gulnara, the older daughter, alleged she was being held under house arrest by her father's security officials after her family ostracised her.[SEP](CNN) Uzbekistan's first and only president has died, leaving an uncertain future for a government marred by controversy. President Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan for 25 years, died Friday, the Uzbek government announced on the state-run news agency Uza. He was 78 years old. Karimov had a stroke and was hospitalized Saturday, his daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva announced on Facebook. Friday, she posted a black square on her official Instagram account, with the message, "He left us." Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in a statement on the Kremlin website Friday. "It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of Islam Karimov to the establishment of relations of strategic partnership between our countries," the Russian President said. "Under (Karimov's) guidance ... Uzbekistan held a peaceful foreign policy, contributed to the strengthening of security and stability in Central Asia and to the development of multilateral cooperation in the region," Putin added. Karimov's death leaves the future of the resource-rich country in question, said Andrey Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation. There is "no master plan, no successor who has been endorsed and accepted by everybody (in Karimov's inner circle)," Kortunov said. Karimov became leader of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989. Two years later, he declared the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan and assumed the presidency of the new country. In 1995, his mandate was extended for another five years by referendum. Despite a two-term limit, he won re-election in 2000, 2007 and 2015. International critics, including Human Rights Watch, said voters had no real choice in the elections because the government restricts opposing political activity. Human Rights Watch calls the country's human rights record "atrocious," saying "thousands are imprisoned on politically-motivated charges. Torture is endemic in the criminal justice system. Authorities continue to crack down on civil society activists, opposition members, and journalists." "Meanwhile, telecom users in her impoverished country pay among the highest rates in the world for mobile phone service," the OCCRP report found. "Once anointed as the heir apparent to her ailing father, she has fallen from favor and is now under house arrest." Relationship with the US Karimov's relationship with the United States grew after the 9/11 terror attacks, when Washington was trying to gain the cooperation of countries near Afghanistan during its hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Karimov agreed to allow US forces to use Uzbekistan's airspace and one of its airports. In a joint statement, the two countries said they agreed "to establish a qualitatively new relationship based on a long-term commitment to advance security and regional stability." But Karimov's relationship with the US took a hit in 2002, after a State Department report found Karimov's security forces tortured people, especially Muslims, under the guise of combating terrorism.[SEP]MOSCOW (AP) — Uzbekistan’s government says ailing President Islam Karimov is in a critical state.[SEP]TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, who ruled the country for a quarter-century, has died at the age of 78. Uzbekistan’s state television announced late on September 2 that Karimov died at 8:55 p.m. local time in Tashkent. Early on September 2, the Cabinet of Ministers said that during the past 24 hours, Karimov’s health condition had sharply worsened and medics assessed it as “critical”. The state TV has announced the death of President Karimov following days of unconfirmed reports suggesting that he had already died. The TV presenter read a statement from the Uzbek Cabinet and Parliament, which hailed Karimov as "a great historic figure." The anchor said Karimov had died of a stroke, and that his funeral will be held on September 3 in the late President's home city of Samarkand. Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev was appointed head of a commission organizing Karimov's funeral. Karimov, the former communist boss, ruled Uzbekistan for 27 years at the center of a tight inner circle and ruthlessly applied the country's security and intelligence forces to keep a firm lid on dissent. His regime was accused of routinely torturing detainees and jailing political opponents, RFE/RL reports. Karimov has no apparent successor, and speculation has raged for days that a secretive effort was under way to replace him. The Uzbek Constitution states that if the president dies or is unable to perform his duties the head of the upper chamber of parliament assumes presidential authority for a period of three months. That is Senate Chairman Nigmatulla Yuldashev, who has led the upper house since January 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Yuldashev, saying Karimov's death was a "heavy loss for Uzbekistan." "I grieve for the loss of a friend whom I worked with side-by-side for 30 years," Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quoted as saying. Preparations also appeared to be under way for Karimov’s funeral in Samarkand. Security sources told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, who has been touted by outsiders as a possible successor, had made a trip to Samarkand. In Karimov's absence, Mirziyaev led a commemorative event in Tashkent on August 31 that marked the start of Independence Day celebrations. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon confirmed he will attend the funeral while Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were reported to be also planning to go. The Russian delegation at the funeral will be headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, his spokeswoman Natalia Timakova was quoted as saying. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus said they were also sending delegations headed by their prime ministers.[SEP]SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan laid strongman Islam Karimov to rest Saturday amid tight security, after his death triggered the deepest period of uncertainty in the country's post-Soviet history with no clear successor in view. Karimov, 78, was pronounced dead late Friday after suffering a stroke last weekend and falling into a coma, authorities said, following days of speculation about his rapidly failing health. An Islamic funeral for the iron-fisted leader — who dominated the ex-Soviet nation for some 27 years — was held in his home city of Samarkand, southwestern Uzbekistan, on Saturday and the country will begin three days of mourning. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan were among dignitaries attending the memorial service on the famed UNESCO World Heritage site of Registan Square. Uzbek state television showed footage of mourners carrying Karimov's coffin through a crowd in the historic square which is encircled by blue-domed madrassas. "Our people and Uzbekistan have suffered an irreplaceable loss," Russian news wire Interfax quoted Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as saying at the ceremony. Loyalist Mirziyoyev headed the organizing committee for the funeral, in a sign that he could be the front-runner to replace Karimov. An AFP journalist in Samarkand — which also houses the mausoleum of feared 14th century warlord Tamerlane — said national flags were flying with black ribbons of mourning attached and that the road to the cemetery where Karimov was buried next to his family was strewn with roses. Police had cordoned off most of the city center and were not letting ordinary citizens or cars through. Crowds had earlier reportedly lined the road to watch and throw flowers at the cortege as it drove through the capital Tashkent. Karimov was one of a handful of Soviet strongmen who clung to power after their homelands gained independence from Moscow in 1991, and he played Russia, the West and China off against each other. The most serious challenge to his rule came from his eldest daughter, once seen as a possible heir, whom he placed under house arrest in 2014 after a family power struggle erupted publicly. Uzbekistan has never held elections deemed free and fair by international monitors, and Karimov won his fifth term in office last March with 90 percent of the vote.

President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan dies after 27 years in office.

Champaign County has its first confirmed case of Zika virus, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde said. Pryde said the state Department of Public Health lab confirmed positive results Friday. She couldn’t confirm whether the results were for the female University of Illinois student said to have sought treatment at the UI McKinley Health Center after returning from a Zika virus-affected area. The health center announced two weeks ago that there was a Zika case on campus, warning: “Because of the large number of our community who may have traveled to affected areas or are contemplating travel, it is likely that additional individuals among the (UI) community will be exposed to the virus which causes Zika infection.” McKinley Director Dr. Robert Palinkas told The News-Gazette on Thursday that the person affected was a UI student.[SEP]Champaign County has its first confirmed case of Zika virus, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde said. Pryde said the state Department of Public Health lab confirmed positive results Friday. She couldn’t confirm whether the results were for the female University of Illinois student said to have sought treatment at the UI McKinley Health Center after returning from a Zika virus-affected area. The health center announced two weeks ago that there was a Zika case on campus, warning: “Because of the large number of our community who may have traveled to affected areas or are contemplating travel, it is likely that additional individuals among the (UI) community will be exposed to the virus which causes Zika infection.” McKinley Director Dr. Robert Palinkas told The News-Gazette on Thursday that the person affected was a UI student.[SEP]S.C. County Sprays For Mosquitoes But Accidentally Takes Out Millions Of Bees It wasn't meant for the bees. The pesticide raining down from the sky in Dorchester County, S.C., was meant to kill mosquitoes — for the sake of safety, the county says. Mosquitoes, after all, can carry West Nile and Zika, and four cases of Zika were recently confirmed in the county. But on Sunday morning, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., as the county conducted aerial spraying, the bees fell by the millions. "By Sunday afternoon," The Post and Courier newspaper reports, "thousands of bee carcasses dotted Andrew Macke's Spring House Lane property." The amateur beekeeper — also the fire captain of the town of Summerville — was at work when his wife called. Beekeepers in Dorchester County sound downright apocalyptic when they talk about the impact of the spraying. "We have a mass killing," Macke's wife told him. "My bee yard looks like it's been nuked," Juanita Stanley, co-owner of Flowertown Bee Farm and Supply, told the Post and Courier. Flowertown lost more than 2 million bees, Stanley says. On Facebook, Flowertown posted photo after photo of piles of dead bees. The bee farm also posted images and videos of the burning of apiaries — which have to be destroyed now that they've been contaminated, the owners say. Dorchester County says it provided sufficient notice to local beekeepers, with announcements sent to the local media on Friday morning and Saturday night. But in a petition on Change.org seeking to call off the spraying, Dorchester County residents say the notices released Friday didn't provide any details on the type of pesticide to be used, and that requests for more information from the county weren't answered. "This is both disturbing and frightening to many that live in the area that is to be covered," the petition reads. "There are live and privately owned beehives that are in this area and to the best of our knowledge, the chemicals to be used are toxic to honeybees." Indeed, CNN reports that the county used a product containing naled, which is "highly toxic to bees," according to the manufacturer of the pesticide used. The product is not supposed to be used "more than two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset," a recommendation that Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward says the county followed. The county normally sprays for mosquito control by truck, not from airplanes. And it generally notifies beekeepers by phone or email — something the county says it also did in this case, CNN reports, although beekeeper Juanita Stanley says she didn't get such a message. Here's CNN: " 'That's true when they sprayed by trucks; they told me in advance, and we talked about it so I could protect my bees,' Stanley said. 'But nobody called me about the aerial spraying; nobody told me at all.' "Stanley said she 'would have been screaming and pleading on their doorstep if they had.' " ' "Do it at night when bees are done foraging," I would have told them,' she added, breaking into tears. 'But they sprayed at 8 a.m. Sunday, and all of my bees were out, doing their work by then.' " Dorchester County has apologized, the Post and Courier reports. The county says on its website that no more aerial spraying is scheduled — and that if officials do spray again, they will send out notifications three to five days in advance and contact registered beekeepers by phone or email.[SEP]Millions of US bees die from spray to fight Zika mosquitoes Beekeeper Juanita Stanley woke up stunned Monday morning when she realized the familiar buzz at her South Carolina apiary had gone silent. In an effort to control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, authorities over the weekend doused parts of the southeastern state with the controversial pesticide Naled -- a dose that proved fatal to millions of bees. "Our family business has been destroyed by the aerial spray," Stanley said on the Facebook page of her Summerville, SC apiary, Flowertown Bee Farm and Supplies. "Help us share the story, don't let our honey girls die in vain." Along with her plea Stanley posted photos showing the clumps of dead bees and her team burning the boxes that had housed the hives. According to the local channel WCSC, the apiary lost 46 hives and 2.5 million bees. Dorchester County, which manages much of the town of Summerville, ordered the August 28 aerial spraying after detecting four confirmed Zika cases in the area. "Dorchester County is aware that some beekeepers in the area that was sprayed on Sunday lost their beehives," said County Administrator Jason Ward in a statement, urging affected beekeepers to report their losses. The controversial pesticide Naled has been used in the United States since 1959 as a common tool for mosquito control, despite concerns about its risks for human and environmental health. The European Union prohibited its use in 2012, but the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assures it is safe if sprayed sparingly. Ward said Dorchester County does not have any aerial spraying flights planned at this time, but emphasized that "aerial spraying is being utilized to supplement our mosquito ground spray trucks and larvae control programs in targeted areas." "Dorchester County is concerned about the safety of its citizens," he said. "This includes protecting citizens from insect bites from pests such as mosquitoes that carry viruses including West Nile and Zika." According to the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) the country has registered more than 2,600 cases of Zika, most related to travel abroad. Zika is primarily spread by the bite of an Aedes aegypti mosquito. The virus is linked to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes newborns' heads to be abnormally small, and rare adult-onset neurological problems like Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which can result in paralysis and even death.[SEP]Huddled around their hives, beekeepers around the south-eastern US fear a new threat to their livelihood: a fine mist beaded with neurotoxin, sprayed from the sky by officials at war with mosquitos that carry the Zika virus. Earlier this week, South Carolina beekeepers found millions of dead honey bees carpeting their apiaries, killed by an insecticide. Video posted by a beekeeper to Facebook showed thousands of dead insects heaped around hives, while a few survivors struggled to move the bodies of fellow bees. “This is what’s left of Flowertown Bees,” a despondent keeper says in the video. Company co-owner Juanita Stanley told the Associated Press her farm looked “like it’s been nuked” and estimated 2.5 million bees were killed. In another Facebook post, South Carolina hobbyist Andrew Macke wrote that he had lost “thousands upon thousands of bees” and that the spraying had devastated his business. “Have we lost our mind,” he wrote, “spraying poison from the sky?” Around the US, bees and other pollinators contribute an estimated $29bn to farm income. Clemson University’s department of pesticide regulation is investigating the incident. The program head, Dr Mike Weyman, said that though South Carolina has strict rules about protecting pollinators, county officials were using the neurotoxin, Naled, under a clause exempting them in a “clear and public health crisis”. More than three dozen people have tested positive for Zika in South Carolina, Weyman said, and officials have made it a priority to prevent local transmissions through the Aedes aegypti mosquito. “We don’t want one of those mosquitos having a blood meal on an individual we’ve already determined was positive,” Weyman said. “We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that [Zika] is up and running in Florida. If it gets in the mosquito population ... you’re playing catch-up.” South Carolina’s protocol for Zika infections is to alert local officials of a carrier’s residence, which they “consider a ground zero”, Weyman said. Local authorities then target the local mosquitos in a 200-yard radius, in this case with spray. Flowertown Bees was listed on local records but not in the state’s voluntary registry of pollinators, according to Weyman. “We know where the big ones are,” he said, “but as you can see this was a fairly large operation and almost right smack dab in the spray path.” Despite the investigation into what went wrong, the killing has beekeepers worried about what might happen next. “Everyone that I’ve spoken to has major concerns about the effect” of insecticides, said Jennifer Holmes, vice-president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association and the co-owner of a company with about 300 colonies north of West Palm Beach. Comparing bees to cows or other pillars of agriculture, she said: “If there was a regulation that allowed some spraying that would kill half of your livestock overnight, how would recover your livelihood?” Holmes has spent the last week working with beekeepers and state and county officials. The keepers, she said, fear “not just the immediate die-offs, but possible genetic die-offs or sterility” for bees that survive the first sprays. “We understand the serious threat of possible disease,” she said, “but we also have to maintain our agricultural livelihood.” A Louisiana beekeeper, who requested anonymity because of work with county officials, added another set of concerns: careless mixture and application of chemicals, mismanagement and long-term imbalance in the ecosystem. “In order to ‘fix’ the problem,” the keeper said, “it will all have to begin with re-establishing healthy soil that will nourish a healthy plant population that will nourish healthy populations, whether it be the honeybee or a deer. “Chemical application of any sort creates an imbalance from the ground up, even if a simple mosquito is the target.” ‘We always have the environment in mind’ Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent universities say Naled is far safer than other chemicals. It breaks down rapidly and, in the very low doses at which it is prescribed, should not pose a risk to humans. “In Louisiana, we use these products quite frequently to reduce mosquitos, but we don’t see many nontarget effects, because the doses are really small,” said Dr Kirsten Healy, a public health entomologist at Louisiana State University. “A lot of people don’t realize that we always have the environment in mind. We try to have products that have the lowest possible impact.” Even the mosquitos targeted “quickly bounce back”, she said. Healy recommended a multi-pronged approach: aerial and ground sprays along with removal of the trash cans, bird feeders and other containers where water pools and mosquitos breed. Aerial sprays threaten other pollinators. Dennis Olle, director of conservation programs for the North American Butterfly Association, noted the effect of chaotic ocean winds near his office in Miami. “It’s aerial bombing without any sense of being able to lay the chemical down on the target,” he said. Olle conceded that that he was not a scientist – he is an attorney – but described a 2015 Florida International University study that found Naled application was uneven and harmful to butterflies. “It kills everything,” he said. “There’s no question that it is highly, highly deleterious to butterflies and other arthropods, even mammals in high enough doses.” He agreed that door-to-door removal of breeding objects and hand spraying were effective techniques against mosquitos, but worried about repeated low doses of chemicals to both pollinators and his children. “If they’re killing every mosquito, as they claim, everything else needs to be worried too,” he said. “That’s not rocket science, that’s common sense.” Olle’s fears have sympathizers in Florida and Puerto Rico, where there have been, respectively, 35 and 13,791 mosquito infections of the Zika virus. Earlier this summer on Puerto Rico, doctors rallied against Naled when the CDC made a last-ditch plea to start spraying. Governor Alejandro García Padilla rejected the proposal in July, citing concerns over possible side effects on humans and other animals. Puerto Rico was also the site of some of what limited Naled-mosquito research has been performed in the last 30 years. Dr Duane Gubler, a professor at Duke Medical School and an expert in infectious diseases, led that research and found that Naled had mixed results. “It’s unpredictable,” Gubler said. “We did the whole city of San Juan and it appeared to be somewhat effective in some areas but not others.” Aedes aegypti mosquitos, Gubler said, were especially difficult targets since they breed inside and under houses, in buckets, tires, puddles or any container with stagnant water. “There’s some data from Florida that suggests it can be effective where Aedes aegypti mosquitos are primarily outdoor breeders,” he said, “but from my data, it was spotty.” Like Healy, Gubler recommended a mix of techniques – targeting adults and larvae through habitats and sprays and a partnership between citizens and agencies. “It’s near impossible for any government agency to control all of the mosquitos,” he said. “It’s a matter of weighing the benefits versus the risks,” he added, noting the critical place of bees, especially, in keeping crops growing. “If you have to make a decision on whether it protects, say, your pregnant wife from being exposed versus killing a few butterflies, I suspect in most people’s minds it’s probably worth the risk.”[SEP](CNN) South Carolina beekeeper Juanita Stanley has a message to mosquito control officials who she believes are overreacting to Zika: "Stop. This is crazy. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. The devastation that it has already caused is beyond comprehension. We can't live without these honeybees." Last weekend, Stanley lost more than 3 million bees -- all 46 of her hives and her entire livelihood -- when Summerville officials decided to aerially spray a small area of the town for Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Usually, officials spray for mosquito control by truck and at night, when bees are in their hives and beekeepers can better protect them. But this time, the county decided to spray aerially, just after sunrise on Sunday. "There are 'no spraying' signs all over my property," Stanley said. "But my bees were poisoned from the sky." The spraying occurred, Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward said, because four people in the county had developed Zika while traveling to areas of the world where the virus is actively circulating. Summerville residents then expressed concern about the virus. In fact, the only state with active mosquito transmission is Florida, and only in the Miami and St. Petersberg/Tampa areas. So if no local mosquitoes in Summerville are carrying the Zika virus, why was it necessary to spray? "We had historic rainfall, including a flood last October, where we've had standing water in areas where we have never had standing water," he explained. "Our winter this year was very mild, and we didn't have that real hard freeze. So the health of our citizens is of primary concern." "Someone has a virus that they didn't get here, but what if, someday, maybe, they might?" she asked, her voice rising in outrage. "Let's just go kill everything in case someone might get it? Where is the logic in that?" What is the official stance? The National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Bee Laboratory said they would not be commenting on the issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was more forthcoming. "We do recommend mosquito control to be done around travel-associated cases as well as locally transmitted cases if the mosquitoes that spread Zika are in the environment," said entomologist Janet McAllister of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. "We don't want the virus to take hold in the local mosquito population." Although Aedes aegypti is the most effective at transmitting the Zika virus, another more common mosquito in the United States is also capable of spreading the disease. It's called Aedes albopictus, and it's widespread in South Carolina. "Our recommendations take into account both species," McAllister said, "just in case the disease starts to spread." The nation's bees have long been stressed by the public's need for pest control. "I've seen it with West Nile virus and after hurricanes and major flooding," entomologist Jeffrey Harris said. "I always tell the beekeepers that human health is always going to trump bee health, and if there is a natural disaster that increases a dangerous mosquito population, they are going to spray." Harris runs the Honey Bee Extension and Research Program for Mississippi State University and is active in research on bees and how to best protect them from pesticides. "Aerial spraying is a tough one," he said. "The recommendations are difficult to follow. While maximum foraging for bees is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., in the summertime, the bees are already out at dawn, when aerial spraying is recommended. So spraying in the morning is the worst thing they can do for bees." Why not spray at night? "That's not always possible," said Michael Doyle, who has run the Key West Mosquito Control District for five years. "Some districts can fly at night safely, but, for example, we cannot in Key West. We have to fly over water, and there isn't any light to guide the plane." Doyle added that because the naled pesticide droplets are very small, there is really no way to avoid unprotected hives. The CDC's McAllister agrees. "The mosquito control pesticides are targeted for tiny creatures," McAllister said. "They are very small droplets, about 15 to 25 microns in size, much less than the diameter of the human hair." One of the best ways for beekeepers to help their hives during aerial spraying, Harris said, is to wet a breathable fabric and place it over the hive. It will also work when bees evacuate their hives in hot weather and form a "beard." "Sometimes, a half of pound of bees will be hanging out together in a 'beard' outside their hives in the late afternoon, and they often stay there into the night," explained Harris. "We suggest getting wet burlap bags and hanging them over the hives so that the hive or the beard can't escape. The fabric picks up much of the pesticide and protects them." But nothing will help if the beekeepers don't know that spraying is going to occur. That means all commercial and hobby beekeepers need to make sure they are registered with their local mosquito control districts. "The mosquito control district needs to be good citizens of the environment and have good dialogue with local beekeepers," McAllister said, "and that communication has to be a two-way street. If they aren't registered, they can't expect mosquito control to know where their bees are so they can work with the beekeepers to protect them." Many beekeepers aren't good at doing that, preferring to keep the locations of their hives private. "Even professional beekeepers are very secretive about where they place their hives," McAllister said. "I don't understand it. It must be a competition thing with other beekeepers for the best flowers to make the most honey." "It's a Catch-22," agreed Doyle. "They don't tell us where they are, but then we get blamed for killing bees." Stanley was on her local mosquito control registry. In her case, the district didn't call her about the spraying. Local officials have apologized, but for Stanley, it was too little, too late. "I used all of my resources to start this business, and I've lost everything," Stanley said. "You can't insure bees, and I had no backup plan. These little baby bees that I've lost, it's devastating."[SEP]Washington, DC - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $2.4 million to Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles County to establish, enhance, and maintain information-gathering systems to rapidly detect microcephaly–a serious birth defect of the brain–and other adverse outcomes linked to Zika virus infection. This funding is in addition to the $16.4 million recently awarded to states and territories for surveillance of microcephaly and other adverse outcomes and will enable these local areas to participate in these important activities in coordination with state efforts. The funds will allow these local areas to: • Enhance information-gathering to carry out strategies for real-time, population-based monitoring for microcephaly and other birth defects caused by Zika virus • Provide referral of infants and families to health and social resources • Expand access to examination of health and monitoring of developmental outcomes of children born to women with positive or inconclusive Zika virus test results As of August 26, CDC had obligated more than $193 million of the repurposed funds available for Zika preparedness, including over $110 million to support state, territorial, and local jurisdictions fight Zika. As of August 26, HHS has obligated $264 million of the $374 million redirected for the domestic Zika response. Surveillance and referral to services for infants with microcephaly or other adverse outcomes linked with the Zika virus in local areas will be supported through three complementary approaches: • The $16.4 million award in early August to states and territories for the surveillance of microcephaly and other adverse outcomes • The $2.4 million award announced today, which will enable highly populated jurisdictions to participate in surveillance of microcephaly and other adverse outcomes in coordination with state efforts • CDC also recently awarded $5.5 million to support the expansion of the public health emergency response capacity at the local level to report on Zika-exposed pregnant women, their developing fetuses, pregnancy outcomes and live-born infants. Information on how to apply for support will be made available to local health departments. Zika virus spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (specifically, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus). Zika infection can also be spread by infected men and women to their sex partners. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika and many people infected with Zika have no symptoms. Of those who do have symptoms, the most common are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). Zika infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in the developing fetus. CDC encourages everyone, especially pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant, to protect themselves from mosquito bites to avoid possible Zika virus infection.[SEP]Following a hotly contested statewide referendum, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley sent shock waves through international economies when she announced that South Carolina citizens, by a margin of over eighty-six percent, had voted to secede from the European Union. Explained Governor Haley, "By this referendum, the citizens of South Carolina have made clear their refusal to continue to submit to the whims of a European order. South Carolina is not a colony. This decision empowers us to make the decisions that are best for us, rather than being constrained by a league of foreign nations - whose priorities, it's become quite clear, differ greatly from our own." One particular area of conflict between South Carolina and the EU, noted Governor Haley, is the EU's opposition to capital punishment. The death penalty is still in effect in South Carolina. "Frankly," stated Governor Haley, "we here in Dixie consider the death penalty part of our Second Amendment right to bear arms. Of course, in this case, our 'arm' happens to be a hypodermic needle or an electric chair. But the principle's the same." For that reason, Haley contended, the EU's prohibition on capital punishment is actually unconstitutional. "And we're not going to let our fundamental rights be trampled on by the EU - or anyone." Haley added that South Carolinians also felt extremely uncomfortable with the EU's pro-choice stance on abortion. "The EU evidently values the lives of child molesters and murderers more than they do the lives of innocent unborn children," she remarked dryly. "In South Carolina, on the other hand, we do oppose the death penalty - for fetuses." Many economists and political commentators have asked the obvious question...why secede from the EU now? As Governor Haley explained, "We in the Global South have a responsibility to stand up against injustice, and particularly injustice against ourselves. When we heard about the brave folks in England who finally stood up and said they'd had enough of the EU, it got us scratching our heads. And we realized, you know what? So have we!" Many have pointed out a key difference between Brexit and South Carolina's EU secession, which some have dubbed "Dixit" - or, less flatteringly, "Hixit": unlike England, South Carolina is not, and never has been, a member of the European Union. "Exactly," Governor Haley agreed. "We may have agreed to stop flying the rebel flag in South Carolina, but it still flies in our hearts. We've never considered ourselves part of the Union - European or otherwise. This recent referendum merely formalizes that position."[SEP]WASHINGTON D.C.: According to a new study many Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh are expected to be at great risk of Zika outbreak. These countries receive a combination of high travel volumes from Zika-affected areas, have mosquitoes capable of transmitting the virus, suitable climatic conditions, large populations and/or limited health resources, reveals the study published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. Among these countries, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh might be most vulnerable because of their limited per capita health resources. “An estimated 2.6 billion people live in areas where the local mosquito species and suitable climatic conditions mean that local Zika virus transmission is theoretically possible. However, there are still many unknown things about the virus and how it spreads. The impact on populations will also depend heavily on the country’s ability to diagnose and respond to a possible outbreak,” said author Dr Kamran Khan, St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada. In the study, the research team, which included scientists from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Oxford University (UK) and the University of Toronto (Canada) established the ecological niche for Zika virus in the Americas. At the time of the analysis, local transmission of Zika virus had been confirmed in 40 countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Over 3 million bees die in South Carolina after being exposed to pesticides intended for mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday that 15 people were missing in the northern city of Hoeryong and thousands were left homeless by flooding caused by heavy rain in recent days. The official KCNA news agency said flooding of the Tumen river, which forms a border with China, had damaged or destroyed 17,180 houses, and 44,000 people were left homeless in North Hamgyong province. Widespread deforestation makes North Korea prone to flooding.[SEP]Flooding caused by torrential rains hit North Korea this week, leaving 15 people missing and thousands of others homeless, according to Pyongyang's state media. The Tumen River, which serves as part of the border between China, Russia and North Korea, burst its banks in "the worst-ever flood" in the area, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said late Friday. In the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, 15 people were missing in Hoeryong City and several counties including Musan, Yonsa and Onsong and part of the Rason special economic zone also suffered "serious damage". More than 17,000 houses were destroyed or partly damaged, forcing 44,000 people to seek shelter elsewhere, KCNA said. North Hamgyong Province received up to 32 centimetres (12 and a half inches) of rain between early Tuesday and mid-Friday, it said. "Relentless campaigns are under way to stabilize people's livelihood and restore damaged properties", it said, adding that further assessments of the damage would continue. North Korea is known for being vulnerable to natural disasters, especially floods. Its territory is largely composed of mountains and hills that have long been deforested for fuel or turned into terraced rice fields, allowing rainwater to flow downhill unchecked, washing away top soil from agricultural fields. A series of floods and droughts sparked a famine between 1994 and 1998 in the impoverished state, with economic mismanagement coupled with the loss of Soviet support exacerbating the situation.[SEP]Weapons were paraded through Pyongyang as a clear signal to the rest of the world that North Korea has military might. Farm manager Kim Myong Jon is something of a national celebrity in North Korea. During the past 40 years, she's met with three of the country's leaders. The farm is home to one of North Korea's first greenhouses. It was first visited by Kim Il Sung more than three decades ago, and more recently by his grandson, current leader Kim Jong Un. Chili peppers lie in the sun at the Jang Chon farm. It's used for making kimchi, the fermented cabbage dish that is a staple of the North Korean diet. Two officials walk in the grounds of the space facility. While there, NADA officials told CNN they had prepared multiple satellites and were in the "final stages of perfecting all operations." In May 2015, CNN was given rare access to a faculty apartment in an upscale area of Pyongyang, near Kim Il Sung University. The lounge was neat, if a little dated. This is the master bedroom of the three bedroom apartment. A university professor lives there with his adult children. It's 200 square meters (about 2,150 square feet) -- large for an apartment in Pyongyang. Every home in North Korea displays portraits of late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Housing is assigned by the government and is free. Those who want to move have to sign up to exchange spaces with other citizens. First graders in a Pyongyang classroom are orderly yet energetic, often standing and giving spirited answers to their teacher's questions, May 7, 2015. Photo by CNN's Will Ripley. Young boys practice a drum routine that they will perform during International Children's Day in June. Toy rocket launchers, similar to those displayed in North Korean military parades, are on the shelves for children to play with. The view from the North Korean side of the DMZ, with armed DPRK soldiers standing guard. North Korea displays the armistice agreement that ended the brutal fighting of the Korean War in 1953. Junior Lt. Colonel Nam Dong Ho is part of North Korea's standing army of more than one million. Two women share a bicycle as they head south on a highway leading from Pyongyang to the DMZ, May 2015. Pyongyang women wear their Sunday best, and carry ornate umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. Twin statues honor the late leaders of North Korea Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Visitors are routinely taken here to pay their respects and lay flowers at the statue. Photo taken May 2, 2015. Kim Jong Un personally inspected the plans for this new water park 113 times and had his top officials safety test the water slides. Guests frolic in the park in this photo taken in May 2015. The Pyongyang Gold Lane, a bowling alley in the North Korean capital, is popular among young people. Pyongyang Airport is the first stop on tours of North Korea. Air Koryo is the national airline, which operates direct flights from Beijing and Shenyang in China, and Vladivostok in Russia. Air Koryo has an aging fleet, although it has purchased some newer aircraft in recent years.

North Korea says that at least fifteen people are missing and thousands left homeless in the city of Hoeryong after the Tumen River floods.

(CNN) The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is telling operators to shut down 35 disposal wells that may have played a role in a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook at least six states Saturday, Gov. Mary Fallin said. The disposal wells, which are linked to fracking and other industries that need to dispose of toxic waste water by injecting it deep into the earth, have recently drawn concern that they may actually induce earthquakes. "This is a mandatory directive," Fallin said. The commission, which regulates fuel, oil, gas, public utilities and transportation industries, is investigating to determine the epicenter of the quake that hit Pawnee, said commission spokesman Matt Skinner. The Environmental Protection Agency is also investigating, Fallin said. Skinner says earthquakes in Oklahoma are generally not directly caused by fracking, but rather by pressure from the disposal wells, which are used by the industry to get rid of the toxic waste water that comes out of the earth along with oil and gas. "The disposal wells dispose into the state's deepest formation, the Arbuckle formation, which is right above what we call the basement," Skinner said. The basement is above where the critical faults lie that shift and make earthquakes." Those disposal wells within five miles of the 10-mile section of the fault in question are to be shut down within seven days, and all the other wells must be shut down within 10 days, Fallin said. Controversial disposal method Oil and gas drillers and other industries use the disposal wells to inject toxic waste water deep into the earth, which raises questions about possible pollution of the water supply. The wells are used to dispose of fracking waste. Saturday's earthquake, which some people described as the most powerful in memory, rendered six buildings in Pawnee Nation uninhabitable, Fallin said. Rural Pawnee County and the city of Pawnee had at least six buildings damaged, with one homeowner suffering minor injuries, Fallin said. The earthquake damaged at least one historic building in Pawnee, city officials told CNN. "It's an old historical building about 100 years old. It's still standing but some of the outer layers of sandstone fell. It could be cosmetic damage. We don't know yet," said Pawnee Mayor Brad Sewell. Fallin issued a declaration of emergency for Pawnee County to start the process of "helping individuals, families and businesses impacted by the earthquakes" and help them request any necessary assistance. The earthquake was also felt in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska and Iowa, according to the US Geological Survey. "A quake this size would shake for about 15 seconds and it was a shallow quake, about 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) deep," said Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist. With earthquakes in the central and eastern United States, "the ground is softer, so the seismic waves have a much farther travel distance then an earthquake in California or Nevada," said another USGS geophysicist, Robert Sanders. Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff is at the office reviewing disposal wells in the vicinity of the earthquake near Pawnee. — Governor Mary Fallin (@GovMaryFallin) September 3, 2016 The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is checking bridges for damage and structural engineers are assessing building safety, according to Fallin. The governor also said no "concerning structural problems" in the state's highways and bridges have been found. There have been a total of 11 earthquakes in the same area Saturday, the USGS said. The largest was at 7:02 a.m. (8:02 a.m. ET), with the preliminary 5.6 magnitude. The other quake magnitudes ranged from 2.7 to 3.6. Despite minimal damage, the quake set off anxious speculation on social media. Wow! Felt the earth move in Rogers, Arkansas. Had to Google to find out what was going on. #Earthquake — CarolLangston (@CarolLangston) September 3, 2016 We survived #Earthquake 2k16. Hashtag KCforever. We will rebuild. We will press on. pic.twitter.com/teTlwixZEn — Mike Brooks (@MikeBrooks) September 3, 2016 This morning wake up call brought to by Oklahoma's oil and natural gas industry. — Clifton Adcock (@cliftonhowze) September 3, 2016 Some tweeters saw humor in the quake, with no serious casualties. That wasn't an earthquake that hit Oklahoma this morning. That was Sooner fans champ hopes crashing to Earth on the 1st Saturday of season. — Eric (@illstr8r) September 3, 2016 "Oooooooooklahoma, where the fault lines rumble like a train..." Yeah, NO. I like our theme song the way it is. #earthquake — Ree Drummond (@thepioneerwoman) September 3, 2016 But a March report released by the USGS showed that people in parts of Texas and Oklahoma now face similar ground-shaking risks from human-induced activity, such as fluid injection or extraction, as residents face from natural earthquakes in California. The agency outlined the risk of these so-called "induced" earthquakes, noting that Oklahoma City and the surrounding region face a 5-12% chance of damage from an earthquake in 2016. Seismic activity is also on the rise in certain energy-intensive states after a relatively stable period of about 30 years, according to the USGS report. Earthquake rates have "recently increased markedly" in multiple areas of the Central and Eastern United States, especially since 2010, the report said. Its 2014 model of seismic risks did not consider man-made quakes. The agency said several damaging quakes have occurred recently near injection wells. For instance, a magnitude 5.6-earthquake caused minor injuries and damage to homes in 2011 near Prague, Oklahoma. Other tremors in these fracking regions include a 5.3-magnitude quake near Trinidad, Colorado, in 2011 and a 4.8-magnitude quake near Timpson, Texas, in 2012. As to whether the injection wells are what causes the earthquakes, and this quake in particular, Skinner would only say, "There's all kinds of theories as to why it puts pressure on the basement faults, but somehow that is happening and we have taken many actions based on that."[SEP]0 Pawnee Nation declares state of emergency after earthquake PAWNEE, Okla. - Quick facts: A 5.6 magnitude shook Green Country Saturday. One man was injured. Buildings suffered damage. Related Headlines VIDEO: Pawnee earthquake damages pharmacy The Pawnee Nation has declared a state of emergency after an earthquake shook the area Saturday. Six of the nation's buildings were damaged, and two of those buildings suffered significant damage. RELATED: Gov. Fallin declares state of emergency in Pawnee County following earthquake Officials with the Pawnee County Emergency Management say buildings there suffered significant damage as the result of the earthquake. The 5.6 magnitude quake was centered near Pawnee. SEE MORE: Massive earthquake shakes Green Country It is tied with a 2011 earthquake for the strongest in Oklahoma history. Multiple aftershocks followed. At least one man was injured. Joe Alley said he was trying to protect his child when bricks fell and hit his head. SEE MORE: How to stay safe during an earthquake He was later released from the hospital. Buildings near Sixth and Harrison suffered significant damage. Though emergency officials at first said a building collapsed, they later said the damage did not result in a full collapse. Three buildings were deemed unsafe. Officials said other structural damage was reported. SEE MORE: Pictures of earthquake damage Officials said part of main street in Pawnee was blocked off due to damage. The Northeast Junior Rodeo Association of Oklahoma confirmed the rodeo there is canceled. Governor Mary Fallin said emergency management is going to assist in Pawnee after the earthquake. ODOT confirmed that bridges and roads only received very minor damage. SEE MORE: FOX23 Earthquakes Page Fallin said the Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff is at the office reviewing disposal wells in the vicinity of the earthquake. Local businesses in Pawnee suffered damages as well. White's Foodliner estimates the store lost thousands of dollars in damages. A local liquor store also reported hundreds in damages. "When a disaster like this happens on a holiday weekend, there's a sense that we're disconnected, that's not true. We're still connected, and I want everyone to be able to see it here." Senator James Lankford said. --- Five things to know on FOX23: © 2019 Cox Media Group.[SEP]One of Oklahoma's largest earthquakes on record rattled other parts of the Midwest on Saturday from Nebraska to North Texas, and likely will turn new attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, a key energy-producing region. That matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. Geologists say damage is not likely in earthquakes below magnitude 4.0; no major damage was immediately reported Saturday. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too. Saturday's quake was centered about 9 miles northwest of Pawnee, Oklahoma, which has a population of about 2,200. Earlier this week, the same spot, which is about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, saw a magnitude 3.2 temblor. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes in earthquake-prone regions of the state. Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation's most shake-prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to 1 in 20. A cluster of quakes in northwestern Oklahoma this year included a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, and several 4.7 quakes were felt last fall before regulators stepped in to limit disposal activity. Sean Weide in Omaha, Nebraska, told The Associated Press that he'd never been in an earthquake before and thought he was getting dizzy. Weide said he and one of his daughters "heard the building start creaking" and said it "was surreal."[SEP]OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A record-tying earthquake in the edge of Oklahoma’s key energy-producing areas rattled the Midwest from Nebraska to North Texas on Saturday, and likely will bring fresh attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6-magnitude earthquake occurred at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which since 2013 has asked wastewater-well owners to reduce disposal volumes in parts of the state, directed about 35 wells within an approximately 500-square-mile area around the epicenter to shut down within seven to 10 days because of previous connections between the injection of wastewater and earthquakes. “All of our actions have been based on the link that researchers have drawn between the Arbuckle disposal well operations and earthquakes in Oklahoma,” spokesman Matt Skinner said Saturday. “We’re trying to do this as quickly as possible, but we have to follow the recommendations of the seismologists, who tell us everything going off at once can cause an [earthquake].” People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago; Gilbert, Arizona; Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; Memphis, Tennessee; and Big Lake in southwest Texas, all reported feeling the earthquake. Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter. “We’ve got buildings cracked,” Randell said. “Most of it’s brick and mortar, old buildings from the early 1900s.” Randell also said a man suffered a minor head injury when part of a fireplace fell on him as he protected a child. The man was treated and released. The office of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin posted that state highway crews were checking for bridge damage and the state Department of Emergency Management would assess damage and determine how to address it. The damage is not as severe as the 2011 quake near Prague, Oklahoma, about 60 miles south of Pawnee, despite being the same magnitude and approximately the same depth below the surface. Saturday’s was 3.7 miles deep, compared to 3.1 miles in 2011. Both are shallow quakes, during which shaking is more intense, like setting off “a bomb directly under a city,” USGS seismologist Susan Hough has said. However, hard bedrock beneath the surface in north-central Oklahoma is likely the reason for less damage, Oklahoma Geological Survey geophysicist Jefferson Chang said, adding that the subsurface around Prague is softer. “It’s pretty much comparable to the Prague event,” Chang said. “But in harder rock, it won’t shake as much.” Pawnee furniture store owner Lee Wills told The Associated Press that he first thought it was a thunderstorm. “Then it just… Everything went crazy after that. It just started shaking,” said Wills, who lives about 2-½ miles outside of town. “It rocked my house like a rubber band. Threw stuff off cabinets and out of cabinets, broke glasses.” Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation’s most shake-prone areas, and one Oklahoma region has a one-in-eight chance of a damaging quake in 2016. The area where the quake was centered is on the edge of a region covered by a “regional earthquake response plan” issued in March by the commission, whose goal was to cut the number of earthquakes by reducing wastewater injection volume by 40 percent from 2014 levels. Oklahoma and Kansas both had an uptick in quakes in the first half of this decade. Kansas moved quickly to limit volume, while Oklahoma concentrated on the depth of the disposal. Kansas saw a 60-percent drop while the frequency of quakes in Oklahoma continued to climb.[SEP]OKLAHOMA CITY — A record-tying earthquake in the edge of Oklahoma’s key energy-producing areas rattled the Midwest from Nebraska to North Texas on Saturday, and likely will bring fresh attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which since 2013 has asked wastewater-well owners to reduce disposal volumes in parts of the state, directed about 35 wells within an approximately 500-square-mile area around the epicenter to shut down within seven to 10 days because of previous connections between the injection of wastewater and earthquakes. “All of our actions have been based on the link that researchers have drawn between the Arbuckle disposal well operations and earthquakes in Oklahoma,” spokesman Matt Skinner said Saturday. “We’re trying to do this as quickly as possible, but we have to follow the recommendations of the seismologists, who tell us everything going off at once can cause an (earthquake).” People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago; Gilbert, Arizona; Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; Memphis, Tennessee; and Big Lake in southwest Texas, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too. Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter. “We’ve got buildings cracked,” Randell said. “Most of it’s brick and mortar, old buildings from the early 1900s.” Randell also said a man suffered a minor head injury when part of a fireplace fell on him as he protected a child. The man was treated and released. The office of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin tweeted that state highway crews were checking for bridge damage and the state Department of Emergency Management would assess damage and determine how to address it. The damage is not as severe as the 2011 quake near Prague, Oklahoma, about 60 miles south of Pawnee, despite being the same magnitude and approximately the same depth below the surface. Saturday’s was 3.7 miles deep, compared to 3.1 miles in 2011. Both are shallow quakes, during which shaking is more intense, like setting off “a bomb directly under a city,” USGS seismologist Susan Hough has said. However, hard bedrock beneath the surface in north-central Oklahoma is likely the reason for less damage, Oklahoma Geological Survey geophysicist Jefferson Chang said, adding that the subsurface around Prague is softer. “It’s pretty much comparable to the Prague event,” Chang said. “But in harder rock, it won’t shake as much.” Pawnee furniture store owner Lee Wills told The Associated Press that he first thought it was a thunderstorm. “Then it just … Everything went crazy after that. It just started shaking,” said Wills, who lives about 2½ miles outside of town. “It rocked my house like a rubber band. Threw stuff off cabinets and out of cabinets, broke glasses.” Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation’s most shake-prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016. The area where the quake was centered is on the edge of a region covered by a “regional earthquake response plan” issued in March by the commission, whose goal was to cut the number of earthquakes by reducing wastewater injection volume by 40 percent from 2014 levels. Oklahoma and Kansas both had an uptick in quakes in the first half of this decade. Kansas moved quickly to limit volume, while Oklahoma concentrated on the depth of the disposal. Kansas saw a 60 percent drop while the frequency of quakes in Oklahoma continued to climb. Sean Weide in Omaha, Nebraska, told the AP that he’d never been in an earthquake before and thought he was getting dizzy. Weide said he and one of his daughters “heard the building start creaking” and said it “was surreal.” Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Kyndra Richards cleans up at "White's Foodliner" after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Kyndra Richards cleans up at "White's Foodliner" after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP)[SEP]CHICAGO (AP) — One of the largest earthquakes in Oklahoma was felt Saturday morning from Nebraska to North Texas. The 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, The United States Geological Survey said. That ties for Oklahoma's strongest earthquake on record, the first coming in November 2011. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes in earthquake-prone regions of the state. Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation's most shake prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to 1 in 20. Saturday's quake was centered about 9 miles northwest of Pawnee, Oklahoma. Earlier this week, the same spot, which is about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, saw a magnitude 3.2 temblor. Sean Weide in Omaha, Nebraska, told The Associated Press that he'd never been in an earthquake before and thought he was getting dizzy. Weide said he and one of his daughters "heard the building start creaking" and said it "was surreal."[SEP]OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A record-tying earthquake in the edge of Oklahoma’s key energy-producing areas rattled the Midwest from Illinois to the southwest part of Texas on Saturday, and likely will bring fresh attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which since 2013 has asked wastewater-well owners to reduce disposal volumes in parts of the state, is requiring 37 wells in a 514 square mile area around the epicenter of the earthquake to shut down within seven to 10 days because of previous connections between the injection of wastewater and earthquakes. “All of our actions have been based on the link that researchers have drawn between the Arbuckle disposal well operations and earthquakes in Oklahoma,” spokesman Matt Skinner said Saturday. “We’re trying to do this as quickly as possible, but we have to follow the recommendations of the seismologists, who tell us everything going off at once can cause an (earthquake).” Skinner said the commission’s “area of interest” includes another 211 square miles in Osage County, but doesn’t know how many wells may be involved because the area is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency, and that the commission is working with that agency. “EPA decides on the wells in Osage County. We don’t know anything about Osage County, legally we’re not even allowed to ask,” Skinner said. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago; Gilbert, Arizona; Fayetteville and Little Rock, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; Memphis, Tennessee; and Big Lake in southwest Texas, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too. Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter. “We’ve got buildings cracked,” Randell said. “Most of it’s brick and mortar, old buildings from the early 1900s.” Randell also said a man suffered a minor head injury when part of a fireplace fell on him as he protected a child. The man was treated and released. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has declared a state of emergency for the county, allowing state agencies to make emergency purchases related to disaster relief and preparedness. The declaration is also the first step toward seeking federal aid should it be necessary The damage is not as severe as the 2011 quake near Prague, Oklahoma, about 60 miles south of Pawnee, despite being the same magnitude and approximately the same depth. Saturday’s was 3.7 miles deep, compared to 3.1 miles in 2011. Both are shallow quakes, during which shaking is more intense, like setting off “a bomb directly under a city,” USGS seismologist Susan Hough has said. However, hard bedrock beneath the surface in north-central Oklahoma is likely the reason for less damage, Oklahoma Geological Survey geophysicist Jefferson Chang said, adding that the subsurface around Prague is softer. “It’s pretty much comparable to the Prague event,” Chang said. “But in harder rock, it won’t shake as much.” Pawnee furniture store owner Lee Wills told The Associated Press that he first thought it was a thunderstorm. “Then it just … Everything went crazy after that. It just started shaking,” said Wills, who lives about 2½ miles outside of town. “It rocked my house like a rubber band. Threw stuff off cabinets and out of cabinets, broke glasses.” Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Sandstone bricks from the side of the historic Pawnee County Bank litter the sidewalk after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. (Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman via AP) Kyndra Richards cleans up at “White’s Foodliner” after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. Kyndra Richards cleans up at “White’s Foodliner” after an early morning earthquake in Pawnee, Oka., on Saturday. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened Saturday morning in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. That temblor matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. Associated Press writers Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Arkansas, Erica Hunzinger in Chicago and Ben Thomas in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.[SEP]The earthquake was also felt in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and Iowa, according to the USGS. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, a regulatory agency that examines the state's fuel, oil, gas, public utilities and transportation industries, is "reviewing disposal wells in the vicinity of the earthquake near Pawnee," Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said via Twitter. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is checking bridges for damage and structural engineers are assessing building safety according to Fallin. The earthquake damaged at least one historic building in Pawnee, Oklahoma, city officials told CNN. "It's an old historical building about 100 years old. It's still standing but some of the outer layers of sandstone fell, it could be cosmetic damage, we don't know yet," said Pawnee Mayor Brad Sewell. "A quake this size would shake for about 15 seconds and it was a shallow quake, about 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) deep," said Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist. There is no clear evidence of major damage from the earthquake, Pawnee Chamber of Commerce manager Tom Briggs told CNN. "We had some buildings, some of the older structures, delaminate. The fire department and electricians and police are going through the area," Briggs said. No injuries have been reported. There have been a total of 11 earthquakes in the same area Saturday, the USGS said. The largest was at 7:02 a.m. (8:02 a.m. ET), with the preliminary 5.6 magnitude. The other quake magnitudes ranged from 2.7 to 3.6. Despite minimal damage, the quake did set off anxious speculation on social media. Wow! Felt the earth move in Rogers, Arkansas. Had to Google to find out what was going on. #Earthquake — CarolLangston (@CarolLangston) September 3, 2016 We survived #Earthquake 2k16. Hashtag KCforever. We will rebuild. We will press on. pic.twitter.com/teTlwixZEn — Mike Brooks (@MikeBrooks) September 3, 2016 This morning wake up call brought to by Oklahoma's oil and natural gas industry. — Clifton Adcock (@cliftonhowze) September 3, 2016 showed that people in parts of Texas and Oklahoma now face similar ground-shaking risks from human-induced activity, such as fluid injection or extraction, as residents face from natural earthquakes in California. recent report released by the USGS showed that people in parts of Texas and Oklahoma now face similar ground-shaking risks from human-induced activity, such as fluid injection or extraction, as residents face from natural earthquakes in California. The agency outlined the risk of these so-called "induced" earthquakes, noting that Oklahoma City and the surrounding region face a 5 to 12% chance of damage from an earthquake in 2016. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission "is working to get firmer data" to pinpoint the epicenter of the quake, said commission spokesman Matt Skinner. Skinner said earthquakes in Oklahoma are generally not caused by fracking, but rather by pressure from the disposal wells. "The disposal wells dispose into the state's deepest formation, the Arbuckle formation, which is right above what we call the basement. The basement is above where the critical faults lie that shift and make earthquakes," he explained. "There's all kinds of theories as to why it puts pressure on the basement faults, but somehow that is happening and we have taken many actions based on that," Skinner said. With earthquakes in the central and eastern United States, "the ground is softer, so the seismic waves have a much farther travel distance then an earthquake in California or Nevada," said Robert Sanders, USGS geophysicist.[SEP]A record-tying earthquake in the edge of Oklahoma's key energy-producing areas rattled the Midwest from Nebraska to North Texas on Saturday and likely will focus fresh new attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7.02am Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, which is a key energy-producing region. That matches a November 2011 quake that hit the city of Prague, which is about 70 miles south of Pawnee. Geologists say damage is not likely in earthquakes below magnitude 4.0, however, some buildings suffered severe structural damage from the quake in Pawnee. Pawnee County Emergency Management Director Mark Randell said no buildings collapsed in the town of 2,200 about nine miles southeast of the epicenter, and there were no injuries, either. 'We've got buildings cracked,' Randell said. 'Most of it's brick and mortar, old buildings from the early 1900s.' Pawnee furniture store owner Lee Wills told The Associated Press that he first thought it was a thunderstorm. 'Then it just ... Everything went crazy after that. It just started shaking,' said Wills, who lives about 2½ miles outside of town. 'It rocked my house like a rubber band. Threw stuff off cabinets and out of cabinets, broke glasses.' According to FOX 23, officials with the Pawnee County Emergency Management are checking bridges and structures in the area. Gov. Mary Fallin said emergency management is going to assist in Pawnee after the earthquake. Fallin said the Oklahoma Corporation Commission staff is at the office reviewing disposal wells in the vicinity of the earthquake. White's Foodliner store in Pawnee is closed for the day after the quake shook items off of the store shelves and onto the floor. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too. Saturday's quake was centered about 9 miles northwest of Pawnee, Oklahoma, which has a population of about 2,200. Earlier this week, the same spot, which is about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, saw a magnitude 3.2 temblor. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. State regulators have asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes in earthquake-prone regions of the state. According to a recent report released by the USGS, Oklahoma faces similar ground-shaking risks from human-induced activity, including fluid injection or extraction, which is creating a risk similar to that of what people in California face from natural earthquakes in that state. Some parts of Oklahoma now match northern California for the nation's most shake-prone, and one Oklahoma region has a 1 in 8 chance of a damaging quake in 2016, with other parts closer to 1 in 20. The USGS outlined the risk of the 'induced' earthquakes, and noted that Oklahoma City and the region surrounding face a five to 12 per cent chance of damage from an earthquake in 2016. A cluster of quakes in northwestern Oklahoma this year included a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, and several 4.7 quakes were felt last fall before regulators stepped in to limit disposal activity. Oklahoma saw a spike in earthquakes in 2009. An estimated 890 quakes happened in the state last year, as at least 30 of them measured 4.0 or greater magnitude, according to the USGS. Sean Weide in Omaha, Nebraska, told The Associated Press that he'd never been in an earthquake before and thought he was getting dizzy. Weide said he and one of his daughters 'heard the building start creaking' and said it 'was surreal.'[SEP]The earthquake was felt in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and Iowa, according to USGS geophysicists. Despite the light damage from the sizable quake, the shakeup did set off alarm bells on social media. "A quake this size would shake for about 15 seconds and it was a shallow quake, about 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) deep," said Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist. There is no clear evidence of major damage from the earthquake, Pawnee, Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce manager Tom Briggs tells CNN. With earthquakes in the central and eastern United States, "the ground is softer, so the seismic waves have a much farther travel distance then an earthquake in California or Nevada," said Robert Sanders, USGS geophysicist. "We had some buildings, some of the older structures, delaminate. The fire department and electricians and police are going through the area," Briggs said. No injuries have been reported. This is the biggest quake to hit the state since the November 2011, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes Pawnee, Oklahoma, tying the record for the strongest in state history. At least one person was injured.

When an earthquake struck Oklahoma on Saturday, one of the first steps state officials took was to shut down 37 of the state's 3,200 active disposal wells -- a move that drew national attention to the link between oil and gas drilling and earthquakes. No one was seriously injured in the Oklahoma quake, and investigations and cleanup has begun. Here's what you need to know. Disposal wells are used by oil and gas producers to get rid of wastewater from the drilling process. The wells push the wastewater deep underground, even deeper than where oil and gas are found. The wastewater mostly consists of a substance called brine -- a mix of water and chemicals that comes to the surface with oil and gas when they are pumped from the Earth. A small portion is also the water that's pumped underground in the modern hydraulic fracturing process, a drilling technique often referred to as fracking. The EPA says there are about 40,000 disposal wells nationwide. Did the disposal wells cause the earthquake? That is the concern. Oklahoma didn't have much of a history of earthquakes. But a big one struck in November 2011, causing injuries and leveling houses, and officials said in 2014 that earthquakes in the state have increased 5,000%. Scientists began looking into the role pumping liquid underground can play in seismic activity decades ago. And while much remains unknown, government scientists said in March that disposal wells have caused an increased risk for "induced" earthquakes in large areas of the country. That includes the area where Saturday's earthquake occurred. What's being done to stop it? Oklahoma regulators have been monitoring the wells for years. In January, the state began forcing 27 disposal wells to reduce their activity. That's also when Oklahoma dedicated $1.4 million to fund "research and response" efforts. Saturday's order that 37 wells shut down over the next 10 days marks the strongest action against disposal wells yet. Why are disposal wells used? The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association said in April that producers would take "significant measures" to combat the earthquakes and promised to explore alternative disposal methods. But OKOGA president Chad Warmington said "underground wastewater disposal is currently the safest and most cost-effective way to dispose of produced water." Drillers also argue that recycling is more expensive, in part because they must pay to transport the wastewater to recycling facilities. Some drillers do recycle. For example, about 90% of wastewater in Pennsylvania is recycled. In Texas, drought has spurred an increase in recycling. But recycling has been slow to catch on in Oklahoma, and regulators have been criticized for not taking more aggressive action against disposal wells. What happens next? That's not clear. The state of Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency in the wake of Saturday's quake. Halting or slowing the use of disposal wells won't necessarily resolve the seismic issues. Scientists studying the issue told PBS in March that even if Oklahoma shuttered all its disposal wells, the wastewater that has already been pumped can continue to cause problems. And the ground is sensitive to sudden changes in disposal well pumping. In fact, Oklahoma regulators ordered the 37 wells offline over the course of 10 days for fear "that a large scale, sudden shutdown could cause an earthquake," according to authorities.[SEP]OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The 37 wastewater disposal wells to be shut down in north-central Oklahoma, where a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck this weekend, are just a fraction of the state's total number. There are about 4,200 total wells across the state and about 700 in a 15,000-square-mile "Area of Interest" created by the commission to address earthquakes in the area that includes the epicenter of Saturday's temblor near Pawnee. The earthquake tied a November 2011 quake as the strongest in recorded state history and was felt as far away as Nebraska, but no major damage was reported. Not all of the state's wells operate simultaneously, Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said. "We estimate that at any one time, there are about 3,200 active disposal wells," Skinner said. An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production, and since 2013, the commission has asked wastewater-well owners to reduce disposal volumes in parts of the state where the temblors have been most frequent.[SEP]When an earthquake struck Oklahoma on Saturday, one of the first steps state officials took was to shut down 37 of the state's 3,200 active disposal wells -- a move that drew national attention to the link between oil and gas drilling and earthquakes. No one was seriously injured in the Oklahoma quake, and investigations and cleanup has begun. Here's what you need to know. Disposal wells are used by oil and gas producers to get rid of wastewater from the drilling process. The wells push the wastewater deep underground, even deeper than where oil and gas are found. The wastewater mostly consists of a substance called brine -- a mix of water and chemicals that comes to the surface with oil and gas when they are pumped from the Earth. A small portion is also the water that's pumped underground in the modern hydraulic fracturing process, a drilling technique often referred to as fracking. The EPA says there are about 40,000 disposal wells nationwide. Did the disposal wells cause the earthquake? That is the concern. Oklahoma didn't have much of a history of earthquakes. But a big one struck in November 2011, causing injuries and leveling houses, and officials said in 2014 that earthquakes in the state have increased 5,000%. Scientists began looking into the role pumping liquid underground can play in seismic activity decades ago. And while much remains unknown, government scientists said in March that disposal wells have caused an increased risk for "induced" earthquakes in large areas of the country. That includes the area where Saturday's earthquake occurred. What's being done to stop it? Oklahoma regulators have been monitoring the wells for years. In January, the state began forcing 27 disposal wells to reduce their activity. That's also when Oklahoma dedicated $1.4 million to fund "research and response" efforts. Saturday's order that 37 wells shut down over the next 10 days marks the strongest action against disposal wells yet. Why are disposal wells used? The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association said in April that producers would take "significant measures" to combat the earthquakes and promised to explore alternative disposal methods. But OKOGA president Chad Warmington said "underground wastewater disposal is currently the safest and most cost-effective way to dispose of produced water." Drillers also argue that recycling is more expensive, in part because they must pay to transport the wastewater to recycling facilities. Some drillers do recycle. For example, about 90% of wastewater in Pennsylvania is recycled. In Texas, drought has spurred an increase in recycling. But recycling has been slow to catch on in Oklahoma, and regulators have been criticized for not taking more aggressive action against disposal wells. What happens next? That's not clear. The state of Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency in the wake of Saturday's quake. Halting or slowing the use of disposal wells won't necessarily resolve the seismic issues. Scientists studying the issue told PBS in March that even if Oklahoma shuttered all its disposal wells, the wastewater that has already been pumped can continue to cause problems. And the ground is sensitive to sudden changes in disposal well pumping. In fact, Oklahoma regulators ordered the 37 wells offline over the course of 10 days for fear "that a large scale, sudden shutdown could cause an earthquake," according to authorities.[SEP]Oklahoma officials on Saturday ordered oil and gas operators to shut down three dozen wastewater disposal wells following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that tied a record as the strongest in state history. The quake, centered near Pawnee, rattled the state just after 8 a.m. Eastern time Saturday, tying a record set in 2011 for the strongest such tremor in Oklahoma history, according to the National Weather Service. Local officials reported moderate to severe damage and at least one nonlife-threatening injury. “We are finding a lot of rural houses north, northwest of Pawnee that are seeing extensive damage,” Sheriff Mike Waters of Pawnee County said on Saturday. Pawnee County Emergency Management posted photos on Facebook just before noon of a pile of rubble, noting that three buildings had moderate damage, while several others had minor damage.[SEP]When an earthquake struck Oklahoma on Saturday, one of the first steps state officials took was to shut down 37 of the state's 3,200 active disposal wells -- a move that drew national attention to the link between oil and gas drilling and earthquakes. No one was seriously injured in the Oklahoma quake, and investigations and cleanup has begun. Here's what you need to know. Disposal wells are used by oil and gas producers to get rid of wastewater from the drilling process. The wells push the wastewater deep underground, even deeper than where oil and gas are found. The wastewater mostly consists of a substance called brine -- a mix of water and chemicals that comes to the surface with oil and gas when they are pumped from the Earth. A small portion is also the water that's pumped underground in the modern hydraulic fracturing process, a drilling technique often referred to as fracking. The EPA says there are about 40,000 disposal wells nationwide. Did the disposal wells cause the earthquake? That is the concern. Oklahoma didn't have much of a history of earthquakes. But a big one struck in November 2011, causing injuries and leveling houses, and officials said in 2014 that earthquakes in the state have increased 5,000%. Scientists began looking into the role pumping liquid underground can play in seismic activity decades ago. And while much remains unknown, government scientists said in March that disposal wells have caused an increased risk for "induced" earthquakes in large areas of the country. That includes the area where Saturday's earthquake occurred. What's being done to stop it? Oklahoma regulators have been monitoring the wells for years. In January, the state began forcing 27 disposal wells to reduce their activity. That's also when Oklahoma dedicated $1.4 million to fund "research and response" efforts. Saturday's order that 37 wells shut down over the next 10 days marks the strongest action against disposal wells yet. Why are disposal wells used? The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association said in April that producers would take "significant measures" to combat the earthquakes and promised to explore alternative disposal methods. But OKOGA president Chad Warmington said "underground wastewater disposal is currently the safest and most cost-effective way to dispose of produced water." Drillers also argue that recycling is more expensive, in part because they must pay to transport the wastewater to recycling facilities. Some drillers do recycle. For example, about 90% of wastewater in Pennsylvania is recycled. In Texas, drought has spurred an increase in recycling. But recycling has been slow to catch on in Oklahoma, and regulators have been criticized for not taking more aggressive action against disposal wells. What happens next? That's not clear. The state of Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency in the wake of Saturday's quake. Halting or slowing the use of disposal wells won't necessarily resolve the seismic issues. Scientists studying the issue told PBS in March that even if Oklahoma shuttered all its disposal wells, the wastewater that has already been pumped can continue to cause problems. And the ground is sensitive to sudden changes in disposal well pumping. In fact, Oklahoma regulators ordered the 37 wells offline over the course of 10 days for fear "that a large scale, sudden shutdown could cause an earthquake," according to authorities.

State officials order closure of three dozen wastewater disposal wells by oil and gas operators.

"I appreciate the quick response by the Department of Emergency Management and Department of Transportation to assess damage of the affected area and to ensure our state highway and turnpike bridges are safe. And I applaud the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the state agency tasked with regulating the oil and gas industry, in taking swift action by ordering all Arbuckle disposal wells within a 725-square-mile area of today’s earthquake to shut down and working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has sole jurisdiction over disposal wells in nearby Osage County.[SEP]WATERBURY – Mary Bridget Flaherty, age 90, lifelong resident of Waterbury, entered into eternal rest on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 at Meridian Manor. She was born on Jan. 3, 1926 in Waterbury, daughter of the late James and Margaret (Sullivan) Flaherty. Mary was a proud graduate of St. Mary’s School and Waterbury Catholic High School; after high school she attended New Britain Teachers College on a full scholarship and obtained her master’s in teaching from UConn. Mary was dedicated to her career as a teacher, having taught fourth grade at Washington School for 50 years until her retirement in 1999, and was a member of the Waterbury Retired Teachers Association. She was also employed at the Waterbury Democrat Newspaper and for a short time at SNET. Mary was a devout Irish Catholic and was a longtime parishioner of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where she was a member of the Ladies Guild and a daily Mass communicant. Mary will be remembered for her loving, caring and generous ways. She is survived by her dedicated and faithful friends, Patricia M. Griffin, Carolyn Brown and Andrea Brown, all of Waterbury. Mary was predeceased by her sisters, Anne Theresa and Bridget Hope. Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial to be celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 at 10 a.m. in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 74 West Main St., Waterbury, CT 06702; please meet directly at church. Interment will follow at New St. Joseph Cemetery, Hamilton Avenue and Pearl Lake Road. Calling hours will be held at the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Waterbury, 9 Holmes Ave., 06710 on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception or to St. Vincent DePaul Society, 34 Willow St., Waterbury, CT 06710. To share a picture or story of Mary, please visit www.fordfh.com.[SEP]Though still in its early stages, the Grand Forks County budget-building process is looking to cut costs for next year. Cindy Pic, the Grand Forks County Commission Budget Committee chair, said state aid revenue to the county will decrease by about 28 percent next year, a drop which could amount to more than $1 million. To help accommodate reductions in state funding streams, the county's various departments have been "really good" in seeking out ways to reduce spending, she said. "I think that we're trying to run as lean as we possibly can," Pic said of the upcoming budget. Preliminary budgeting figures indicate the county will need about $52 million to cover the costs for services in 2017, County Auditor Debbie Nelson said. After that amount is offset with cash and other sources of revenue, including funds from the state, the county will need to levy more than $30 million in property taxes. For 2016, Nelson said, the county's full budget was more than $59.1 million, a sum which includes a nearly $10 million one-time state funding package earmarked for roads. The county is projected to levy about $28.5 million in taxes for this year, she said. Moving forward, the county could reduce its tax levy by more than two mills for 2017. Though the mills themselves might decrease, Nelson said rising property values in the county will still raise the overall amount collected in tax. County commissioners will set the maximum amount for the 2017 budget in their Tuesday meeting, the first time the document is brought before the full commission. The county has been trying to keep taxes down for residents while still providing its usual services, said Gary Malm, head of the commission and vice-chair of the budget committee. Moving forward, the county will need to watch North Dakota's upcoming legislative session. "We have to wait until we see what the state wants to do, but we feel we have enough money to handle the situation at the present time," he said. In the event the state handed down an unfunded mandate, the county would need to reassess its situation, Malm added. "If the (Legislature) does something shocking to us, we need to work around how we're going to do that," he said.[SEP]POTTSVILLE — The role women had in shaping Schuylkill County and beyond was the topic explored Wednesday at the Schuylkill County Historical Society. “Some of these women have done outstanding things,” JoAnn Chuba, a member of the society and curator of the event, said. Chuba and Peter Yasenchak, Ph.D., talked about women and the role they had in shaping society. Visitors were also free to look at the pictures, historical information and period outfits from years ago. Thomas Drogalis, executive director of the historical society, also spoke. “There is such a rich history here in Schuylkill County. Nothing to be ashamed of and certainly a lot of be proud of,” he said. Chuba had the idea after thinking women don’t get enough credit for the roles they have in history. When she thought of history in the county, her thoughts often went to men and their footprints in it. “I think women have been left out of history and they have a story to be told,” she said. She mentioned the first female baseball player, Lizzie Arlington, who grew up in Mahanoy City. She played her first baseball game in 1898. Perhaps more well known is Mary Twardzik or Mrs. T of Mrs. T’s Pierogies. “The company is the largest producer of the coal region food in the world,” Chuba said. Other firsts include Frances Zerbey Braun, an attorney and first woman member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and Margaret Sillyman, the first woman postmistress. All women have contribute to history, Chuba said. Chuba invited Yasenchak to talk about his mother, Anna, who was married to a coal miner. She arrived on a boat from overseas in January 1900 to settle in Pennsylvania after her passage was paid by a relative in the United States. She went to live with a relative in Kingston. Yasenchak didn’t know her exact age at the time but reasoned she was about 15 or 16 years old. He described how life was hard for his mother but she was a resourceful woman. “My mother raised 11 children,” he said. She died at 105 years old. Lawrence Vinskie, 59, of MaryD, said hearing about Yasenchak’s mother reminded him of his grandmother, whom he lived with when he was growing up. He said she also was a very resourceful woman. Ginny Adams, 62, of Pottsville, also enjoyed the presentations. For example, she did not know about the woman who played sports or some of the “firsts” by women from the county. The exhibit will be open for viewing until early November at the historical society, 305 N. Centre St.

Governor Mary Fallin declares a state of emergency for Pawnee County.

Tens of millions of public sector workers have gone on a day-long strike across India, protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policies, particularly his plans to push for greater privatisation. Thousands of state-run banks, government offices and factories were closed on Friday, and public transport disrupted, in the strike called by 10 trade unions. "This strike is against the central government, this strike is for the cause of the working people," said Ramen Pandey, of the Indian National Trade Union Congress. "Our strike will be 100 percent successful ... we will prove that this strike is the world's largest ever." WATCH - India: The next global economic powerhouse? Union officials said about 180 million workers, including state bank employees, school teachers, postal workers, miners and construction workers, were participating, but the figure could not be independently verified. The strike was called after talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley broke down, with union leaders rejecting his offer to raise the minimum wage for unskilled workers from 6,396 rupees ($96) a month to 9,100 rupees ($136). Workers are demanding the government dump plans to close unproductive factories, raise foreign investment caps in some industries and sell off stakes in state-run companies - over fears that creeping privatisation will jeopardise jobs. The unions said the government should guarantee both social security and healthcare for all, and should be hiking the minimum wage to double what it is offering in order to keep up with inflation. Indian media said transport and essential services such as power and water supplies were not affected in major cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. Private banks were operating and schools and colleges were open. According to broadcaster NDTV, the strike had its greatest impact in the southern states of Karnataka and Kerala, ruled by the opposition Indian National Congress and Left Democratic Front respectively. Daily life was also hit in the eastern state of Bihar, where shop and business establishments were shut and train and road services were disrupted by union activists. More than 20 protesters were arrested after they damaged two government buses in West Bengal, senior police official Anuj Sharma told the AFP news agency. The Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a landslide victory in May 2014 general elections, promising business-friendly reforms to boost the economy. According to the latest budget, the government aims to raise about $8.3bn through privatisation in 2016-17 and shut down some state-run firms, after losses exceeded $4bn in the last financial year.[SEP]Modi had held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, widely seen as an effort to reboot ties between New Delhi and Beijing. Pursuing an approach of multiple engagements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday praised U.S. President Barack Obama for his leadership of the G20 and asserted that the grouping in the future would succeed if it pursued a “collective, coordinated and target oriented” approach. Earlier in the morning, Mr. Modi had held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, widely seen as an effort to reboot ties between New Delhi and Beijing. In his intervention during the first session of the G20, Mr. Modi underscored that all members of the grouping faced a common set of opportunities and challenges. “To benefit all, G20 would need to act decisively. This will also require strong network of partnerships”, he observed. The Prime Minster stressed that “connected machines, digital revolution and new technology was laying the foundation for the next generation of global growth”. He highlighted that India aimed to improve its financial system, boost domestic production, enhance infrastructure investment and create a pool of human capital in the country. Foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup earlier tweeted that during his intervention, President Obama lauded Mr. Modi for successfully marshalling the legislation for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), by pointing out that India’s tax reforms were an “example of bold policy in an otherwise difficult global economic scenario”. He added that during the informal evening programme later in the evening, the two leaders had yet another opportunity of exchanging views. Earlier, the Prime Minister held talks with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud. Official sources said that Mr. Modi singled out maritime industry, infrastructure, low cost housing among the items for joint collaboration between New Delhi and Riyadh. India, he said, could also become a source of food security for the oil rich desert Kingdom, supplementing energy tie ups in the future. The Prime Minister invited greater Saudi investment in infrastructure development, especially modernisation of railway stations. The two leaders also had a detailed discussion on the reforms of the United Nations Security Council, including its expansion with the inclusion of new members.[SEP]Modi, who reached in Hangzhou after a two-day maiden visit to Hanoi, begins his programme on Sunday morning by holding talks with Mr. Xi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flew into this Chinese city for the crucial G20 summit and talks with top world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping on irritants in bilateral ties like India’s NSG bid and the CPEC, which runs through PoK. “Hello Hangzhou! PM lands in China to attend the G20 Summit,” Mr. Modi tweeted, along with a photo showing Mr. Modi shaking hands with officials after landing. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup also tweeted about the Prime Minister’s arrival in China, saying: “Morning in Hanoi, night in Hangzhou.” Mr. Modi, who reached in Hangzhou after a two-day maiden visit to Hanoi, begins his programme on Sunday morning by holding talks with Mr. Xi, in their second meeting in less than three months. The two leaders had last met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in June in Tashkent. Sunday’s meeting is viewed as important in the backdrop of steady decline in the bilateral relations over a raft of issues including the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor which runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The two leaders, who enjoy a good rapport, would discuss contentious issues, which will also include listing of Pakistan-based terrorist organisations in the UN and China stalling India’s membership at the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). This would be followed by a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leaders ahead of the G20 summit, which would begin later in the day. Mr. Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He will attend the G20 summit that begins on Sunday with this year’s theme of “Strengthening Policy coordination and Breaking a new path for growth” followed by a number of cultural programmes organised by the Chinese government. On Monday, he will take part in the second and concluding session of the G20 and hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri before returning to Delhi. In all, he would reside in this picturesque city for about 48 hours, officials said. A meeting between Mr. Modi and US President Barack Obama is, however, not on the cards during this trip, they said.[SEP]New Delhi (AP) — Millions of public sector workers across India went on strike Friday to protest economic reforms, saying the government’s plan for raising the country’s minimum wage for unskilled workers did not go far enough. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the reforms, including opening some sectors to private and foreign investment, are needed to boost growth. About a dozen of the country’s labor unions said the government should guarantee both social security and health care for all, and should be hiking the minimum wage to double what it is offering in order to keep up with inflation. Some states including Kerala and the territory of Delhi already have minimum wage levels that are higher than the new monthly target of 9,100 rupees to 13,598 rupees, or $136 to $204. “The strike is on. We are getting good response,” said Tapan Kumar Sen, head of the Center for Indian Trade Unions, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. The unions are also unhappy about government plans to pull investments from public services and allow more foreign direct investment in certain sectors. While the capital of New Delhi and the financial hub of Mumbai saw little impact from the one-day strike, normal life was severely affected elsewhere, including Kerala, where the state government led by the opposition Communist Party of India backed the protest. In badly affected regions, public transportation and government offices were shut down. Union officials said about 180 million workers — including state bank employees, school teachers, postal workers, miners and construction workers — were participating, but the figure could not be independently verified. The strike did not affect private banks or businesses.[SEP]Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stressed to China’s President Xi Jinping that it was of “paramount importance” for bilateral relations that Beijing respected India’s concerns on key strategic issues. Officials said these include Chinese investment in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and India’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group. The PM raised the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor issue during his bilateral meeting with Xi, his first meeting in Hangzhou, which was held before the G20 Summit opened on Sunday afternoon. Modi also stressed the need to address the root causes of terrorism emanating from the neighbourhood, leaving little doubt that his message was aimed at getting China to pressure Pakistan, rather than preventing international action on its “all-weather friend” as it has recently done by placing holds on UNSC sanctions on terrorists such as Masood Azhar. The PM also made what officials described as “a strong intervention” on terrorism during the informal BRICS leaders' summit that followed his bilateral talks with Xi. “Terrorists in South Asia or anywhere for that matter do not own banks or weapons factories,” he said. His meeting with Xi was seen by both sides as an opportunity to set ties on track. While officials said specific issues were not discussed in detail, the idea was to convey a clear message on the way forward for ties, and for more sensitivity to each other’s core concerns. New Delhi’s message to Beijing in recent meetings was that it could not delink bilateral ties from its positions that often oppose India in international fora such as the NSG, where China has sought to delay India’s entry. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup declined to say if the NSG issue was specifically raised with Xi, pointing out that a summit-level meeting was aimed “to provide overall guidance and direction” to Indo-China relations. However, he added: “If you read between the lines when we are talking about our strategic interests, concerns and aspirations, it is not that China is unaware of our strategic interests, concerns or aspirations, or that we are unaware of theirs. It is something that both sides are aware of.” The issue has emerged as another thorn in India’s ties with China. But hopes are that some progress will be made soon, with the director generals of their disarmament departments holding talks to bridge differences. Mentioning the recent attack on the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, the PM stressed to Xi that it was “yet another proof of the continuing scourge of terrorism”. Modi also stressed this message during a meeting with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull. Modi said Afghanistan, Russia, and China were suffering from the “destabilising” effects of terror. Hence, it was “important for us to identify suppliers, exporters and financiers of terrorism, otherwise the world will face a huge challenge and problem in coming weeks and months” was the PM’s message, said Swarup. The PM also thanked Turnbull for Australia’s “proactive support” for India’s membership to the NSG. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exchanged pleasantries with US President Barack Obama and other world leaders attending the G20 summit. Modi met Obama briefly when they were on stage to pose for photographs at a venue in the eastern Chinese city. Earlier in the day, Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman and held discussions on enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries. According to the PM’s website, the leaders held discussions about boosting bilateral ties. “Another bilateral follows first session at G20. PM meets Mohammad bin Salman, Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted soon after the meeting. Mohammad, who is the son of Saudi King Salman, also holds the key defence and economic policy portfolios of the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom. China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound ties and further strengthen bilateral cooperation, President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, as the two leaders held talks amid differences over a raft of issues. “China is willing to work with India to maintain their hard-won sound relations and further advance their cooperation,” state-run Chinese Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying. The half-hour meeting was their second in less than three months. Xi’s comments came against the backdrop of a raft of differences between the two countries.[SEP]Prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday raised with French president Francois Hollande the leak of confidential data on the Indian Scorpene Class submarines being built in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here. On the second and final day of the summit in this east Chinese city, Modi held separate "pull-aside" meetings with Hollande and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan with whom he discussed India's NSG membership. Prior to those meetings, Modi met Britain's new prime minister Theresa May and held discussions on "building opportunities" in the aftermath of UK's decision to exit the European Union. In his meeting with Hollande, Modi raised the leak of sensitive data related to Scorpene Class submarines. "This issue has also figured (in the talks)," external affairs ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters. Over 22,000 pages of secret data on the capabilities of six highly-advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS were leaked. The data leak reportedly happened overseas. In his meeting with Erdogan, the prime minister discussed the issue of India's membership of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Swarup said. The discussion with Erdogan on NSG was significant as Turkey was among the few countries -- along with China -- which had stalled India's bid to join the elite grouping at its plenary meeting in June in Seoul. China had then raised objection saying India was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Turkey too raised its concern over the presence of supporters of dissident muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen in India. Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the failed July coup attempt. Swarup said enhancing civil aviation cooperation with Turkey also figured during the discussions. With May, the prime minister underlined that even after UK's exit from the EU, "Britain remains an important partner" for India. "May also referred to the recent passage of GST (bill) which would further boost trade and investment ties with the UK. She supported PM's reform agenda and the UK is keen to participate in Make in India, Smartcity and Skill India initiatives," he said. The two leaders discussed further enhancing of the defence partnership and Modi invited UK firms to India. They also talked about the challenges of terrorism, calling it "the biggest threat and danger to the world with no boundaries," Swarup said. Modi also invited May to visit India in her new capacity. May accepted the invitation and said would like to make as early a visit to India as possible, sources said. "Modi also touched upon UK's visa policy. In particular he said that the new UK regulations could have negative impact on Indian working professionals wishing to visit UK for short term business visits," the sources said. Modi told May that the recent meeting of India-UK joint group on counter-terrorism was very useful and called for greater collaboration in cyber-security, intelligence sharing and information gathering. Modi sought May's suggestions on further strengthening the partnership particularly trade and investment ties. In this context, he referred to the recent launch of the HSBC Corporate Rupee bond on the London Stock Exchange which has been very successful, Swarup said. Both leaders also looked forward to an early visit by defence minister Manohar Parrikar to UK, Swarup said. May said she was very keen to support Modi's vision for India including the broader strategic partnership, the spokesperson said. She underlined the importance Britain attaches to India and Indian diaspora and refereed to the recent visits paid by three UK ministers Preeti Patel, Alok Sharma and Greig Clark to India. In his last bilateral meeting of the day, Modi met Argentine president Mauricio Macri and invited him to India. Modi said he would like to personally take him to the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, for whom president Macri has always had a special place in his heart, Swarup said. Thanking Modi for the invitation, Macri recalled his two previous visits to India, as a tourist and as a Mayor. Modi thanked Macri for Argentina's strong support for India's NSG membership and said it was important in the context of India's clean energy needs, Swarup said. Macri said Argentina was keen to support India's nuclear energy needs and stressed on the need to diversify Argentina's exports to India while inviting Indian companies to participate in the exploration of shale gas reserves in Argentina. They also discussed India's draft for a Bilateral Investment Treaty and agreed to expand cooperation in areas such as agriculture, solar energy, mining and hydro carbons. Modi also congratulated Argentina on being the next host of G20 summit.[SEP]Prime Minister Narendra Modi says 'a terrorist is a terrorist'; raises Scorpene data leak with Hollande In a sharp attack on Pakistan at the G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, said “one single nation” in South Asia is spreading “agents of terror”, as he asserted that those who sponsor the menace must be sanctioned and isolated, and not rewarded. “Indeed one single nation in South Asia is spreading these agents of terror in countries of our region,” Mr. Modi said. The Prime Minister said India appreciates the G20’s initiative on combating the financing of terrorism and asserted that all countries should meet the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. “The growing forces of violence and terror pose a fundamental challenge. There are some nations that use it as an instrument of state policy. India has a policy of zero tolerance to terrorism. Because anything less than that is not enough,” Mr. Modi said. Mr. Modi’s comments at G20 come against the backdrop of escalating war of words between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the unrest in the Kashmir Valley that broke out on July 8 after Hizbul commander Burhan Wani was killed by the security forces. Mr. Modi also raised with French President Francois Hollande the leak of confidential data on the Indian Scorpene-Class submarines being built in Mumbai in collaboration with French defence company DCNS on the sidelines of the Summit. Mr. Modi held separate meetings with Mr. Hollande and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with whom he discussed India’s NSG membership. Prior to those meetings, Mr. Modi met Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May and held discussions on “building opportunities” in the aftermath of the U.K.’s decision to exit the European Union. Underlining that fighting corruption and blackmoney is key to effective financial governance, Mr. Modi also asked G20 leaders to act to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders, unconditionally extradite money launderers and end excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt. “G20’s efforts should be for zero-tolerance for corruption and black money; zero administration, policy and treaty loopholes; zero barriers and full commitment to action,” Mr. Modi said. A stable global economic and financial system is imperative for development as it promotes inclusive and sustainable growth, the Prime Minister said. He also called for further strengthening of the global financial safety net.[SEP]Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a joint press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam on Saturday. Photo: @MEAIndia India offers a grant of $5 million to set up a software park in Vietnam; New Delhi to provide $500 million credit line for Vietnam for defence cooperation. India on Saturday extended $500 million Line of Credit to Vietnam for facilitating deeper defence cooperation with the south east Asian nation, as the two countries elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to respond to emerging regional challenges. “Our decision to upgrade our Strategic Partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership captures the intent and path of our future cooperation. It will provide a new direction, momentum and substance to our bilateral cooperation,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc here. He said the two sides recognised the need to cooperate in responding to emerging regional challenges. Vietnam had earlier Strategic Partnership only with Russia and China. Mr. Modi, who arrived here on Friday on his maiden visit to the country, described his talks with Vietnamese counterpart as “extensive and very productive” and said they covered the full range of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. “I am also happy to announce a new Defence Line of Credit for Vietnam of $500 million for facilitating deeper defence cooperation,” he said. “Our common efforts will also contribute to stability, security and prosperity in this region,” he said. The two countries signed 12 agreements in a wide range of areas covering IT, space, double taxation and sharing white shipping information. An agreement on construction of offshore patrol boats was also signed by the two sides, signalling a step to give concrete shape to defence engagement between the two nations. “The range of agreements signed just a while ago point to the diversity and depth of our cooperation,” Mr. Modi said, adding the agreement on construction of offshore patrol boats is one of the steps to give concrete shape to bilateral defence ties. He said as the two important countries in this region, India and Vietnam feel it necessary to further their ties on regional and international issues of common concern. Mr. Modi also announced a grant of $5 million for the establishment of a Software Park in the Telecommunications University in Nha Trang. “We agreed to tap into the growing economic opportunities in the region,” said Modi, the first Indian premier to visit the country in 15 years. Noting that enhancing bilateral commercial engagement is the strategic objective of the two nations, he said, “For this, new trade and business opportunities will be tapped to achieve the trade target of $15 billion by 2020.”[SEP]India-Vietnam partnership will benefit Asia and the rest of the world, says PM. India and Vietnam must have stronger economic and people-to-people ties, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he left for Hanoi, part of his East Asian outreach, which will take him to Vietnam, China and Laos over the next week. “India-Vietnam partnership will benefit Asia and the rest of the world. We wish to forge a strong economic relationship with Vietnam that can mutually benefit our citizens. Strengthening the people-to-people ties will also be my endeavour during the Vietnam visit,” Mr. Modi said in a social media post on Friday, released before he landed in Hanoi. During the one-day visit to Vietnam, the PM is expected to meet with his counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc and President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang. Officials said their agreements would include a cultural pact on archaeological support, as well as to boost bilateral trade to double its current levels. “The bilateral trade between our two countries is around $ 8 billion; it has grown 400 per cent in the last six to seven years. The two leaderships have set a target of $ 15 billion by the year 2020,” Indian Ambassador to Vietnam P. Harish told ANI news agency on Friday. But the PM’s visit will be watched most closely for any statements on defence cooperation as well as how their joint statement tackles tensions with China in the wake of the South China Sea tribunal award in favour of the Philippines on July 12. India has issued several statements since then, calling on “all states” notably China to accept the tribunal award. In addition, India’s plans to provide the BrahMos Missile as well as boost Vietnam’s maritime capabilities in the South China Sea would be of most interest. Analysts says that during his visit Mr. Modi might have to take a less strident tone given that he will be travelling to China straight after Vietnam for the G-20 summit on Saturday where he will meet President Xi Jinping. “It will be a balancing act for India, and I am sure the PM won’t allow it to appear as if his visit is directed at any other country,” explained Alka Acharya, Associated Professor of Chinese Studies in the Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Among the important issues to be taken up in the meeting with President Xi are India’s hopes for a membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. India is also keen on gaining support on terrorism issues ahead of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session where a battle is brewing with Pakistan over the violence in Kashmir, and India wants China to lift the technical hold China has placed on banning JeM chief Masood Azhar. Mr. Modi’s recent statements on Balochistan have been viewed with concern by analysts in Beijing for their possible impact on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which China is building via Balochistan. On its part, China will seek reassurance from India on its growing military ties with the United States, which saw the logistics LEMOA agreement being signed this week in Washington, even as Secretary of State John Kerry spent the week in New Delhi.[SEP]Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a new defence Line of Credit of US$ Five Hundred million for Vietnam to facilitate deeper defence cooperation with the country. The Prime Minister also announced grant of US$ 5 million for the establishment of a Software Park in the Telecommunications University in Nha Trang, after his talk with his counterpart Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc here. The Prime Minister held extensive talk with Mr Phuc during which the two leaders covered a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues. The two countries also concluded an agreement on space coopearation which the PM said “would allow Vietnam to join hands with Indian Space Research Organisation to meet its national development objectives”. Mr Modi said “Enhancing bilateral commercial engagement is also India’s strategic objective. For this, new trade and business opportunities will be tapped to achieve the trade target of fifteen billion dollars by 2020”.

Around 180 million people are claimed to be striking in India against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic privatization plans. The strike is allegedly the largest in human history.

DAVAO BOMBING. An explosion hit a night market in Davao City on September 2, 2016, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60 others. Photo by Manman Dejeto/Rappler MANILA, Philippines – A number of foreign countries have alerted their citizens not to travel to parts of the Philippines in the wake of the blast in Davao City where at least 14 people were killed and more than 60 others injured. The United States Embassy has "temporarily suspended all official travel to Mindanao" despite no direct threat against US citizens in the country. "The Embassy encourages all US citizens to remain vigilant and employ sound personal security measures as you go about your day. The Embassy will continue to monitor the current state of affairs in the Philippines and will release additional messages as needed," it said in its travel advisory. Canada has also warned its citizens against traveling to Mindanao and Sulu. "There is no nationwide advisory in effect for the Philippines. However, you should exercise a high degree of caution due to an ongoing terrorist threat to Westerners and Western interests," said the Canadian government. The British Embassy, on the other hand, advised against "all but essential" travel to Eastern Mindanao where Davao City is. British citizens are also advised to refrain from traveling to the rest of the island. "There is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping. There has been an increase in kidnapping of foreign nationals since late 2015. It's likely that terrorist groups continue to plan kidnap operations against western nationals in the region. You should remain vigilant at all times," said the British Embassy. Australian citizens traveling to the Philippines are advised to exercise a "high degree of caution" while those going to Eastern Mindanao may "reconsider [their] need to travel." Those heading to Central and Western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Sulu area, are advised not to go instead. Meanwhile, Singaporeans in the Philippines are cautioned to "exercise vigilance, and monitor the local news and instructions of the local authorities." (For updates on the Davao blast, check Rappler's live blog) – Rappler.com[SEP]THE UNITED States, the United Kingdom and Australia on Saturday urged their citizens to take safety measures and avoid crowded areas following the explosion late Friday in a Davao City night market that killed at least 14 and wounded dozens. In an “Emergency Message for US Citizens,” the US Embassy in Manila reiterated a previous warning of an “ongoing threat of terrorist actions and violence against United States citizens and interests abroad, including the Philippines,” and said it had suspended official travel of embassy personnel to Mindanao. “The Embassy reminds US citizens of the importance of taking preventative measures to ensure their safety and security while traveling and residing in the Philippines,” it said. The US Embassy also alerted Americans to the “knock and plead” operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) “at those homes suspected of involvement in illegal drug operations,” including those in residential villages. “Local PNP leadership has informed the embassy that the village sweeps are intended for the sole purpose of distributing information pamphlets so that residents know who to contact to report crimes or suspicious behavior,” it added. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advised against all but essential travel to Mindanao, and “all travel to south-west Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of ongoing terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups.” “There is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping. There has been an increase in kidnapping of foreign nationals since late 2015. It’s likely that terrorist groups continue to plan kidnap operations against Western nationals in the region. You should remain vigilant at all times,” the UK warning said. “You should avoid large crowds and demonstrations and follow the advice of the local authorities,” it added. Level two Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reminded its citizens of its existing travel alert warning level two on the Philippines. Level two means there are bigger risks in the location than what would typically be found in a larger Australian city. It may also reflect a weak law and order system or deficiencies in public services. “We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines due to the high threat of a terrorist attack and the high level of crime. You should pay close attention to your personal security at all times,” the department said on its website. Terror organization Abu Sayyaf has claimed responsibility for the blast, adding that similar attacks should be expected in the coming days in response to the all-out offensive of the military against the group. “Australians in Davao should exercise heightened vigilance, avoid the affected area and follow the advice of local authorities,” the DFAT said. The department also advised Australians to “reconsider” the need to travel to eastern Mindanao “due to the very high levels of violent crime and the high threat of terrorist attack and kidnapping.” It also warned its citizens “not to travel” to central and western Mindanao, including the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu archipelago and the southern Sulu Sea area “due to the very high threat of kidnapping, terrorist attack, violent crime and violent clashes between armed groups.” Sympathies Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely expressed her sympathy to Davaoeños. “My thoughts are with the people of #Davao. We stand by you. #StayStrongDavao,” she said on Twitter. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop extended her condolences, saying “Australia remains steadfast in our support for the Philippines in response to terrorism, and stands ready to offer any assistance to law enforcement authorities.” In a statement released by the White House on Friday (Saturday in Manila), the United States expressed its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the Davao City explosion. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the US “stands ready to provide assistance” to the ongoing investigation. He added that US President Barack Obama would convey his personal condolences to President Rodrigo Duterte next week, when they meet during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Vientiane, Laos. US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg also offered his condolences through Twitter. “My deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the explosion in Davao City,” he said.[SEP]THE operator of the most modern port terminal in the Philippines said the Mindanao region can become the next transshipment point in Southeast Asia due to its modernized facilities and spacious terminals. “Mindanao is ideal as a transshipment point in the region. Given the Asean integration, we find Davao and Mindanao in a very strong strategic position relative to other Asean states,” Alexander N. Valoria, president and CEO of Anflo Management & Investment Corp. (Anflocor), operator of Davao International Container Terminal Inc. (DICT) told reporters in a news briefing on Thursday. Valoria said some cargo shipments from New Zealand, Indonesia and Australia are already bypassing Singapore and made DICT as their transshipment point. “Singapore is very congested and expensive. The potential is for the Philippines and Mindanao,” Valoria said, adding that even the Port of Singapore Authority lauded the capabilities and potential of DICT. “All the indigenous advantages are already here where we can springboard from and become a world- class terminal,” Valoria said. He added that their port-terminal fees are way cheaper than those of Singapore. “We are even lower than the government ports,” he said, but didn’t disclose any amount. DICT completed its P5-billion expansion in August 2016. The completion of the second phase of DICT increases the total-handling capacity of the port to 800,000 TEUs from the current capacity of 300,000 TEUs, Valoria said. “From two quay cranes, we now have four quay cranes, eight RTG [rubber-tired gantry] cranes and other various container-handling equipment,” he said. The container port, which is adjacent to a 70-hectare export-processing zone, has an area of 11 hectares, backed up by a 15-hectare container yard, DICT said. DICT said their recent expansion is a support to the anticipated economic growth and development of Mindanao, given the plans and outlook President Duterte on the region. “A major component of the economic program is increased spending on infrastructure. The completion of the DICT project is seen to help improve the logistics backbone of Mindanao’s economy, as well as create jobs in areas less progressive,” DICT said in a statement. DICT Vice President Bonifacio Licayan said the recent expansion enables DICT to handle Panamax and even post-Panamax-size vessels, a feat which the Manila Port can cater to, but on a restricted manner. Panamax vessels are midsized cargo ships capable of passing through the Panama Canal. “They can handle the same vessel, but they are given restricted load, because the water in Manila is shallow. The freight can damage the port,” Licayan said. The first-ever Panamax vessel the Philippines received docked in DICT on December 24, 2014, Valoria said. “That vessel has never docked in any other port in the Philippines, but we receive that size of a vessel here regularly,” he said. Aside from the port-terminal expansion, DICT also invested in a $1-million terminal operating system (TOS) called Navis from America-based Cargotec Corp. The top-of-the-line TOS allows a port-terminal operator to control and trace the port logistical and cargo operations in real time and paperless through high-tech technology system, DICT said. “You don’t see us like other ports, which have spotters whose job is to look for containers physically. We do it automated with tracking numbers recorded and viewable in the TOS,” Licayan said. Valoria said they edgedout other ports with their modernized facilities, which allow them to ease up their operation process from the usual three-day time frame to within hours, allowing them to service more vessels. “The BOC called us the most modern port in the Philippines today. The level of our technology allows us for an integration from interface and shipping to the loading and departure of the vessel,” Valoria said. “There is a number of competition. There are a number of private ports, but they don’t have the efficiency, they don’t have the gigantic cranes and modern facilities like us,” Valoria added. Shipping lines that call on DICT include American President Lines, Maersk MCC, CMA CGM, Wan Hai Shipping Lines, Advance Container Lines (ACL), Regional Container Lines (RCL), Pacific International Lines (PIL), Mariana Express Lines and Cosco Shipping Lines. Licayan said 85 percent of the volume of the cargoes they ship are fresh produce, including pineapples and bananas. DICT also handles dry cargoes like rubber and skin coconuts. “We have more white containers than colored containers. It speaks a lot about DICT,” Licayan said, referring to reefer containers, which are refrigerated containers made specifically for fresh produce. Licayan said DICT has 1,080 reefer tanks, meaning it is capable of handling 1,080 reefer containers at any given moment. DICT said there are ongoing negotiations for additional shipping lines which would call the terminal soon. The company didn’t disclose any names of prospective shipping lines. DICT said that they will hit their shipping target this year of 300,000 TEUs on the back of their recent improvements. DICT shipped 267,000 TEUs last year using only one berth, Valoria said. DICT is a joint venture between Anflocor and Dole-Stanfilco, the leading producers and exporters of fresh Cavendish bananas in the Philippines. It was formerly known as San Vicente Terminal and Brokerage Services Inc., servicing the stevedoring and arrastre requirements of break bulk shipments of fresh produce like bananas and pineapples at the Tadeco wharf.

In light of the attacks, the governments of Australia, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States issue travel warnings against going to Mindanao, Philippines.

[SEP]Syrian troops advance near Aleppo in attempt to impose siege BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media and an opposition activist group are reporting that government forces are advancing near the northern city of Aleppo in an attempt to impose a siege on rebel-held parts of the city. Sunday's push comes a month after insurgent groups captured several military academies south of Aleppo and opened a corridor into rebel-held parts of Syria's largest city and former commercial center. Since then government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area. State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops have captured the Armament Academy and are "continuing their advance in the area to impose almost a total siege on the gunmen in Aleppo." The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that government troops captured the academy.[SEP]BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian pro-government forces backed by airstrikes launched a wide offensive in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, capturing areas they lost last month and almost besieging rebel-held neighborhoods, state media and opposition activists said. The push came a month after insurgents captured several military academies south of Aleppo and opened a corridor into rebel-held parts of Syria’s largest city and onetime commercial center. Since then, government forces and their allies have been trying to recapture the area. State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops have captured the Armament Academy and are “continuing their advance in the area to impose almost a total siege on the gunmen in Aleppo.” The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that government troops captured the academy, adding that insurgents have launched a counteroffensive. Al-Manar TV, which is run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, said troops are now pushing toward the nearby Artillery Academy. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad’s forces. To the north of Aleppo, fighting between Turkish-backed rebels and the Islamic State group intensified Sunday near the rebel-held town of al-Rai, near the Turkish border. Turkey sent tanks into al-Rai on Saturday in what it said was a “new phase” in an operation to drive IS away from the border. Al-Rai is 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of Jarablus, a border town seized by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels last week. The Turkey-backed forces are now advancing toward each other from both towns, hoping to close off the last stretch of the Syrian border ruled by the extremists. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another Syrian monitoring group, said an IS suicide attacker riding a motorcycle struck in the northern village of Khalfatli, killing and wounding a number of people, including rebels. The LCC said Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army rebels captured the village of Tweiran, to the south of al-Rai, from IS on Sunday. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said 19 Syrian rebels wounded in clashes with IS since Saturday have been hospitalized in Turkey. In a press statement late Saturday, Turkey’s military said the FSA took control of 10 villages from IS, adding that the Turkish army struck 20 IS targets. Since the Turkish operation began on Aug. 24, the army says it has hit 300 targets with 1,306 rounds. Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.[SEP]Syrian government forces and their allies recaptured areas in southwestern Aleppo on Sunday which rebels had seized last month, after heavy bombardments and repeated attempts to drive the insurgents back, a rebel official and monitors said. The areas recaptured included the Weaponry College and the Air Force Technical College in the Ramousah area on the city’s southwestern outskirts. Rebels captured those areas last month in an assault that broke through a government siege on Aleppo’s opposition-held eastern sector. Recapturing all the territory gained by insurgents in that assault would effectively reimpose the siege. Zakaria Malahifji of the Fastaqim rebel group confirmed reports that the two colleges had been recaptured by government forces. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said later that government forces had also recaptured the Artillery College. President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia, Iran and the powerful Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah, wants to recapture the whole of Aleppo, which was Syria’s biggest city when the conflict in the country broke out five years ago. Moscow’s intervention last year turned the war in Assad’s favour in many areas, but rebels have made some gains, including in Aleppo and in Hama province further south. A spokesman for rebel group Jaish al-Nasr, Mohamed Rasheed, said insurgents in the latter area had launched a push to try and capture the town of Maan, north of the province capital, Hama city. Advances by the insurgents in recent days have brought them to within just 10km of government-controlled Hama.[SEP]BEIRUT, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their allies recaptured areas in southwestern Aleppo on Sunday which rebels seized last month, after heavy bombardments and repeated attempts to drive the insurgents back, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The areas recaptured included the Weaponry College and the Air Force Technical College in the Ramousah area on the city's southwestern outskirts, the British-based Observatory said. Rebels captured those areas last month in an assault that broke through a government siege on Aleppo's opposition-held eastern sector. Recapturing all the territory gained by insurgents in that assault would effectively re-impose the siege. A rebel official said earlier on Sunday government forces had entered the Weaponry College but battles were ongoing there. Rebels could not immediately be reached for comment on the government side's latest gains. President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia, Iran and the powerful Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, wants to recapture the whole of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the five-year conflict. Moscow's intervention last year turned the war in Assad's favour in many areas, but rebels have made some gains including in Aleppo and in Hama province, further south. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Mark Potter)[SEP]Syrian government forces advanced on Sunday south of Aleppo city, a military source and state media said, as they pushed to once again encircle rebel neighbourhoods and reimpose a siege. "The Syrian army, supported by allied forces, has total control of the armaments academy and expanded the territory it controls in the military academies zone," state news agency SANA said. An AFP correspondent in the rebel-held east of Aleppo city reported heavy aerial bombardment on the combat zone in the south of the city, where three military schools are located. Government forces have already recaptured the air force academy and rebels "are now besieged in the artillery academy," a military source said. If they recapture the school, government forces could then "easily take Ramussa, a suburb south of Aleppo, and reimpose a siege of the rebel districts," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been ravaged by the war that began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. It has been roughly divided between regime control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In mid-July, advancing regime forces encircled the rebel-held east, placing the opposition districts under a siege that provoked international concern. But on August 6, opposition forces seized Ramussa and reopened a route into the rebel-held portions of the city.[SEP]Syrian government troops on Sunday seized a military academy south of Aleppo city, once again encircling the rebel-held districts in the east and placing them under siege, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said government forces backed by Syrian and Russian air strikes had now severed the alternate route into the rebel east that opposition forces opened up in August. "The army took control of the artillery academy, so they control all the academies, and the eastern neighbourhoods are under a full siege," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. There was no immediate confirmation in state media. Government forces had been advancing in southern Aleppo for days, with the fighting already creating shortages for the estimated 250,000 people living in the rebel-held parts of the city. But the capture of the academies, which straddle the road running to the eastern neighbourhoods, reinstates the government's encirclement of Aleppo. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government in March 2011. It has been roughly divided between rebel control in the east and government control in the west since mid-2012, and in recent months regime troops have gradually surrounded the city. On July 17, they severed the only remaining route into the rebel-held east, the key Castello Road running down from the border with Turkey. The road's capture led to shortages of food and fuel in the eastern neighbourhoods, and prompted international concern, including calls for 48-hour ceasefires to allow aid to enter. On August 6, rebel forces including Al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate pushed government forces back from a key route south of the city, creating a lifeline back into the east. While the reopening of the road allowed some goods into the city, it was inaccessible to most aid agencies, and negotiations to secure a route in for assistance have yet to succeed.[SEP]DAMASCUS: Syrian government forces advanced on Sunday south of Aleppo city, a military source and state media said, as they pushed to once again encircle rebel neighbourhoods and reimpose a siege. “The Syrian army, supported by allied forces, has total control of the armaments academy and expanded the territory it controls in the military academies zone,” state news agency SANA said. An AFP correspondent in the rebel-held east of Aleppo city reported heavy aerial bombardment on the combat zone in the south of the city, where three military schools are located. Government forces have already recaptured the air force academy and rebels “are now besieged in the artillery academy,” a military source said.[SEP]The areas recaptured included the Weaponry College and the Air Force Technical College in the Ramousah area on the city's southwestern outskirts, the British-based Observatory said. Rebels captured those areas last month in an assault that broke through a government siege on Aleppo's opposition-held eastern sector. Recapturing all the territory gained by insurgents in that assault would effectively re-impose the siege. A rebel official said earlier on Sunday government forces had entered the Weaponry College but battles were ongoing there. Rebels could not immediately be reached for comment on the government side's latest gains. President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia, Iran and the powerful Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, wants to recapture the whole of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the five-year conflict. Moscow's intervention last year turned the war in Assad's favor in many areas, but rebels have made some gains including in Aleppo and in Hama province, further south.[SEP]Smoke billows on Sunday from a location on the southern outskirts of the Syrian city of Aleppo after regime forces retook control of three military academies from rebel fighters (AFP photo) BEIRUT — Syrian government troops renewed the siege of rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday, as Washington and Moscow failed to reach a deal on stemming violence in the country's devastating war. Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels meanwhile expelled the Daesh terror group from the last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border under its control, a monitor said. Syrian state media said the army and allied forces had taken an area south of Aleppo, severing the sole route left into the eastern neighbourhoods held by the opposition. "The armed forces in cooperation with their allies took full control of the military academy zone south of Aleppo and are clearing the remaining terrorists from the area," state television said, citing a military source. It said the advance "cut all the supply and movement routes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province to the eastern neighbourhoods and Ramussa”. The development leaves about 250,000 people living in rebel-controlled parts of the city cut off from the outside world once again, and will raise new fears about a humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. Once Syria's economic powerhouse, the city has been ravaged by the war that began with anti-government protests in March 2011. It has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012, but in recent months regime forces slowly began to encircle the east. In July, they severed the only road into the rebel neighbourhoods, the key Castello Road running from the Turkish border in the north, creating food and fuel shortages in the east. The siege prompted international concern, with aid agencies urging 48-hour ceasefires to ensure humanitarian access. In early August, rebel forces including Al Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate battled regime forces south of the city to open a new route to the east, through Ramussa district. But in recent days regime forces backed by Syrian and Russian warplanes launched a counteroffensive. A key regime ally, Moscow began an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assad’s government last September, even as it continued to publicly support efforts for a negotiated solution to the five-year war. Earlier Sunday, hopes were raised that Moscow and Washington might be on the verge of announcing a deal to halt the bloodshed. US President Barack Obama said both nations were working “around the clock” on a ceasefire, and a State Department official said a deal was close. But the hopes evaporated later in the day, with a State Department official saying Russia had “walked back on some of the areas we thought we were agreed on”. Instead, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are set to meet again on Monday in Hangzhou, China, where G-20 leaders are gathered. “We’re going to review some ideas tonight, a couple things on these couple of tough issues, and come back together and see where we are,” said Kerry. “We’re not going to rush,” he said, stressing the importance of reaching a deal that was able “to try to get the job done”. Washington is opposed to Assad’s government, but has been accused by the opposition of failing to deliver concrete support. And despite several rounds of international negotiations, a solution to the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people and displaced millions remains elusive. The conflict has become increasingly complex, involving not only regime and rebels, but international backers on both sides, Kurdish forces, extremists and now Turkey. Ankara began an operation inside Syria on August 24, dispatching troops to battle both the Daesh terror group but also Syrian Kurdish forces it accuses of “terrorism”. On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said rebels backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes had seized the last parts of the border held by extremists. “IS [Daesh] has lost its contact with the outside world after losing the remaining border villages,” the Britain-based monitor said. Much of the earlier work to expel Daesh from elsewhere on the border was done by the Syrian Kurdish YPG, working with the US-led coalition against the extremist force. But Ankara considers the YPG a “terrorist” group and has been alarmed by its expansion along the border, fearing the creation of a contiguous, semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria. The loss of the Turkish border will deprive Daesh of a key transit point for recruits and supplies, though the group continues to hold territory in both Syria and Iraq.

Syrian government forces advance around and encircle Aleppo in order to try and impose a siege.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption As the Pope declared Mother Teresa a saint, cheers rang out from the crowd of thousands in St Peter's Square Mother Teresa, revered for her work with the poor in India, has been proclaimed a saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican. Francis said St Teresa had defended the unborn, sick and abandoned, and had shamed world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they themselves created". Tens of thousands of pilgrims attended the canonisation in St Peter's Square. Two apparent cures of sick people after Mother Teresa's death in 1997 have been attributed to her intercession. In India, a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in Kolkata (Calcutta). An hour with the Saint of the Slums What happened to the critics? How to become a saint Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pope Francis led the canonisation ceremony Cardinal Angelo Amato read a brief biography of Mother Teresa's work, then asked the Pope to canonise her in the name of the Church. Pope Francis responded: "We declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enrol her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church." The Pope said Mother Teresa had spent her life "bowing down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity". He added: "She made her voice heard before the powers of the world, so that they might recognise their guilt for the crimes of poverty they themselves created." He then repeated: "The crimes of poverty they themselves created." Image copyright AP Shining a light: Analysis by BBC's Caroline Wyatt Despite the intense heat, the atmosphere among the pilgrims in St Peter's Square was one of joy, and the service a celebration of the life of this extraordinary woman. Teresa was born an ethnic Albanian, and the Albanian flag was much in evidence, as was the distinctive white habit, trimmed with blue stripes, worn by the nuns of her order, the Missionaries of Charity. In his homily of St Teresa's work, Pope Francis said she had shone a light in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering. It was clear that her life reflected the kind of Church that this Pope is trying to build: one that shows mercy to all and offers practical help for the poorest and for all those in need. Although critics have sought to portray St Teresa as a sinner and a hypocrite, her supporters have been just as vocal in her defence, challenging those critics to live their lives the way St Teresa did, before they cast the first stone. Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters attended the event, along with 13 heads of state or government. Some 1,500 homeless people across Italy were also brought to Rome in buses to be given seats of honour at the celebration - and then a pizza lunch served by 250 nuns and priests of the Sisters of Charity order. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Tens of thousands attended in St Peter's Square Image copyright AFP Image caption Nuns at the Mother House in Kolkata watch the ceremony One pilgrim, Charlotte Samba from Gabon, told Associated Press: "Her heart, she gave it to the world. Mercy, forgiveness, good works. It is the heart of a mother for the poor." Large TV screens were set up at Mother House in Kolkata for the Vatican ceremony. Worldwide acclaim Mother Teresa founded a sisterhood that runs 19 homes, and won the Nobel Peace Prize. But she was not without her critics, as some people noted a lack of hygiene in the hospitals run by her sisterhood, and said she accepted money from dictators for her charity work. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Who was Mother Teresa? She died in 1997 - aged 87 - and was beatified in 2003, the first step to sainthood. In 2002, the Vatican ruled that an Indian woman's stomach tumour had been miraculously cured after prayers to Mother Teresa, despite the doubts of her husband. Pope Francis cleared the way for sainthood last year when he recognised a second miracle attributed to her. Her work complements Francis' vision of a Church that serves the underprivileged. Her canonisation is a centrepiece of his Jubilee Year of Mercy. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A woman who said she experienced Mother Teresa's first "miracle" describes what happened Born in 1910 to ethnic Albanian parents, Agnese Gonxha Bojaxhiu grew up in what is now the Macedonian capital, Skopje, but was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Aged 19, she joined the Irish order of Loreto and in 1929 was sent to India, where she taught at a school in Darjeeling under the name of Therese. In 1946, she moved to Kolkata to help the destitute and, after a decade, set up a hospice and a home for abandoned children. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The sisterhood now has 4,500 nuns worldwide. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Nuns belonging to the Missionaries of Charity order are still active in Kolkata Image copyright AP Image caption Mother Teresa is buried in Kolkata and people can visit her tomb She achieved worldwide acclaim for her work in Kolkata's slums, but her critics accused her of pushing a hardline Catholicism, mixing with dictators and accepting funds from them for her charity. It often takes decades for people to reach sainthood after their death, but beatification was rushed through by Pope John Paul II.[SEP]Vatican City (AP) — Elevating the “saint of the gutters” to one of the Catholic Church’s highest honors, Pope Francis on Sunday praised Mother Teresa for her radical dedication to society’s outcasts and her courage in shaming world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created.” An estimated 120,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the canonization ceremony, less than half the number who turned out for her 2003 beatification. It was nevertheless the highlight of Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy and quite possibly one of the defining moments of his mercy-focused papacy. Francis has been dedicated to ministering to society’s most marginal, from prostitutes to prisoners, refugees to the homeless. In that way, while the canonization of “St. Teresa of Kolkata” was a celebration of her life and work, it was also something of an affirmation of Francis’ own papal priorities, which have earned him praise and criticism alike. “Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give it to those whom we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer,” Francis said in his homily. Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, Teresa came to India in 1929 as a sister of the Loreto order. In 1946, she received what she described as a “call within a call” to found a new order dedicated to caring for the most unloved and unwanted, the “poorest of the poor” in the slums of her adopted city, Kolkata. The Missionaries of Charity order went on to become one of the most well-known in the world, with more than 4,000 sisters in their trademark blue-trimmed white saris doing as Teresa instructed: “small things with great love.” At the order’s Mother House in Kolkata, hundreds of people watched the Mass on TV and clapped with joy when Francis declared her a saint. They gathered around Teresa’s tomb which was decorated with flowers, a single candle and a photo of the wrinkled saint. “I am so proud to be from Kolkata,” said Sanjay Sarkar, a high school student on hand for the celebration. “Mother Teresa belonged to Kolkata, and she has been declared a saint.” For Francis, Teresa put into action his ideal of the church as a “field hospital” for those suffering both material and spiritual poverty, living on the physical and existential peripheries of society. In his homily, Francis praised her as the merciful saint who defended the lives of the unborn, sick and abandoned, recalling her strong opposition to abortion which often put her at odds with progressives around the world. “She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity,” he said. Teresa’s most famous critic, Christopher Hitchens, has accused her of taking donations from dictators — charges church authorities deny. Francis chose to emphasize her other dealings with the powerful. “She made her voice heard before the powers of the world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crimes of poverty they themselves created,” he said, repeating for emphasis “the crimes of poverty.” Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters had front-row seats at the Mass, alongside 1,500 homeless people and 13 heads of state or government and even royalty: Queen Sofia of Spain. For the homeless, Francis offered a luncheon afterward in the Vatican auditorium, catered by a Neapolitan pizza maker who brought his own ovens for the event. “Her heart, she gave it to the world,” said Charlotte Samba, a 52-year-old mother of three who traveled with a church group from Gabon for the Mass. “Mercy, forgiveness, good works: It is the heart of a mother for the poor.” While big, the crowd attending the canonization wasn’t even half of the 300,000 who turned out for Mother Teresa’s 2003 beatification celebrated by an ailing St. John Paul II. The low turnout suggested that financial belt-tightening and security fears in the wake of Islamic extremist attacks in Europe may have kept pilgrims away. Those fears prompted a huge, 3,000-strong law enforcement presence to secure the area around the Vatican and close the airspace above. Many of those security measures have been in place for the duration of the Jubilee year, which officially ends in November. While Francis is clearly keen to hold Teresa up as a model for her joyful dedication to the poor, he was also recognizing holiness in a nun who lived most of her adult life in spiritual agony, sensing that God had abandoned her. According to correspondence that came to light after she died in 1997, Teresa experienced what the church calls a “dark night of the soul” — a period of spiritual doubt, despair and loneliness that many of the great mystics experienced. In Teresa’s case, it lasted for nearly 50 years — an almost unheard of trial. For the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who spearheaded Teresa’s saint-making campaign, the revelations were further confirmation of Mother Teresa’s heroic saintliness. He said that by canonizing her, Francis is recognizing that she not only shared the material poverty of the poor but the spiritual poverty of those who feel “unloved, unwanted, uncared for.” “If I’m going to be a saint, I’m going to be a saint of darkness, and I’ll be asking from heaven to be the light of those who are in darkness on Earth,” she once wrote. Francis has never publicly mentioned this “darkness,” but he has in many ways modeled his papacy on Teresa and her simple lifestyle and selfless service to the poor: He eschewed the Apostolic Palace for a hotel room, made welcoming migrants and the poor a hallmark and has fiercely denounced today’s “throwaway” culture that discards the unborn, the sick and the elderly with ease. Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity went on to become a global order of nuns, priests, brothers and lay co-workers. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and died in 1997. Soon thereafter, John Paul placed her on the fast-track for sainthood. Francis has confessed that he was somewhat intimidated by Teresa, knowing well she was as tough as she was tender. He quipped during a 2014 visit to Albania that he would never have wanted her as his superior because she was so firm with her sisters. But on Sunday, he admitted that even he would find it hard to call her “St. Teresa,” since her tenderness was so maternal. “Spontaneously, we will continue to say ‘Mother Teresa,'” he said to applause.[SEP]A general view of Saint Peter's Square during the canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa of Calcutta at the Vatican, on Sunday, September 4, 2016. Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa as a saint. Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass and canonization of Mother Teresa on Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican. Nuns of the Missionary of Charity, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa, carry her relics during Mass. Faithful attend the canonization Mass for Mother Teresa celebrated by Pope Francis. A tapestry showing Mother Teresa hangs from the facade of St. Peter's Basilica. Queen Sofia of Spain, bottom right, greets Mother Superior of the Missionaries of Charity Sister Prema, center, ahead of a Canonization Mass by Pope Francis for Mother Teresa, in St. Peter's Square. Faithful wait for the Mass and canonization of Mother Teresa Sunday. The faithful wait for the Mass to begin. Irma Escuero, of New York, holds a statue of Mother Teresa before the start of Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at the Vatican.[SEP][CNN] – Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping India’s poor, has been declared a saint in a canonization Mass held by Pope Francis in the Vatican. Pope Francis delivered the formula for the canonization of the Albanian-born nun — known as the “saint of the gutters” — before huge crowds of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Sunday morning. Applause broke out before he completed the formula of canonization, in which he declared “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint.” India renamed the city of Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001 to match the Bengali pronunciation. But the church uses the spelling of Calcutta in its references to Mother Teresa. Speaking in Latin, Francis said that “after due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church.” Catholics — including hundreds of blue- and white-robed nuns from the Missionaries of Charity sisterhood founded by Mother Teresa — had gathered from around the world to attend the canonization of the church’s newest saint, just 19 years after her death. A huge portrait of Mother Teresa, whom the church credits with having performed two miraculous cures of the sick, hung from St. Peter’s Basilica during the colorful ceremony. Pope Francis then delivered a homily, in which he praised Mother Teresa — “this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life” — for her charitable work. “Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,” he said. “She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.” For the newly-sainted Teresa, he said, “mercy was the salt which gave flavor to her work, it was the light which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering.” She was an example to volunteers around the world, he said. “May she be your model of holiness.” In a departure from his scripted remarks, he noted that people “may struggle” to refer to her as “Saint Teresa.” “With great spontaneity, I think we will continue to call her Mother Teresa,” he said. Prayers were then delivered in a number of languages, including Albanian, Mother Teresa’s native tongue, and Bengali, the language of Kolkata, where a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity Sunday. A prayer was delivered in Chinese for persecuted Christians around the world. About 1,500 homeless people from across Italy were bused into the Vatican to be given seats of honor at the Mass — and be served a pizza lunch by nuns afterward. Most of the Catholic Church’s saints or blessed people are honored decades, if not centuries, after their deaths. Traditionally, there is a mandatory five-year waiting period before formal evaluation of a candidate for beatification can begin. Mother Teresa’s devotees began pressing the Vatican soon after her death to speed up the nun’s sainthood cause, saying her holiness was clear to many around the world. Pope John Paul II granted the special dispensation in 1999, and the procedure began. The pope waived the waiting period in part, some believe, because of her fame and reputation. John Paul II further paved the way for her beatification in 2002, when he approved a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa after her death. The approved miracle involved Monica Besra, a 30-year-old Kolkata woman who said praying to the nun cured a stomach tumor. The Vatican committee said in October 2002 that it could find no “scientific explanation” for the woman’s recovery. “I took doctors’ medicines, threw up and was in a lot of pain. But when I prayed to Mother Teresa from my heart, Mother Teresa blessed me and now I am healthy,” Besra told CNN last week. “My entire village and I am very happy that she is being made a saint.” Pope Francis formally announced that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint in March 2016, when he recognized a second miracle attributed to her. A Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors was healed after loved ones prayed to Mother Teresa to heal him, according to Avvenire, a newspaper affiliated to the Catholic Church. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910, Mother Teresa set up her Missionaries of Charity in the slums of Kolkata in 1950 and made her headquarters in the Indian city for nearly half a century. Her small figure, often in a white-and-blue sari and sandals, became familiar around the world. She died in Kolkata in 1997 at age 87. Earning global recognition for her unending work and compassion for the poor, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said her spirit and the respect she had for the worth and dignity of human beings inspired constructive efforts to do away with hunger and poverty. However, Mother Teresa’s legacy has been criticized. Her critics say her charity isn’t financially accountable and volunteers aren’t properly trained. And some doctors claim Besra was healed by modern medicine, not by prayer. The nuns and priests from the Missionaries of Charity continue her work around the world, including some ex-communist countries where she was banned. Her order has offices in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australia, as well as Hong Kong and Russia. A group of nuns will travel to the Vatican for the canonization ceremony, and those who remain in Kolkata will mark the day with prayers of thanks.[SEP]Thousands of Catholics are gathering in the Vatican where Pope Francis is set to proclaim Mother Teresa a saint this morning. Mother Teresa, the tiny nun who cared for the world's most unwanted and became an icon of the Catholic Church, will be canonised at a ceremony in St Peter's Square. Two supposedly miraculous cures have been attributed to Teresa by the Vatican, paving the way for her sainthood. At least 100,000 pilgrims and tourists are expected at the ticketed ceremony this morning, as well as dozens of heads of state. Pope Francis, who yesterday decried the modern 'sin of indifference' to suffering, will preside over the morning Mass. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified - the first step towards becoming a saint - in 2003, after her first cure - of a woman with an ovarian tumour - was recognised by the Church. Pope John Paul wanted to declare her a saint immediately, bypassing the beatification process, but was dissuaded by cardinals. Her second 'miraculous cure' - of a man supposedly healed of a brain infection - was recognised last year, leading to her canonisation. Throughout last night, pilgrims prayed at vigils and flocked before dawn to the Vatican under heavy security to try to get a good spot for the morning Mass. For Pope Francis, Mother Teresa put into action his ideal for the church to be a merciful 'field hospital' for the poorest of the poor, those suffering both material and spiritual poverty. Yesterday he praised the care Mother Teresa had for the poor and the sick, while taking a swipe at world leaders for their 'sin of indifference' to suffering today. 'Tomorrow, we'll have the joy of seeing Mother Teresa proclaimed a saint,' he said. 'She deserves it!' The Pontiff decried those who 'turn the other way not to see the many forms of poverty that begs out for mercy'. Choosing 'to not see hunger, disease, exploited persons, this is a grave sin. It's also a modern sin, a sin of today,' he told the gathered thousands. THE SAINT'S FIRST 'MIRACLE': HOW MOTHER THERESA 'CURED' A WOMAN'S TUMOUR Mother Teresa canonisation comes after she is said to have 'miraculously cured' two sick followers of the Catholic Church. The first came in eastern India, where Monica Besra vividly recalls the 'blinding light' emanating from Mother Teresa's photo that she believes helped cure her ovarian cancer. Besra, a tribal woman from West Bengal, became an overnight sensation in September 1998 when she claimed that a picture and a medallion of the world's most famous Roman Catholic nun had cured her ovarian tumour. On September 5, 1998 - exactly a year after Mother Teresa's death - nuns placed a tiny aluminium medallion that had been blessed by the future Saint Teresa of Kolkata on Besra's stomach and prayed for her. 'Two sisters carried me to the church since I was too weak to stand or walk by myself,' the 50-year-old said. 'As soon as I entered (the church), a blinding, divine light emitted from Mother's photo and enveloped me. I closed my eyes, I couldn't understand what was happening. It was indescribable, I felt faint.' 'I got up from my bed feeling so light and good. I looked down to see the giant lump had disappeared. I couldn't believe it. I touched that part, poked it, pinched it. It was really gone. I wasn't dreaming it,' said Besra, who still wears the medallion around her neck. The next day she was proclaimed cured, a feat hailed by the Vatican as a miracle leading to Mother Teresa's beatification - a crucial step on the path to sainthood - that took place in October 2003 in Rome. Besra claimed that a picture and a medallion of the world's most famous Roman Catholic nun had cured her ovarian tumour 'Everything she did gave an example to the entire world,' said 17-year-old student Massimiliano D'Aniello, from Grosseto, Italy, who will watch the ceremony today. 'She showed we can't all do everything, but little gestures made with so much love are what's important,' she added. Pramod Sharma, a Kolkata resident who grew up near a convent school and childcare centre where Mother Teresa worked, said she had chosen India as her home. '(She) belonged to our India and stayed with the Indians and will forever stay in our hearts,' Ms Sharma said. 'I think most of all we are thankful to her for the message, for really changing our lives with her example, humility, being close to the poorest of the poor,' said Simone Massara as he prayed with his wife at a vigil at the Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle before the Mass. Mother Teresa was born to ethnic Albanian parents in what is now Macedonia in 1910. Deeply religious, she became a nun at the age of 16, joining the Loreto abbey in Ireland. Two years later she was given the name Sister Teresa. In early 1929 she moved to Calcutta, now known as Kolkata, where she became a teacher and, 15 years on, headmistress at a convent school. In 1946 she received 'a call within a call' to found the Missionaries of Charity, officially established as a religious congregation in 1950. Nuns of the order began calling her Mother Teresa. In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for the world's destitute. 'I am unworthy,' she said. On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died of a heart attack at her order's headquarters in Kolkata. An array of world dignitaries attended her funeral. THE SAINT'S SECOND 'MIRACLE': HOW MOTHER TERESA 'CURED' A BRAIN INFECTION Mother Teresa's second supposed miracle saw a Brazilian man claim she healed him of a viral brain infection. Marcilio Haddad Andrino was due to have brain surgery but doctors could not intubate him, leaving him in crippling pain. His wife, Fermanda Nascimento Rocha, said she and her family began praying for Mother Teresa's intercession after receiving a relic of her in September 2008. Marcilio Haddad Andrino, pictured with his wife, Fernanda Nascimento Rocha, was said to have been cured of a brain infection after Mother Teresa's intercession By December of that year, despite powerful antibiotics, the brain abscesses and fluid had built up so much that Andrino was suffering debilitating headaches. 'I asked Mother to cure Marcilio if this is God's will, and if not, to take him by the hand and bring him to the house of the Father to feel his caress,' Mrs Rocha said She said she went to her mother's home and prayed 'with all the strength I had'. When the surgeon returned to Andrino's room, he was awake, pain-free and asymptomatic, according to the priest spearheading Mother Teresa's sainthood cause, the Reverend Brian Kolodiejchuk. Within six months, Andrino said Friday, he had returned to work. Soon after, the couple conceived the first of their two children, though Andrino had been told that the powerful drugs he had taken had made him infertile. He calls his two children 'the extension of that miracle'. 'We are very grateful to Mother Teresa for our family,' he said. Pope Francis decreed Andrino's cure a miracle in December after Vatican doctors and theologians determined that it was medically inexplicable and due to the intercession of Mother Teresa. Since her death, the Vatican has ruled that two people were miraculously cured by Mother Teresa. A year after her death, nuns placed an aluminium medallion blessed by Mother Teresa on an Indian woman who had a tumour caused by ovarian cancer. The sick woman, Monica Besra, claimed a bright light suddenly burst from the necklace and she was instantly cured. 'A blinding, divine light emitted from Mother's photo and enveloped me. I closed my eyes, I couldn't understand what was happening. It was indescribable, I felt faint,' she said. 'I got up from my bed feeling so light and good. I looked down to see the giant lump had disappeared. I couldn't believe it. I touched that part, poked it, pinched it. It was really gone. I wasn't dreaming it,' she added. The supposed cure was recognised by the Vatican in 2002 and led to Mother Teresa's beatification. Another cure, recognised by Pope Francis last year, is said to have seen Mother Teresa heal a Brazilian man's brain tumour. Marcilio Haddad Andrino and his wife, Fermanda Nascimento Rocha, said they received a relic of the nun's in 2008, after he contracted a viral brain infection. 'I asked Mother to cure Marcilio if this is God's will, and if not, to take him by the hand and bring him to the house of the Father to feel his caress,' Mrs Rocha said. She said she went to her mother's home and prayed 'with all the strength I had'. Later that day, Mr Andrino was healed. Critics say she did little to alleviate the pain of the terminally ill and nothing to tackle the root causes of poverty. Atheist writer Christopher Hitchens made a documentary about her called 'Hell's Angel'. She was also accused of trying to convert the destitute in predominantly-Hindu India to Christianity, a charge her mission has repeatedly denied. Sunday's festivities honoring Mother Teresa were not limited to Rome and the Vatican. In Kolkata, where Mother Teresa spent a lifetime dedicated to the poor, a special Sunday Mass was held at the order's Mother House. Volunteers and admirers converged on Mother House to watch the canonization ceremony, which was being broadcast on giant TV screens in Kolkata and elsewhere.[SEP]The canonisation of Mother Teresa was held in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint at Sunday morning Mass, making her the model of his Jubilee Year of Mercy. Related:Mother House erupts in joy after Mother Teresa’s canonisation Related:As it happened: Mother Teresa is now St. Teresa of Calcutta[SEP](CNN) Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather in Rome to witness the canonization of Mother Teresa, the nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor in India. The canonization mass, held by Pope Francis, will take place Sunday morning in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. A number of bishops from both Albania, where Mother Teresa was born in 1910, and India are due to attend, as well as state leaders. The crowd is anticipated to surpass the 300,000 that attended Pope John Paul II's beatification of Mother Teresa in Rome in 2003. "Brothers and sisters, even in our days God inspires new models of sainthood," John Paul told the crowd at the time. Most of the Catholic Church's saints or blessed people are honored decades, if not centuries, after their deaths. Traditionally, there is a mandatory five-year waiting period before formal evaluation of a candidate for beatification can begin. Mother Teresa's devotees began pressing the Vatican soon after her death to speed up the nun's sainthood cause, saying her holiness was clear to many around the world. Pope John Paul II granted the special dispensation in 1999, and the procedure began. The pope waived the waiting period in part, some believe, because of her fame and reputation. John Paul II further paved the way for her beatification in 2002, when he approved a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa after her death. "I took doctors' medicines, threw up and was in a lot of pain. But when I prayed to Mother Teresa from my heart, Mother Teresa blessed me and now I am healthy," Besra told CNN last week. "My entire village and I am very happy that she is being made a saint." A Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors was healed after loved ones prayed to Mother Teresa to heal him, according to Avvenire, a newspaper affiliated to the Catholic Church. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910, Mother Teresa set up her Missionaries of Charity in the slums of Kolkata in 1950 and made her headquarters in the Indian city for nearly half a century. Her small figure in a white-and-blue sari and sandals became familiar around the world. She died in Kolkata in 1997 at age 87. Known as the "Saint of the Gutters" for her unending work and compassion for the poor, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said her spirit and the respect she had for the worth and dignity of human beings inspired constructive efforts to do away with hunger and poverty. The nuns and priests from the Missionaries of Charity continue her work around the world, including some ex-communist countries where she was banned. Her order has offices in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australia, as well as Hong Kong and Russia. A group of nuns will travel to the Vatican for the canonization ceremony, and those who remain in Kolkata will mark the day with prayers of thanks.[SEP]Mother Teresa to be made saint at Vatican ceremony VATICAN CITY, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Nobel peace laureate known as the "saint of the gutters" during her lifetime, will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday. More than 100,000 pilgrims are expected to attend a service led by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to honour the tiny nun who worked among the world's neediest in the slums of the Indian city now known as Kolkata. Her legacy fits neatly with Francis's vision of a poor church that strives to serve the poor, and the ceremony will be a highlight of his Holy Year of Mercy which runs until Nov. 8. Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity (MoC) order have been criticised both during her life and since her death in 1997, but many Catholics revere her as a model of compassion. Thousands attended a papal audience on Saturday in the Vatican, where a large canvas of the late nun in her blue-hemmed white robes hung from St. Peter's basilica. "Her testimony makes us reflect and transform...and make a better world," Brazilian priest Carlos Jose Nacimento said. Critics say she did little to alleviate the pain of the terminally ill and nothing to tackle the root causes of poverty. Atheist writer Christopher Hitchens made a documentary about her called "Hell's Angel". She was also accused of trying to convert the destitute in predominantly-Hindu India to Christianity, a charge her mission has repeatedly denied. But Pope John Paul II, who met her often, had no doubt about her eligibility for sainthood, and put her on a fast track to elevation two years after her death instead of the usual five. The Church defines as saints those believed to have led such holy lives they are now in Heaven and can intercede with God to perform miracles - two of which are needed to confer sainthood. She is credited with healing an Indian woman from stomach cancer in 1998 and a Brazilian man from a brain infection in 2008. The canonisation will also be celebrated in Skopje, the capital of modern Macedonia where Mother Teresa was born of Albanian parents in 1910 and became a nun aged 16. In Kolkata, where the first MoC mission was set up in 1952, there will be prayers, talks and cultural events, but no major ceremony. Delegations from at least 15 national governments are expected at the Vatican.[SEP]Thousands of people have gathered at St Peter’s Square for the canonisation of Mother Teresa, the nun who cared for the world’s most unwanted. Pope Francis will declare Mother Teresa a saint at a morning Mass on Sunday, making her the model of his Jubilee Year of Mercy and in some ways his entire papacy. For Francis, Mother Teresa put into action his ideal for the church to be a merciful “field hospital” for the poorest of the poor, those suffering both material and spiritual poverty. Throughout the night, pilgrims prayed at vigils in local churches and flocked before dawn to the Vatican under heavy security to try to get a good spot for the Mass that was expected to draw more than 100,000 people. “I think most of all we are thankful to her (Mother Teresa) for the message, for really changing our lives with her example, humility, being close to the poorest of the poor,” said Simone Massara as he prayed with his wife at a vigil at the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle before the Mass. While Francis is clearly keen to hold Mother Teresa up as a model for her joyful dedication to the poor, he is also recognising holiness in a nun who lived most of her adult life in spiritual agony sensing that God had abandoned her. According to correspondence that came to light after she died in 1997, Mother Teresa experienced what the church calls a “dark night of the soul” - a period of spiritual doubt, despair and loneliness. In Mother Teresa’s case, it lasted for nearly 50 years - an almost unheard of trial. For the Rev Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who spearheaded Mother Teresa’s saint-making campaign, the revelations were further confirmation of her heroic saintliness. He said that by canonising her, Francis is recognising that Mother Teresa not only shared the material poverty of the poor but the spiritual poverty of those who feel “unloved, unwanted, uncared for”. “What she described as the greatest poverty in the world today (of feeling unloved) she herself was living in relationship with Jesus,” he said in an interview on the eve of the canonisation. Born on August 26 1910 to Albanian parents in Skopje, Mother Teresa came to India in 1929 as a sister of the Loreto order. In 1946, she received what she described as a “call within a call” to found a new order dedicated to caring for the most unloved and unwanted, the “poorest of the poor”. In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, which went on to become a global order of nuns - identified by their trademark blue-trimmed saris, as well as priests, brothers and lay co-workers. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died in 1997 after a lifetime spent caring for hundreds of thousands of destitute and homeless poor in Kolkata, for which she came to be called the “saint of the gutters”. St John Paul II, her most ardent supporter, fast-tracked her for sainthood and beatified her before a crowd of 300,000 in 2003.[SEP]Mother Teresa, the celebrated nun whose work with the poor of Kolkata made her an instantly recognisable global figure, will be proclaimed a saint on Sunday. Pope Francis will preside over a solemn canonisation mass in the presence of 100,000 pilgrims and with a giant haloed portrait of Teresa smiling down from St Peter's Basilica. The sainthood ceremony, for which the Vatican could easily have issued twice as many tickets, comes one day short of the 19th anniversary of Teresa's death, at 87, in the Indian city where she spent her adult life, first teaching, then tending to the dying poor. It was in the latter role, at the head of her own still-active order, the Missionaries of Charity, that Teresa became one of the most famous women on the planet. Born to Kosovar Albanian parents in Skopje -- then part of the Ottoman empire, now the capital of Macedonia -- she won the 1979 Nobel peace prize and was revered around the world as a beacon for the Christian values of self-sacrifice and charity. She was simultaneously regarded with scorn by secular critics who accused her of being more concerned with evangelism than with improving the lot of the poor. The debate over the nun's legacy has continued after her death with researchers uncovering financial irregularities in the running of her Order and evidence mounting of patient neglect, insalubrious conditions and questionable conversions of the vulnerable in her missions. A picture of her as someone who was just as comfortable flying around in a private plane as clutching the hand of a dying patient has also emerged to counterbalance her saintly image. Sceptics will be absent from the Vatican Sunday however as Francis pays homage to a woman he sees as the embodiment of his vision of a "poor church for the poor". "Tomorrow we will have the joy of seeing Mother Teresa proclaimed a saint," the Argentinian pontiff said on Saturday. "And how she deserves to be!" "This witness to mercy in our time will join the vast array of men and women who, by their holiness of life, have made the love of Christ visible." By historical standards, Teresa has been fast-tracked to sainthood, thanks largely to one of the few people to have achieved canonisation faster, John Paul II. The Polish cleric was a personal friend of Teresa and as the pope at the time of her death, he was responsible for her being beatified in 2003. Achieving sainthood requires the Vatican to approve accounts of two miracles occurring as a result of prayers for Teresa's intercession. The first one, ratified in 2002, was of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, who says she recovered from ovarian cancer a year after Teresa's death -- something local health officials have put down to medical advances rather than the power of prayer. In the second, approved last year, Brazilian Marcilio Haddad Andrino says his wife's prayers to Teresa led to brain tumours disappearing. Eight years later, Andrino and his wife Fernanda will be in the congregation on Sunday. Also among the crowd at St Peter's will be Teresa Burley, an Italy-based American teacher of children with learning difficulties who says the soon-to-be Saint Teresa inspired her vocation. "I'm also named Teresa," she told AFP. "I remember growing up admiring the things she did for children and the poor. "We need to remember we are here to help each other. We need to be here for those who can't help themselves. It's the same for refugees arriving here: we have to be there to help them transition into their new lives." Many Indians have made the trip to Rome, among them Kiran Kakumanu, 40, who was blessed by Teresa when he was a baby and grew up to become a priest. Abraham, an Indian expatriate in London, said Teresa's life had set a unique example to the world. "She practised Christianity. The majority of Christians only spend their time talking about it."

Mother Teresa, known for working with the desperately poor, is canonized in a ceremony at the Vatican.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/02 September) — The Filinvest Development Corporation said on Friday it has synchronized the energy production of its multi-billion peso coal-fired power plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental to the Mindanao grid system. In a statement, Filinvest said two units of turbine, each of them generating 135 megawatts are already producing electricity and connected to the Mindanao grid. A third turbine, also capable of generating 135 MW is expected to be online by the end of September, the company said. “To date, FDC Misamis Oriental has a generating capacity of 270 megawatts and is currently supplying 200 megawats to the Mindanao grid. We expect to attain the full capacity by this month,” FDC Utilities President and Chief Executive Officer Mario Pangilinan said. FDC’s 450-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental is the biggest of its kind in Mindanao and is using circulating fluidized bed boiler technology, touted as one of the cleanest in the industry. National Grid Corporation of the Philippines head of Mindanao operations Ambrosio Rosales welcomed the entry of FDC’s coal plant, saying it will help secure the stability of the energy situation in Mindanao. Presently, Mindanao only has a power reserve of 131 MW against a peak demand of 1,574 MW Upon commissioning of its third turbine unit this month, the FDC coal plant will supply 500 MW to the grid and is expected to secure supply contracts with Mindanao’s energy distributors and industrial centers. FDC is the holding company of the Gotianun-led Filinvest group, one of the country’s leading conglomerates with interests on property development, banking, hotel and resorts, sugar and energy. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)[SEP](Updated 12:34 n.n.) ADVERTISEMENT A 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook Agusan del Sur on Sunday morning, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs). Phivolcs said the epicenter of the earthquake, with a depth of six kilometers, was located 19 kilometers from Talacogon, Agusan Del Sur. The agency updated its earlier report that the quake, which occurred at 10:38 a.m., was of 5.7 magnitude. The earthquake, which is tectonic in origin, is expected to have caused damages and to have aftershocks. It was felt in the following towns and cities: Intensity VI — Talacogon, Agusan del Sur Intensity IV — Butuan City, Hinatuan in Surigao del Sur and Tagum City Intensity III — Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, Bislig City, Davao City, Balingwan and Balingasag in Misamis Oriental Intensity II — Cagayan de Oro City ADVERTISEMENT Intensity I — Kidapawan City Instrumental Intensity IV — Bislig City Instrumental Intensity I — Kidapawan City. READ: Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts parts of Mindanao The temblor was also felt in the cities of Tagum, Davao and Panabo. Locals reported experiencing dizzying movements as the ground shook, with many fearfully rushing out of their homes. “I was inside my room when the shaking started, which lasted for almost a minute. I felt dizzy so I rushed outside,” said Richard Grande, a local radio broadcaster in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ[SEP]A STRONG earthquake struck the province of Agusan del Sur in Mindanao on Sunday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. Phivolcs said the Magnitude 6 earthquake occurred at 10:38 a.m., with its epicenter at 19 kilometers from Talacogon, Agusan del Sur. Phivolcs said Intensity 6 was felt in Talacogon, Agusan del Sur; Intensity 4 in Butuan City, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur and Tagum City; Intensity 3 in Balingwan, Balingasag and Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, Bislig City and Davao City; Intensity 2 in Cagayan de Oro City and Intensity 1 in Kidapawan City. Aftershocks and damage were expected as a result of the quake, Phivolcs said. The agency had updated an earlier report stating that the tectonic quake had a magnitude of 5.7. While some areas of Mindanao experienced just slight tremors, those closer to the epicenter reported more serious shaking with people fleeing outdoors for fear their houses might collapse.[SEP]DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 Sept) – A magnitude 6 earthquake struck Talacogon in Agusan del Sur at 10:38 a.m. Sunday but there were no reports of deaths, injuries or damages to property. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake was felt in neighboring areas, at Intensity 6 in Talacogon, La Paz and Rosario in Agusan del Sur; Intensity 5 in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur; Intensity 4 in the cities of Butuan and Tagum and in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur; Intensity 3 in the cities of Davao, Bislig in Surigao del Sur and Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, and in Balingoan and Balingasag towns also in Misamis Oriental. The quake was also felt at Intensity 2 in Cagayan de Oro City and Intensity 1 in Kidapawan City. Ten more quakes were recorded by Phivolcs with epicenter also in Talacogon at Magnitue 3.1 at 10:49 a.m.; 3.8 at 3.15 p.m.; 3.5 at 3:29 p.m.; 4.6 at 3:54 p.m.; 3.3 at 4:04 p.m.; 2.8 at 4:37 p.m.; 2.9 at 4:54 p.m.; 3.1 at 5:04 p.m.; 2.4 at 5:15 p.m. and 2.8 at 5:20 p.m. (MindaNews)

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Agusan del Sur province in Mindanao island.

(Last Updated On: September 4, 2016) At least 35 people were killed and 25 others wounded after a passenger bus crashed with a fuel tanker along a highway in southern Zabul province of Afghanistan on Sunday, local officials said. Provincial governor Besmillah Afghanmal told Ariana News that the accident took place in Kabul – Kandahar highway in Shamlazo district of Zabul in the early morning. He added that most of the dead bodies cannot be identified as they are badly burned. Most of the passengers including women and children were travelling to Kabul for Eid holidays, the source continued. At the same time Zabul police said that at least 34 passengers were killed and about 21 others wounded in the accident. Afghan officials blame reckless driving as the main cause of road accidents in the country.[SEP]KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least 36 passengers died in collision between bus and fuel tanker in southern Zabul province.[SEP]KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: At least 50 people were killed early Sunday when a passenger bus struck a fuel tanker in a head-on collision in the southern province of Zabul, officials said. “The passenger bus was on its way from Kandahar to Kabul when it collided with a fuel tanker. In the accident, 35 people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded,” Zabul’s Governor Bismillah Afghanmal told APP.[SEP]Official: 36 dead in bus-tanker collision in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan official says at least 36 passengers including women and children have been killed when their bus collided with a fuel tanker in southern Zabul province. Gul Islam Seyal, spokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul, said Sunday that more than 25 others are seriously wounded with some in critical conditions. The collision took place in Shar-e Safa district, on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Seyal blamed both drivers for being reckless. He says authorities will transfer critical patients to neighboring Kandahar province. In May, 52 people were killed on the same highway in Ghazni province in a collision involving two buses and a fuel tanker.[SEP]At least 36 people were killed and 36 others injured, according to Gul Islam Sial, provincial spokesman for Zabul province, which is in the south of the country and neighbors Kandahar. The driver of the tanker was among the dead. The collision on the Kandahar-Kabul highway occurred Sunday around 5 a.m. local time (8.30 p.m. Saturday ET), when the long-distance bus, which was carrying passengers from Kandahar to Kabul, collided with the tanker in the Shar e Safa area. The spokesman said that the recklessness of the drivers caused the accident. The road is the main thoroughfare between Afghanistan's two largest cities and is used by trucks and passenger transport around the clock. Some of the wounded were taken to hospital in Kandahar, he added.[SEP]At least 38 people were killed and 28 were injured in Afghanistan after a fuel tanker collided with a passenger bus, causing a massive explosion, local officials said on Sunday. The incident took place on a major highway connecting the southern province of Kandahar with the capital city of Kabul. Ghulam Jilani Farahi, deputy police chief of Zabul province where the accident occurred, said authorities could identify only six bodies and the rest were totally burnt. Farahi said several women and children were among the victims in the bus that was carrying more than 60 people. The driver of the oil tanker and a co-passenger died immediately after the truck burst into flames during the early morning hours on Sunday. The Kabul-Kandahar highway passes through areas prone to militancy and many drivers are known to drive at top speeds in hopes of avoiding insurgent activity. Afghanistan has some of the world’s most dangerous roads, often in dilapidated condition, and traffic rules are seldom enforced.[SEP]At least 35 people were killed on Sunday when a passenger bus collided with a fuel tanker and burst into flames in southern Afghanistan, in the latest road accident in the war-torn country. Many of the victims, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition in the accident in Zabul province, one of the areas worst affected by the Taliban insurgency. "The passenger bus was on its way from Kandahar to Kabul when it collided with a fuel tanker in Jildak area of Zabul," provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal told AFP. "In the accident, 35 people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded." Some of the injured were rushed to hospitals in provincial capital Qalat as well as neighbouring Kandahar province, said Ghulam Jilani Farahi, deputy Zabul police chief. The Kabul-Kandahar highway passes through militancy-prone areas and many bus drivers are known to drive recklessly at top speeds so as not to get caught in insurgent activity. Afghanistan has some of the world's most dangerous roads, often in dilapidated condition and traffic rules are seldom enforced. Many in the country rely on old and rickety passenger vehicles, meaning that high casualty road traffic accidents are common. In May at least 73 people were killed Sunday when two passenger buses and an oil tanker burst into flames in a head-on collision in eastern Ghazni province, in one of the worst road accidents in the war-battered nation. And in April 2013 a bus hit a wrecked fuel tanker in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 45 people. The World Bank last November signed off a $250 million grant to upgrade roads crossing Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, crucial trade links that are often closed in winter by snow. Insecurity is growing across Afghanistan as the Taliban press on with their 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government. Afghan troops have struggled to stave off nationwide insurgent attacks since NATO forces ended their combat mission at the end of 2014. Afghan forces backed by US troops are seeking to head off a potential Taliban takeover of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern opium-rich province of Helmand. The Taliban have also closed in on Kunduz -- the northern city they briefly seized last year in their biggest military victory so far -- leaving Afghan forces stretched on multiple fronts.

At least 35 people are killed and 25 are injured after a bus crashes into a fuel tanker in Afghanistan's Zabul province.

TOKYO (AFP) - The death toll from Typhoon Lionrock has risen to 17 in Japan, with several people still missing, and officials said on Sunday (Sept 4) a new storm threatens the country's south-west. Two more deaths were confirmed on Sunday from the major typhoon which hit northern Japan last week, said an official in the hard-hit prefecture of Iwate. The death toll is now 17, including the two confirmed on the northern main island of Hokkaido. Now a new typhoon is bearing down on the country's main island of Kyushu in the southwest. As of 4pm, Typhoon Namtheun was some 90km south-west of the city of Amakusa in western Kyushu, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The new storm is slowly moving northward with gusts of up to 126 kmh and bringing heavy rain, the agency said, warning of high seas, landslides and floods. Namtheun is expected to hit northern Kyushu early Monday around high tide, the agency warned. Lionrock landed on Japan's northern Pacific coast on Tuesday evening, dumping torrential rain over a wide area. Overflowing rivers wreaked havoc, stranding many communities in the largely agricultural north. The northern town of Iwaizumi in Iwate was the hardest hit. Nine people were buried inside a old people's home engulfed by a flooded river. Before Lionrock, two typhoons had claimed at least two lives in Japan's northeast. In 2013 a powerful typhoon that triggered massive landslides on Oshima island killed 40 people, while 82 died after a typhoon hit Japan in 2011.[SEP]The storm-battered town of Iwaizumi in Iwate Prefecture told all 9,947 residents to evacuate Sunday ahead of Typhoon Namtheum, which is expected to hit the area Tuesday. The Self-Defense Forces used helicopters to help residents get to shelters as officials made efforts to prevent the town from being cut off again by a typhoon. “We learned from the previous cases that damage is unpredictable,” said Iwaizumi Mayor Katsumi Date. “Even if it is ultimately unnecessary, I thought that we should act early on.” Warnings were still in effect for strong winds and heavy rain as the death toll from Typhoon Lionrock, which struck Tohoku before rolling over Hokkaido just last week, rose to 15. As of Sunday, Namtheun was heading north toward Kyushu, the Meteorological Agency said, noting that warnings for strong wind, heavy rain and floods had been issued for Kyushu. The toll reached 15 after the body of a 57-year-old man was found in Iwaizumi, police and local government officials said. Lionrock became the first typhoon to land on the Pacific coast of Tohoku last Tuesday, dumping torrential rain over a wide area. Overflowing rivers wreaked havoc, stranding many communities in the largely agricultural northeast. Iwaizumi lost nine elderly people who were buried without warning in a care facility that was engulfed by floodwaters from a nearby river. Days later, about 1,000 people still remain stranded in Iwate, a prefectural official said. “We are dispatching helicopters to bring food and necessary items to the isolated areas,” the official said. Lionrock was the third typhoon to strike the northeast in about 10 days. The previous two caused at least two deaths.[SEP]Typhoon Namtheun made landfall in Nagasaki in the early hours of Monday, prompting the nation’s weather agency to warn of strong winds, heavy rain, mudslides and river floods. After making landfall in the city shortly after 1 a.m., the typhoon moved over the northwestern part of Kyushu. At 6 a.m., it was about 30 km northwest of the city of Fukuoka and was moving in a north-northeasterly direction at a speed of around 20 kph. The storm was packing winds of up to 64.8 kph with an atmospheric pressure of 1,002 hectopascals near its center, according to the Meteorological Agency. Strong winds brought by the typhoon knocked a man down in Minamikyushu, Kagoshima Prefecture, leaving him with a minor head injury, according to the prefectural government. Up to 150 mm of rain is forecast over a 24-hour period through midnight Monday in the northern part of Kyushu and Shikoku, as well as Nagoya and its surrounding region. In Osaka and its surrounding region, up to 180 mm of rain is expected during the same period, and up to 120 mm in Hiroshima and its surrounding region. Meanwhile, the Iwate Prefectural Government said Sunday two bodies have been newly found and identified in the town of Iwaizumi in the prefecture, hit hard by downpours caused by Typhoon Lionrock last week. As a result, 16 people, mostly in Iwaizumi, have been confirmed dead in the rain disaster in Iwate. In the town, six people are still unaccounted for. The Iwaizumi Municipal Government in the morning instructed 9,947 residents in all 4,587 households to take shelter at six evacuation centers and a hotel in the town for fears that more landslides may occur due to possible heavy rain caused by another typhoon approaching southwestern Japan. According to the prefectural government, 602 people remained isolated in 17 districts in Iwaizumi as of 6 a.m. Some 140 people were airlifted by Self-Defense Forces helicopters by the late afternoon. Helicopter rescue operations for 198 isolated people in the Iwate city of Kuji were put off due to the bad weather.

The death toll in Japan from Typhoon Lionrock rises to 17 with several people still missing. Typhoon Namtheun is now threatening the main island of Kyushu.