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WASHINGTON: Alleged 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp will finally go on trial in 2021, almost two decades after the devastating al-Qaeda attack, the New York Times reported late on Friday.A military judge at the US Navy’s Guantanamo, Cuba base set the date for the death-penalty trial for January 11, 2021, according to the newspaper. The date was included in a scheduling order for pre-trial activities by the military judge, Colonel Shane Cohen, the Times said.The five will be the first to go on trial in the military commissions established to handle the "War on Terror" detainees captured and sent to Guantanamo after September 11, 2001 attacks that left 2,976 people dead in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi were accused of planning and participating in the plot hatched by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to hijack four airliners

LILLE, France: Thirteen migrants attempting to reach Britain by boat from France were rescued in the English Channel early on Saturday, French maritime authorities said.The 13 migrants, all men, were rescued by the coast guard and brought to the port of Calais where they were handed over to border police. Migrants are taking ever greater risks to reach Britain from France, which has taken an uncompromising approach towards so-called economic migrants who come to Europe in search of a better life.Since January, some 1,450 migrants have been rescued either by British or French coastguards -- more than double the number who tried to cross the busy shipping lane in the whole of 2018, according to official French figures released on Monday.France has attributed the increase to good summer weather, which has emboldened more migrants to make the journey. However, such crossings are dangerous given the heavy maritime traffic in the Channel as well as strong currents and cold water. from The

BEIRUT: At least 40 militants were killed on Saturday in Syria after a missile attack targeted their meeting in the northwestern province of Idlib, a war monitor said."A missile attack targeted a meeting held by the leaders of Hurras al-Deen, Ansar al-Tawhid and other allied groups inside a training camp" near Idlib city, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attack killed "at least 40" militants, the Britain-based monitor said.It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, or if the missiles were launched from war planes or positions on the ground, the Observatory said. An AFP correspondent saw clouds of black smoke rising over the area after blasts rocked the militants stronghold.Ambulances rushed to the site of the attack, which was closed off to journalists, he said. The al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen and their allies Ansar al-Tawhid both operate in the Idlib region, where bombardment by Damascus and Moscow came to

WASHINGTON: The United States has blacklisted the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya, saying it had "reliable information" it was transporting oil to Syria in defiance of wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of Bashar al-Assad.Previously known as Grace 1, the vessel was seized in July by British Royal Marines and held in Gibraltar for six weeks on suspicion it was delivering oil for Tehran’s ally Damascus. The British territory released the ship -- despite US protests -- after it said it had received written assurances from Iran that the vessel would not head for countries under European Union sanctions.Tehran later denied it had made any promises about the ship’s destination. "We have reliable information that the tanker is underway and headed to Tartus, Syria," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet on Friday.The US Department of Treasury said the vessel was "blocked property" under an anti-terrorist order, and "anyone providing support to the A

MOSCOW: Chanting "This is our city", Russian opposition supporters marched in central Moscow on Saturday in defiance of a protest ban, just a week before controversial elections in the capital.Under the watchful eye of police, hundreds participated in the so-called "March against political repressions", shouting out demands including: "Freedom to political prisoners!". Moscow police said turnout was about 750, while Russian media gave a figure of several thousand people.Demonstrations have been held almost weekly since July after authorities barred most opposition candidates from registering for elections next Sunday for the city parliament. Moscow prosecutors warned the latest rally, called by Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, was not authorised and participants would "bear responsibility."Saturday’s gathering was noticeably calmer than previous ones where police had made thousands of sometimes violent arrests. None were reported this time round, w

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s ousted president Omar al-Bashir was charged in court on Saturday with illegal acquisition and use of foreign funds, offences that could land him behind bars for more than a decade.Bashir, who was deposed in April following months of mass protests against his rule, appeared in court in a black metal cage wearing the country’s traditional white attire and turban.Judge Al-Sadiq Abdelrahman outlined the charges at what was the third session of the trial, saying cash in multiple currencies was uncovered at his home. Authorities had "seized 6.9 million euros, $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds at (Bashir’s) home which he acquired and used illegally", said Abdelrahman.Speaking for the first time in court, 75-year-old Bashir said the seized funds were the remainder of the equivalent of $25 million that he had received from the Saudi crown prince. "My office manager... received a call from the office of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman saying he has a

MIAMI: Monstrous Hurricane Dorian changed course slightly on Saturday and put itself on a possible track to hit the Carolinas rather than Florida as previously forecast, after a dangerous blast through the Bahamas.Meteorologists said Dorian has grown into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm as it heads toward land with great potential for destruction. "There’s been a notable change overnight to the forecast of #Dorian after Tuesday," the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said on Twitter.Dorian will keep moving westward through the weekend but is then forecast to turn northward, towards Georgia and the Carolinas, as it approaches the east coast of Florida early next week, the centre said.It said this does not rule out Dorian making landfall on the Florida coast, as much of that state remains in the so-called cone of uncertainty -- the range of possibilities for the centre of the storm.In the Bahamas, government offices closed and people rushed to get ready for a storm they w

MELBOURNE: A Tamil family of four -- including two Australian-born toddlers -- have been moved to a remote island off the coast of Indonesia, despite a court order blocking deportation, their lawyer said on Saturday.The family -- who are fighting to remain in Australia because they fear persecution in Sri Lanka -- were moved to Christmas Island detention facility overnight, lawyer Carina Ford said, speaking in Melbourne.The island is a remote Australian territory around 350 kilometres (225 miles) south of Java. The detention centre there had been closed for years. "I don’t really understand the motive," Ford said, adding that it made adequate legal representation more difficult. "The family are obviously distressed."The family’s case has become a new flashpoint over the Australian government’s hardline immigration policies, which include turning away refugees arriving by boat and de facto offshore detention, both measures condemned by the United Nations.The family’s

SKALA SYKAMINEAS, Greece: In Skala Sykamineas, a small fishing village at the north end of the Greek island of Lesbos, locals fear the arrival of 500 migrants on Thursday may signal a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis.At the peak of the migration flows four years ago, up to a thousand migrants were arriving daily on inflatable dinghies from the Turkish coast, overwhelming the resources of some Greek islands."I will never be able to forget the thousands of people that arrived to this beach in the summer of 2015... Children, families, wounded by this difficult journey," said Elpiniki Laoumi, the owner of a local tavern.On Thursday evening, 13 boats docked in Lesbos with about 540 people on board, including 240 children, authorities and local NGOs said, in what one Greek diplomatic source called "an unprecedented spike"."The 13 boats docked right in front of the restaurant... I don’t want to see the same scenes of 2015 again," Laoumi said.Foreign Minister Nik

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday released a photograph of an apparently failed Iranian rocket launch and said that the United States had nothing to do with it.Tehran has made no official comment on the indications from aerial photos that a rocket exploded on Thursday on the launch pad at the Semnan Space Centre in northern Iran. But Trump tweeted a high-resolution picture of the location, with annotations pointing to damaged vehicles and the launch gantry, saying it involved Iran’s Safir satellite rocket.The incident comes after months of tensions between Iran and Washington. Trump last year unilaterally withdrew from the landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, and he reimposed crippling financial penalties."The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran," Trump

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s ousted president Omar al-Bashir was charged in court Saturday with illegal acquisition and use of foreign funds, offences that could land him behind bars for more than a decade.Bashir, who was deposed in April following months of mass protests against his rule, appeared in court in a black metal cage wearing the country´s traditional white attire and turban. Judge Al-Sadiq Abdelrahman outlined the charges at what was the third session of the trial, saying foreign funds of multiple currencies were found at his home.Authorities had “seized 6.9 million euros, $351,770 and 5.7 million Sudanese pounds at (Bashir´s) home which he acquired and used illegally”, said Abdelrahman. Speaking for the first time in court, the 75-year-old Bashir said the seized funds were the remainder of the equivalent of $25 million that he had received from the Saudi crown prince.“My office manager... received a call from the office of Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman saying he has a ´messag

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: Afghan security forces “repelled” a coordinated Taliban assault on the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday, President Ashraf Ghani said, amid competing claims from the insurgents.The multi-pronged offensive on Kunduz, which has come under frequent attack since 2015, occurred as the US and the Taliban continue to seek an agreement in Doha that would see thousands of American troops leave Afghanistan in return for various security guarantees.Officials said the fighting started around 1:00 am (2030 GMT Friday), when Taliban militants advanced on the city from several directions. Gunfire could be heard across Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province near the Tajik border, and as the day wore on, both sides claimed units from the other´s forces were surrendering.But by Saturday evening, the Afghan government said it had gained the upper hand. “The Taliban attacked Kunduz today and caused damages to civilians and their houses. They wanted to create an atmosphere of fear in

DUBAI: Iran showed off an undamaged satellite on Saturday, days after a rocket exploded on its launchpad in the third failed launch of the year, which US President Donald Trump had tweeted about hours earlier.The United States has warned Iran against rocket launches, fearing the technology used to put satellites into orbit could help it develop the ballistic missile capability needed to launch nuclear warheads, though Tehran denies its activity is a cover for such development. Reporters were shown the Nahid 1 (Venus 1) satellite at a state-run lab on Saturday, Iranian news agencies said. Asked about the explosion that led to the failed launch, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, the communications minister, said the defense ministry should announce incident details, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said. “But what we do know is that the Nahid satellite is still being prepared at the Iranian Space Research Institute,” he added.Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States

HONG KONG: Researchers in China hope to regrow tooth enamel without using fillings and start trials in people within one to two years.Enamel, a highly mineralised substance that acts as a barrier to protect the tooth, can become susceptible to degradation, especially by acids from food and drink.Despite being the hardest tissue in the body, it cannot self-repair, leaving people exposed to cavities and in need of fillings.But scientists in China have found that mixing calcium and phosphate ions - two minerals which are found in enamel - with the chemical trimethylamine in an alcohol solution causes enamel to grow with the same structure as teeth.The discovery has not yet been proven to work in the “hostile environment” of the mouth, but experts say regrown tooth enamel may be tested in people in the near future.When the mixture was applied to human teeth, it repaired the enamel layer to around 2.7 micrometres of thickness. It also achieved the same structure of natural enamel within 48

LEIPZIG: German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to suggest on Saturday that she might return to academia at the end of her current term in office, which ends in 2021. “All universities that have given me an honorary doctorate will anyway hear from me again when I’m no longer chancellor,” Merkel, who has been in office since 2005, said in a speech at the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. HHL gave Merkel, a former physicist, the honorary qualification at a ceremony attended by Christine Lagarde, the nominee to become next head of the European Central Bank. “I will return and will not be staying for a short time like today. (I) will be staying longer,” said Merkel, drawing laughter from the audience. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2LnMHXO

WARSAW: President Andrzej Duda said on Saturday that Poland saw a need to maintain Western sanctions against Russia over its 2014 annexation of the Crimea region from Ukraine. He also said Ukraine should have closer relations with the European Union and the NATO military alliance. The EU and the United States have both imposed sanctions on Russia over its role in the Ukraine conflict. US President Donald Trump has said it would be appropriate to have Russia rejoin what used to be the G8 group of advanced economies, from which Russia was excluded in 2014 over Crimea’s annexation and for backing pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2ZtbvaP

NEW DELHI: At least 12 people were killed and around 50 injured after a series of explosions at a chemical factory in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday, hospital officials and police said. An official at Shirpur’s sub-district hospital in Dhule district said that 12 people had died in the explosion. “There are around 37 injured admitted here, and we have transferred another 12 patients,” D.N. Wagh told media. The first explosion at the factory took place around 9.30 a.m. (0400 GMT), police officer Sanjay Ahire said. Videos from the incident on local news channels showed thick black smoke billowing out of the factory.—News desk from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2LkxVkF

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian wounded during clashes with Israeli troops along the Gaza-Israel border died on Saturday, the health ministry in the blockaded coastal enclave said. Badreddin Abu Musa, 25, was “hit by a bullet to the head (in Friday´s clashes) and died this morning”, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement. Abu Mussa was taking part alongside hundreds of Palestinians in demonstrations near the border with Israel, he said. At least 75 Palestinians were wounded, including 42 other Palestinians hit by live fire, he said in a statement. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2Zr7cwQ

LOS ANGELES: Valerie Harper, one of US television´s biggest stars in the 1970s for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spin-off “Rhoda,” died Friday after a long battle with lung and brain cancer. She was 80. Harper won four Emmys and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Rhoda Morgenstern, Moore´s brash, wisecracking and neurotic neighbor, eventually earning her own sitcom. A 1974 episode of “Rhoda” in which her character got married was watched by more than 50 million Americans, which The New York Times described as a cultural phenomenon in which “we got together as a nation, in anticipation and retrospection, to watch a marriage. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2Lism6b

LYON: One person was killed and another six wounded in a knife attack near the French city of Lyon, a regional official said. Two men, one armed with a knife and the other with a skewer, carried out the attack in Villeurbanne in southeastern France, the official said, without giving further details on the motive for the stabbing. A suspect who was carrying a knife was arrested while authorities were on the hunt for a suspected second attacker believed to be in possession of a metal spike used to roast meat. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2Zt66AA

LONDON: Demonstrators rallied on Saturday in cities across Britain against Prime Minister Boris Johnson´s controversial move to suspend parliament weeks before Brexit. The protests come ahead of an intense political week in which Johnson´s opponents will seek to block the move in court and legislate against a no-deal departure from the EU — and could even try to topple his government in a no-confidence vote.Thousands of protesters took to the streets of various towns and cities from late morning, with organisers — using the slogan #StopTheCoup — saying they hoped hundreds of thousands would take part. The left-wing group Momentum, closely allied with the main opposition Labour Party, called on its supporters to “occupy bridges and blockade roads” ahead of the protests. Crowds gathered in Manchester, York and Newcastle in northern England, the Scottish capital Edinburgh and Belfast in Northern Ireland, with events planned in around 30 locations. The biggest demonstrations were expected

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Queen Elizabeth II has been drawn into the Brexit battle as it comes to the crunch, opening the politically neutral sovereign to potentially challenging positions for her role as a constitutional monarch.The 93-year-old head of state approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s advice to cut down the number of days parliament will meet before Britain is due to leave the European Union on October 31.Experts say Queen Elizabeth had no option but to approve the request. Mike Gordon, professor of constitutional law at the University of Liverpool, said Queen Elizabeth may now face dangerous situations further down the line following Johnson’s move.The constitution is unwritten, instead relying on precedent and convention. "This definitely puts the queen in a potentially tricky position because it’s drawing her into the most contentious and divisive political debate in the UK," he said.Britain is a constitutional monarchy, meaning the sovereign has the right to be consulted, to warn and

BERLIN: A deadly cobra that escaped, terrifying a German community, was captured on Friday after five days on the loose.The monocled cobra was sighted at the entrance to a basement, and a snake expert came and trapped the animal, a local official said. The over one metre (three foot) long Asian serpent had escaped on Sunday, sparking panic among nearby residents in the western town of Herne.Four houses were temporarily evacuated and their inhabitants told to keep windows closed and avoid long grass and dense vegetation. Emergency services had tried to track the cobra by spreading flour in the buildings under surveillance in the hope it would leave a trail. During the search, medical personnel were on standby with an antidote to the snake’s powerful venom. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/32jxYUN

LONDON: The British Museum said on Friday it had returned to Iraq a collection of 156 cuneiform tablets believed to have been looted following the US-led invasion of the country.The items mostly dated from between 2,100 BC and 1,800 BC, the London museum said in a statement. They were impounded by customs officials at a freight company near London Heathrow Airport in 2011. The tablets are mostly economic documents but also include letters, legal and school texts and a mathematical document.Many of them come from Irisagrig, an area that was heavily looted in the aftermath of the war. The tablets were handed over to the Iraqi ambassador Saleh Altamimi and will be sent on to the Iraq Museum. "The protection of Iraqi heritage is the responsibility of the international society which we hope to continue for future generations," Altamimi said in the statement. from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2HAQ394

Poland will on Sunday mark 80 years since the outbreak of World War II with commemorations attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the only major leader expected after US President Donald Trump pulled out to focus on Hurricane Dorian.US Vice President Mike Pence will take his place in Warsaw for the anniversary of the start of history’s bloodiest conflict, which claimed more than 50 million lives including six million Jews in the Holocaust.Also not coming are French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited -- unlike 10 years ago -- because of Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine."This should be an event that unites people," said political analyst Marcin Zaborowski, adding that Warsaw should have included Russia and tried harder to attract other leaders instead of focusing on Trump."He cancelled and the whole thing is now looking of lesser importance," he told AFP. The P

MELBOURNE: A dramatic late-night call from an Australian judge to a plane bound for Sri Lanka has temporarily spared a family of four -- including two Aussie-born toddlers -- from deportation and fuelled a political firestorm Down Under.Australia’s conservative government had ordered the Tamil family to be taken from immigration detention in Melbourne, put on a plane and deported to Sri Lanka late on Thursday. But an injunction made by a phone call from Federal Judge Heather Riley after the plane took off forced pilots to land the aircraft and deposit the family in the far north city of Darwin.The case has become a new flashpoint over the Australian government’s hardline immigration policies, which include turning away refugees arriving by boat and de facto offshore detention, both measures condemned by the United Nations.The parents arrived in Australia by boat separately in 2012 and 2013 seeking asylum. Their daughters Kopika, aged four, and Tharunicca, aged two were born in Australi

BEIJING: Beijing told visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that its position on the South China Sea was not up for negotiation, a spokesman for the leader said on Friday.China claims most of the contested sea, including waters close to Philippine shores, and has rejected a UN-backed international tribunal ruling that said its assertion to the Sea is without legal basis.Duterte is under growing pressure at home to challenge China -- after largely setting aside the standoff for years -- with tensions high after a Chinese fishing trawler hit and sank a Filipino boat in June in the contested waters.In a meeting between the Philippine leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday evening, Xi reiterated his government’s position of not recognising the tribunal ruling "as well as not budging from its position", said Duterte’s spokesman.The pair agreed to work together to "manage" the issue and recognised "the importance of self-restraint and respect for

Hurricane Dorian was on a collision course with Florida on Friday as residents stocked up on food and water and battened down their homes to ride out the storm and others prepared to evacuate.Weather forecasters said Dorian -- currently a Category 2 hurricane on a five-level scale -- could strengthen into a powerful Category 4 storm before it makes landfall but there was a great amount of uncertainty about where it would hit.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a declaration of emergency for all of the state’s 67 counties and urged its millions of residents to make preparations for what he said could be a "major event"."We’re anticipating a massive amount of flooding," DeSantis said. "We urge all Floridians to have seven days’ worth of food, medicine, and water." But the governor said local authorities were holding off on ordering evacuations until weather forecasters had a better picture of the eventual path of the hurricane."If you’re in an evacuati

DILI, East Timor: East Timor on Friday celebrated 20 years since a UN-backed vote ended a bloody, decades-long occupation by Indonesian forces and paved the way for it to become an independent nation.Dotted with banners and flags, the capital Dili was in a festive mood as people took part in traditional dances and parades -- two decades after the tiny nation saw a rocky transition to stable democracy."We’re proud of how this country has developed," said 40-year-old Carlos Barreto. "It’s been slow but change is happening." However, there has been little justice for the families of those killed in a wave of bloodshed unleashed by the Indonesian army after the 1999 independence vote, which was eventually quelled by Australian-led United Nations peacekeepers."The Indonesian military and militias murdered people who chose to make this an independent nation," said Vital Bere Saldanha, 48, who saw four of his brothers die in the chaos."The fight for freedom

ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday suggested Turkey could look to Russia for an alternative after the US excluded Ankara from its F-35 fighter jet programme.Following Turkey’s controversial purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system, Washington discontinued Turkey’s involvement in the F-35 programme. "If the US continues with the same attitude on the F-35 issue, we will take care of ourselves. Will it be the Su-35? The F-35? Or the Su-57?" Erdogan told reporters in Ankara, referring to Russia’s Sukhoi fighter jets.He indicated that the Turkish government was still in the early stages of considering its options. "Beyond putting the Su-35, F-35 or Su-57 on the table, we are exploring what measures we can take for our defence industry, for our defence," Erdogan said.He added that joint production and credit plans were conditions that would be sought. Turkey has repeatedly said that Ankara wants to become a producer of military hardware and not j

BERLIN: Berlin from Friday eased rules allowing the descendants of people who fled Nazi Germany to reclaim citizenship.Germany must "live up to its historical responsibility with regards to those affected," said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. While Germany already has rules allowing descendants of persecuted Jews to reclaim citizenship, the two decrees that came into force on Friday closed several loopholes that had previously shut others out.People who previously would not have been accorded German nationality, because their father was a foreigner and whose mother lost her German citizenship under the Nazis, for example, can now also benefit from the new rules.The ministry stressed that no one should be shut out because the Nazi-era injustice was too far back in time. Second, third, fourth "and in some cases fifth generation" descendants can apply, said the ministry."Persecuted persons and their descendants, who had been previously excluded from naturalisat

NEW YORK: Ten statues of famous women were installed in New York this week as the first part of an international project by Australian artists to highlight gender imbalance in monuments.Media mogul and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas were among the personalities chosen by the public to be carved in bronze.The statues, which stand around 6.5 feet (two meters) tall, are the work of husband-and-wife sculpting duo Gillie and Marc Schattner, who want women to be fairly represented in public art.They say on their website that less than three percent of New York’s statues are of women. The figure is three percent in London and four percent in Sydney, they add. "It’s gorgeous!" said 46-year-old Leslie Daniels as she stopped to look at the installation on Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue near Rockefeller Centre."We women are great contributors to society and they just overlook us. It is uplifting to se

BERLIN: German prosecutors are investigating a male nurse suspected of murdering numerous patients in a case reminiscent of one of the country’s worst serial killers, it emerged on Friday.Following reports in local media, the state prosecutor in Saarbruecken confirmed that the suspect, identified only as B., was under investigation on five counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.The case bears similarities to that of Niels Hoegel, the serial killer nurse who was handed a life sentence last June for the murder of 85 patients in his care. Hoegel, believed to be Germany’s most prolific serial killer, murdered patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before he was eventually caught in the act.The prosecutor said that B. was arrested in June 2016 after he was caught posing as doctor in an attempt to gain access to a patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Homburg, near the French border.At the time, he had been working at the hospital as a nurse for jus

KAMPALA: A nine-year-old girl who tested positive for Ebola in Uganda after travelling from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo has died, a Ugandan health official told AFP on Friday."She passed on at around 0800 (0500 GMT) this morning," said Yusuf Baseka, health director in Kasese, a district in southwestern Uganda along the border with DR Congo. The child, who is of Congolese origin, was diagnosed after exhibiting symptoms at a border crossing in Kasese district on Wednesday.She was subsequently isolated and transferred to an Ebola treatment unit. Her body would be repatriated to DR Congo later on Friday, Dr Baseka said. The girl is the fourth victim diagnosed with Ebola in Uganda to have died from the haemorrhagic fever.In June, three members of a single family tested positive for Ebola in Uganda after entering from DR Congo. Two died in Uganda, while the third succumbed to the disease after returning to DR Congo. from The News International - World https://if

SEOUL: North Korea has elevated leader Kim Jong Un to a status approaching his grandfather, the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, analysts said on Friday after Pyongyang revised its constitution to reinforce his authority.Kim was under 30 when he inherited power in late 2011 on the death of his father Kim Jong Il, but has since firmly established his authority, ruling the country with an iron fist, overseeing four of its six nuclear tests and executing his uncle for treason.Kim is officially chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party and chairman of the State Affairs Commission (SAC), the top government body, although his late grandfather remains the country’s Eternal President despite dying in 1994.The Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament, approved a series of constitutional changes on Thursday to ensure what the legislature’s head Choe Ryong Hae called Kim’s "monolithic guidance".The new clause declares the SAC chairman the "supreme leader of the Part

WASHINGTON: When a patient dies waiting for a kidney in the United States, they’re generally considered the unfortunate victim of a growing donor shortage.But the reality is more troubling: in the vast majority of such cases, patients had multiple opportunities to receive a transplant, but the organs were declined by their transplant team. "What we found is 84 percent of kidneys in the US get turned down at least one time, which is crazy," Sumit Mohan, lead author of a study published in the influential Jama Network Open journal told AFP.It comes on the heels of another paper this week that found the US rejects about 3,500 kidneys each year because of the donors’ advanced age, even though 60 percent of these would be used in France where they prolong life and are useful especially for older recipients.The new analysis found that for each patient who received a kidney from 2008 to 2015, their medical team rejected a median of 17 organs before finally accepting one. The teams o

ROME: Italian prosecutors warned on Friday that a new law designed to fast-track cases of domestic and sexual abuse was overwhelming the system with record numbers of victim reports.The law, which came into force on August 9 and has been dubbed Italy’s "Code Red", requires prosecutors to gather information from alleged victims and decide how to proceed within three days of receiving police reports.Since then there has been a spike in reports: some 30-40 incidents daily have been flagged in Milan, an average of 30 a day in Naples and 25 in Rome since the law took effect, the Repubblica daily said."It’s not a case of a rise in crimes, but a rise in the number of reports by people who -- encouraged by the new law -- are going to the police," said Genoa prosecutor Francesco Cozzi. Prosecutor sources in Milan described being "inundated by a flood of reports of alleged abuse, violence or persecution, day in and day out", the Messaggero daily said.Supporters say

MADRID: A man died after eating tainted meat in Spain, the third fatality in a listeria outbreak that has also seen five women lose their babies due to the food-borne bacteria, health authorities said on Friday.More than 200 people have been infected with the common bacteria which poses a serious threat to elderly people, pregnant women or those with serious health conditions. The source of the outbreak, which was declared on August 15, comes from a product of pork stuffed with garlic and other condiments sold under the commercial name "la Mecha".The delicacy is made by the company Magrudis, based in the southern city of Seville. Its factory has since been closed and its meat recalled from shops. On Friday, Spain’s health ministry and the government of the southern region of Andalusia, the worst affected, said a 72-year-old man who had terminal pancreatic cancer died from the infection.That comes on top of the deaths of two elderly women this month. The ministry and regional

GUWAHATI: Security was tightened on Friday in the Indian state of Assam for the release of a citizens’ list that could potentially lead to several million people becoming stateless, most of them Muslims, in a process the government wants to replicate nationwide.Those left off the National Register of Citizens (NRC), due to be published Saturday, face losing their citizenship, being put indefinitely into camps or deported — to the alarm of UN rights experts and activists.Authorities in Assam in north-eastern India, for decades a hotbed of inter-religious and ethnic tensions, have brought in 17,000 additional security personnel with gatherings banned in soma areas and “cyber units” scanning social media.Assam, an isolated state of 33 million, has long seen large influxes from elsewhere including during British colonial rule and around the 1971 war of independence in neighbouring Bangladesh. Pressure for a lasting solution has been growing for decades from those who see themselves as genu

PARIS: The same oceans that nourished human evolution are poised to unleash misery on a global scale unless the carbon pollution destabilising Earth’s marine environment is brought to heel, warns a draft UN report obtained by AFP.Destructive changes already set in motion — some irreversible — could see a steady decline in fish stocks, a hundred-fold or more increase in the damages caused by superstorms, and hundreds of millions of people displaced by rising seas, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “special report” on oceans and Earth’s frozen zones, known as the cryosphere.As the 21st century unfolds, melting glaciers will first give too much and then too little to billions who depend on them for fresh water, it finds.Without deep cuts to manmade emissions, at least 30 per cent of the northern hemisphere´s surface permafrost could melt by century’s end, unleashing billions of tonnes of carbon and accelerating global warming even more.The 900-page scientif

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PESHAWAR: At least 24 people were reportedly killed on Friday after a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Upper Kohistan District  of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday.According to reports, the ill-fated bus, carrying  35 passengers including women and children, plunged into a   ravine near the Kandia tehsil.It is learnt that  all the passengers belonged to the same family and were going somewhere to attend a function.Talking to newsmen, DPO Kohistan Raja Abdul Saboor said that the final police report will be announced after investigators probe into the accident.He said that police and rescue officials were facing difficulties in conducting the relief operation due to darkness and unavailability of resources. from The News International - National https://ift.tt/32hfnsi

WASHINGTON: US Democratic lawmakers announced an investigation Wednesday into Donald Trump´s offer to host next year´s G7 summit at one of his golf courses, calling it the latest sign of presidential “corruption.The US leader prompted concerns about potential conflicts of interest by touting his Trump National Doral Miami club as the perfect site for the high-profile gathering of leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies.House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler and Steve Cohen, who heads a constitutional subcommittee, said Trump´s financial interests were “clearly shaping decisions about official US government activities.” It is just the sort of risk that the US Constitution sought to address via its provisions on prohibiting a president from personally profiting from foreign governments, they added. Trump´s proposal, they said, was “only the latest in a troubling pattern of corruption and self-dealing by the president.”They said hosting the G7 at Doral would violate both

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson´s suspension of parliament just weeks before Britain´s EU departure date faced legal challenges on Thursday following a furious outcry from pro-Europeans and MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit.Johnson announced the surprise decision Wednesday to dismiss parliament — known as proroguing — next month for nearly five weeks, claiming it was necessary to allow him to press reset and pursue a “bold and ambitious” new post-Brexit domestic agenda.But the move sent shockwaves through the British political system, which relies on centuries of precedents and conventions instead of a codified constitution. In a blow for Johnson, popular Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson stepped down after eight years during which she has revived her party´s fortunes.Davidson, who supported staying in the EU, urged Johnson to clinch a deal with Brussels and mentioned the “conflict I have felt over Brexit” in her resignation letter. Johnson´s opponents have labelled the sus

WASHINGTON: The United States staged a secret cyberattack in June against a database used by Iran´s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to plot attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf,The New York Times reported. The newspaper, quoting senior US officials, said the June 20 attack had degraded the ability of Iran´s paramilitary force to target shipping in the Gulf. It said Iran was still trying to recover information and restart military communications networks and other systems knocked offline.The Times said the cyberstrike was the latest in an ongoing cyberconflict between the United States and Iran. It said the cyberattack went ahead after President Donald Trump had called off a retaliatory military airstrike against Iran for shooting down a US drone. The newspaper said the White House viewed the cyberattack as a proportional response to the destruction of the unmanned drone. It said the database targeted in the attack was used by the Guards to choose which tankers to target. No tankers hav

NEW DELHI: India’s government sought Thursday to ease concerns about an imminent “citizens´ register” in the state of Assam that has left several million people, mostly Muslims, fearful of becoming stateless. A draft register last year left off more than four million people living in the north-eastern state, and India´s Hindu nationalist government has indicated it wants to replicate the process nationwide. “DO NOT BELIEVE RUMOURS ABOUT NRC,” a spokesperson for the Indian home ministry tweeted in capital letters, referring to the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) due to be published on Saturday. “Non-inclusion of a person´s name in NRC does NOT amount to his/her being declared a foreigner. Every individual left out from final NRC can appeal to Foreigners Tribunals, an increased number of which are being established,” the tweet added. Assam is an isolated state of 33 million people in the northeast of India, largely cut off from the rest of the country by Bangladesh, sparking a

BANGKOK: A controversial Tibetan monk whose best-selling book on Buddhist wisdom was overshadowed by multiple allegations of sexual abuse has died in Thailand, his official social media account reported. Sogyal Rinpoche, a former close friend of the Dalai Lama, suffered a pulmonary embolism and “left this world” at around 01:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Wednesday, a post on his Facebook page said. “The doctors did everything they could but could not restore the function of his heart... Rinpoche is now resting in meditation,” it said. Rinpoche penned the best-selling “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” in 1992, which became a huge hit in the West with people disillusioned with their lifestyles. It explored birth, karma, death and reincarnation, and how to train the mind through meditation. Born in 1947 in Tibet, Sogyal Lakar Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of Terton Sogyal, a teacher of the 13th Dalai Lama. In the 1970s he became more prominent internationally and founded Rigpa,

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia wants to return almost 200 shipping containers believed to contain plastic waste, officials said Thursday, but first they need to work out where they came from. Southeast Asia has been flooded with waste plastic from more developed nations such as the US, Australia and Britain since last year when China — which boasted a massive recycling industry — ordered a halt to imports. Malaysia has been particularly hard hit as many recyclers from China moved there as the ban took effect. The government has already sent back at least 10 containers of plastic waste to different countries and closed down 155 illegal processing plants, senior environment ministry official K. Nagulendran said at the Foreign Correspondents´ Club of Malaysia on Thursday. But officials are struggling to identify the origin of 198 more containers thought to contain scrap plastic at three ports. The contents have been declared a type of plastic which can legally be imported, but none of the contain