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AFP

  • N Korea warns Seoul over twisting peace deal

    The explosions maimed two South Korean soldiers on patrol last month and triggered a crisis that brought the rivals to the brink of armed conflict.

    A deal to de-escalate tensions was reached last week following marathon talks in the border truce village of Panmunjom that committed them to starting an official dialogue.

    But a spokesman from Pyongyang’s powerful National Defence Commission (NDC) said the South was misrepresenting the agreement and claiming North Korea apologised for the explosions.

    According to the six-point deal, the North “expressed regret” over the incident, but the NDC spokesman said Pyongyang was merely offering condolences to the victims.

    “To put it simply, it was no more than saying ‘I’m sorry about your suffering’,” he was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

    The spokesman also attacked the South for conducting a massive joint live-fire drill with the United States after the agreement.

    “Should the South leave the current situation as it is, the precious sprout for national reconciliation would be nipped by severe frost and the North-South relations would be pushed back to confrontation,” he said.

    “The South Korean authorities must stop interpreting the deal in a foolish way and refrain from words and acts that threaten hard-won peace”.

    South Korea fired back at the North’s criticism, saying the deal was predicated on Pyongyang’s apology.

    “This is not a time for back-and-forth over the wording. The two sides should implement the agreement in full faith and move forward”, Jeong Joon-Hee, spokesman for the unification ministry which oversees cross-border relations, told journalists.

    The two rivals came close to conflict last month after South Korea, in retaliation over the blasts, switched on banks of giant speakers, which had lain silent for more than a decade, blasting propaganda messages into North Korea.

    The North denied any role in the mine blasts and issued an ultimatum for the South to halt its “psychological warfare” or face attack.

    The crisis was defused following tense talks, with North Korea expressing “regret” over the incident and the South agreeing to turn off the loudspeakers.

    South Korean President Park Geun-Hye attributed the deal to her government sticking to its guns while keeping the door for dialogue open.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un however played up Pyongyang’s role in taking control of the situation and clearing “the dark clouds of war”, during a speech to the country’s Central Military Commission last week.

    Kim described the agreement as a “crucial landmark occasion” that offered the nations a path to improve relations.

    Previous agreements that appeared to offer a new way forward for relations have generally stumbled straight out of the gate.

  • Eight dead in apartment fire in north Paris: police

    The fire in the eighteenth arrondissement, the cause of which is unknown, broke out at around 4:30 am (0230 GMT) and took more than 100 firefighters to contain it.

    The eight victims included two who died after they attempted to escape through windows, according to police. A source close to the investigation said two children were among the victims.

    The fire started on the ground floor before spreading into the stairwell.

    Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, present at the scene, said it was “too early to determine the causes of this tragedy”.

  • Israel opposes Palestinian flag-raising at the UN

    Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor appealed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Sam Kutesa, the General Assembly’s president, to block the move, which would break with the UN practice of flying only the flags of member states.

    Prosor said in a letter to the UN leaders that the Palestinian move was an attempt to “score easy and meaningless points at the UN” and that this was “not the path to statehood, this is not the way for peace.”

    A draft resolution was presented last week to the General Assembly requesting that the flags of Palestine and the Holy See be hoisted alongside those of the 193 member states.

    Both the Vatican and Palestine have non-member observer status at the United Nations.

    The draft resolution, co-sponsored by 21 countries including Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, is expected to come up for a vote before September 14.

    UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it was up to the General Assembly to decide whether the flags of Palestine and the Holy See should be raised at UN headquarters in New York.

    Raising the flags of non-member states is “unchartered territory” and Ban will look to the General Assembly “for guidance” on how to respond, said Dujarric.

    The General Assembly upgraded the status of the Palestinians to that of non-member observer state in 2012.

    Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are among the world leaders converging on UN headquarters as of September 25 for an anti-poverty summit and the annual General Assembly debate.

    Pope Francis is to make a much-anticipated address on September 25. The Vatican has officially recognized Palestine as a state.

    The Holy See, which is not co-sponsoring the draft, said it would abide by the decision of the General Assembly. But it also noted that the tradition at the United Nations was to fly the flags of full members.

    The battle over the UN flags comes as the Palestinians seek to bolster their bid for statehood despite fierce opposition from Israel.

    Prosor accused the Palestinians of attempting to “hijack the UN” by pushing through the draft text with little discussion.

  • People who lack sleep are more likely to catch colds

    The findings in the journal Sleep are based on a study of 164 volunteers who allowed themselves to be exposed to the cold virus by researchers who were also tracking their sleep habits.

    First, the subjects underwent health screenings and completed questionnaires so researchers could understand factors such as stress, temperament, and alcohol and cigarette use.

    Their sleep habits were measured for one week prior to the beginning of the study, which required them to stay in a hotel room in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.

    Once sequestered in the hotel, researchers administered the cold virus via nasal drops and monitored the volunteers for a week, collecting daily mucus samples to see if the virus had taken hold.

    The results showed that those who had slept less than six hours a night during the week leading up to the study were 4.2 times more likely to catch the cold compared to those who got more than seven hours of sleep.

    Those who slept less than five hours were 4.5 times more likely to get sick.

    “Short sleep was more important than any other factor in predicting subjects’ likelihood of catching cold,” said Aric Prather, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of the study.

    “It didn’t matter how old people were, their stress levels, their race, education or income. It didn’t matter if they were a smoker. With all those things taken into account, statistically sleep still carried the day.”

    Previous studies have linked lack of sleep to chronic illness, premature death, susceptibility to disease, car crashes, industrial disasters and medical errors.

    One in five Americans gets less than six hours of sleep on the average work night, according to a 2013 survey by the National Sleep Foundation.

  • Critics vote 'Mad Max' best movie of the year

    The action movie shot by Australian director George Miller will be awarded the Grand Prix of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain on September 18.

    “You could have knocked me over with a feather! It’s lovely to have this great cohort of critics acknowledge our collective labours in this way,” Miller said in the statement.

    The vote saw 493 of the world’s top critics, who typically reward less mainstream arthouse films, choose from among movies premiered after July 1, 2014.

    “Mad Max: Fury Road”, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron — the fourth film in the apocalyptic adventure franchise shot in the Australian outback — will receive a special screening at the festival, the highest-profile movie event in the Spanish-speaking world, which runs until September 26.

    Last year’s winner of the award was Richard Linklater for “Boyhood”.

    The festival, held each year in San Sebastian, a picturesque seaside resort on Spain’s northern Atlantic coast, was originally intended to honour Spanish language films but has established itself as one of the most important movie festivals in the world.

    It hosted the world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller “North by Northwest” in 1959 and Woody Allen’s “Melinda and Melinda” in 2004.

  • Shebab attacks African Union base in Somalia

    Eye-witnesses said the Shebab had taken over the camp and were looting the weapons stores, but the AU force in Somalia (AMISOM) insisted it was in control of the base.

    Witnesses spoke of more than 20 bodies at the site, while the Shebab claimed to have killed 50. AMISOM was unable to confirm any casualty figures.

    “The base is still under AMISOM control, reports that the base has been taken over and our weapons captured are false,” an AMISOM statement said without giving further details.

    The Shebab said the attack in Janale district, 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region, was revenge for the killing of seven civilians by Ugandan troops at a wedding in the town of Merka in July.

    “The attack started with a suicide bomb explosion and the fighters stormed the base, engaging in fighting that continued inside the military camp for about 40 minutes,” said Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab.

    He claimed that “about 50 soldiers” were killed in the attack and that others drowned in a nearby river while fleeing.

    “The mujahedeen fighters have taken complete control of the town and the military camp as well and looted all the heavy weaponry,” Abu Musab said. “This attack was aimed to retaliate against the killing of innocent civilians in Merka by the Ugandan troops.”

    An AMISOM spokesman said the Janale camp was manned by up to 150 Ugandan soldiers but could not confirm any casualty figures as he was “still waiting details” from the area commander.

    Collecting bodies

    Mohamed Shire, a Somali military commander in the area, said there had been “a heavy explosion and fighting.”

    Witnesses said Shebab fighters had breached the barricades around the camp.

    “Many people stormed the camp after AU soldiers fled, and they started looting together with Al-Shebab,” said local resident Hussein Idris, who said gunmen loaded corpses of AU troops onto trucks.

    The Shebab has previously gathered the bodies of dead soldiers for use in propaganda videos of its attacks.

    “They were collecting dead bodies, I saw nearly 30 soldiers killed during the fighting,” Idris said.

    Another eyewitness, Ahmed Ali, said he had seen AMISOM troops fleeing the base, and had counted as many as 20 bodies.

    “The fighters also looted weapons and ammunition,” Ali said.

    Another local eyewitness described how a Shebab suicide bomber first attacked the camp gates.

    “Heavy fighting broke out after a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the camp,” said Ali Moalim Yusuf. “I saw heavily armed fighters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is greatest’) pouring into the base.”

    The Shebab, fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed and AU-protected government, has launched a string of similar attacks.

  • India end 22-year series drought in Sri Lanka

    The hosts, set a victory target of 386, were bowled out for 268 after tea on the fifth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo to hand the tourists a 2-1 series scoreline.

    Sri Lanka were revived by a 135-run stand for the sixth wicket between Mathews and debutant Kusal Perera, but the dismissal of both batsmen on either side of tea sealed their fate.

    Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with four for 69 and was named man of the series for taking 21 wickets in the three Tests.

    Seamer Ishant Sharma took three wickets in the innings, including the vital scalp of Mathews after tea, to take his tally to 200 wickets in his 65th Test.

    India had fought back after losing the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs to win the second at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo by 278 runs and then took the enthralling final Test in the last session of play.

    India’s last series success in Sri Lanka came under Mohammad Azharuddin’s captaincy in 1993 when they won 1-0.

    ‘A bit of history’ 

    Virat Kohli, enjoying a series win for the first time as Indian Test captain, said he was delighted to see the team bounce back after losing the first match.

    “Being 0-1 down was never easy,” he said. “I was told it had never been done before by us abroad, so we managed to create a bit of history.

    “It feels nice, especially with such a young team early in our careers, to achieve a magnificent milestone and win a series here for the first time in 22 years.

    “The attitude has been brilliant. That is why we are playing the kind of cricket we are playing. There are areas we want to improve on, but the number of bad sessions we had in the series were few. I am really proud of the boys.”

    Sri Lanka had slipped to a shaky 107-5 before lunch when Mathews and Perera joined hands to bat out a major part of the afternoon session and lift the hosts to 249-6 by tea.

    Mathews made 110, his seventh Test century and the second in successive matches after scoring 102 in the second Test, before he was trapped leg-before to Sharma in the first over after tea with the second new ball.

    Left-handed Perera followed his 55 in the first innings with 70, becoming only the second Sri Lankan after Dinesh Chandimal to score two half-centuries in his debut Test.

    Perera looked set for a bigger score when he was dismissed shortly before tea, playing a reverse sweep off Ashwin straight to Rohit Sharma at point.

    India grabbed the last five wickets for 26 runs after Sri Lanka were sailing at a comfortable 242-5 before Perera’s dismissal.

    Sri Lanka began the final session with a reasonable hope of surpassing the difficult target — needing 137 runs more with a possible 36 overs remaining — but India tightened the screws after tea to emerge victorious.

    ‘Batting flopped’

    Mathews said he was disappointed after gaining the advantage of winning the toss and asking India to bat first on a seaming wicket.

    “We got them to bat in demanding conditions, that is why we are very disappointed at losing,” he said.

    “Our batting flopped again although the bowlers were outstanding. India batted well but our batting in the first innings was crucial. We needed to get close to 300.

    “If Kusal and I had stayed a bit longer at the crease today, it could have been a different story. But India bowled well in the end.”

    India next host South Africa for a full tour in October, while Sri Lanka play a home series against the West Indies at the same time.

  • Bangladesh charges five Islamists over blogger murder

    Police brought the charges — the first in any of the four murders this year — in a Dhaka magistrates court, which will now decide whether to open a trial or order further investigations.

    “We’ve submitted a charge sheet against five people for the murder of blogger Washiqur Rahman. The five were charged with murder,” Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam told AFP.

    “They include an organiser of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and four others who are its supporters,” he said, referring to a banned local Islamist militant group which police have blamed in all four murders.

    Washiqur Rahman, 27, an atheist blogger who wrote under a pen name on Facebook against religious fundamentalism — especially Islam and Islamist radicals — was killed near his home in Dhaka in March.

    Two of the suspects, students of a madrassa, were tackled by local transgenders — known as hijras in the sub-continent — as they tried to flee the scene. They held them until police made arrests.

    Rahman’s death came just weeks after a Bangladesh-born American atheist blogger was murdered in the Bangladeshi capital by machete-wielding attackers.

    “The organiser of ABT, Hasibur Rahman, also known as Abdullah, recruited the other four and trained them for nearly three months for the specific purpose of murdering Washiqur,” said additional deputy police commissioner Saiful Islam.

    “They rented a room in Dhaka’s Jatrabari neighbourhood for this purpose and carried out reconnaissance on Rahman for two days before the murder,” he said, adding three of the alleged killers were arrested by police, while Abdullah had absconded and the fifth was still at large.

    The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has come under fire for not doing enough to protect atheist and rationalist writers.

    In August police arrested seven suspected Islamists including a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin for the murder of two other atheist bloggers.

  • India press for Sri Lanka series win

    The hosts, set a tough victory target of 386, moved from their overnight score of 67-3 to 134-5 in their second innings by lunch on the final day at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

    Skipper Angelo Mathews kept Sri Lanka’s hopes alive of forcing a draw with an unbeaten 56. Kusal Perera was the other batsman at the crease on 12, with Sri Lanka needing 252 more runs to win.

    Sri Lanka added seven runs to their overnight score when they lost opener Kaushal Silva for 27, caught at mid-wicket by Cheteshwar Pujara attempting to hook Umesh Yadav.

    Left-hander Lahiru Thirimanne made 12 when an alert Lokesh Rahul at silly point pounced on the ball and held it on second attempt as a delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin found an outside edge.

    Mathews settled in to strike seven boundaries and remained the main hurdle in India’s bid to win their first Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993.

    Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs, but India drew level with a 278-run win in the second match at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.

  • Turkish court arrests British journalists on ‘Islamic State terror’ charges

    The two British reporters and their Iraqi translator have been charged with “engaging in terror activity” on behalf of the Islamic State extremist group, the court in Diyarbakir said.

    A fourth suspect, their driver, was allowed to go free, an AFP correspondent reported from the court.

    They have now been taken to a jail in Diyarbakir ahead of an eventual trial. There were no further details over the evidence of their alleged links to IS jihadists.

    The reporters were detained last week covering unrest in southeast Turkey which has raged as the government presses a military offensive against Kurdish rebels.

    They had earlier been questioned by prosecutors who ruled to take the case to court.

    The four men, including the driver, had been held in police custody since their detention last week.

    Reports said that they were arrested after police acted on a tipoff and confiscated the footage shot during their reporting. All have denied the accusations in the presence of their lawyers.

    Vice News, an Internet-based channel which produces in-depth video reports, named the two British journalists in a statement as Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury.

    It also said that while sources initially said they were detained for filming without government accreditation, they had then been “accused of supporting the so-called Islamic State (IS).”

    A Vice News spokesperson said the journalists will “face unsubstantiated charges of terrorism”.

    The team had been visiting the region as the government wages a relentless campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, with several local Kurdish officials arrested and accused of supporting declarations of self rule.

    Amnesty International has called for the release of the journalists, calling the accusations against them “outrageous and bizarre”.

    “This is yet another example of the Turkish authorities suppressing the reporting of stories that are embarrassing to them,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey Researcher.

    “They should release the journalists immediately,” he added.

    There has been growing concern about deteriorating press freedoms on Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and in particular over the numbers of journalists facing legal proceedings on accusations of insulting top officials.

    “Authorities ought to protect —- not gag —- journalists on the job,” said Nina Ognianova of the Committee to Protect Journalists.