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AFP

  • 17 killed in bomb attack on Saudi mosque

    The explosion took place as worshippers were praying at a mosque used by Saudi special forces in Abha, the broadcaster said, describing it as a “terrorist” attack. It gave no further details.

    An interior ministry spokesman confirmed the attack but gave a slightly lower toll of “more than 13” dead.

    The victims were members of a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, the spokesman told AFP.

    “It’s confirmed there’s an explosion and there’s more than 13 (killed)… in a mosque,” the spokesman said.

    The explosion happened at the headquarters of the SWAT team, which is tasked with domestic security, he added.

    It was too early to say who may have carried out the attack, he added.

    Saudi Arabia has been on alert for attacks by the jihadist Islamic State group, who have been blamed for killing policemen and for slaughtering members of the minority Shiite community.

  • Add spice for a longer life?

    But they cautioned it was too early to draw a final conclusion on the potential benefits of fiery fare, and urged further research that may lead to “updated dietary recommendations”.

    The study, published in The BMJ journal, collected dietary data from nearly 490,000 people, aged 30 to 79, in China.

    They were enrolled between 2004 and 2008, and their health monitored for an average of seven years. Just over 20,000 participants died in the period.

    “Compared with participants who ate spicy foods less than once a week, those who consumed spicy foods one or two days a week were at a 10 percent reduced risk of death,” said a statement from The BMJ.

    And those who ate spicy foods almost every day, “had a relative 14 percent lower risk of death compared to those who consumed spicy foods less than once a week.”

    The association was similar in men and women, and stronger in those who did not consume alcohol.

    Fresh and dried chilli peppers were the most commonly used spices — and the association was higher with the fresh variety, according to the team led by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

    The answer may be found in an ingredient of spices — capsaicin, which has previously been suggested to posses anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation and anti-cancer properties.

    The team urged “further prospective studies in other populations”, that may lead to dietary recommendations and “development of functional foods, such as herbal supplements.”

    In a comment, Kevin McConway of the Open University urged against jumping to conclusions.

    “If people who eat spicy food more often have lower death rates, that might indeed be caused by the chilli eating, or it might be caused by something different that is related to eating chillis and also, separately, happens to promote health.

    “Maybe this is something in the way spices are used in Chinese cooking, or related to other things people eat or drink with the spicy food. Maybe it has something to do with the sort of people, in China, who tend to eat more spicy food.”

    People who ate more chilli were, for example, more likely to live in rural areas.

  • Di Maria passes PSG medical in Doha

    The 27-year-old had extensive tests at the Aspetar sports hospital after being given permission by the Premier League giants to fly to the Qatari capital for talks with PSG officials.

    The two clubs have already agreed a fee of £44.3 million (63 million euros; $68.9 million dollars) for Di Maria who will end his one-year stay at Old Trafford.

    United snapped up Di Maria for a British record £59.7m from Real Madrid last summer, but the winger’s form slumped dramatically after making an encouraging start to life in north-west England.

    After netting three goals and making four assists in his opening six games for the 20-time English champions, Di Maria spent time on the sidelines with injury and fell out of favour with Red Devils boss Louis van Gaal.

    He started just one of the final ten games of last season with his final United goal coming in a 2-0 FA Cup third round win over Yeovil Town in January.

    Di Maria was also unsettled off the field after an attempted burglary on his home in Cheshire in February.

    Since that incident, the Argentine has been living in a city-centre appartment in Manchester — owned by former United player Phil Neville — with his family.

    The former Benfica player had said he wanted to stay at United but after failing to report for the second part of the club’s pre-season tour of the United States on July 25, his future at Old Trafford appeared to be over.

    Di Maria — who has 65 caps for Argentina — scored four goals in 32 appearances for United.

  • At least 20 perish in India after two trains derail

    Divers using gas cutters pulled out trapped passengers and 300 had been rescued by early morning, officials said. Dozens were rushed to hospital in critical condition.

    “We are trying to rescue passengers. Relief work is going on on a war footing. We are checking all carriages to look for trapped passengers,” said ministry spokesman Anil Saxena.

    Twelve coaches of the Kamayani Express to Varanasi from Mumbai derailed near Harda in Madhya Pradesh just before midnight. Six coaches of the Janata Express derailed around the same time, the railway ministry said.

    Heavy monsoon rains and the tail-end of a cyclone have killed more than 100 people across India in flooding, landslides and building collapses in recent days.

    Train wrecks killed more than 25,000 people on India’s overloaded and outdated railway network last year alone. A former railway minister said if the tracks had been maintained, the latest accident could have been avoided.

    “It’s totally unacceptable. It’s a symptom of a deep-rooted cancer in the railway system,” Dinesh Trivedi told reporters.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year massively increased spending to modernize the network, but improvements will take years.

    The head of the railway board, A.K. Mittal, however told reporters a flash flood struck the area just minutes before the trains came through, disturbing the tracks. “Ten minutes back at this spot, train movement was normal. There was no problem.”

    India’s state-run railway network carries some 23 million passengers every day. “The two train accidents in Madhya Pradesh are deeply distressing. Deeply pained over the loss of lives,” Modi tweeted.

  • Mullah Omar’s family refuses to back new Taliban leader

    Mullah Akhtar Mansour was announced as the new Taliban chief on Friday after the insurgents confirmed the death of Mullah Omar, who led the militant movement for some 20 years.

    But splits immediately emerged between Mansour and those who challenged his appointment, including the late leader’s son Yakoub and his brother, Mullah Abdul Manan.

    “Our family… has not declared allegiance to anyone amid these differences,” Manan said in an audio message released Sunday, without naming Mansour.

    “We want the ulema (religious scholars) to resolve the differences rather than declaring allegiance to any side,” said the audio message, which Taliban sources confirmed was from Manan.

    “Our family will serve the new leader… if he is elected with consensus.”

    The comments highlight the Taliban’s biggest leadership crisis in recent years at a time when the rival Islamic State group is making gradual inroads into Afghanistan.

    Mansour on Saturday called for unity in the Taliban in his first audio message since becoming head of the group, in comments apparently aimed at averting a factional split.

    The Taliban also released a video on its website showing a large crowd of supporters pledging allegiance to Mansour, in an effort to bolster support for the new leader.

    The video could not be independently verified by AFP.

    ‘Did they deceive us?’

    Yakoub and several other members of the Taliban’s ruling council walked out of the meeting at which Mansour was declared leader, refusing to pledge loyalty to him, a Taliban source told AFP.

    “Part of the insurgency is troubled and needs answers from Mansour and his allies: why did they hide Mullah Omar’s death all these years? Did they deceive us by putting out fake statements in his name just to serve their own interests?” he said.

    The Taliban have not revealed when Omar died but the Afghan government said he passed away in Karachi in April 2013.

    But official Taliban statements in the name of Omar, who had not been seen in public since the Taliban were toppled from power in 2001, were released as recently as last month.

    Another commander linked to the Quetta Shura, the Taliban’s ruling council based in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, criticised Mansour’s selection process.

    He told AFP only a handful of the 20-member shura backed Mansour.

    Many militants also oppose what they see as Pakistan’s attempt to force the Taliban into direct peace talks with the Afghan government.

    Mansour and his two newly named deputies — influential religious leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani — are all seen as close to the Pakistani military establishment, which has historically nurtured and supported the Taliban.

    But despite the open rifts the Taliban have sought to present a unified front.

    A senior member of the Haqqani network, the feared Taliban-allied group led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, also urged insurgents to unite behind Mansour.

    He told AFP the present discord “undermines the movement and will benefit the foreign forces”.

    Mansour is seen as a pragmatist and a proponent of peace talks, raising hopes that the power transition could pave the way for an end to Afghanistan’s long and bloody war.

    The announcement of Omar’s death, however, cast doubt over the fragile peace process, forcing the postponement of a second round of talks that had been expected in Pakistan last Friday.

  • Rapper Snoop Dogg stopped in Italy airport with $422,000 in cash

    In the European Union, the maximum amount of undeclared cash one can take on board a plane is 10,000 euros ($10,986.00). Snoop Dogg, who has been touring Europe after releasing the album “Bush” earlier this year, will have to pay a fine, said Andrea Parisi, his lawyer.

    “We clarified everything from a legal point of view. The money came from concerts he had performed around Europe. There was no crime; it was just an administrative infraction,” Parisi told Reuters on Saturday.

    Half of the cash was given back to Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, while the other half is being held by Italian authorities until the amount of the fine is determined, Parisi said.

  • Pakistan releases 163 Indian fishermen in goodwill gesture

    The fishermen were freed from Malir jail in the southern port city of Karachi.

    “We have a total 660 Indians in the prison and most of them are fishermen, who were arrested for violations of territorial waters in the Arabian Sea during the last two years. We have (today) released 163 fishermen as a goodwill gesture,” jail superintendent Muhammad Hassan Sehto told AFP.

    Those released include five children aged between 10 and 14.

    A 10-year-old from India’s Gujarat state, who spent eight months behind bars, left with tears of emotion.

    Pakistan’s leading charity the Edhi Foundation paid the travel expenses of the Indians and presented them with gifts on their departure from the railway station.

    Each country often arrests the other’s fishermen, along with their boats, since many fishing boats lack the technology to check their location.

    India and Pakistan also use the releases as expressions of goodwill.

    Three gunmen stormed a police station and killed seven people in northern India last week and India’s home minister said they came from Pakistan.

    There has also been a flare-up in violence along the de facto border in Kashmir in recent weeks.

    Meanwhile, the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit tweeted:

     

  • Wildfires rage across swathes of California

    There had been “thousands” of lightning strikes since Thursday night, California fire chiefs said, sparking several hundred small wildfires.

    At least 23 large fires were burning menacingly across California but many were clustered in the north of the bone-dry US state, which is in the crippling throes of a historic drought.

    About 9,000 firefighters backed by helicopters and air tankers were battling the blazes, CAL FIRE spokesman Daniel Berlant said, with particular concern about the Rocky Fire in Lake County, northwest of Sacramento.

    Witnesses described apocalyptic scenes as thick smoke from the giant fire turned day into night and flames swallowed up large tracts of woodland and forest.

    Vehicles had been left to the flames, abandoned and burnt-out.

    Berlant, writing on Twitter, warned that the Rocky Fire had grown to 25,750 acres (10,000 hectares) “& continues to burn north towards Hwy 20. Still 5% contained.”

    Long stretches of Highway 20 were closed in both direction, spelling weekend travel misery for motorists.

    Dozens of homes and outbuildings in Lake County, home to the picturesque Mendocino National Forest, had been destroyed and an estimated 6,000 more structures were under grave threat, fire chiefs said.

    With very hot, dry weather and erratic winds expected only to make matters worse, evacuations in the face of the Rocky Fire were expected to impact 12,100 people, CAL FIRE said.

    More than 20 wildfires burn in California forcing hundreds to flee

    On Friday, California Governor Edmund Brown declared a state of emergency and the California National Guard were called in, underlining the scale of the threat facing the state.

    Firefighter Dave Ruhl, 38, from South Dakota, was killed Thursday while fighting the Frog Fire in the Modoc National Forest outside Alturas.

    Thousands battle California wildfires

    “California’s severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox,” Brown said in a statement.

    “Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we’ll do everything we can to help them.”

    Fires are raging all over CA & the Gov has declared an emergency. Here’s what it looks like

    “Firefighter Ruhl will be remembered for his service and bravery and we extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues with the US Forest Service,” Brown said in a separate statement.

    Wildfires are a fact of life in much of California, but were far worse than usual this year because of bone-dry conditions, with the western US state gripped by a fourth year of record drought.

    Some 5,000 homes in northern California under evacuation advisory as Rocky Fire rages

  • Pakistan’s Japanese-dominated car market poised for new entrants

    Despite heavy taxation on imported vehicles, enthusiasm for owning a car in Pakistan has remained undented — thanks in part to underdeveloped public transport in the country’s sprawling cities, but also the social status it brings.

    Toyota, Suzuki and Honda car assembly plants already work around the clock in the southern port city of Karachi and eastern Lahore — yet customers can still wait for up to four months for new vehicles to be delivered.

    Now demand for cars in the South Asian giant of 200 million people is accelerating even more quickly, as economic growth has reached its fastest pace since 2008 while renewed investor confidence and easing inflation have spurred consumer spending.

    Keen to cash in, a delegation from German auto giant Volkswagen visited the country in recent weeks, according to Pakistani officials and German diplomats.

    Company spokesman Christoph Adomat told AFP that while “Volkswagen is constantly evaluating market opportunities on a worldwide basis… there are no decisions for an investment from Volkswagen side in Pakistan”.

    Miftah Ismail, the chairman of Pakistan Board of Investment who took part in the talks, said Volkswagen was not the only company expressing an interest.

    “There are a number of other companies from (South) Korea and Europe that we are talking to who are thinking of setting up assembly plants in Pakistan,” he said, without naming the firms.

    Japanese stranglehold

    US and European cars dominated Pakistan’s roads in the early years after it gained independence from Britain in 1947.

    But fuel prices made their compact, efficient Japanese rivals more popular and from the 1960s onwards manufacturers like Toyota, Suzuki and Honda gained a stranglehold on the market.

    Italy’s Fiat made a brief foray in the 1990s, while South Korea’s Hyundai as well as Daewoo-owned Chevrolet tried — and failed — to gain a foothold in the 2000s before the financial crisis forced them to exit.

    Because Pakistan charges heavy duties on imported cars less than three years old, Japanese companies with in-country assembly operations can set prices significantly above the regional average.

    The bottom-of-the-range Suzuki Mehran costs the equivalent of $6,300 in Pakistan but sells for around $3,900 in neighbouring India. The most popular Corolla 1.3 sedan starts at 1.6 million rupees ($16,000), but buyers have to wait months or pay $1,500 for prompt delivery.

    The news that Volkswagen was exploring options to enter the Pakistani market has excited car enthusiasts, who are tired of high prices and limited choices.

    “I think it is a great idea because Volkswagen cars are value for money and reliability,” said Romano Karim, a fan of the classic Volkswagen Beetles from the 60s and 70s that can often be seen on Pakistan’s roads.

    Haji Mohammad Shahzad, chairman of the All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association, added that having Volkswagen in the market would help drive costs down.

    “The monopoly of big three could be broken if Volkswagen produces at least 20,000-25,000 cars annually,” Shahzad told AFP.

    Renewed confidence

    Global auto giants are attracted by Pakistan’s booming economy, which the International Monetary Fund predicts will grow by 4.5 percent in the next financial year.

    Investor confidence in the medium-sized economy of $232 billion has improved since a new business-friendly government led by Nawaz Sharif took power in 2013, with Karachi’s share market among the world’s top 10 performers in the past year.

    The country is also undergoing a major construction boom driven by Chinese investment after President Xi Jinping visited Islamabad in April to unveil a $46 billion investment plan known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

    Car sales have also boomed thanks to the growth of car leasing and financing facilities. Sales in the 11 months to May this year rose 30 percent from a year earlier, according to industry group the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association.

    Baber Kaleem Khan, editor of PakWheels.com magazine, said Volkswagen would be well poised to tap into the lower to mid-range market.

    “Pakistani automakers haven’t really had much competition because their respective domains are well protected by monopolistic business practices,” Khan told AFP.

    “But given VW’s impressive small-range of vehicles, the German automaker can take the market from the ground up and start working to the top.”

  • Brazil thieves steal, then return, footballer’s medal

    The criminals’ own goal began Friday when two armed men assaulted soccer star Tamires Britto outside a relative’s home in Sao Paolo, stealing her handbag from her car, then carjacking a neighbor’s vehicle.

    Tamires, 27, won the medal as part of the victorious women’s squad at the recent Toronto Pan American Games. After the robbery, she commented wistfully on the sense of security she enjoyed in Canada compared to crime-ravaged Brazil, which will host next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

    “There, we see houses without gates, with gardens in front, and here people have to live in prisons because of the violence,” she told O Globo newspaper.

    But the thieves showed a more sporting side Saturday, quietly returning to place the medal under a neighbor’s gate, G1 news site reported.

    Even if the rest of her handbag’s contents are still missing, Tamires said she was glad to get her award back.

    “I hadn’t even had it for six days. You have to give a lot to get a medal,” she told G1.