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Remains of crash victims arrive in Kenya
Typhoon Hagibis: Japan deploys 110,000 rescuers after worst storm in decades
More than 110,000 people are taking part in search and rescue operations after Typhoon Hagibis struck Japan on Saturday.
The typhoon – the worst storm to hit the country in decades – has left at least 40 dead, with 16 missing.
Typhoon Hagibis also caused the cancellation of three Rugby World Cup matches but a key match between Japan and Scotland went ahead.
Japan won 28-21 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
The typhoon has weakened and moved away from land but has left a trail of destruction.
A train depot in Nagano was also flooded, causing 10 high-speed (“bullet”) trains to be submerged. Each train has been valued at $30m (£23m).
A New week of impeachment crisis in Washington
Republican lawmakers will face fraught questions most have tried to dodge over President Donald Trump’s fight against impeachment as they return to Washington for a week pulsating with political drama.
Former President Zuma must face trial
Zuma expected to return to court next week on corruption charges as court dismissed his application to halt case.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma will face trial on corruption charges after a court on Friday dismissed his application for a permanent stay of prosecution.
Zuma, who is accused of taking bribes from French defence company Thales in the 1990s, sought to have the case permanently dropped in March.
It is uncertain how long the trial will last and when South Africans will have answers for a case that has been going on for almost 15 years.
Zuma’s lawyers said the case is politically motivated and the years of delay will result in an unfair trial.
But the trial is now expected to begin on Tuesday after High Court Judge Willie Seriti ruled Zuma’s “application for the permanent stay is dismissed”.
The judge agreed with the prosecution that parts of Zuma’s arguments to have the case thrown out were “scandalous and or vexatious”.
Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Pietermaritzburg in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said the court ruling was handed down in less than two minutes.
“However, the former president has the option to approach the Supreme Court to appeal this judgement and perhaps further delay his day in court,” she said.
“Zuma has said for a long time that he wants to have the opportunity appear in court, but at the same he also tried to delay his appearance.”
The charges
Zuma, 77, has been charged with 16 counts of fraud, racketeering, and money-laundering relating to a multimillion-dollar arms deal dating back to before he took office in 2009.
The charges were first brought in 2005. They were dropped by prosecutors in 2009, shortly before Zuma became president, and reinstated in 2016.
He is alleged to have taken the bribes during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the 1990s.
Zuma was forced to resign from office last year over a separate corruption scandal.
Batten disease girl given custom-made drug
A girl with a deadly brain disease has been given a unique drug that was invented from scratch just for her and in a fraction of the normal time.
Mila Makovec, now aged eight, was diagnosed with fatal and untreatable Batten disease.
In less than a year, doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US created the tailor-made drug to correct specific errors in Mila’s DNA.
She is now having far fewer seizures, although she is not cured.
Batten disease
Batten disease is incredibly rare, gets progressively worse and is always fatal.
Mila was three when her right foot began to turn inwards. A year later she needed to hold books close to her face as her vision was fading and by the age of five she would occasionally fall and her walk became unusual.
At six, Mila was blind, could barely speak and was having seizures.
The disease can be caused by a range of genetic mutations that stop cells being able to break down and recycle waste.
Instead, junk builds up and it can lead to the death of brain cells.
Robert Forster: Jackie Brown star dies aged 78
Actor Robert Forster, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, has died in Los Angeles aged 78.
The actor, born in Rochester, New York state, died on Friday of brain cancer.
It happened on the same day that El Camino, a film in which he had a role and which is based on the TV series Breaking Bad was broadcast on Netflix.
Forster also appeared in the Breaking Bad TV series as well as David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks.
Starring alongside Samuel L Jackson, Pam Grier and Robert De Niro, his performance was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.
The award eventually went to Robin Williams for his role in Good Will Hunting.
Forster is survived by his partner Denise Grayson. children Bobby, Elizabeth, Kate and Maeghen and four grandchildren.
Jackie Brown co-stars Samuel L Jackson and Pam Grier were among those to pay tribute.
Japan braced for biggest storm in decades
Japan is bracing itself for Typhoon Hagibis, the most powerful storm to hit the country in 60 years, to make landfall near Tokyo later on Saturday.
The country is already feeling the effects, with some areas already flooded, tens of thousands of homes without power, and one person dead.
Winds of 180km/h (111mph) could cause further flooding and landslides, the Japan Meteorological Agency has warned.
Some Rugby World Cup matches and Formula One races have been cancelled.
Authorities have issued evacuation advisories in areas at particular risk, while supermarkets are running low as people stock up before the typhoon hits.
Flights and trains have been shut down, while shops and factories have also been closed.
Even while the storm was still out to sea, tornado-like winds battered Chiba, east of Tokyo, damaging homes and toppling a car, killing its occupant.
Eliud Kipchoge breaks two-hour marathon mark by 20 seconds
Explosions on Iranian oil tanker off Jeddah’s coast cause spill
An Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was hit by two suspected rockets on Friday off the coast of Saudi Arabia, raising fears of further escalation in the already-volatile Gulf region. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said in a statement the hull of the ship sustained two separate explosions about 100km (60 miles) off the Saudi port city of Jeddah.
It said the blasts – one at 5am local time (02:00 GMT) and the other at 5:30am (02:30 GMT) – were “probably caused by missile strikes”. Oil prices spiked 2 percent on the news. “All the ship’s crew are safe and the ship is stable too,” said NITC, the tanker’s owner, adding those on board were trying to repair the damage. The state-owned company said contrary to reports, “there is no fire aboard the ship and the ship is completely stable”.
Leaking oil had been stopped but it restarted once the vessel began moving again.
“Those behind the attack are responsible for the consequences of this dangerous adventure, including the dangerous environmental pollution caused,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told state TV.
There was no immediate acknowledgement from Saudi Arabia about the blasts. Russia’s foreign ministry said it was too early to assign blame for the explosions.
Images of the oil tanker, identified as the Sabiti, circulated on Twitter, but Al Jazeera was not able to verify their authenticity.
The vessel last turned on its tracking devices in August near the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. Iranian tankers routinely turn off their trackers as US sanctions target the sale of Iran’s crude oil.
Lieutenant Pete Pagano, a spokesman for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Middle East, said authorities were “aware of reports of this incident” but he declined to comment further.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Tehran, said officials at the national oil company said the fire was put out.
According to the website Tankertrackers, the vessel was the largest-sized tanker, was fully loaded with one million barrels of oil, and “it does the Syria route”, said Basravi.
“This is the third time in the past six months that an Iranian tanker has been incapacitated in these waters,” he noted.
Nobel peace prize awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who made peace last year with bitter foe Eritrea.
He was awarded the prize for his efforts to “achieve peace and international cooperation”.
Mr Abiy’s peace deal with Eritrea ended a 20-year military stalemate following their 1998-2000 border war.
He was named as the winner of the 100th Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, where he will receive the award in December. It is worth some nine million Swedish crowns (about £730,000; $900,000)
There had been great speculation over who would win the prize, with climate activist Greta Thunberg widely tipped as the favorite. Under the Nobel Foundation’s rules, nomination shortlists are not allowed to be published for 50 years, and the organisation says any speculation ahead of the announcement is “sheer guesswork”.
D5 Creation