UN Security Council to vote Saturday on N. Korea sanctions

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will vote Saturday on a US-drafted resolution toughening sanctions on North Korea, diplomats said Friday. 

The vote is scheduled for 3 pm (1900 GMT) on the new measures that could deprive North Korea of $1 billion in annual revenue from exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood. 

US jobs report sends global stocks higher

NEW YORK: Rosy US jobs numbers sent Wall Street higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising to an eighth straight record finish. 

The beleaguered US dollar also got a shot in the arm from the strong July employment report, which showed the world's largest economy adding north of 200,000 new positions for the second straight month. 

Across the Atlantic, European equities also pushed higher amid unequivocal signs of American economic strength.

In New York, the Dow rose 0.3 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each gained 0.2 percent. 

But Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments, told AFP the jobs numbers were a "double-edged sword." 

"On the one hand, it is good to see the economy growing, jobs coming in," he said. "At the same time, it is a hawkish data point for the Fed." 

The strong job creation and slowly rising wages could spur the Fed to raise the cost of borrowing a third time this year to keep a tight rein on inflation. 

But a rate increase would boost bank profits, and that fueled banking shares. Goldman Sachs jumped 2.6 percent, and JP Morgan Chase added 1.3 percent, leading the Dow higher. 

Meanwhile, the dollar jumped 0.8 percent against a basket of other major currencies, rising off a 15-month low. 

As Kenya elections draw near, country reveals an electorate divided by tribe

Residents of Mathare, a slum in Nairobi, prepare for Tuesday's presidential election. 

A concrete bridge and a narrow, garbage-filled river divide the slum of Mathare into two parts, a space between ethnic groups and voting blocs that are competing fiercely — and many say dangerously — over Kenya’s presidential elections scheduled for Tuesday.

Here in one of the most economically successful and stable countries in East Africa, Mathare is only a few miles away from Nairobi’s rising skyline. Tech firms have popped up on the city’s periphery. Every week, thousands of tourists pile into sleek safari trucks. This spring, the top U.N. humanitarian official here, Siddharth Chatterjee, called Kenya, “a beacon of hope in a region mired in fragility.”

But with the election approaching, Mathare feels far from stable. On one side of the rutted bridge is a community of ethnic Kikuyus, the tribe of incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta, 55. On the other side are the Luos, the tribe of opposition candidate Raila Odinga, 72.

Most days, those tribes peacefully coexist, as the slum is consumed by honking minibuses and a frenzy of commercial activity, with traffic moving across the bridge in both directions. But as the election approaches, it is a line not to be crossed.

FBI takes over probe of bombing of Minnesota mosque

Law enforcement officials investigate an explosion at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, August 5, 2017. Time via Star Tribune/David Joles/AP

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Eight missing in flooded diamond mine

Eight miners are missing after a flood at Russia's largest diamond mine.

Water leaked into an underground shaft on Friday morning when more than 100 workers were inside.

Most have been rescued from Mir mine in eastern Siberia, according to diamond company Alrosa, which runs it.

However, the company said reports that those still missing had been located were not true and the search continues. Divers have reportedly arrived at the scene.

The town of Mirny in Yakutia has declared a state of emergency.

One man was rescued on Saturday morning.

He is in intensive care at a nearby hospital with a bruised lung, but his life is not in danger, Alrosa said.

Chief Executive Sergey Ivanov said every effort was being made to find the other workers.

The company said 142 people had been brought safely back to the surface so far.

Where speaking several languages is a given

Are you the kind of person who points at menus to be understood while you're abroad? If so, you're not alone and you'd fit in well in the UK suggested more than half of UK people do the same, and nearly as many are embarrassed by their lack of language skills.

Some 15% of people even admitted they had spoken English in a foreign accent in a vain attempt to be understood à la footballer Joey Barton a few years back.

But the Brits are in the minority in this regard. It's estimated that 60-75% of people around the world are at least bilingual, and in some places it's the norm to speak three or four languages without blinking an eye.

Trump administration approves sale of attack planes to Nigeria

The Trump administration approves attack planes to be used by the Nigerian military to counter the Boko Haram insurgency and illicit trafficking..View page