SYRIA PEACE ENVOY NOT GIVING UP
UNITED NATIONS: The blazing guns that tore apart the Syria ceasefire attempted by Lakhdar Brahimi will not stop the UN-Arab League envoy from making a new bid to halt the conflict, diplomats said.

Brahimi is expected to come to the UN Security Council in November with new proposals aiming to push President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition into political talks, UN diplomats said. The former Algerian foreign minister will head this week for Russia and China, the two leading doubters about international pressure on the Syrian rivals, to discuss the crisis. The proposed four-day truce for the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday blew up within hours, the government and the opposition blaming each other. Rebels also criticized Brahimi as they did the last peace envoy Kofi Annan.

IRAQ TIGHTENS SECURITY AFTER BLOODY DAY
BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities tightened security on Sunday, a day after attacks mostly targeting Shiite Muslims during the Eid al-Adha holiday killed 31 people in the country’s deadliest day this month. The shootings and bombings, which also wounded more than 100 people, were the latest in a spate of violence in the past week that has broken a relative calm, and came even though authorities had announced moves to boost security during the four-day Eid break which began on Friday. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks, but Sunni militants typically look to target Shiite pilgrims during Muslim holidays such as Eid or Shiite commemoration ceremonies.

JAPAN SAYS FOUR CHINESE SHIPS IN DISPUTED WATERS
TOKYO: Four Chinese maritime surveillance ships were spotted in territorial waters around disputed Tokyo-controlled islands on Sunday, Japan’s coastguard said. The ships entered Japan’s 12-nautical-mile territorial waters around the East China Sea islands and sailed out to the contiguous zone, the coastguard said. The so-called contiguous zone is an area that extends a further 12 nautical miles beyond the territorial waters. China’s state news agency Xinhua, citing the country’s State Oceanic Administration, said that the vessels were engaged in “routine patrols and law enforcement activities” in the waters. It said that the Chinese fleet told the Japanese coastguard ships to “immediately leave China’s territory”, while monitoring them “for the purpose of collecting evidence of infringement on China’s sovereignty”. Tensions have risen in recent months over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which lie in rich fishing grounds. The seabed in the area is also believed to harbor mineral reserves.

POLICE CRACK DOWN AFTER CHEMICAL PLANT RIOT
BEIJING: Authorities in east China ordered a security crackdown on Sunday after thousands of locals clashed with police during a protest at the construction of a chemical plant. In the latest environmental unrest to erupt in China, police at Ningbo city in Zhejiang province fired tear gas on Saturday night after six days of demonstrations over the project. At an emergency meeting on Saturday local Communist Party officials insisted that the chemical plant project had not been formally approved and agreed to listen to the protesters’ demands, the statement said. The government also ordered police to “maintain stability in accordance with law”, rhetoric that often signals a heavy handed crackdown. AFP