POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE JOLTS TURKEY AND GREECE

Turkey is reeling under the impact of an earthquake that shocked the country

on Friday as tremors of a magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale hit the Aegean

Sea, leading to massive loss of life and property.

As per news agency AFP, the disaster relief agency last reported 22 deaths

and over 700 injuries, while in Greece two teenagers died while on their way

home from school on Samos when a wall collapsed.

The quake was felt across the eastern Greek islands and even in the Greek

capital Athens. Greek media said the residents of Samos and other islands

fled their homes, while some rockfalls were reported.

As per Turkey's media reports, about 196 aftershocks were felt in the

country with 23 even hitting over the magnitude of 4 following the major

earthquake.

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency has earlier informed

that the death toll reached 17, with 709 injured. As per news agency AFP,

the disaster relief agency last reported 20 deaths and nearly 800 injuries,

while in Greece two teenagers died while on their way home from school on

Samos when a wall collapsed.

The quake was felt across the eastern Greek islands and even in the Greek

capital Athens. Greek media said the residents of Samos and other islands

fled their homes, while some rockfalls were reported.

The United States hailed both leaders' gestures of diplomacy. "It's great to

see both countries putting their differences aside to help each other during

a time of need. The United States also stands ready to assist," said Robert

O'Brien, the national security advisor.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) director basic Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus mentioned that the worldwide physique was "closely following"

the scenario in Greece and Turkey after the earthquake. "We will work with

the two countries to ensure that emergency medical care is provided for

those in need. Our thoughts are with all those affected," he mentioned.

PARIS WITNESSES 700-KM-LONG TRAFFIC JAM AS SECOND COVID-19 LOCKDOWN BEGINS

IN FRANCE

Traffic around Paris hit record levels just hours before a new national

lockdown came into force across France.

Jams stretched to a cumulative 430 miles (700 km) in the Ile-de-France

region early on Thursday evening, local media reported.

Lockdown measures came into force at midnight on Friday (23:00 GMT) to

tackle spiralling Covid infections.

People have been ordered to stay at home except for essential work or

medical reasons.

President Emmanuel Macron said the country risked being "overwhelmed by a

second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first".

Daily Covid-19 deaths in France are at the highest level since April, and on

Thursday, authorities reported 47,637 new cases and 250 new deaths.

French media report that many Parisians have left the city - and their often

cramped apartments - to spend lockdown in the countryside.

Some travellers may have also been Parisians returning to the city after

holidaying elsewhere in the country during a French school holiday, which

ends this weekend with All Saints' Day.

Heavier-than-usual traffic and long tailbacks were also reported around the

major cities of Lyon and Bordeaux in the hours before the lockdown came into

force.

JACK MA'S ANT IPO LURES $3 TRILLION OF BIDS IN RETAIL FRENZY

Retail investors placed bids for a record $3 trillion of shares in Ant Group

Co Ltd`s initial public offering (IPO), set to be the world`s biggest, as

mom-and-pop savers bet on demand for its financial services in China.

Ant Group's dual listing is set to raise about $34.4 billion, split fairly

evenly between Shanghai`s STAR Market and Hong Kong, topping Saudi Aramco`s

$29.4 billion listing last December.

Investors, both retail and institutional, are rushing to buy into Ant, which

operates China`s biggest payments platform and other financial services,

despite risks of greater scrutiny at home and abroad.

The Shanghai leg of the IPO drew about 19 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) of

bids from retail investors, or 872 times the number of shares earmarked for

them, a company filing to the stock exchange showed on Thursday.

The Hong Kong tranche got HK$1.3 trillion ($168 billion) in bids, or 389

times the shares on offer, said people with knowledge of the matter on

Friday, declining to be identified as the information is not public yet.

The bookbuilding for the Hong Kong leg of the IPO of Ant, backed by

e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, ran from Monday to Friday, while books for the

Shanghai leg were open for one day on Thursday.

The $3 trillion of retail investor bids, equivalent to the gross domestic

product of the United Kingdom, comes against the backdrop of shaky global

markets ahead of next week`s U.S. presidential election and a dour global

economic outlook.

Investors in the IPO, however, have brushed aside company-specific and

broader market concerns on hopes that Ant will continue to benefit from the

rapid digitization of financial services in China.

Starting as a payments processor in 2004, Ant has built an empire in China

by offering its users short-term loans that are credited within minutes, and

selling insurance and investment products.

The unprecedented retail frenzy for Ant shares is backed by massive amount

of margin lending by financial institutions, with brokerages in Hong Kong

lending billions.

ANTI-FRANCE PROTESTS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES

Thousands of Muslims, from Pakistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian

territories, poured out of prayer services to join anti-France protests on

Friday, as the French President's vow to protect the right to caricature

Prophet Muhammed continues to roil the Muslim world.

Demonstrations in Pakistan's capital Islamabad turned violent as some 2,000

people who tried to march toward the French Embassy were pushed back by

police firing tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

A few hundred demonstrators in Lebanon's capital Beirut flocked toward the

Palais des Pins, the official residence of the French Ambassador to Lebanon,

but found their way blocked by lines of police officers in riot gear. Waving

black and white flags with Islamist insignia, the Sunni Islamist activists

cried, "At your service, oh prophet of God."

The sight of anti-France protests in Lebanon is an embarrassment for Prime

Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who is trying to form a new government that

would implement a French plan for reform.

In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians protested against Macron outside the

Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, chanting, "With our souls

and with our blood we sacrifice for our Prophet, Muhammed."

Cries of "Death to France" rang out in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul and

several other provinces as thousands filled the streets. Demonstrators

trampled on portraits of Mr. Macron and called on Afghan leaders to shut

down the French Embassy, halt French imports and ban French citizens from

visiting the country.

In Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, tens of thousands marched through streets,

chanting "boycott French products" and carrying banners calling Mr.Macron

"the worlds biggest terrorist".

UK'S LABOUR WARNS AGAINST 'CIVIL WAR' AFTER CORBYN SUSPENSION

Britain's main opposition Labour party on Friday urged shocked members to

stand united against anti-Semitism, appealing against a renewal of

internecine "civil war" following the suspension of its left-wing former

leader.

Jeremy Corbyn was exiled pending an investigation after he refused to accept

all the findings of a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission

(EHRC), which said his office had broken the law in its handling of

complaints by Jewish members.

New leader Keir Starmer, calling the report a "day of shame" for Labour,

said he was "deeply disappointed" in Corbyn for blaming party critics as

well as the media for exaggerating the scale of anti-Semitism.

Starmer has won strong backing from Jewish groups which, in evidence to the

EHRC, detailed a deluge of anti-Semitic abuse online and in party meetings

during Corbyn's leadership, including death threats at the hands of

left-wingers.

Jewish Labour Movement chair Mike Katz said the decision to suspend Corbyn

was "brave and correct," vowing to work with Starmer "and put this shameful

period behind us."

But Starmer acknowledged on BBC TV that the suspension had overwhelmed his

efforts to "recognize the hurt, draw a line and move on," even as he wages

increasingly effective attacks on the Conservative government's handling of

the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives are trying to exploit Labour's

divisions, noting Starmer had continued to serve in Corbyn's shadow Cabinet

when anti-Semitic incidents were on the rise.

Veteran socialist Corbyn vowed to fight the suspension and his supporters

are mobilizing, with the radical group Momentum planning an online rally

against Starmer's "naked attack on the left."

Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, the head of the Unite union, one of Labour's

biggest financial backers, said the suspension would "create chaos within

the party and in doing so compromise Labour's chances of a general election

victory."

UN DEFEATS RUSSIA RESOLUTION PROMOTING WOMEN AT PEACE TABLES

The U.N. Security Council has defeated a Russian resolution to commemorate

the 20th anniversary of a U.N. measure demanding equal participation for

women in activities promoting global peace. Opponents objected to its

failure to adequately address human rights and the key role of civil society

in pushing for gender equality and said it weakened the U.N. resolution

adopted in 2000 - claims Russia denied. The vote on the resolution was 5-0,

with 10 countries abstaining, less than the minimum nine "yes" votes

required for adoption. Germany's U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen said

what's needed is action and implementation "not more words."

ACTIVISTS CONVERGE ON WARSAW FOR 'BIGGEST' PROTESTS AGAINST ABORTION RULING

Protesters converged on Warsaw from across Poland on Friday for what police

said would likely be the biggest demonstrations yet against a court ruling

that amounted to a near-total ban on abortion.

Tens of thousands of activists have mounted daily rallies, marching through

cities and disrupting church services in the predominantly Catholic country

since last week's Constitutional Court decision.

"We expect these to be the biggest protests since the verdict," Warsaw

police spokesman Sylwester Marczak said, adding: "Considering how big they

can be, we always use the support of the police from other garrisons."

Military police began erecting barriers near the parliament and in other

parts of the capital.

Protest group Strajk Kobiet (Women's Strike) said on its Facebook page

demonstrators would gather in three locations in the city centre from 1600

GMT.

The movement's leader, Marta Lempart, told activists to report any attacks

and to resist any attempt to prosecute or fine them for taking part. "We are

doing nothing wrong by protesting and going out on the streets," she told a

news conference.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this week the rallies could help the

coronavirus to spread. Last week the government banned gatherings of more

than five people, saying it was part of its efforts against COVID-19.