London (AFP) - Spain's third-biggest bank by capitalisation CaixaBank is to buy Barclays' Spanish operations for £800 million ($1.1 billion) as the British bank undergoes major restructuring, Barclays said.

The sale includes Barclay's retail banking, wealth and investment management and corporate banking businesses in Spain.

In a statement, Barclays said 2,400 staff and 262 branches would transfer to CaixaBank once the deal is completed, likely around the end of the year.

The British bank is undertaking a major restructuring to shrink its operations that is expected to see 19,000 jobs axed across the group over the next two years.

Barclays said it had also completed the sale of its United Arab Emirates retail banking business to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank for £119 million ($197 million, 150 million euros).

"I am pleased to be announcing further progress on Barclays Non-Core asset reductions through the transactions announced today. We remain on track to rebalance Barclays as part of our strategy to deliver sustainable returns for our shareholders," said Barclays Group chief executive Antony Jenkins.

"I want to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues in the Spanish Retail Banking, Corporate Banking and Wealth and Investment Management businesses, as well as our Retail Banking colleagues in the UAE, for their hard work and professionalism over many years."

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New York (AFP) - Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the US Open by Caroline Wozniacki on Sunday, leaving the women's draw with just two of its top eight seeds while Roger Federer made the most of heavy rain to make the last-16.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova -- the 2006 title winner in New York -- was defeated by Danish 10th seed Wozniacki with the 2009 runner-up claiming a deserved 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 triumph on a steamy Arthur Ashe Stadium court to reach the quarter-finals.

Sharapova, looking to add this year's US Open title to her French Open win in June, was undone by 43 unforced errors and eight double faults.

The hot and humid conditions were so punishing that the players were granted a heat break in the locker room before the third set, and when they returned to the court Wozniacki wasted little time, breaking Sharapova to love in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead.

She broke the Russian superstar again in the final game to seal the victory and a chance to play 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani for a semi-final berth.

Errani ended the magical run of 32-year-old Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.

"It means so much to me," said Wozniacki, who reached the semi-finals in 2010 and 2011 but hadn't been past the third round at Flushing Meadows the last two years.

"It's been a bit up and down for me this season," she added. "To win today against a champion like Maria is an unbelievable feeling."

The departure of fifth-seeded Sharapova leaves just two of the women's top eight left -- world number one and two-time defending champion Serena Williams and seventh-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

"I thought she played really well. She made me hit a lot of balls. That's always been her strength. But she did extremely well today. She's a great retriever, especially in these types of conditions. I just felt like I maybe went for a little too much," said Sharapova.

Five-time champion Federer sat out a two-hour break for torrential rain to race into the fourth round.

The second-seeded Swiss, the champion between 2004-2008, came back from a set down to defeat Spain's Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 by racing away with 20 of the last 24 games of the match which had been interrupted due to rain and the threat of lightning.

Federer, bidding to become the oldest Grand Slam champion in more than 40 years, clinched his 70th win at the tournament on the back of 57 winners and 13 aces.

But the 33-year-old had struggled in the first set where he slipped to 2-5 down against the world number 42 before he grasped welcome respite in the locker room to sit out the storm.

- Humid conditions -

"It was a good match and I managed to turn it around as Marcel was on fire at the start," said Federer.

"The break helped me and when I came back I played some great tennis. The conditions were windy and quick at the start but when we got back it was humid and that played in my favour."

Federer will face Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the quarter-finals after the 26-year-old Spaniard beat France's Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.

Gilles Simon sent Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer crashing to his earliest US Open defeat in five years with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 third round win.

The 26th seeded Simon capitalised on the 52 unforced errors of the 32-year-old Ferrer, a semi-finalist in 2007 and 2012, who appeared to struggle physically towards the end.

Simon goes on to face Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat South Africa's Kevin Anderson 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, for a place in the quarter-finals in a clash of two men who both missed the 2013 tournament.

Simon was back in France for the birth of his second child while Cilic was serving out a doping ban.

Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, a semi-finalist in 2012, beat Georgian-born Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and next plays Dominic Thiem of Austria, the youngest player in the top 50 at just 20.

Thiem, who turns 21 on Wednesday, reached his first Grand Slam last-16 with an impressive 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over left-handed serve-and-volleyer Feliciano Lopez of Spain who is 12 years his senior.

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Paris (AFP) - A new invention can cheaply and accurately diagnose malaria infection in just a few minutes using only a droplet of blood, researchers have reported in the journal Nature Medicine.

The tool could replace the laborious, error-prone method by which a lab technician looks for malaria parasites in blood through a microscope, they said.

While that method is considered the gold standard in malaria diagnostics today, it depends on the technician's skill in interpreting the image, the quality of the microscope and lab chemicals and even on the thickness of the blood smear on the slide itself.

The touted replacement is an "inexpensive" desk-top mini-lab that, according to its inventors, can detect fewer than 10 malaria parasites per microlitre of blood, using a sample of less than 10 microlitres -- equivalent to a small drop from a finger prick. 

The whole procedure just takes a few minutes, the inventors said.

While malaria is both preventable and treatable, it killed an estimated 627,000 people in 2012, mainly children in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. 

That year there was also an estimated 207 million cases worldwide, and the WHO says current funding levels are "far below" what is needed to eradicate the disease.

The device unveiled in Nature Medicine uses magnetic resonance relaxometry (MRR), a cousin of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the technology that powers today's advanced medical scanners.

It measures the crystals metabolised by the Plasmodium parasite after the creature -- which is transmitted to humans in mosquito bites -- feasts on nutrient-rich haemoglobin in the blood.

These waste-product crystals, which are called hemozoin, contain a minute amount of iron, making them ever-so-slightly magnetic.

The presence of the tiny particles disrupts the synchronous spin, or resonance, in hydrogen atoms that are exposed to a magnetic field.

The more particles there are, the faster this "synchrony" is disrupted.

That means the test can not only tell when someone has been infected, it can also see whether treatment is working, as shown by a fall in the number of parasites in a patient's blood.

The desktop kit uses a magnet about a quarter of the size of powerful, expensive MRI scanners, said scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who undertook the venture with colleagues from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, or SMART.

"There is real potential to make this into a field-deployable system, especially since you don’t need any kind of labels or dye," said Jongyoon Han, an MIT professor of electrical and biological engineering.

- Less than 10 US cents a test -

"This system can be built at a very low cost, relative to the million-dollar MRI machines used in a hospital," said Weng Kung Peng, a research scientist at SMART.

"Furthermore, since this technique does not rely on expensive labelling with chemical reagents, we are able to get each diagnostic test done at a cost of less than 10 [US] cents (7.5 cents of a euro)."

Preliminary work has found that an MRR system could be built for less than $2,000 (1,500 euros), the paper said.

The team is running field tests in Southeast Asia and already looking at potential enhancements to the prototype. 

It is working on portable version "about the size of a small electronic tablet" and exploring the possibility of using solar energy as a power source, MIT said. 

This would be a boon for sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for most of the world's malaria fatalities.

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Los Angeles (AFP) - Nude photos purportedly showing many top stars, including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence and pop star Rihanna, bounced around social media, in an apparent massive hacking leak, US media reported.

"It's so weird and hard how people take your privacy away from you," Lawrence said in a tweet on Sunday.

The actress' agent, meanwhile, vowed to take legal action.

"This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence," her representative told TMZ entertainment website.

Word of the images began spreading early Sunday, amid reports that the photos had been obtained by hacking iCloud accounts, Mashable and other media reported.

Among the celebrities whose pictures allegedly were stolen and posted online were Avril Lavigne, Amber Heard, Gabrielle Union, Hayden Pannettiere and Hope Solo, according to Mashable.

Media reports said among the other starlets targeted were Hillary Duff, Jenny McCarthy, Kaley Cuoco, Kate Upton, Kate Bosworth, Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian.

Former Nickelodeon star and singer Victoria Justice said the images claiming to show her unclothed body were anything but the real deal.

"These so called nudes of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in the bud right now. *pun intended*" she tweeted.

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HSBC's final August China manufacturing PMI came in light at 50.2.

Expectations were for the reading to come in at 50.3, unchanged from the "flash" reading reported earlier this month. 

This is also lower than 51.7 report in July, which was an 18-month high.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the economy, while a reading under 50 would indicate contraction. 

Following the report, Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said: "The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI eased slightly to 50.2 in the final reading for August from the flash reading of 50.3. The revisions were mixed, with upward revision to the new export orders and output sub-indices but downward revisions to the employment and input prices indices. Although external demand showed improvement, domestic demand looked more subdued. Overall, the manufacturing sector still expanded in August, but at a slower pace compared to previous months. We think the economy still faces considerable downside risks to growth in the second half of the year, which warrant further policy easing to ensure a steady growth recovery."

HSBC's manufacturing reading on China also follows official data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics earlier this evening, which showed that manufacturing slowed in August to 51.1. The official state reading was also slightly below the 51.2 expected by economists. 

Dariusz Kowalczyk at Credit Agricole said ahead of the report that, "The data will highlight renewed downward pressure on the Chinese economy emerging in the summer, but it should also prompt more policy easing measures from Beijing, and is therefore going to have only a limited negative impact on market sentiment."

This chart from Markit/HSBC shows the last decade of PMI, which has wobbled on either side of 50 for the last several years.

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The S&P500 continues to hit new all-time highs, extending an epic five-year bullish run for stocks.

But some market commentators believe we must be heading for a top.

The signs are there if you want to look for them. As of Friday, the Dow had erased all of 2014's gains. Forward price-to-earnings ratios are well above both their five- and 10-year averages. Even Alan Greenspan has said a correction is inevitable given that the rally is now well into its fifth year. 

There are other, less technical signs. We're talking about the signs of that make you think twice and wonder if irrational exuberance has taken over and investors are investing in things recklessly.

We've pinpointed the 15 most ridiculous moments in finance of the year so far that might lead one to believe that this bull market has seen its top.

Marketwatch profiles "the Oracle of San Quentin."

Since his conviction 15 years ago on murder charges, Curtis Carroll, now 35, has gained a reputation among inmates at the infamous California penitentiary as an investing wizard. Marketwatch's Catey Hill says that while it's impossible to judge his track record, his advice "some quite good, some risky and speculative, and most of it brand-new territory for a clientele that lives behind prison walls."

Burrito Bonds

A U.K. Chipotle-esque chain is looking to raise funds from mainstream investors by offering"burrito bonds" that come with an 8% coupon, and of course free burritos for a year. 

Uber for Underwear.

OK, technically FlyCleaners.com, backed by Union Square's Fred Wilson, will also deliver the rest of your laundry at a moment's notice. Through your phone you just tell them exactly where you need your clothes picked up, and they come to you.  

Katra Shahadatganj (India) (AFP) - Decorated with marigolds and ribbons, 108 toilets unveiled in a tragedy-hit village are a small step in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to end open-air defecation for impoverished Indian women.

The spotlessly clean toilets were donated on Sunday to the village in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where scared and vulnerable women had long been forced to trek nightly into the fields to relieve themselves.

"I believe no woman must lose her life just because she has to go out to defecate," said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of sanitation charity Sulabh which built the toilets.

"Our aim is to provide a toilet to every household in the country in the not too distant future," Pathak told AFP in Katra Shahadatganj village.

The village made headlines around the world in May when the bodies of two schoolgirls were found hanging from a tree. They are thought to have gone out into the fields after dark because their home, like most in their district, lacked a toilet.

Police are investigating whether the cousins, aged 12 and 14, were gang-raped, although no one has been formally charged and five men initially accused are set to be released.

The incident sparked uproar in India, echoing the outrage over the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.

But the circumstances which led the schoolgirls to trek outside at night are not unusual in India.

UNICEF estimates that almost 594 million -- or nearly 50 percent of India's population -- defecate in the open, with the situation acute in dirt-poor rural areas.

Some 300 million women and girls are forced to squat outside, exposed not only to the risks of disease and bacterial infection, but also harassment and assault by men.

Modi raised the often taboo subject during his Independence Day speech in August, saying India should strive to ensure every household has a toilet within the next four years.

"We are in the 21st century and yet there is still no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate. Can you imagine the number of problems they have to face because of this?" Modi asked.

- Scared of attack -

Mother-of-three Dhanwati Devi, one of the villagers to receive a new toilet, said she could finally relieve herself without fear of being attacked in the dark.

"I used to dream my house will have a toilet one day. Now that I have one, I feel so proud and liberated," the 48-year-old told AFP, standing next to the blue and pink painted cubicle adorned with strings of flowers outside her home.

"I used to be so scared when going out in the deserted fields in the dark, because I could be attacked any time by depraved criminals," she said.

The uncle of the girls who were hanged said that for his family, the village's new toilets were symbols of both "hope and despair".

"Each time we see the toilets, we are reminded that our girls died because we didn't have one earlier," the uncle, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told AFP.

"But it also gives hope that our women will be safer now because they no longer have to venture out in darkness."

Successive governments across India, as well as charities and campaign groups, have long struggled to increase the number of toilets in villages and encourage their use. Experts say some households find defecating in the open more convenient, while others face plumbing, sewage and maintenance problems with their new latrines.

"Some people actually see open defecation as preferable to using toilets because of cultural, religious or traditional beliefs," said Zach White, a research officer at the non-profit organisation WaterAid.

"To many, the very idea of defecating in or nearby your own house, albeit in a toilet, is bizarre and seen as less hygienic than defecating on open ground away from where they live," White told AFP.

Lack of toilets and other sanitation issues costs India nearly $54 billion annually including through illnesses such as diarrhoea and lower productivity, a 2012 World Bank study found.

Workers from the Sulabh charity will now focus on educating villagers about improved sanitation and the health benefits of using toilets.

The women of Katra Shahadatganj, however, need no such encouragement.

"It's a luxury to be able to use the toilet when you need to," said Devi.

"Now that we have this luxury, we are not going to let it go to waste."

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Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria's health minister will hold an emergency meeting of state health commissioners on Monday as West Africa struggles to halt the deadly Ebola virus, amid growing concern at the toll among healthcare workers. 

Nigeria on Sunday confirmed a fresh case of Ebola in a doctor whose husband died from the virus, adding to a growing list of those providing healthcare in West Africa to be hit by the epidemic.

The woman's husband was also a doctor who died in the city of Port Harcourt on August 22 after treating a patient who had contact with the Liberian man who brought the virus to Nigeria in late July.

She was in a stable condition at an isolation unit in the financial capital, Lagos, said Sampson Parker, the health commissioner of Rivers State, of which Port Harcourt is the capital.

Nigeria's medics have paid a heavy price in the outbreak: of the six people who have died from the disease in Africa's most populous nation, two have been doctors and two others nurses.

Another doctor and a pharmacist were put into isolation at a unit outside Port Harcourt, Parker said.

The Nigerian health officials meeting Monday are not the only ones in the region struggling with the problem of how to treat victims of the deadly virus while protecting those treating them.

The World Health Organization has voiced concern about the "unprecedented" number of healthcare workers hit by the Ebola outbreak. More than 120 health workers have died and over 240 others infected so far.

The disease has killed a total of 1,552 people and infected 3,062 as of August 26, according to WHO figures.

In Guinea, where 430 people have died, nurses told AFP they lacked basic medical equipment to treat patients and had even bought items such as gloves and protective clothing themselves.

- Travel restrictions -

In Senegal, doctors were treating a young Guinean man who became the country's first confirmed case of the disease. He was said to be in a "satisfactory" condition in hospital on Saturday.

The case lends credence to fears that the haemorrhagic fever, for which there is currently no vaccine, is spreading rapidly.

Stockholm authorities on Sunday said a suspected case of Ebola had been discovered in the Swedish capital. A local health specialist told AFP the patient was from an African country and had arrived in Sweden a few days ago.

At current infection rates, the WHO fears it could take six to nine months and at least $490 million (373 million euros) to bring under control, by which time over 20,000 people could be affected.

In Liberia, which has been hardest-hit by the outbreak with 694 deaths, the government has denied permission for any crew to disembark from ships docking at any of the country's four ports.

Medical screening of passengers was also causing long delays at Monrovia's international airport, but a 21-day quarantine thrown around the city's West Point neighbourhood was lifted on Saturday.

Air travel to west Africa has been badly hit by the disease. Eight of the 11 international airlines serving Monrovia have suspended flights, including British Airways and Air France.

The WHO and the west African regional bloc ECOWAS have both called for travel bans to be lifted, saying medical screening should identify at-risk passengers instead.

- Football qualifiers -

The Ebola crisis has also cast doubt over a number of international football fixtures involving the worst-hit countries, with qualifying beginning next week for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Sierra Leone, where 422 people have died so far, named a 20-man squad consisting entirely of foreign-based players for its matches against Ivory Coast and the DR Congo.

Ivory Coast's government has refused to allow the game to be played in Abidjan and not announced an alternative venue. The Ivorians risk forfeiting the match if they fail to show up.

Ebola-linked restrictions have led to sporadic violence in recent weeks. In Guinea, 55 people were injured in the second-largest city N'Zerekore after two days of protests this week over a government-imposed curfew.

The WHO has credited public health campaigns, especially in Guinea and Nigeria, for limiting the transmission of Ebola.

Guinea-Bissau, currently Ebola-free, on Saturday announced a national hygiene drive, with the cleaning and disinfection of public places on the last Saturday of every month.

Nigeria, however, has seen its hopes of containing the virus dashed with the outbreak in its oil-producing hub, 435 kilometres (270 miles) east of Lagos.

The city is home to a number of global oil and gas majors. Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and France's Total said this week that the arrival of Ebola has not affected operations.

Chevron said it, too, was closely monitoring developments and implementing "precautionary measures" for its work force.

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Beijing (AFP) - Growth in Chinese manufacturing activity slowed in August, two closely watched surveys showed Monday, losing momentum as a declining property sector and waning stimulus effects weigh on the world's second-largest economy. 

The official purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 51.1 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

The figure was down from 51.7 in July, and the first decline since slipping to 50.2 in February, according to previous data. Readings above 50 indicate growth, while anything below points to contraction.

Separately, British bank HSBC announced a fall in its own survey to a final reading of 50.2 for August, down from an 18-month high of 51.7 in July and its lowest level in three months.

The indices track manufacturing activity in China's factories and workshops and are closely watched indicators of the health of the economy.

The official August figure came in just above the median 51.0 forecast in a survey of 10 economists by Dow Jones Newswires. July's result had been the best since 53.3 in April 2012.

Analysts said the result indicated China's economic recovery was being stunted by problems in the property sector -- where new home prices posted their fourth consecutive month-on-month decline -- as well as the weakening impact of stimulus measures taken to boost growth.

"The weak PMI data suggest that China's shallow growth recovery has started to lose momentum, likely because of the ongoing property market correction and a decline in the efficacy of policy easing due to structural problems in the economy," economists at Nomura International said in a report.

- 'Downside risks' -

China's economic growth accelerated to a higher-than-expected 7.5 percent in the second quarter, up from 7.4 percent in the previous three months. That was the worst since a similar 7.4 percent expansion in July-September 2012.

Authorities have since April launched a series of measures to bolster growth, including tax breaks for small enterprises, targeted infrastructure outlays and incentives to encourage lending in rural areas and to small companies.

China in March set its annual growth target for this year at about 7.5 percent, the same as last year.

"We think the economy still faces considerable downside risks to growth in the second half of the year, which warrant further policy easing to ensure a steady growth recovery," Qu Hongbin, HSBC chief economist for China, said in the bank's announcement.

Economists have worried that a potential destructive bust in housing prices could dent economic hopes of China, a key driver of global and regional growth.

An independent survey of China's housing prices showed the fourth month-on-month fall in a row, but August's decline was slower than July's, as more local governments loosened purchasing restrictions to boost sales.

The average price of a new home in 100 major cities was 10,771 yuan ($1,752) per square metre last month, down 0.59 percent from July, the China Index Academy said.

Julien Evans-Pritchard, China economist with Capital Economics, warned against reading too much into the slowing PMI.

"The weakness should not be cause for significant concern since it reflects a welcome correction in sectors which have suffered from overinvestment," he said in a report.

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Tokyo (AFP) - The controversial six-month dolphin hunting season began on Monday in the infamous town of Taiji, but bad weather would delay any killing, a local official told AFP.

The annual catch, in which people from the southwestern town corral hundreds of dolphins into a secluded bay and butcher them, was thrust into the global spotlight in 2010 when it became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove".

"The dolphin hunting season started today and will last until the end of February," said an official of the Taiji fisheries association, adding the season for hunting pilot whales, which also begins today, will last until April.

But bad weather on Monday meant there would be no hunting on the day, he said.

Environmental campaigners are already in situ to watch the hunt, the official said.

Last season, activists from international environmental group Sea Shepherd, who call themselves "Cove Guardians", streamed live footage of the dolphin capture.

Earlier this year, the slaughter sparked renewed global criticism after US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy tweeted her concern at the "inhumaneness" of the hunt.

Defenders say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered, a position echoed by the Japanese government.

They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.

But critics of the practice say there is insufficient demand for the animals' meat, which in any case contains dangerous levels of mercury. 

They say the hunt is only profitable because of the high prices live dolphins can fetch when sold to aquariums and dolphin shows.

On Sunday around 30 people marched in Tokyo to protest the hunt, which they say sullies Japan's reputation abroad.

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Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Six people were arrested after football fans rioted and torched a police car in Malaysia before being dispersed by tear gas and baton-charges, an official said on Monday. 

Local media said about 2,000 people were involved in disturbances after Sarawak's team were knocked out of the Malaysia Cup when they drew 1-1 with rival state Perak.

Five policemen suffered minor injuries after stones and broken bottles were hurled at them, while some fans were also hurt and needed medical attention.

Sarawak FA president Sudarsono Osman told AFP that the incident, which lasted for about two hours late on Saturday, took place despite the presence of 400 police.

He said supporters in the eastern state were taking revenge for being targeted by Perak fans during last week's 2-0 away game.

"Only about 100 fans were directly involved in the incident. They were shouting and venting their anger outside the stadium. But there were a lot of local bystanders watching," he said.

"But their action to set fire a police car is way overboard... I feel disappointed with the supporters behaviour," added Sudarsono.

Sudarsono also said Sarawak were expecting punishment from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), the national governing body.

"Definitely, they will take action," he said. FAM and police officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Kiev (AFP) - Ukrainian troops on Monday were battling a Russian tank division in the eastern city of Lugansk, Kiev said, in its latest allegation of Moscow's direct involvement in the conflict.

"The battle between Ukrainian paratroopers and a reinforced tank battalion of the Russian armed forces is continuing with the goal of controlling the Lugansk airport," military spokesman Leonid Matyukhin wrote on his Facebook page.

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The Hague (AFP) - Dutch brewing giant Heineken on Monday announced selling Mexican-based packaging business Empaque to US-based Crown Holdings in a deal worth more than one billion dollars.

"Heineken... has signed a binding agreement for the sale of its Mexican package business Empaque. The total enterprise value of the transaction amounts to $1.225 billion (933 million euros), the brewer said in a statement.

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Good morning! Here's what people will about on Monday, also Labor Day in the United States.

1. In response to the killing of three Jewish teens in June, Israel said it has plans to takeover nearly 1,000 acres of land in the Palestinian-occupied West Bank. The move is believed to be the "largest seizure by Israel in 30 years," the BBC said. 

2. Police used pepper spray on pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong after China ruled on Sunday that it would not allow the open nomination of candidates to elect its new leader.

3. The European Union warned they will unleash more sanctions on Russia in the next week unless Moscow de-escalates its presence in eastern Ukraine. 

4. Iraqi forces announced Sunday that they have broken a more than month-long siege by ISIS militants on the northern Shiite Turkmen town of Amirli, the Associated Press reported. 

6. In Pakistan, protests against prime minister Nawaz Sharif have turned deadly. 

6. A Swedish man that may have been infected with the Ebola virus has been hospitalized in Stockholm. 

7. Nude photos of several celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, were leaked online in an alleged hack to Apple's iCloud. 

8. Texas Gov. Rick Perry's verified Twitter account posted an image Sunday night that mocked the district attorney at the center of his criminal indictment. Perry followed up with a post that said the tweet was "unauthorized."

9. A federal judge temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that "would likely have closed of all five abortion clinics in the state," Reuters reports. 

10. Cambridge University researchers said in a new study that we will be unable to stop climate change unless we start eating less meat. 

And finally...

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Martha, the last known passenger pigeon. The species, once ubiquitous throughout North America, was hunted to extinction during the 19th century. 

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Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted Yaya Sanogo's struggles in front of goal are becoming an increasing problem, but refused to offer any guarantees he will delve into the transfer market for a new striker. 

Sanogo, yet to score in any of his 17 competitive outings since his arrival from Auxerre last year following Sunday's 1-1 draw with Leicester, provided little evidence to suggest he is a ready-made replacement for the injured Olivier Giroud.

"When you are 21 and play up front and don't score it is very quickly a problem," said Wenger.

"I don't think that problem will last very long but when you have the chance to play for Arsenal and you don't score it is a problem.

"He tried very hard. You can say he didn't score, yes. Is it on his mind? Of course. He is a striker and scored many goals as a young player."

One potential solution is no longer available after Loic Remy completed a switch to rivals Chelsea from QPR on Sunday.

But Wenger has refused to raise hopes that he is about to repeat last year's significant spending on deadline-day, when Mesut Ozil was recruited for £42.5 million (53.7m euros, $70.5m).

"The solution (for the fans) every time you don't win a game is to buy somebody," he said. "They have to trust us to buy the best possible solution.

"Why did Manchester city not beat Stoke? They have plenty of strikers. Football is a team sport, not an individual one.

"I don't like to promise what 100 percent doesn't only depend on me. We can talk and talk. Even if we sign someone or not could we win today (Sunday) without anybody? Yes."

Within two minutes Leonardo Ulloa cancelled out Alexis Sanchez's first Barclays Premier League goal and the Foxes were good value for their point on what proved a frustrating afternoon for Wenger, whose side remain unbeaten on five points but lost ground at the top of the table.

Allowed time and space by his marker Laurent Koscielny -- still rattled by a heavy aerial collision with Jeffrey Schlupp shortly before which had required the all clear from the club doctor for him to continue -- Ulloa could pick his spot, heading inside the left post.

"If he wasn't injured, we wouldn't have conceded the goal," Wenger said. "I was told he could come back on but, after that, he asked to come off. He was not concussed but there was an open wound on top of the head."

Foxes manager Nigel Pearson insisted there still more to come from his team, but is satisfied with their start after picking up points against the Gunners and Everton either side of a defeat to Chelsea.

"It's frustrating for us to have not won a game yet but I have seen encouraging signs," Pearson said. "We created a number of good opportunities again and we have been putting out opponents under pressure.

"I think we have played better, but we showed flashes. You can't go into the Premier League being tight all the time, you have to create opportunities."

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London (AFP) - Manchester United signed Netherlands star Daley Blind from Ajax for £14 million ($23 million, 17 million euros) and moved closer to a loan swoop for Monaco's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao as the transfer deadline loomed closer for England's Premier League clubs on Monday.

According to widespread reports in the British media, United have agreed a season-long loan move for 28-year-old Falcao for a fee of around 10 million euros ($13.1 million).

Sources at Monaco told AFP that United would then have the option of making the deal permanent for a fee of around 55 million euros ($72 million).

Falcao, who missed the World Cup with a serious knee injury, was reported to have arrived at United's training ground for a medical on Monday, with the deadline due to fall at 2200GMT.

United had already paid a British-record £59.7 million ($98 million, 75 million euros) to sign Angel di Maria from Real Madrid last week and their spending spree continued with the capture of Blind, who can play in defence or midfield and starred as the Netherlands reached the World Cup semi-finals under new Old Trafford manager Louis van Gaal.

"It is a real honour to sign for Manchester United," said Blind, who is the son of former Netherlands and Ajax star Danny Blind.

"Louis van Gaal is a tremendously talented coach, I have worked with him at Ajax and also for the Netherlands national team and I cannot wait to work with him at the biggest club in the world."

The deals for Falcao and Blind are expected to take United's close-season spending to around £150 million as the 20-time English champions look to rebuild following a disappointing seventh-place finish last season.

With Falcao in line to form a star-studded attack at Old Trafford alongside Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez was allowed to leave the club in a loan move to Real Madrid.

The Mexico striker, nicknamed 'Chicharito' ('Little Pea'), scored 59 goals in 154 appearances for United after arriving from Guadalajara in 2010, but never managed to hold down a first-team place.

Danny Welbeck looks to be another striker on the way out of Old Trafford, with Arsenal reported to have agreed a fee for the 23-year-old England international.

- Hull break transfer record -

Hull City broke their transfer record to sign Uruguay striker Abel Hernandez from Italian side Palermo for a fee thought to be around £9.5 million.

The 24-year-old has signed a three-year contract with an option for a further year and will plug the gap left by Shane Long's departure for Southampton

Hernandez was followed into the KC Stadium by West Ham's Senegal midfielder Mohamed Diame, who made a £3.5 million switch after signing a three-year contract.

Tottenham Hotspur bolstered their ranks by signing France Under-21 international midfielder Benjamin Stambouli from Montpellier for around £4.7 million.

Promoted Burnley, meanwhile, signed Scottish forward George Boyd from Hull for a reported fee of £3 million and took promising English midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah on loan from Chelsea until January.

Another player leaving Chelsea on loan was Dutch midfielder Marco van Ginkel, who has followed Fernando Torres to AC Milan, while Morocco midfielder Karim El Ahmadi left Aston Villa for Feyenoord on a three-year deal.

Arsenal's Japan midfielder Ryo Miyaichi joined Dutch side FC Twente on loan for the rest of the season on Monday.

Miyaichi has made only six appearances for Arsenal since joining the Premier League club in January 2011 and his move to Twente is the fourth loan spell of his Gunners career.

Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates joined Sunderland on a season-long loan, while the Black Cats also landed Inter Milan midfielder Ricardo Alvarez for the rest of the campaign.

Crystal Palace signed Scotland midfielder James McArthur from Wigan for an undisclosed fee believed to be a club record.

The 26-year-old was joined at Palace by Tottenham defender Zeki Fryers, with both players agreeing three-year contracts.

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Apple products are designed to “just work.” But iCloud, Apple’s integrated internet-based service for synchronizing content across devices, is an uncharacteristic wreck — and has been for awhile. 

Millions of people are learning about iCloud after a 4chan user hacked several prominent actresses’ phones and posted hundreds of private photos online this weekend. 

Thing is, that particular hack was allegedly the work of several hackers over several months — though they didn't admit to how they pulled off this photo heist, it's believed to be the result of an exploit in the Find My iPhone API, which allowed hackers to repeatedly try different passwords without getting locked out. Apple patched that exploit Monday morning.

What might irk some users is that at least one of the actresses said she deleted her photos prior to this leak. It’s possible she did delete those pictures locally on her device, but not in iCloud. Remembering to delete both copies (locally, and in iCloud) is one common usability issue that could be simplified in the future, but it’s also possible this was a case of mishandled user data, where a deleted photo could still be found on another synched device. This is actually another common complaint among users.  

There are plenty of long-winded grievances about iCloud on Apple's support forums, with tales about data loss and corrupted files after syncing and kids accidentally discovering their parents' plans to wear Santa Claus outfits and much more. This particular piece from The Verge was written a year and a half ago, and astoundingly, the vast majority of its criticisms still apply today.

Here’s the thing: Apple can fix its cloud right now. 

Let’s start with the price. Apple is and will always be “high-end,” but 5 GB of iCloud storage on a mobile device is a pretty tame offering, to say the least. Google and Microsoft both offer 15 GB to start. 

If you want another 10 GB of space, Apple wants you to pay an extra $20 a year; for $8 less, Google will give you 10x the storage for the year. 

Apple should double the starting storage for users and reduce the penalty to pay for more iCloud storage. But more importantly, Apple needs to address the quirks of synchronization — sometimes you don't want to sync information to all your devices, and syncing becomes problematic when devices disconnect and reconnect to the internet after awhile (Handoff in iOS 8 will help with this).

But perhaps above all, iCloud needs to learn how to play nicer with other devices in general.

Obviously, being closed-off is a hallmark of Apple products, but Google and Amazon are dominating the cloud space right now, while Apple is missing out on a potential revenue stream since it could allow developers to rent server space or store or process data in those servers, but simply decides not to do that.

But even if Apple didn't open up its data centers, it could still teach iCloud to work better with non-Apple devices and be a true cloud — currently, it's more like a small playground for Apple stuff that's not as useful or practical as it could be.

As ReadWrite’s Jodi Mardesich points out, if you’re a developer and you want to offer your app on more than one App Store, iCloud is little more than “a backstop service they can integrate into apps — if they dare. It can provide cloud storage for apps — a place to stash saved games or documents, for instance, but [even] that can be problematic.”

Javier Soltero, cofounder and CEO of the email app Acompli, told ReadWrite “if you even have the slightest intention of creating a cross-platform tool, iCloud doesn’t make sense.”

So Apple can address the small kinks in the armor — the synching issues, the backend errors, and the bugs along the way — but the company should think bigger in terms of upgrading the platform as a whole. Now is a great time to reassess iCloud's usefulness, particularly with so much new Apple hardware right around the corner.

It's too closed-off and inconsistent right now — iOS 8 will be a big step in the right direction thanks to Handoff, which will hopefully fix some of the synching problems between Apple products, one of the most common complaints. But iCloud could be much more functional and easier to use, and a more reasonable storage option for developers and end users alike. Let's hope someone says "iCloud" more than once or twice on stage come Sept. 9. 

SEE ALSO: Why Apple Should Delay The iWatch To 2015 — Summed Up In One Word

SEE ALSO: Why Mobile Payments, Not A Bigger Screen, Will Be The Defining Feature Of The iPhone 6

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London (AFP) - Manchester United have completed the shock signing of Colombia striker Radamel Falcao from Monaco on a season-long loan, the Premier League giants announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"MUFC is delighted to announce Radamel Falcao has joined on a 1-year loan from Monaco with an option to buy," United announced on their Twitter account, alongside a picture of the player posing with a club shirt.

United have reportedly paid Monaco around 10 million euros ($13.1 million) to secure Falcao's services for the season, with an option to make the deal permanent for 55 million euros.

The prolific 28-year-old forward, who missed the World Cup due to a serious knee injury, flew into Manchester to complete a medical examination hours before the transfer window closed on Monday evening.

"I am delighted to be joining Manchester United on loan this season," Falcao said in a statement on the United website.

"Manchester United is the biggest club in the world and is clearly determined to get back to the top.

"I am looking forward to working with (manager) Louis van Gaal and contributing to the team's success at this very exciting period in the club's history."

United had earlier announced the arrival of versatile Netherlands international Daley Blind from Ajax in a deal reportedly worth around £14 million ($23 million, 17 million euros).

They have also sold England forward Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for around £16 million and allowed Mexican striker Javier Hernandez to join Real Madrid on a season-long loan with an option to buy.

Falcao, who has scored 20 goals in 51 appearances for Colombia, has scored two goals in three matches for Monaco this season after making his comeback from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

He will hope to win a place in United's attack alongside Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, leaving Van Gaal with a rich pool of striking talent at his disposal.

Van Gaal described Falcao as "one of the most prolific goalscorers in the game".

He added: "His appearance-to-goal ratio speaks for itself and, when a player of this calibre becomes available, it is an opportunity not to be missed."

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Tlajomulco (Mexico) (AFP) - Fishermen used shovels, wheel-carts and trucks in western Mexico to pull tons of dead fish out of a lagoon that has been the scene of four fish kills this year.

Authorities are investigating whether negligence at wastewater treatment plants was to blame after millions of fresh water fish locally known as "popocha" began to float up in the Cajititlan lagoon last week.

Some 130 fishermen from the town of Tlajomulco continued to pull dead fish out of the water on Monday and buried them in pits, removing some 53 tons so far, according to the Jalisco state environment agency.

"We don't want this problem to worsen because we would end up in the street," said Rigoberto Diaz, a local fisherman who fears that other species such as tilapia, which unlike popocha is edible, will die too.

Fellow fisherman Mauro Hernan echoed concerns that authorities have yet to confirm the cause of the die-off.

"We were told that the state government will support us. We don't know when we will be able to fish again," Hernan said.

Jalisco state environment secretary Magdalena Ruiz said it was the fourth unexplained fish kill at the same lagoon this year.

"You can't deny that there's a contamination" due to suspected negligence at wastewater treatment plants, she said Monday.

Authorities are conducting tests on the dead fish while state environmental prosecutors are investigating local wastewater treatment plants.

Ruiz Mejia had said Sunday that such deaths were "more and more" frequent due to "bad management of the body of water." 

The Tlajomulco municipality, however, said the deaths were due to a cyclical change in water temperature that caused oxygen to drop.

The local fishermen agree with town officials, saying that other fish species would have been killed if it was a case of contamination.

In a separate incident in July 2013, some 500 tonnes of fish died in a Jalisco reservoir after a company that made food for livestock without a permit dumped huge amounts of molasses into the water.

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Washington (AFP) - US military forces carried out an operation against Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants in Somalia, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

"We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate," he added in a statement.

There were no further details immediately available.

It come a day after Shebab rebels carried out a car bomb and gun attack against an intelligence headquarters in central Mogadishu, leaving at least seven militants and five others dead.

Shebab rebels have targeted key areas of the Somali government or the security forces in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities -- who are backed by the African Union's 22,000-strong AMISOM force -- that they are winning the war against the Islamist fighters.

The Shebab are fighting to topple Somalia's internationally-backed government, and regularly launch attacks against state targets, as well as in neighboring countries that contribute to the AU force.

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