News in pictures: Amazon creates thousands of jobs in India, Airbus probe, Germany debt, gut microbe and cancer, 'whole system raped Hathras victim', UK economy...

FRENCH PROBE INTO A380 ENGINE BLOWOUT: A three-year French investigation into a near-catastrophic Airbus SE A380 engine blowout over Greenland found hidden weaknesses in the structure of a widely used metal alloy, with safety implications for plane equipment worldwide. Microscopic cracks beneath the surface of a titanium alloy caused one engine on an Air France superjumbo to break apart during a flight between Paris and Los Angeles on Sept. 30, 2017, France's air-crash authority, Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, said in a presentation of the accident report on Tuesday. https://gulfnews.com/business

MERKEL CALLS FOR GERMANY TO UNWIND DEBT SPENDING: Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Germany will return to normal spending levels as soon as possible as she defended the country's unprecedented borrowing to overcome the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. After years of balanced budgets, Germany reduced debt levels to the lowest among major industrialized countries, and "that puts us in the position to react strongly," Merkel told lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday. "I think we can be proud of that." https://gulfnews.com/world/europe

AMAZON CREATES OVER 1 LAKH JOBS IN INDIA: Amazon India on Wednesday said that it has created more than 1 lakh (100,000) seasonal job opportunities across its operations network in the country ahead of the festive season. The new associates will join Amazon's existing network of associates and support them to pick, pack, ship and deliver customers' orders safely and efficiently, the company said in a statement. https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india

GUT MICROBIOME AND CANCER THERAPIES: A new study from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University illustrates how the gut microbiome interacts with oral medication in prostate cancer patients, suggesting bacteria in the gut play a role in treatment outcomes. The findings, published in Nature Communications, highlight how the drug abiraterone acetate is metabolized by bacteria in the gut to reduce harmful organisms while promoting those that fight cancer. The team suspects this is one of many examples of how the microbiome influences our response to medications. "Research is beginning to uncover the ways in which the human microbiome influences cancer development, progression and treatment," said Brendan Daisley, a PhD candidate at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry who is conducting research at Lawson. https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/health-fitness

WHOLE SYSTEM RAPED HATHRAS VICTIM, SAYS ARVIND KEJRIWAL: The whole system raped Hathras victim, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday after the administration in Uttar Pradesh allegedly forced victim's family to take the body to the cremation ground for last rites. "Hathras victim was first raped by the accused and yesterday raped by the whole system. The entire episode is painful," Kejriwal tweeted. The 19-year-old died in Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday, after she was gang-raped in Hathras a fortnight ago. The victim was brought to Safdarjung Hospital on Monday from Aligarh Muslim University Medical College. Last rites of Hathras gang-rape victim was performed at her native place here in the wee hours of Wednesday. https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india

UK ECONOMY SHRINKS 19.8%: Britain's economy shrank by a record 19.8 percent in the second quarter, entering recession on the coronavirus lockdown, but the contraction was less severe than first thought, official data showed Wednesday. "UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have contracted by 19.8 percent in Quarter 2 (April to June) 2020, revised from the initial estimate of a 20.4-percent fall," the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. As the Covid-19 pandemic raged, Britain officially entered recession in the second quarter, after gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a downwardly-revised 2.5 percent in the first quarter. https://gulfnews.com/business

BELGIUM TO FORM GOVERNMENT: Belgian political leaders were to announce on Wednesday the formation of a new seven-party coalition government, after 21 months with no ruling majority. Some 493 days after inconclusive federal elections, and on the day when Belgium's reported coronavirus death toll passed 10,000, pre-dawn talks finally bore fruit. A source close to the negotiations confirmed to AFP that the new coalition and the name of the next prime minister would be announced during the day. https://gulfnews.com/world/europe

JAPAN 'TWITTER KILLER': A Japanese man dubbed the "Twitter killer" for luring his victims on social media admitted in court Wednesday to killing nine people, local media said. But lawyers for Takahiro Shiraishi, 29, argued the charges should be reduced because the victims - who had expressed suicidal thoughts - gave their consent to be killed. Shiraishi, who is also accused of dismembering his victims and storing body parts in coolboxes, did not contest nine counts of murder, saying they "are all correct", public broadcaster NHK reported. https://gulfnews.com/world/asia

GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS CASES CROSS 33.52 MILLION: More than 33.52 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,002,898 have died, according to a Reuters tally published on Wednesday. According to the census, the United States topped the list with 7,176,155 cases and 205,132 deaths; followed by India with 6,225,763 cases and 97,497 deaths; then Brazil with 4,745,464 cases and 142,058 deaths; and Russia with 1,159,573 cases and 20,385 deaths. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. https://gulfnews.com/world/coronavirus

SHEIKH ZAYED BOOK AWARD: The Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced that it has so far received 1,616 submissions for its 15th edition since the call for submissions commenced on 1st June this year. The 'Young Author' category has seen the highest number of submissions, with a rate of 29.34 percent, while 'Literature' has received 27.02 per cent of the submissions. Submissions for the 15th edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award remain open until 1st October. The award's Reading Panel Committee has held 21 virtual meetings since the beginning of August, to review and study the submissions for the current edition and assess the extent to which the general conditions for submission have been met. https://gulfnews.com/uae