Austria's conservatives and the  far-right agreed a coalition deal today, two months after  elections that saw the Alpine country move to the right and  capping a year of successes for Europe's nationalists.
The accord between Sebastian Kurz's People's Party (OeVP)  and the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe) announced today  will see Kurz, 31, become chancellor and also the world's  youngest leader.
"We are happy that we have reached this agreement.  Tomorrow (Saturday) we will inform the president about our  programme and our team," Kurz, foreign minister in the  outgoing government, told reporters in Vienna.
"Voters gave us a clear mandate to take into account  their concerns, particularly when it comes their security,"  FPOe chief Heinz-Christian Strache told the same news  conference.
The OeVP came first in the October 15 vote with 31.5 per  cent after Kurz, nicknamed "wunderwuzzi" ("whizz-kid"),  rebranded the staid party as his own personal "movement",  promising to get tough 

'Whizz-kid' forms right-wing Austrian government

PTI Automatic

A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake  rocked Indonesia's main island of Java, leaving at least one  person dead and rattling nerves in the capital Jakarta.
There was no immediate indication of a tsunami, but  authorities said they had issued a warning following the  tremor, which struck a coastal region some 300 kilometres from  the capital late yesterday.
National disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo  Purwo Nugroho said a 62-year-old had died in the Ciamis region  in West Java after becoming trapped in a collapsed house.
At least five other people were reported injured across  the island as authorities continued to assess the damage from  the quake, which hit just before midnight local time (1700  GMT).
The 6.5-magnitude tremor was measured at a depth of 91  kilometres and struck less than a kilometre (mile) east-  southeast of the coastal town of Cipatujah, the US Geological  Survey said.
The earthquake was felt across the island.
Jakarta resident Web Warouw was on the 18th ...

6.5 magnitude quake strikes Indonesia's Java island

Dutch military police today  shot and wounded a man armed with a knife, who burst into  their office at Amsterdam's busy Schiphol airport, police  said.
"This afternoon a man came into the office of the  Marechaussee (military police) here at Schiphol and threatened  my colleagues with a knife," said police spokesman Dennis  Muller.
"He was shot in the leg and taken to hospital in  Amsterdam."
The incident triggered panic on the airport's vast  plaza, which is criss-crossed by thousands of people every day  making their way to and from the departures and arrivals  halls.
A worker at a fast food shop told AFP she saw a man  "waving a knife around" before hearing a single shot.
"It was a scary thing to see him waving his knife  around," said the worker, who refused to be identified.
Schiphol airport is one of Europe's top five busiest  air hubs, handling a record 63.6 million passengers in 2016,  up from 58 million in 2015.
Muller told AFP the military police did not know the  man or ...

Dutch police open fire on man with knife at Schiphol airport

Saudi-led air strikes have killed 28  Huthi rebels around Yemen's west coast, medics and security  sources close to the insurgents said today, as government  forces reported deadly clashes in the south.
The security sources said air strikes yesterday and today  hit five towns controlled by the Huthis around 70 kilometres  (45 miles) south of Hodeida.
Medical sources said 28 Huthis were killed and 17 wounded  in the attacks.
Yemeni government forces retook Beihan district in Shabwa  province from the Huthis, their last stronghold in the oil-  rich southern province, a senior officer said today.
The capture of Beihan came during clashes that killed 14  rebels and nine pro-government troops, the officer said.
There has been no let-up in the air campaign against the  rebels that a Saudi-led coalition has been waging since March  2015.
The air strikes have intensified since the December 4  killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the  Huthis after his alliance with the ...

Strikes, clashes kill 51 in Yemen

A third Palestinian was killed by  Israeli fire today, the health ministry in Ramallah said,  after a man was shot dead in clashes northeast of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian ministry said Bassel Ibrahim, 24, was  shot dead by Israeli forces in Anata, a town between the West  Bank and Jerusalem, in protests against Washington's  recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Earlier, two Palestinians died in clashes along the Gaza  border, with seven killed in total since Trump's shock  announcement last week.

Third Palestinian shot dead in clashes northeast of Jerusalem:

The decision by US President  Donald Trump to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel is a  "bomb" thrown at the entire Middle East, Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today.
Erdogan, who has sought to steer often disunited Muslim  nations into a coordinated response on the issue, said Muslims  would never accept the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital  of Israel.
The US step is a "new bomb thrown into the lap of the  Middle East," Erdogan said in an address marking the opening  of a new metro line in Istanbul.
Reaffirming his past accusations that Israel is a "terror  state" because of its treatment of the Palestinians, Erdogan  added: "Trying to make Jerusalem capital of a terror state is  not a situation that can be accepted by Muslims."
On Wednesday, Erdogan chaired a summit of the  Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) where leaders  declared East Jerusalem - which most countries consider to be  under Israeli occupation - to be the capital of a Palestinian  ...

US recognition of Jerusalem a 'bomb' in the Mideast: Erdogan

For the first time, SpaceX today  launched both a rocket and a cargo ship that have flown  before, a step forward in the company's goal to lower the cost  of spaceflight.
After the launch the California-based company headed by  Internet tycoon Elon Musk landed its rocket booster upright on  solid ground at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX has now managed to return 20 of its rocket  boosters after launch, whether on land or on a floating ocean  platform, as part of its effort to re-use instead of jettison  costly rocket components.
"That marks the second successful visit to and from space  for this particular booster," said a SpaceX commentator, as  live images showed the tall portion of the rocket glide down,  upright, from the air to the launchpad.
The recycled Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket  blasted off at 10:36 am (local time).
Three minutes later, the booster and second stage of the  rocket separated, as SpaceX's webcast showed the two  components making an arc away from ...

In first, SpaceX launches recycled rocket and spaceship

The Belgian trial of Paris attacks  suspect Salah Abdeslam, which was scheduled to begin on Monday  in Brussels, has been delayed, the court said today.
Abdeslam, the sole surviving suspect of the November 2015  Paris attacks, was due to go on trial over a shooting in the  Belgian capital that led to his capture.
But the court said it agreed to set a new date at  Monday's hearing following an application by Abdeslam's lawyer  Sven Mary.
Abdeslam and Sofian Ayari, also implicated in the  shootout, were set to stand trial on charges of "attempting to  murder several police officers in a terrorist context" and  "carrying prohibited weapons in a terrorist context".
Both Abdeslam and Ayari were captured days after the  March 15, 2016 shootout, ending a four-month manhunt for  Abdeslam for his alleged role in the Paris attacks that left  130 people dead and hundreds wounded.
Abdeslam, 28, is linked to the same cell that carried out  suicide bombings in Brussels a week after the gun battle.  

Belgian trial delayed for Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam:court

More than half of the Syrian  refugees in Lebanon are now living in extreme poverty, and the  vast majority live below the poverty line, the UN's refugee  agency said today.
According to the UN, more than a million Syrians have  sought refuge in Lebanon since the war in their country  erupted after anti-government protests in March 2011.
The massive influx has tested Lebanon, a country of just  four million citizens that already struggled with  overstretched resources before the arrival of Syrian refugees.
Over the last six years of the war, the refugee  population has sunk further into debt and poverty, UNHCR said,  with 58 per cent of households now living in extreme poverty,  defined as less than USD 2.87 per person a day.
That is an increase of five percent since last year,  UNHCR said in an annual survey.
The survey found 76 per cent of refugees were living  below the poverty line, defined as less than USD 3.84 per  person a day, and that nearly 90 per cent of refugees were in  ..

Over half Syrian refugees in Lebanon in 'extreme poverty': UN

Saudi-led air strikes have killed 28  Huthi rebels south of the port of Hodeida on Yemen's west  coast, medics and security sources close to the insurgents  said today.
The reports came as the UN refugee agency UNHCR warned of  a new displacement of civilians in the area.
The security sources said the air strikes yesterday and  today hit five towns controlled by the Huthis around 70  kilometres (45 miles) south of Hodeida.
Medical sources said 28 Huthis were killed and 17 others  wounded in the strikes.
There has been no let-up in the air campaign against the  rebels that a Saudi-led coalition has been waging since March  2015.
The air strikes have intensified since the December 4  killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the  Huthis after his alliance with the rebels collapsed.
At the same time forces of the Saudi-backed Yemeni  government have stepped up attacks on the rebels and last week  retook the Red Sea town of Khokha from the Huthis.
The security sources ...

Strikes kill 28 Yemen rebels: security sources, medics

US President Donald Trump today  criticised Russia for not doing enough to pressure North Korea  to halt its nuclear weapons programme.
"China is helping, Russia is not helping. We would like  to have Russia's help," he told reporters outside the White  House.
Trump said he had mainly discussed the North Korea issue  with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call  yesterday.
"He said very nice things about what I have done for the  country in terms of the economy, and he said also some  negative things in terms of what is going on elsewhere."
"But the primary point was to talk about North Korea,  because we would love to have his help on North Korea."
Today, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is to address  the UN Security Council how to deal with North Korea's nuclear  weapons and long-range missile tests.

Trump: Russia not helping on North Korea

The UN today harshly criticised the  mass-hanging of 38 men at a prison in southern Iraq this week,  urging Baghdad to immediately halt all executions.
Iraq yesterday hanged 38 jihadists belonging to the  Islamic State group or Al-Qaeda for terrorism offences at a  prison in the southern city of Nasiriyah, according to  provincial authorities.
It was the largest number of executions in Iraq on a  single day since September 25, when 42 people were put to  death in the same prison.
"We are deeply shocked and appalled at the mass execution  on Thursday," United Nations human rights office spokeswoman  Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva.
The hangings, she warned, "once again raises huge  concerns about the use of the death penalty in the country".
The UN had determined that all of the 38 executed  prisoners were men and had been convicted for terrorism-  related crimes, but could say nothing more about their  identities, she said.
A prison source however told AFP that they were all  ..

UN 'shocked and appalled' at mass-execution in Iraq

Thousands of Palestinians took  part in fresh protests today against Washington's  controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital,  but a week on there is no sign of a threatened new intifada.
US President Donald Trump's December 6 announcement that  he would break with decades of American policy and move his  embassy to Jerusalem has stirred international condemnation,  as well as protests across the Palestinian territories and  Arab world.
Four Palestinians have been killed, with more than 1000  wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Protesters have burned American and Israeli flags and  trampled on pictures of Trump. But concerns that the decision  would lead to a major wave of bloodshed have as yet not  materialised.
Protests broke out across the Palestinian territories for  the second Friday in a row after the end of weekly Muslim  prayers, often a catalyst for clashes between young  Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
In Gaza, the strip's Islamist ...

Fresh Palestinian protests against Trump Jerusalem decision

FIFA handed Brazilian football  confederation (CBF) president Marco Polo Del Nero a 90-day  provisional ban from all football activities today.
The 76-year-old, a former member of the FIFA Council, is  the latest prominent South American official to be banned by  the sport's governing body as part of its investigation into a  vast corruption scandal.
Del Nero was indicted on corruption charges in the United  States in December 2015 and has faced numerous calls,  including from Brazilian greats Pele and Zico, to step down.
"Mr Polo Del Nero is banned from all football activities  at both national and international level," FIFA said in a  statement. "The ban comes into force immediately."
FIFA added that Del Nero's ban could be extended by up to  45 days while the ethics committee completes its  investigation.
Del Nero's predecessor at the CBF, Jose Maria Marin, has  been on trial in New York since November alongside Paraguayan  former CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout and ...

Brazilian football chief Del Nero given 90-day FIFA ban

England's Jonny Bairstow played down  his "light-hearted" celebration today after he welcomed his  Ashes century by mimicking a headbutt -- a reference to a  controversy which threatened to overshadow his series.
Bairstow took off his helmet and knocked it against his  head several times after he reached three figures in Perth to  bolster England's first innings of 403.
The 28-year-old, who scored 119, found himself in the  firing line earlier in the series after it came to light that  he had greeted Australia's Cameron Bancroft by bumping heads  in a Perth bar.
"It was a bit of light-hearted fun with everything that  has gone on and that is exactly how it should be taken," he  said, referring to Friday's celebration.
Bairstow was left beaming by his first Ashes century,  which came at a vital time as England fight to stay in the  series after losing the first two Tests.
"The hundred in many ways was my favourite one, it meant  a huge amount," he said.
"I have played in a few Ashes ...

Bairstow plays down headbutt celebration

European Union leaders agreed  today to open crucial talks on a future relationship with  Britain but warned they would be even tougher than the first  tortuous phase of negotiations.
EU President Donald Tusk said the bloc would open  "exploratory contacts" with London after European leaders  endorsed an interim deal on the terms of Britain's divorce,  and approved the next stage of discussions.
However, they agreed that while talks will begin in  January on a post-Brexit transition period of around two  years, actual negotiations on future trade ties would not  start until March.
"It is now time for internal EU 27 preparations and  exploratory contacts with the UK to get more clarity on their  vision," Tusk told reporters at the end of the summit.
He congratulated British Prime Minister Theresa May --  who had left the summit late yesterday -- on the deal, and in  return she offered her thanks to him and European Commission  President Jean-Claude Juncker.
"Today is an important step .

EU opens next phase of Brexit, warns of tough talks ahead

French authorities were  investigating today how a train was able to smash into a  school bus, killing six children and ripping their vehicle in  half in an accident that has stunned the local community.
Four teenagers died on Thursday in the collision at a  level crossing in the village of Millas near the southern city  of Perpignan, with the toll rising today when two 11-year-old  girls succumbed to their injuries.
Fourteen other children were injured when the bus was  torn in two and the train pulled off its rails, in the worst  accident involving a school bus in France for three decades.
Investigators only finished identifying the dead  teenagers overnight due to the severity of their injuries,  with the mayor of the neighbouring village describing the  scene as "a vision of horror".
The accident site was sealed off as police examined  whether a technical or human error was to blame.
It has not been confirmed whether the automatic barriers  were open at the time of the crash, ...

France stunned by deadly school bus crash

EU leaders formally agreed today  to open crucial talks on a future relationship with Britain  but warned they would be even tougher than the first torturous  phase of negotiations.
A day after applauding British Prime Minister Theresa May  at a summit in Brussels for the progress made so far, her 27  counterparts endorsed an interim deal on the terms of  Britain's divorce from the European Union.
But although discussions will begin in January on a post-  Brexit transition period of around two years, they stressed  that actual talks on future trade ties would not start until  March as they need more clarity on what Britain wants after it  leaves the bloc.
"EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase of  Brexit talks. Congratulations PM @theresa_may," EU President  Donald Tusk tweeted.
As he arrived for the meeting today, European Commission  President Jean-Claude Juncker -- who sealed the deal with May  on December 8 after tense all-night talks -- said the British  premier had ...

EU opens next Brexit phase with warning of troubles ahead

EU leaders today approved the  opening of the next stage of Brexit talks after reaching a  deal on divorce terms with Britain, EU President Donald Tusk  said.
"EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase of  Brexit talks. Congratulations PM @theresa_may", Tusk tweeted.

EU leaders approve start of next phase of Brexit talks: Tusk

Scoreboard at stumps on day two in  the third Ashes Test here today:
Australia first innings
Bancroft lbw b Overton 25
Warner c Bairstow b Overton 22
Khawaja lbw b Woakes 50
Smith not out 92
S. Marsh not out 7
Extras (b2, lb4, w1)
7
Total (for 3wkts; 62 overs)
203
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-55, 3-179.
Bowling: Anderson 14-6-31-0, Broad 12-2-50-0, Woakes 15-  3-42-1 (1w), Overton 10-1-46-2, Ali 11-3-28-0
England first innings
Cook lbw b Starc
7
Stoneman c Paine b Starc
56
Vince c Paine b Hazlewood
25
Root c Paine b Cummins
20
Malan c sub (Handscomb) b Lyon 140
Bairstow b Starc
119
Ali c Smith b Cummins
0
Woakes c Cummins b Hazlewood
8
Overton c Bancroft b Hazlewood
2
Broad c Bancroft b Starc
12
Anderson not out
0
Extras (b10, lb2, nb1, w1)
14
Total (all out; 115.1 overs)
403
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-89, 3-115, 4-131, 5-368, 6-372,  7-389, 8-389 , 9-393, 10-403.
Bowling: Starc 25.

Perth, Dec 15 (AFP) Scoreboard at stumps on day two in

Australian captain Steve Smith again  proved to be a major obstacle as England was not able to  capitalise on their overnight momentum on the second day of  the third Ashes Test in Perth today.
England first innings centurion Dawid Malan urged his  team to ramp up the pressure on the home side at the end of  the first day's play, but a late order collapse by the  visitors and the broad bat of Smith ensured the match was  evenly poised at the end of the second day.
At stumps Australia were 203 for three, with Smith on 92  and Shaun Marsh on seven, a deficit of 200 runs with seven  wickets in hand after dismissing England for 403.
The tourists appeared to miss a golden chance to remove  Marsh just before stumps, when the left-hander hit the ball  onto Mark Stoneman's foot at short leg and the fielder was  unable to cling onto the rebound as he and wicketkeeper Jonny  Bairstow both lunged at the catch.
England had looked set to post a massive score when they  were 368 for four with Malan 

AFP

AFP

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