President Donald Trump today  tried to stifle reports that he was on the verge of sacking or  forcing out his chief diplomat, Secretary of State Rex  Tillerson.
Tillerson is due to embark on a major European trip on  Monday but preparations have been clouded by anonymous White  House leaks suggesting he was to be replaced within weeks.
But Trump took to Twitter after lunch with Tillerson to  declare the speculation "FAKE NEWS!" -- just hours after the  secretary had brushed off the leaks as "laughable.

Trump seeks to quash Tillerson sacking rumour

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US Secretary of State Rex  Tillerson will meet his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister  Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of OSCE talks in Vienna next  week, a senior US official said today.
Tillerson is due in the Austrian capital for the 57-  member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's  24th Ministerial Council on December 7 and 8.
According to a senior official in Washington, speaking on  condition of anonymity, Tillerson and Lavrov could stage their  bilateral US-Russia meeting on Thursday.
Relations between Washington and Moscow are tense, amid  disagreements over Russia's interventions in Ukraine and Syria  and alleged illegal interference in US and European elections.
But the OSCE council will give the rivals a forum to  address the crisis in Ukraine, as world powers attempt to  negotiate terms for a UN force to protect OSCE peace monitors.

Tillerson to meet Lavrov in Vienna next week

Four men and one woman were  today charged in France over a brutal attack on a Jewish  family in a Paris suburb, judicial sources said.
One man of 50, reportedly already known to police, three  younger men and a 19-year-old woman allegedly took part in the  September 8 assault at Livry-Gargan, northeast of Paris.
The group are accused of armed robbery and extortion and  religiously-motivated assault.
After breaking into the home of 78-year-old Roger Pinto,  the group confined Pinto, the chairman of a local Jewish  association, and his wife and son. They were beaten and then  threatened with death.
The wife managed to free herself a few hours later.
During the attack, the gang reputedly told the family  "You're Jewish, so you have money," having discovered some  personal possessions indicating their faith.
After the attack, Interior Minister Gerard Collomb  blasted what he called a "hateful" assault which "appears to  be directly linked to the victims' religion."
Judicial sources said .

Five charged in France for attacking Jewish family

Nearly 1,300 Nigerian  migrants were brought home from Libya in November -- nearly  twice as many as in the previous month, the head of the  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said today.
"1,295 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya in  November after being stranded in the volatile North African  country en route (to) Europe," said Mustapha Maihaja.
Maihaja said his compatriots were sent back in batches  between November 6 and November 30, with the help of the  International Organisation for Migration and the European  Union.
He met some 150 as they touched down at Lagos airport  late yesterday.
Nigerians make up the majority of undocumented migrants  trying to make the treacherous crossing via the Mediterranean  Sea to Europe.
Repatriations of Nigerians from Libya began nearly a year  ago but numbers have increased in recent months.
In October, 826 were returned. Between December 2016 and  March 2017, there were a total of 643 returns.
African heads of state have in ...

Nearly 1,300 Nigerians repatriated from Libya in November

President Donald Trump's threat to pull  the US from a landmark nuclear deal reached with Iran in 2015  risks seriously undermining negotiations with countries like  North Korea, Russia said today.
"If the US drops out of the deal now, it won't be very  credible in the eyes of those we want to drop nuclear  programmes, like North Korea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergej  Lavrov said.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed two  years ago between Iran and six powers, including the United  States, under then-president Barack Obama.
But his successor, who came to power in January, has  labelled the agreement too lenient on Iran and accuses the  country of violating it, calling for a renegotiation.
"What kind of example is the leader of North Korea  getting?
"He will say, 'even if they give me a deal, what happens  when the next president comes to the White House'?" Lavrov  said at a conference in the Italian capital.
"I hope there will be no breach of the deal by anyone,"  he ...

US threat to Iran nuclear deal risks backfiring: Russia

South Sudan is joining the  Chemical Weapons Convention outlawing the use of toxic arms,  leaving only three nations which have not signed up to the  treaty, a global watchdog said today.
"South Sudan has no reason to sit on the fence," top  foreign ministry official Moses Akol Ajawin told the annual  meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical  Weapons (OPCW).
Juba has almost concluded the process to become the  body's "newest and youngest state party", he said, according  to a statement from the OPCW.
That leaves just Israel, Egypt and North Korea as the  only countries yet to join the arms treaty which came into  force in 1997.
"The images of victims of chemical weapons make us all  the more appreciative of the goals and objectives of OPCW,"  Ajawin said.
"As such, we, in South Sudan, would unreservedly like to  associate ourselves with the noble goals and objectives of  this great organisation."
The move was welcomed by OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu, who  said: "Today, ..

S Sudan to join Chemical Weapons Convention: watchdog

Nineteen prisoners, most  of them facing rape charges, escaped from a jail in eastern DR  Congo overnight, prompting fears of reprisals against their  victims, local sources said today.
The 19 broke out of a cell holding 20 inmates at a prison  in Kalehe, Gerard Nkwana, administrator for Kalehe, a mining  region located in South Kivu province, told AFP.
"Most of them are being prosecuted for rape and theft...  While prison guards were distracted, they dug a hole in the  rear wall to escape," he said.
Pascal Nabulera, head of a Kalehe community organisation,  said, "People appearing (in court) as plaintiffs and witnesses  are now at the mercy of these fugitives, who may take  revenge."
Poor, struggling with political and ethnic divisions as  well as conflict in its east, the Democratic Republic of Congo  faces deep problems in its judicial system.
In May, around 4,000 prisoners escaped from Makala prison  in Kinshasa, the capital, while 900 broke out from a jail in  Beni in North Kivu .

Suspected rapists in mass breakout from DR Congo jail

German police today found an  "explosive" containing nails close to a Christmas market in  Potsdam, reviving fears of a repeat of last year's terror  attack that struck at the height of the festive season.
The device was uncovered in a package found at a pharmacy  just off the Christmas market in central Potsdam, a  picturesque city near Berlin that was once a residence for the  kings of Prussia.
Police said a pharmacist had sounded the alert after  finding a canister with wires inside the package.
"Suspicions of an unconventional explosive device have  been confirmed," police in Brandenburg state said on Twitter.
"There were apparently not only nails but also powder in  the canister, and that must be investigated, could it be  plaster, or something that doesn't explode or is it something  explosive," said Brandenburg interior minister Karl-Heinz  Schroeter.
He added that investigators were unlikely to be able to  give "binding results" on the device today.
After clearing parts of the 

German police find 'explosive' near Potsdam Xmas market

US Secretary of State Rex  Tillerson today dismissed as "laughable" reports that  President Donald Trump wants him to resign.
The relationship between the president and his top  diplomat has been dogged for months by reports of a rift.
Yesterday, these came to a head when several US media  outlets citing White House sources predicted Tillerson's  resignation.
Asked by reporters whether leaks from the White House  were designed to force him out, Tillerson said: "It's  laughable."
The White House did little to downplay the reports, but a  State Department spokeswoman insisted Tillerson's position was  safe.
Today, Tillerson himself brushed off the challenge at a  photo call with Libya's Prime Minister Fayez Serraj.
Later, he was due to see Trump at the White House for  talks with Serraj and lunch with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Tillerson says reports Trump wants him out 'laughable'

Zimbabwe's new president, Emmerson  Mnangagwa, came under fire today for unveiling a debut cabinet  that named two military allies to top positions, reappointed  figures from Robert Mugabe's discredited era and sidelined the  opposition.
Mnangagwa gave key jobs to two top military officers,  including Sibusiso Moyo, a major general who on November 15  went on state TV to announce the military's takeover -- a  power grab which climaxed a week later when Mugabe quit the  presidency.
According to a statement released late Thursday, Moyo was  appointed foreign minister while the long-serving airforce  commander, Perence Shiri, became minister of lands and  agriculture, a vital job following the controversial seizure  of land from white farmers nearly two decades ago.
Observers sharply criticised the lineup and many  Zimbabweans groaned with dismay, but the government defended  the choices as balanced.
"The deployment of senior members of the military into  the cabinet is profoundly ...

Zimbabwe's new leader under fire over maiden cabinet pick

Environment ministers from about 100  countries gather in Nairobi next week to issue a clarion call  against air, land and water pollution blamed for some nine  million deaths in 2015.
Ministers under the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) will  finalise a global declaration vowing to combat "rampant  pollution" as a growing threat to human life, economies and  ecosystems.
Seven million of those deaths are caused by car exhaust,  factory fumes and indoor cooking, according to the UN  Environment Programme (UNEP), which hosts the assembly.
Water pollution is the second deadliest type, followed by  exposure to toxins and carcinogens in the workplace.
Last month, UNEP said approximately one in six deaths in  2015 were due to pollution, mainly in poor and developing  countries.
Almost half of the nine-million death toll came from just  two countries - rapidly-industrialising India and China.
The Dec 4-6 meeting will be the third UNEA, created by  world leaders in 2012 to strengthen world ...

UN makes global bid to end 'rampant' pollution

A man who claimed to  have survived the 2015 massacre at the Bataclan theatre in  Paris, describing his brush with death in vivid detail, was  tried for fraud today after it emerged he was nowhere near the  scene.
Cedric Rey's account of the November 13, 2015, attack was  used by several French media, including AFP.
The 29-year-old ambulance driver said he was having a  drink with two friends outside the Bataclan when three Islamic  State jihadists stormed the venue during a concert, launching  a three-hour bomb and gun attack that left 90 people dead.
Rey claimed that one of the gunmen aimed his rifle at him  and fired but that a pregnant woman, who was walking past,  "took the bullets meant for me".
After the attack he sought compensation from a state fund  for the victims of terrorism but his application was turned  down after he failed to supply documents proving his claim.
He also joined the Life for Paris survivors' group and,  like several of those who escaped death, got a ...

Fake Paris attacks victim tried for fraud

General Motors is aiming to  overtake rivals by launching a large-scale fleet of self-  driving taxis by 2019.
The US auto giant told an investor call its strategy is  based on zero emissions and autonomous technology that will  eliminate most crashes.
"If we continue on our current rate of change, we will be  ready to deploy this technology in large scale in the most  complex environments in 2019," said GM president Dan Ammann in  the call yesterday.
Ammann said GM is betting on autonomous technology,  calling it "the biggest business opportunity since the  creation of the internet."
The plan for a 2019 deployment would likely put GM ahead  of rivals such as former Google car unit Waymo, which has  begun small-scale trials of autonomous cars, and Uber, which  has ordered vehicles from Volvo for deployment between 2019  and 2021.
GM chairman and chief executive Mary Barra said on the  same call that the company is planning "the next chapter in  our journey in the transformation that ..

GM sees 2019 launch for self-driving taxi fleet

Russian President Vladimir Putin  called on the church to work with the state to defend  "traditional values", in the first appearance by a Russian  leader at a congress of Orthodox bishops.
The visit, hailed by Patriarch Kirill as a "historic  event", comes some three months before the presidential  election in March in which Putin is widely expected to run and  win a fourth term.
"We are seeing today how traditional values are being  eroded in many countries, which leads to degradation,  alienation in society, depersonalisation of people," Putin  said in a speech to hundreds of top Russian Orthodox clerics  from around the world.
"The state, while it respects the self-sufficiency and  independence of the church, expects to continue our  cooperation in such important spheres like education and  healthcare, cultural and historical heritage, and helping  families bring up youth," he said.
The congress of bishops is a top decision-making body of  the Russian Orthodox Church, which ...

Putin hails 'traditional values' in first church congress

Iran state television aired a new  video about imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-  Ratcliffe today, accusing her of taking part in covert  activities against the country financed by Britain and the  United States.
The new video - the second of a two-part report by state  broadcaster IRIB - claimed she helped lead a training  programme at Thomson Reuters directed "against the Islamic  republic".
"Its aim was to train people to collect information on  Iran under the cover of journalistic activities with direct  financing from USAID (the United States Agency for  International Development), which operates under the US State  Department and the CIA," the voice-over in the video said.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison  in September 2016 for taking part in the mass anti-regime  protests in 2009, which she denies.
The first video, shown on November 23, accused her of  helping to launch the BBC's Persian-language service, which  Iran sees as hostile to its ...

Iran TV accuses jailed UK-Iranian of 'undercover' projects

Turkey today issued an arrest  warrant for a former top CIA official over alleged links to  the group blamed for last year's attempted overthrow of  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state media reported.
An Istanbul prosecutor ordered the detention of Graham  Fuller, ex-vice chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence  Council, as part of an investigation into the movement led by  US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and the July 15, 2016  failed coup.
Turkey accuses Gulen of masterminding the attempted  putsch and has dubbed his movement the "Fethullah Terrorist  Organisation" (FETO).
Gulen rejects Turkey's claims and the group denies any  links to terror.
The warrant accuses the former CIA official of "violating  the constitution" and "attempting to overthrow the Turkish  government or stop it from doing its duty".
He is also suspected of "procuring information that must  remain a state secret for political or military espionage",  state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
Fuller ...

Turkey issues warrant for ex-top CIA figure over Gulen links

Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's  former national security advisor, has been charged with lying  to investigators over his Russian contacts, becoming the  seniormost official indicted in the probe into possible  collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Flynn was charged yesterday with one count of lying about  his private discussions with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian  ambassador, regarding US sanctions being imposed on Moscow by  the government of then president Barack Obama, a court  document showed.
Flynn was scheduled to appear in court later today for a  plea hearing on the single charge of making "false, fictitious  and fraudulent representations" to the FBI.

Ex-Trump aide Flynn charged for lying about Russia links

The Court of Arbitration for Sport  today upheld a two-year doping ban on former Olympic 100  metres finalist Ryan Bailey who was in the USA bobsleigh squad  for the 2018 Winter Games.
Bailey, who is 28, was fifth in the 100m at London in  2012 and ran the anchor leg for the 4x100 relay team, which  finished second but was stripped of its medals after Tyson Gay  failed a drugs test.
Bailey switched to bobsleigh in 2016 with an eye on the  Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in January and February.
In January 2017, he raced in the two and four-man bob in  the North American Cup in Park City, Utah. He was tested after  winning the two-man race and the sample showed traces of  dimethylbutylamine, a banned stimulant.
His case was heard in August by the American Arbitration  Association which accepted Bailey's explanation that he had  taken a "high-risk dietary supplement," and gave him a six-  month ban.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency appealed for a  heavier punishment. CAS heard 

Former sprinter Bailey banned from bobsleigh

FIFA president Gianni Infantino today  sought to distance football from any suspicions of the  widespread doping in other sports that has cast a cloud over  World Cup hosts Russia.
Russia have been stripped of a third of the medals they  won as hosts of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and last  week a ban on the country taking part in international  athletics was upheld by the sport's governing body the IAAF.
Next Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee will  meet to decide whether to ban Russia from the 2018 Winter  Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, over allegations that it  ran a state-sponsored doping programme for years.
But Infantino claimed that the level of testing in  football is sufficient to show that the game is largely clean.
"I don't think there are many other international sports  organisations who are doing as many anti-doping tests as  football is doing, with FIFA, UEFA or national associations,  in and out of competition, blood, urine, biological  passports," .

Doping not a big problem in the sport, says Infantino

Three more Russian athletes were  suspended for life today by the International Olympic  Committee for doping at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.
The Oswald Commission, which is investigating allegations  from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of systematic state-  sponsored doping by the Russians at the Games they hosted,  announced that it had banned two cross-country skiers and a  biathlete.
The only one of the trio to win a medal in Sochi was  biathlete Olga Zaitseva who was part of the team that came  second in the relay. That medal had already been stripped  after the Commission's ruling on Olga Vilukhina on Wednesday.
Zaitseva also won golds in the relay in Turin in 2006 and  Vancouver four years later and silver in the mass start event  in 2010. Zaitseva, who is 39, retired early in 2015.
The two cross-country skiers are Yulia Chekaleva and  Anastasia Dotsenko. Chekaleva was in the Russian team that  came sixth in the 4x5 kilometer relay. Dotsenko was part of  the duo that ...

Three more Russians banned for Sochi doping

Saudi Arabia said today it has seized  thousands of weapons and hundreds of smugglers illegally  crossing over from war-hit Yemen in the past year, as "foreign  agents" looked to stage attacks in the kingdom.
Border guard data from October 2016 to September 2017  released by the interior ministry said over 3,500 weapons and  stashes of ammunition were captured.
"Most arms were seized on the Saudi-Yemeni border," the  statement said, adding that the "seizures come amid attempts  by foreign agents to organise terrorist attacks in kingdom".
The statement said 4,656 suspects were arrested at the  frontier in connection with attempted smuggling, "over half"  of them from Yemen.
More than 2,311 tonnes of qat -- a chewable narcotic leaf  from Yemen that is banned in Saudi Arabia -- were also seized,  it said.
The release of the data comes the morning after Saudi air  defence intercepted a missile fired at its territory by  Yemen's Iran-backed rebels.
Saudi Arabia has been locked in a fight ..

AFP

AFP

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