Tiger Woods announced he had lost his battle to be fit for the Masters, saying he was "not tournament ready" for the first major of the year and did not have a timetable for his return.
     Woods, whose 14 major titles include four Masters green jackets, has not played since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic on February 3 with ongoing back spasms.
     He made his comeback in December after missing all of the 2015-16 season in the wake of back surgery.
     But his return has run aground, with the 41-year-old withdrawing from the Genesis Open in Los Angeles in February, the Honda Classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
     He even cancelled a planned press conference at the Los Angeles tournament, saying doctors had advised him to "limit all activities" as he tried to get his balky back on track.
     "Unfortunately, I won't be competing in this year's Masters," Woods said on his website. "I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn't 

Tiger Woods won't play the Masters

PTI Automatic

The top Democrat on a US congressional committee investigating alleged ties between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign faulted the White House for withholding until information it said it had shared last week with his Republican counterpart.
	"Today my staff director and I reviewed materials at the White House," said Congressman Adam Schiff in a brief statement after receiving documents at the White House today.
	"It was represented to me that these are precisely the same materials that were provided to the chairman over a week ago," said Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
	A senior White House official said today that Schiff met with Trump at the White House, but the lawmaker made no reference to meeting the president in his remarks, instead reserving his remarks to his review of the documents.
	"While I cannot discuss the content of the documents, if the White House had any concern over these materials, they should have been shared with the ...

Lawmaker: WH was wrong for withholding intelligence documents

Flooded rivers were still rising today in two Australian states with two women dead and four people missing after torrential rains in the wake of a powerful tropical cyclone.
	Queensland police warned that the Logan River, which runs through Beenleigh south of Brisbane, would not hit peak flood levels for several more hours while the city of Rockhampton to the north was also facing a major threat.
	Commissioner Ian Stewart warned there was "still a major risk to the community around Logan and further south caused by that flooding situation."
	Rockhampton, with a population of over 80,000 on the Fitzroy River, was expected to suffer flood levels not seen for a century by Wednesday and Stewart urged residents in low-lying areas to leave.
	"By Wednesday, we will be at peak flooding in Rockhampton," he said.
	"It won't just be on Wednesday, it will be a gradual rise, so I encourage people to move now."
	Queensland police tweeted "we currently have four people missing... That we have ...

Australia floods still rising with two dead, four missing

Tens of thousands of Brazilians returned to the streets to protest reforms backed by President Michel Temer's conservative government.
	Union members, students, teachers and leftist groups gathered late in the afternoon in central Sao Paulo to demonstrate, as similar protests took place nationwide in cities including Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.
	Unions dubbed yesterday's protests a "warm-up" for a general strike set for April 28.
	"Today is another national day of demonstrations against the reform of the pension system, labor laws and all the attacks that the Temer government and its allies are committing against the workers of this country," said Marcella Azevedo, who leads the Movement of Women in Struggle group.
	An Ibope poll commissioned by Brazil's National Confederation of Industry said Friday that just 31 percent consider Temer's government is doing an acceptable job, while 55 percent call the performance bad or terrible.
	Just 10 per cent said it was good or .

Brazilians take to streets against Temer-backed reforms

Venezuela faces calls for street protests today at the tensest moment yet in a political and economic crisis that has brought it close to collapse.
	President Nicolas Maduro's opponents called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and urged the army to abandon him, branding moves to consolidate his power a "coup d'etat."
	Maduro has clung to power in a more than year-long standoff with his center-right opponents, but on Friday a sign emerged of possible division in his camp when the attorney general broke ranks with him.
	Yet uncertainty reined in the volatile nation hit by food shortages and violent crime, which has seen three attempted military coups since 1992.
	Maduro faced the strongest criticism ever from within his own camp yesterday as his attorney general condemned recent court rulings that strengthened the socialist president's grip on the levers of power.
	Attorney General Luisa Ortega denounced on live state television what she called a "rupture of constitutional ...

Protests brew as Venezuela leader denies coup

American artist Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag recognised around the world as a symbol of gay pride, has died, close friend and rights activist Cleve Jones announced today.
	Baker, who was 65, came up with the iconic eight-colored banner for San Francisco's 1978 gay freedom day, a precursor to the modern pride festival, having taught himself to sew in his 20s.
	The former soldier was heavily involved within the San Francisco LGBT rights movement and was a close friend of murdered activist and politician Harvey Milk.
	"I am heartbroken. My dearest friend in the world is gone. Gilbert gave the world the Rainbow Flag; he gave me 40 years of love and friendship," Jones posted on Facebook.
	"I can't stop crying. I love you forever Gilbert Baker."
	He didn't reveal the cause, but the San Francisco Chronicle said the artist had died in his sleep at his home in New York late Thursday.
	Jones urged San Francisco friends to gather for an evening vigil under a rainbow flag in the ...

Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker dead at 65

Aung San Suu Kyi's government will face its first test at the ballot box today in by-elections around Myanmar seen as a barometer for growing disillusionment with her party a year after it took office.
	The euphoria that surrounded the democracy icon's landslide electoral win in 2015 has ebbed as her party struggles to push through promised reforms.
	Discontent is particularly acute in ethnic minority areas where many see Suu Kyi as working too closely with the military that ran the country for 50 years and still controls key levers of government.
	With only 19 seats up for election, the poll is unlikely to alter the balance of power in a government firmly dominated by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
	But the voting may offer a glimpse into the public's view on the party's first year in power.
	Hundreds of voters lined up outside polling stations on the outskirts of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon early Saturday, though the scene lacked the fanfare and enthusiasm that ...

Suu Kyi's new govt faces first test at Myanmar polls

Boko Haram Islamists have abducted 22 girls and women in two separate raids in northeast Nigeria, residents and vigilantes told AFP.
	In the first attack on Thursday, the jihadists raided the village of Pulka near border with Cameroon where they kidnapped 18 girls.
	"Boko Haram fighters from Mamman Nur camp arrived in pickup vans around 6.00 AM and seized 14 young girls aged 17 and below while residents fled into the bush," a Pulka community leader yesterday told AFP by phone.
	"They picked four other girls who were fleeing the raid they came across in the bush outside the village," said the community leader who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
	According to the official, the attackers were loyal to the faction headed by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf.
	Barnawi was appointed last year by the Islamic State group to replace leader Abubakar Shekau, who had pledged allegiance to the Middle East jihadist group in 2015.
	Another resident ...

Boko Haram kidnap 22 girls, women in northeast Nigeria

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has rejected accusations that moves to consolidate his power in the crisis-hit country violated the constitution, after a sign of division emerged in his camp.
	Maduro's opponents and political analysts alleged a coup after the Supreme Court took over powers from the legislature and removed lawmakers' immunity.
	International powers condemned the moves, which gave the socialist president control over the only major state institution that still had been out of his grasp.
	But Maduro said in a speech to cheering supporters yesterday "In Venezuela, the constitution, civil, political and human rights and people power are in full force."
	The court's measures earned the government public condemnation for the first time from a senior member of Maduro's own camp, Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who broke ranks with him yesterday.
	She branded the rulings a "rupture of constitutional order," in a surprise declaration on state television which drew applause .

Venezuela president rejects coup claims in crisis

New York's mayor has pledged to shut down the notorious Rikers Island prison, the city's main jail complex, in a process that will take at least 10 years.
	"We had to do a lot of work to figure out a path that actually could achieve this goal," said Mayor Bill de Blasio as he yesterday announced the commitment, which he was previously reluctant to make.
	"For a long time I have said publicly it was a noble idea but I did not see how it was attainable under the conditions we were facing."
	Many New York officials and legal experts for years have been calling for the closure of the huge site of the same name as the island in the East River where it is located, which sits between the city's boroughs of Queens and the Bronx.
	They highlighted the jail's aging and poor conditions and almost daily incidents of violence against prisoners and guards.
	They mayor said it became clear that "we that had to adjust the time line if we were going to be honest about it -- that a decade was the ...

New York mayor backs plan to shut notorious prison

Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a recent deadly attack on a government building in southern Yemen, which involved a suicide bombing.
	Al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Shariah arm in a statement yesterday identified the suicide bomber as Abu Amer al-Hadrami, saying he had rammed his explosives-laden car into the gate of the local government building in the provincial capital of Lahj on Monday.
	Officials said at the time that six soldiers and four civilians were killed in the bombing and an ensuing gun attack by jihadists.
	Security forces killed the assailants, including three who were wearing explosive belts.
	The online Al Qaeda statement acknowledged the death of three militants "who controlled the building for three hours" before being killed, in addition to Hadrami.
	The statement said the attack was carried out "to avenge martyrs" killed in raids by security forces, and those "tortured to death in prisons."
	It did not refer to the many US air strikes which have targeted members of ..

Qaeda claims suicide bombing in south Yemen

Never-seen photographs from the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon released by the FBI this week show the massive devastation that faced first responders.
	Twenty-seven pictures from that day depict the crushed walls, blazing fires and eviscerated interiors of the seat of the US Department of Defense.
	The American Airlines jet that struck the Pentagon was one of four airliners hijacked by Al-Qaeda teams and used as weapons in the deadliest terror attack ever on US soil.
	When the Pentagon was hit, two other airliners had already been flown into New York's World Trade Center; the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers rose up against the hijackers.
	American Airlines Flight 77 out of Dulles International Airport slammed into the Pentagon's western wall, killing all 64 people on the plane, including the five hijackers, and 125 on the ground.
	One poignant shot shows an American flag tangled in concrete-and-rebar wreckage being cleared by a ...

FBI releases 9/11 Pentagon photos

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, slowly emerging from post-election seclusion, slammed President Donald Trump today for proposing budget cuts to US diplomacy and foreign aid, calling it a "grave mistake."
	"We are seeing signals of a shift that truly alarms us all," the former Democratic presidential candidate told hundreds of students at Georgetown University in Washington.
	"This administration's proposed cuts in international health, development and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake for our country," said the Democrat, who ran the State Department from 2009 to 2013.
	Trump wants to slash the US diplomatic budget by 28 per cent, although Congress will have the final say.
	Clinton also pointed to the rise in the number of global refugees, and warned it is "not just somebody else's problem."
	"I am pleading that our government will continue its leadership role on behalf of peace in the world," she said, "because the world must continue this .

Clinton knocks Trump for proposing cuts to US diplomacy

Moscow declared itself "perplexed" by comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said today would hold talks with NATO allies about "Russia's aggression in Ukraine".
	Russia's foreign ministry said it regretted his statements and denounced NATO "slander" over "Russian aggression", adding that such comments were particularly inappropriate the day after a Russia-NATO meeting.

Moscow 'perplexed' by Tillerson's talk of 'aggression'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised today to explain to the Trump administration the importance of free trade between Canada and the United States, particularly for jobs.
	US President Donald Trump is threatening to target countries, including Canada, that contribute to America's substantial trade deficit, a move being taken as a protectionist warning shot.
	The United States is Canada's biggest trading partner, with a trade surplus on merchandise alone last year of 32.5 billion Canadian dollars (USD 24.4 billion).
	Trudeau said it was "extremely important" to work with the Trump administration on the issue, without dramatising the US decision to target Canada along with more than a dozen other countries.
	"The United States regularly assess their trade partners, there is nothing particularly new about this," Trudeau told a press conference.
	"We know the conversations we will be having on how we can improve trade, freedom to send goods of services people across the border. It's ...

Canada wants to keep free trade with US: PM Trudeau

The US Treasury hit 11 North Korean business representatives and an industrial firm with sanctions today, seeking to further isolate the country's economy for pursuing nuclear weapons.
	Most of the officials were based in China and Russia for companies the Treasury said acquire materials, technology and financial support for North Korea's defense industry.
	The company named to the sanctions blacklist was North Korea-based Paeksol Trading Corporation, which the Treasury said earns foreign exchange for Pyongyang by trading and exporting coal and iron ore.
	The United States has sought Chinese cooperation to crack down on its imports of North Korean coal. But the Treasury said Paeksol continues to export coal through "front companies" in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.
	The sanctions prohibit US entities from doing business with the designated individuals and companies, with the aim of locking them out of the global financial system.
	They come as concerns mount over North ...

US boost sanctions pressure on NKorea over nuclear program

The White House today cautioned Israel on large-scale settlement building, refraining from criticism of a major project just approved but warning further expansion could block peace efforts.
	"While the existence of settlements is not in itself an impediment to peace, further unrestrained settlement activity does not help advance peace," a White House official said.
	The Israeli cabinet gave unanimous backing late Thursday to the first officially sanctioned new settlement in the occupied West Bank in more than 20 years.
	The White House official said that settlement, at Amona, was in the pipeline during Barack Obama's administration, and refrained from criticizing the decision.
	"We would note that the Israeli prime minister made a commitment to the Amona settlers prior to President Trump laying out his expectations, and has consistently indicated that he intended to move forward with this plan," the official said.
	"Going forward... The Israeli government has made clear that Israel's 

White House cautions Israel on 'unrestrained' settlement

Spanish police have detained more than 100 alleged paedophiles since September accused of watching and sharing images of child sex abuse, they said today.
	Detectives swooped across the country after catching men downloading explicit content online, some involving infants as young as a few months old, the Guardia Civil said.
	In all 102 Spanish men were detained and more than 450,000 photos and videos uncovered, said investigator Pedro Corrales, who took part in the operation.
	Their profiles vary from young students to unemployed people, retirees and professionals including a legal consultant. Some of the suspects are married with children.
	"For one of them, we found videos filmed with a hidden camera of the son of his current partner," he told AFP.
	"Scenes of high sexual violence against under-age victims" appeared in some of the material uncovered, police added a statement.
	The victims' ages ran from a few months to around 14 years old, he said, adding that police have ...

Spain detains 100 paedophiles in nationwide swoops

A giant frieze depicting the history of Rome on the walls lining the River Tiber has been damaged by graffiti writers, to the dismay of its creator, William Kentridge.
	The South African artist said he was at a loss to understand why Rome authorities had not removed graffiti as soon it appeared along the bottom of the 550-metre (1,800-feet)-long mural he created out of the dirt caking an embankment of the famous river.
	The work, an idiosyncratic take on the Eternal City's defining moments, was inaugurated in April 2016 and has proved a popular free attraction for visitors to the Italian capital.
	But its visual impact has been compromised by the appearance of a steadily-growing amount of graffiti in the spaces between some of the images - most of them 'tags', the personalised signatures of the writer.
	"Some graffiti artists do great work. I'm less interested in those who simply leave their initials on the wall," Kentridge told Italian daily La Repubblica.
	"I know there are many ...

Graffiti vandals damage Kentridge Rome frieze

Swedish and Norwegian newspapers today said they would refrain from the tradition of publishing April Fools' Day jokes this year over fears that it might spread "fake news".
	Magnus Karlsson, editor-in-chief at the daily Smalandsposten said on its website that he doesn't want the newspaper's brand "to be spread with a potentially viral and erroneous story".
	"We work with real news. Even on April 1st," he said.
	The "fake news" phenomenon broke out amid the 2016 US presidential election and grew even further when Donald Trump, during his first press conference on January 11 as then president-elect, shouted at a CNN reporter: "You are fake news!"
	Sweden was a victim of "fake news" when Fox News in February interviewed a "security and defence expert" who turned out to have criminal convictions in the US and no connections to the Scandinavian nation's security services, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported.
	Now, several local daily Swedish newspapers including Dalarnas Tidningar, ...

AFP

AFP

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