Britain's ambassador to the United Nations vowed today that the launch of European Union exit negotiations would not hurt his country's role on the world stage.
	Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said Britain would continue to align itself with shared EU positions on issues before the Security Council while Brexit talks are continuing.
	And he promised that, even after London and Brussels have completed their divorce, Britain would retain its powerful permanent seat on the UN council.
	"The United Kingdom continues to be a full member of the European Union until the end of the two-year process that the prime minister triggered today," Rycroft said.
	"Whenever there are positions of the European Union we will faithfully represent them on the Security Council," he told reporters, after chairing a meeting of the body.
	"We were a permanent member of the Security Council before we joined the EU. We were a permanent member as a member of the EU. And we will continue to be a permanent member of ...

Envoy vows Brexit will not change British role at UN

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A court in the United Arab Emirates today sentenced a prominent academic to 10 years in prison over a series of tweets criticising authorities, Amnesty International said.
	Nasser Bin Ghaith was convicted of promoting "false information in order to harm the reputation and stature of the state and one of its institutions" over a series of tweets in which he said he had been denied a fair trial in a previous case, the Beirut regional office of the rights group said.
	Bin Ghaith's sentencing comes less than two weeks after the arrest of Ahmed Mansoor, another member of a group of rights activists known as the UAE Five, who were arrested in April 2011 and released later that year by a presidential pardon.
	The five were accused of insulting UAE leaders online, inciting anti-government protests and calling for the boycott of elections for the Federal National Council, an advisory body with no legislative power.
	Bin Ghaith was re-arrested in August 2015 over what Amnesty said was a series .

UAE jails prominent academic for 10 years over tweets

Former British prime minister David Cameron today defended his decision to call the referendum on whether the UK should stay or leave the European Union, as London formally launched the process to quit the bloc.
	"I thought it right to hold the referendum because this issue had been poisoning British politics for years. The referendum had been promised and not held," he said during a visit to Ukraine.
	"I made a promise to hold a referendum, I think it was the right thing to do," said the Conservative ex-premier, who called the referendum.
	On June 23, 2016, 17.4 million Britons voted to end their 43-year-old membership of EU.
	"We held the referendum and, of course, the result is not the result that I sought," Cameron, who led the campaign to stay in and announced his resignation a day after the referendum, said.
	"But it was a decisive result and that's why today Theresa May quite rightly is taking the next step to ensuring the people's will is followed through," he added.
	Today, ..

Cameron defends referendum call as Brexit launched

Canada will want to bolster trade with Britain after it secedes from the European Union, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured today.
	"The United Kingdom remains a friend and ally and economic partner and we will, of course, work with them as they go through the transition that they're embarking upon," Trudeau said.
	"We'll continue to look for ways to create closer trade ties and opportunities for better jobs and economic growth that benefits both of our countries and we will continue to engage as friends and allies."
	Britain is Canada's fourth-biggest trading partner, but would be excluded from a Canada-EU trade pact once it leaves the EU in two years -- a deadline prompted when British Prime Minister Theresa May earlier today triggered formal divorce proceedings.
	Parliament members in both London and Ottawa have called for swift negotiations on a separate bilateral trade deal in order to mitigate any trade disruptions.
	Officials have suggested that the Canada-EU Comprehensive ..

Canada seeks more trade with post-Brexit Britain: Trudeau

Dozens of migrants were rescued off the coast of Cyprus today after their small fishing boat ran aground near the holiday resort of Paphos, the island's authorities said.
	Police said 92 migrants including 18 women and 46 children were safely brought to shore after arriving by boat, most probably from Turkey.
	A police official said the migrants were still being processed and it was not immediately clear from where they originated, although most who make the sea journey to Cyprus are usually Syrian refugees.
	Search and rescue services were radioed by fishermen in the Paphos area, off the resort island's west coast, alerting them to a small boat carrying dozens of people that was in trouble due to rough seas.
	The boat ran aground before the migrants were safely brought to shore, authorities said.
	Local media reported that the migrants told police they had travelled from Turkey and paid smugglers up to USD 4,000 (3,700 euros) for the journey.
	Arrangements were being made to take ...

Dozens rescued off Cyprus coast

The United States wants Britain to remain a strong leader in Europe even as it begins its withdrawal from the European Union, the Trump administration said today.
	"We respect the will of the British electorate and her majesty's government in taking steps of departing the European Union," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
	"Whatever future the UK-EU relationship looks like, we want the UK to remain a strong leader in Europe," he said.
	Nine months after a referendum on Brexit that continues to divide the country, the British ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, delivered a letter today to European Council President Donald Tusk formally launching the process that will lead to Britain's withdrawal.
	President Donald Trump has irritated European leaders by praising Britain's exit from the European Union and predicting that other countries would follow.
	European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has told US Vice President Mike Pence that Trump should refrain from urging other ..

US wants Britain to remain 'strong leader' in Europe

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said today his government was engaged in "very sensitive" talks with North Korea over nine Malaysians being prevented from leaving Pyongyang after the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam.
	Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, was poisoned with a lethal nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 in a brazen Cold War-style assassination that has damaged bilateral ties.
	Three Malaysian embassy staff and six family members are currently stranded in North Korea's capital after both countries recalled their ambassadors and barred citizens from leaving.
	"This is a discussion with a government and this is very sensitive," Najib said at a late night press conference, after after chairing a meeting of the ruling Barisan National coalition.
	"What is important for us is the result. What we want to achieve is the safety of the Malaysians in Pyongyang and also maintain the image of Malaysia as a sovereign country which ...

Malaysia in 'sensitive' talks with NKorea after Kim murder: PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today told the Dutch prime minister he had lost Turkey as a friend, despite Mark Rutte's victory over the far-right in parliamentary elections.
	"Hey Rutte! You may have emerged as the number one party in the election but you must know that you have lost Turkey as your friend," Erdogan said in a televised speech, amid a diplomatic crisis with The Hague due to the blocking of campaign rallies by Turkish ministers.
	Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier said there was "no difference" between the ruling Dutch liberals and the "fascist" anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders.
	Cavusoglu also predicted that "religious wars" will start in Europe due to the rise of the far right.
	Turkey and Europe have been locked in a diplomatic spat after The Netherlands and Germany blocked Turkish ministers from holding campaign rallies to secure a 'yes' vote in next month's referendum on expanding Erdogan's powers.
	Erdogan ridiculed Rutte who ...

'You have lost Turkey as a friend,' Erdogan tells Dutch PM

Bangladeshi cricketer Arafat Sunny was released on bail two months after being charged with posting intimate photos of his girlfriend on social media, his lawyers said today.
     Police arrested the 30-year-old cricketer in a Dhaka suburb in January after his longtime girlfriend filed a complaint under Bangladesh's strict internet laws.
     The spinner was accused of opening a fake Facebook account in her name and posting "intimate photos" which she found "offensive and defamatory".
     "Sunny was released at around 9:00 pm Wednesday," his lawyer Murad-uz Zaman told AFP.
     If found guilty, Sunny could be jailed for up to 14 years and fined 10 million taka ($125,000) under tough cyber laws that local rights groups say are being used to crackdown on dissent.
     The Bangladesh Cricket Board has said that Sunny, who has played 16 one-day internationals and 10 Twenty20 internationals, could also be banned from the sport.
     He was suspended from international matches during the ..

Bangladesh player freed in girlfriend snaps case

A senior IOC member apologised on Thursday after he compared the idea of banning doping-tainted Russia from next year's Winter Olympics to the Holocaust.
     Gian Franco Kasper, an International Olympic Committee executive board member, said he was "truly sorry" for his comments to journalists in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
     "It was an inappropriate and insensitive comment," the 73-year-old Swiss, head of the world winter sports body, said in a statement.
     "I apologise unreservedly for any offence I have caused. I am truly sorry."
     Kasper made his controversial remarks earlier on Thursday when asked about the prospect of barring Russia from next year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang over its doping record.
     Concerns have been growing that Russia is yet to clean up its act after a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) uncovered systematic, state-sponsored doping, notably at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
     "I'm just against bans or sanctioning of ...

IOC member apologises for 'Hitler' comment

Malaysian investigators used a DNA sample from a son of Kim Jong-Nam to confirm the identity of the murdered half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, the deputy prime minister said today.
	The 45-year-old, who was living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, was poisoned with the lethal nerve agent VX in a brazen Cold War-style assassination on February 13 in Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
	Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for his death, but the North has rejected those claims and has never confirmed the identity of the victim, who was carrying a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol when he was attacked.
	Malaysia officially confirmed his identity on Friday, later revealing that authorities used his fingerprints and a DNA sample from one of his children to do so.
	Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today revealed that the sample was "taken from the son... Who is living abroad".
	Ahmad Zahid told reporters that Malaysian officials travelled overseas to an ...

Malaysia got DNA from Kim's son overseas: deputy PM

Several injured in shooting at French school: sources

An Indonesian people- smuggling kingpin who organised an illegal migrant boat journey that sparked a diplomatic row with Australia was jailed for six years today.
	Abraham Louhenapessy, commonly known as "Captain Bram", helped find a crew and buy a boat for a voyage intended to take 65 migrants to New Zealand in early 2015.
	Louhenapessy has long been a notorious figure in the people-smuggling trade.
	He is believed to have organised numerous illegal migrant boat voyages from Indonesia, a staging post on long- established routes, with Canberra saying that he has targeted Australia since 1999.
	The voyage for which the 56-year-old was convicted today sparked a fierce row between Canberra and Jakarta, due to allegations that Australian officials stopped the boat in their waters and paid its crew about USD 30,000 to turn back to Indonesia.
	Chief judge Hiras Sitanggang told the court on remote Rote island, where the boat came ashore after it was turned back, that Louhenapessy was guilty .

Indonesian people-smuggling kingpin jailed for six years

Armed groups in Tripoli have signed a ceasefire deal ending a four-day battle for control of the Libyan capital, the unity government said today.
	The city has been paralysed amid exchanges of rocket and artillery fire between pro-unity government forces and rival militias including groups allied with former prime minister Khalifa Ghweil.
	Today's deal cements the UN-backed Government of National Accord's control over large parts of the capital.
	It provides for an "immediate ceasefire" and calls for armed groups that do not recognise the GNA to leave Tripoli within 30 days.
	It also demands the release of people arrested since Monday, the GNA's defence ministry said.
	Clashes last night rocked the capital's southern Salaheddine district, where several rival militias occupy barracks.
	But the city and its surroundings were quiet today following the overnight deal, signed by the GNA, local mayors and powerful militias from Tripoli and Misrata.
	Militias have been key power brokers in a 

Libya factions agree ceasefire after Tripoli battle

Inside an armoured vehicle in Mosul, a colonel scans live footage from a drone flying above the Iraqi city, hunting targets for a new weapon deployed against jihadists.
	The Islamic State group has used small commercial drones to drop explosives on advancing Iraqi forces since they launched the offensive to retake Iraq's second city in October.
	As the battle now focuses on recapturing west Mosul, Colonel Hussein Muayad's federal police forces have adopted the tactic, equipping their own remote-controlled surveillance drones with 40 mm grenades that are usually fired from grenade launchers.
	"Residents would stare at the sky" during the Mosul fighting, fearing IS drones, says Muayad, wearing a black jacket over his federal police uniform. "Now it's the enemy whose eyes never leave the sky."
	The moustachioed police officer in his 40s is clearly proud of the new military tactic.
	"They used to hit us once. But we can hit them up to four times with a single drone," he says.
	Lieutenant .

Adopting IS tactic, Iraqi forces weaponise small drones

Iraqi authorities today said that more than 150,000 people have fled fighting in and around west Mosul since security forces launched an operation to retake it from jihadists last month.
	The International Organization for Migration released displacement figures yesterday indicating that nearly 100,000 had fled, but those statistics included fewer people residing outside of camps.
	According to Iraq's ministry of migration and displaced, 152,857 people have fled the west Mosul area since the battle to recapture it from the Islamic State group began on February 19.
	More than 98,000 are housed in camps, while more than 54,000 are staying in areas that have been recaptured from IS, the ministry said.
	IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes have since retaken most of the territory they lost.
	Iraqi forces launched the operation to recapture Mosul from IS in October, retaking the east of the city before setting their sights .

More than 150,000 Iraqis fled west Mosul fighting: ministry

Boko Haram Islamists have raided a town in restive northeast Nigeria, looting food supplies and burning homes after overwhelming troops, residents said today.
	The attack late yesterday happened in Magumeri, some 50 kilometres northwest of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
	It came after a lull in raids on major towns in the remote region following sweeping military offensives which Nigeria has claimed has severely weakened the jihadists to the point of defeat.
	Scores of Boko Haram fighters arrived in Magumeri at about 6:30 pm (local time) in vans, motorcycles and on foot, firing heavy weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, forcing residents to flee.
	"They (Boko Haram) broke into shops and homes and took away every food item they came across," said local resident Kulo Sheriff, who fled the town then returned on Thursday morning.
	"They set fire to homes and shops as they looted them before heading into the bush hours later."
	Before looting, the fighters attacked a military base ..

Boko Haram raid Nigeria town, loot food supplies

Thailand's junta today said any future civilian government will be legally bound to follow a 20-year "masterplan" for the country as generals seek to entrench their political influence for decades to come.
	Soldiers have run Thailand since a 2014 coup, ushering in the country's most autocratic government in a generation.
	The military said the coup was needed to end more than a decade of political instability, instigate reform and root out corruption.
	But critics decry severely stifled freedoms, as promised deadlines to return to civilian rule keep slipping.
	"Reforming the country needs time and a long-term strategy. So the government decided to have a 20-year national strategy as the master plan, as a strategy plan, for the country," Major General Werachon Sukondhapatipak said at a rare briefing for foreign diplomats and media in Bangkok.
	In an announcement heavy on aims but light on concrete policies, he said the 20-year plan would help Thailand becomes a high income country by ..

Thai junta lays out 'legally binding' 20-year masterplan

An employee at the Paris offices of the International Monetary Fund was injured in the hands and face after opening a letter which exploded today, police said.
	Several people were evacuated from the building "as a precaution", a police source said.

1 hurt in letter bomb blast at IMF's Paris office: police

The Kremlin today denied any official Russian involvement in cybercrimes after the US indicted two FSB intelligence agents over cyberattacks on Yahoo that compromised 500 million accounts.
	"As we have said repeatedly, there can be absolutely no question of any official involvement by any Russian agency, including the FSB, in any illegal actions in cyberspace," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
	The US Justice Department yesterday charged two Russian intelligence operatives and a pair of hackers over one of the largest cyberattacks in history, which began in 2014 with the apparent twin goals of espionage and financial gain.
	It was the first time Washington had filed criminal charges against Russian officials for cyber-related offences, and came amid a separate high-stakes investigation into alleged Russian cyber-meddling in the US election.
	The Russian agents accused of directing the attack that targeted both US and Russian officials were identified as Dmitry ...

AFP

AFP

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