Iran has sentenced the son of an opposition leader to six months in prison for propaganda against the regime, Iranian media has reported.
	Hossein Karroubi, eldest son of Mehdi Karroubi, was detained by officials for publishing a letter his father sent last year to President Hassan Rouhani, according to Ebtekar daily and ILNA news agency.
	"Karroubi wrote a letter in (April 2016) to the president and demanded... A trial from an authorised court to examine his charges," said Hossein's lawyer, Mohammad Jalilian.
	Mehdi Karroubi has been under house arrest along with fellow opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi since 2011, following the violent protests that erupted against the re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
	Mousavi and Karroubi alleged that the vote was rigged and encouraged people to take part in public protests. They were eventually put under house arrest in 2011 but have never been officially charged by a court.
	Security officials have filed a ...

Iran sentences son of opposition head to 6 months in jail

PTI Automatic

Mozambique is battling a cholera outbreak that has infected 1,222 people and killed two, the country's health ministry said today, warning that it has been unable to slow its spread.
	Four of Mozambique's 13 provinces have been affected since the infection spread from the capital Maputo on January 5, deputy director of public health Benigna Matsinhe told a press conference.
	It is the third consecutive year that Mozambique has suffered a cholera epidemic with the two fatalities reported to be from the Maputo area.
	In 2015, 41 people died in one of the country's worst ever cholera outbreaks.
	"We have recorded less cases in recent days, but what worries us is that we have been unable to halt transmission of the illness," Matsinhe said.
	Since the end of last week, the infection has spread in Tete province, on Mozambique's western border with Zimbabwe and Malawi, with 397 cases reported.
	Cholera typically strikes during Mozambique's rainy season, between October and March, when ...

Mozambique cholera outbreak infects over 1,200

The Syrian government intentionally bombed the Ain al-Fijeh spring in December, leaving more than five million people in Damascus without access to water, a UN probe said today.
	"The information examined by the Commission confirms that the bombing of (the Ain al-Fijeh) spring was carried out by the Syrian Air Force," the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a report, adding the attack constituted a "war crime".
	The report meanwhile dismissed regime allegations that rebels had contaminated the water.

Syria regime bombed Damascus water source, committed 'war

Turkey today hit back at the EU after the bloc criticised Ankara over a spiraling diplomatic spat with the Netherlands, saying its criticism had no value for the country.
	"The EU's short-sighted statement has no value for our country," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
	Ankara claimed that rather than trying to calm the situation, the European Union was "giving credit to xenophobia and anti-Turkish sentiment" by choosing to side with countries who violate diplomatic agreements and the law.
	Brussels called on Turkey on Monday to refrain from excessive statements after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Netherlands of acting like the Nazis.
	Late yesterday, Erdogan repeated his comments, saying what was happening in Europe was "Nazism, we can call this neo-Nazism. A new Nazism tendency".
	Tensions between Turkey and EU member states increased after Germany and the Netherlands banned events where Turkish politicians wanted to rally support ahead of a vote next month. ...

Turkey says EU criticism over Dutch row 'has no value'

China's industrial output growth held steady in January and February, official data showed today, providing further evidence of stability in the world's second-largest economy despite slower retail sales growth.
	Industrial output rose 6.3 per cent year-on-year in the first two months of 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, slightly beating the 6.2 forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
	Retails sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, increased 9.5 per cent over the period, down from 10.2 percent in the same period last year. Sales grew 10.9 percent in December.
	Fixed-asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, rose 8.9 per cent year-on-year in January-February.
	Most data are "quite positive" and "apparently improving," NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyuan said in a news briefing, adding that production and demand have slightly picked up.
	"China's economy is opening the year with a good start, although pro-growth policies to shore up consumption in coming ...

China industrial output offers fresh sign of stability

Iran has arrested a reformist journalist after he was released from custody, a prosecutor in Tehran confirmed today.
	Ehsan Mazandarani, who runs the reformist daily Farhikhtegan, was initially detained in late 2015 and sentenced last April to seven years for "acting against national security".
	"The arrest of this convict on security charges is in line with the continuation and completion of his previous sentence," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the judiciary-linked Mizan Online website today.
	Mazandarani was temporarily released in October for health concerns after a hunger strike but was required to return to prison following treatment.
	His re-arrest yesterday comes after he was reportedly released in February when unofficial sources suggested that his sentence had been reduced to less than two years.
	Mazandarani's lawyer said he had heard about a reduced sentence but was yet to receive confirmation.
	Another reformist journalist, Hengameh Shahidi, was also ...

Iran arrests journalist shortly after release: judiciary

A British-owned cruise ship has smashed into pristine coral reefs, causing extensive damage in a remote corner of Indonesia known as one of the world's most biodiverse marine habitats, researchers and officials said today.
	Raja Ampat in eastern Indonesia has long been a top attraction for intrepid travellers and avid divers, home to palm-fringed islands surrounded by an underwater kaleidoscope of coral and fish.
	But the 4,200-ton Caledonian Sky slammed into the reefs at low tide around Kri, one of hundreds of small islands in Raja Ampat, earlier this month after taking the tourists aboard on a bird-watching expedition.
	The boat, which was carrying 102 passengers and 79 crew, became grounded on the reefs and had to be refloated by a tug boat before continuing on its journey.
	The accident has damaged an estimated 13,500 square metres (145,000 square feet) of coral reef which could cost up to USD 16.2 million to restore, according to Ricardo Tapilatu, a marine researcher from the ...

UK cruise ship damages pristine Indonesian coral reef

EU companies can ban employees from wearing religious or political symbols, such as the Islamic headscarf, the bloc's top court ruled today in a landmark case.
	The European Court of Justice said it does not constitute "direct discrimination" if a firm has an internal rule banning the wearing of "any political, philosophical or religious sign."
	The wearing of religious symbols, and especially Islamic symbols such as the headscarf, has become a hot button issue with the rise of populist sentiment across Europe, with some countries such as Austria considering a complete ban on the full-face veil in public.
	The ECJ was ruling on a case dating to 2003 when Samira Achbita, a Muslim, was employed as a receptionist by G4S security services in Belgium.
	At the time, the company had an "unwritten rule" that employees should not wear any political, religious or philosophical symbols at work, the ECJ said.
	In 2006, Achbita told G4S she wanted to wear the Islamic headscarf at work but was told 

EU companies can ban wearing of religious symbols, top court

Pakistan's Cricket Board today suspended and charged tall fast bowler Mohammad Irfan in the ongoing investigation of a spot-fixing case during their Twenty20 league.
     "The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in furtherance to its investigation issued a Notice of Charge and provisionally suspended Irfan under the PCB Anti-Corruption Code," it said in a statement.

PCB suspends Mohammad Irfan in spot-fixing case

Pakistan Cricket Board suspends Mohammad Irfan in

South Korean prosecutors will summon former president Park Geun-Hye, whose impeachment was confirmed by the country's highest court last week, for questioning as a criminal suspect, a spokesman said today.
	"We will decide Wednesday when to summon former president Park and inform her," the spokesman of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office told AFP.
	"She will be summoned as a suspect," he added.
	It has not yet been decided whether Park will be called in to the prosecutors' office in private, or publicly before TV cameras and photographers, he added.
	The country's top court last week fired Park over a corruption scandal, stripping her of her presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.
	She has already been named as a suspect for bribery and abuse of power for allegedly colluding with her secret confidante Choi Soon-Sil to extort money from a raft of companies, among them the giant Samsung group.

S Korea prosecutors to summon ex-prez Park for questioning

Colombia's senate has approved a constitutional reform that creates special war crimes courts, a key component of the historic peace agreement reached with FARC guerrillas ending five decades of warfare.
	The announcement was made via Twitter by Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo yesterday, who was in the senate at the time of the vote.
	President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts to end his country's 53-year conflict, which has drawn in numerous leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitary units, drug cartels and the army.
	The court system, which allows for war crimes reparations, is the backbone of the peace deal the Santos administration reached in November with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels.
	After the senate vote, Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas addressed the lawmakers to express thanks in the name of the Colombian armed forces for approving the measure.
	The court system has three parts: a truth commission, a .

Colombia to set up special war crimes courts

Malaysia will deport 50 North Koreans for overstaying their visas, the deputy prime minister said today, in an apparent exception to a departure ban after the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam.
	The killing of the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un last month in Malaysia with VX nerve agent triggered an angry standoff between Kuala Lumpur and Pyongyang that has seen them expel each other's ambassador and refuse to let their citizens leave.
	But today Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters that 50 North Koreans working in the state of Sarawak on Borneo island -- home to coal mines which often employ foreign workers -- would be deported from Malaysia despite the ban.
	"We will send the North Korean workers in Sarawak who have exceeded their (working) visa back to Pyongyang for overstaying," he said.
	"They will be deported soon."
	He did not say why the government had decided on the expulsion despite Kuala Lumpur's bar on North Korean nationals leaving the ...

Malaysia to deport fifty N Koreans despite ban: deputy PM

The health of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's most notorious criminals, is deteriorating in US custody, his lawyers complained, challenging the conditions of his detention.
	The 59-year-old, accused of running one of the world's biggest drug empires and who escaped twice from prison in Mexico, has been held in solitary confinement in New York since being extradited on January 19.
	His isolation at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan has seen his "physical and mental health" deteriorate, wrote his American public defenders in a 24-page letter to the judge overseeing his case.
	"He has difficulty breathing and suffers from a sore throat and headaches," they said.
	"He has recently been experiencing auditory hallucinations, complaining of hearing music in his cell even when his radio is turned off."
	His lawyers asked Judge Brian Cogan that Guzman be allowed to speak to his wife, either by person or by telephone, and be released from solitary 

'El Chapo' health deteriorating in US custody: lawyers

Toshiba has delayed the release of its earnings results again, sending its shares diving more than eight per cent, as it said it needed more time to investigate a possible accounting fraud at its loss-hit US nuclear unit.
	Japanese media reports said the troubled firm would push back its financial results for another month, fanning fears the stock could be delisted from the Tokyo exchange.
	Toshiba later issued a statement confirming it had filed a request with regulators for a deadline extension to April 11, the second delay for October-December results originally due in mid-February.
	If the latest application is rejected, Toshiba will need to submit an earnings statement within eight business days, which would be on March 27, or face an embarrassing delisting.
	The troubled industrial giant's shares tumbled 8.10 per cent to 197.5 yen (USD 1.72) by the break.
	Japan's leading Nikkei business daily, quoting an unnamed source, said regulators would likely grant the request, but ...

Toshiba delays earnings again over US unit fraud probe

The anti-establishment surge that led to Brexit and Donald Trump becoming US President has also impacted on bids to host the Olympic Games, British Olympic chief Hugh Robertson told AFP in an interview.
     There has been much debate about the health of the Olympics brand with just two bidders left in the race for the 2024 Summer Games -- Paris and Los Angeles.
     Rome and Budapest dropped out due to a perceived lack of popular support to host them.
     Robertson, a former Conservative lawmaker who was Sports Minister in the lead-up to and during the 2012 London Games, said the present political mood did not see the Olympics in a favourable light.
     "All political cycles rise and fall and we are in a period where establishments are on the back foot," the British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman told AFP.
     "You've seen that whether it be Brexit, Trump and also look at what is happening to a lesser extent in Germany and a greater extent in France, indeed right across ...

Populist surge impacting on Olympics image: Robertson

Third-seeded Stan Wawrinka continued his dominance of Philipp Kohlschreiber, rolling past the German 7-5 6-3 to reach the fourth round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.
	Wawrinka yesterday recorded his fifth victory over Kohlschreiber in as many meetings in a performance that left him cautiously encouraged about his prospects of making it past the quarter-finals in the California desert for the first time.
     "It was a really good match," said Wawrinka, who owns three Grand Slam titles but has won just one of the tour's coveted Masters titles.
     "The first set was not easy, for sure, but in general I'm happy with my game. I was serving well. I think I'm moving better and better and it's all positive so far."
     A break in each set was enough for Wawrinka, who didn't face a break point himself as he advanced to a meeting with lucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who staged a remarkable rally to get past 13th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 1-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.
     The 21-year-old ..

Wawrinka cruises into Indian Wells fourth round

Guatemala's minister for social welfare, Carlos Rodas, offered his resignation after a blaze in a government-run children's shelter killed 40 teenage girls.
	In his letter to President Jimmy Morales yesterday, Rodas said he was handing in his notice in order to "contribute to the objective investigation into the tragedy."
	He said he had not resigned earlier because he first needed to oversee the counseling and medical treatment of survivors at the shelter, and their transfer to other refuges.
	The fire that broke out last Wednesday in the badly overcrowded Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home for children just to the east of Guatemala City killed 19 girls right away.
	The other deaths came as girls taken to hospitals succumbed over subsequent days to horrific burns that had also damaged their throats and lungs.
	All the victims were aged between 14 and 17. Funerals started on Friday, with some of the bodies identified through DNA samples.
	Another seven girls were in critical ...

Guatemala minister resigns over fire that killed 40

Top White House aide Kellyanne Conway has said that she had no evidence to back up Donald Trump's claim that his predecessor had wiretapped him, after suggesting her boss may have been spied upon using other methods.
	The Trump administration is under mounting pressure to provide proof to shore up the president's unsubstantiated allegation that Barack Obama ordered tAhe phones to be tapped at Trump Tower during the election campaign.
	"The answer is I don't have any evidence and I'm very happy that the House Intelligence Committee are investigating," Conway told ABC television yesterday.
	The senior aide to the president was being pressed to explain weekend comments that seemed to suggest the Obama administration ordered wide-scale surveillance of her boss.
	"What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other," Conway told New Jersey's Bergen County Record in a wide-ranging interview published Sunday.
	"You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their ...

Top Trump aide says no evidence of wiretap operation

The United States has called for the Netherlands and Turkey, both members of NATO, to resolve their diplomatic row and drop their "war of words."
	"They're both strong partners and NATO allies. We'd just ask that they not escalate the situation any further and work together to resolve it," said a senior State Department official yesterday, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
	The US diplomat said that the new administration of President Donald Trump has not directly intervened in the row because the Netherlands and Turkey are "strong democracies."
	"I think they can work it out between them," the official said.
	Those comments came before Ankara severed high-level relations with The Hague and barred the Dutch ambassador from returning to Turkey over their row about whether Turkish officials can attend rallies in The Netherlands ahead of a referendum.
	The diplomat did not indicate a position favoring either the Netherlands or Turkey in the crisis, which the European Union and NATO ...

US calls on Netherlands, Turkey to resolve diplomatic row

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt has met Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, as the White House put out feelers on reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
	The US State Department described the yesterday's visit by Trump's special representative for international negotiations as an orientation trip to enable him to get a sense of how "we can create a climate that leads to eventual peace negotiations".
	"I hope that we can do some good things together," Netanyahu told Greenblatt at the start of their meeting, according to a video posted by the premier's office.
	Greenblatt replied: "I think we're gonna do great things together."
	He is due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday.
	In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Greenblatt would be doing "a lot of listening, discussing the views of the leadership in the region, getting their perspectives on the ..

AFP

AFP

Page 1175 - Afp