Businesswoman Ivanka Trump, daughter of President-elect Donald Trump, spoke with Argentina's President Mauricio Macri when he phoned her father to congratulate him on winning the White House, officials has said.
	Both Trump and Macri are heirs to real estate holdings, and they worked together in the 1980s, Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra yesterday told a press conference.
	When Macri placed the call November 14, he asked to speak to Ivanka, whom he has known since she was a child.
	In addition to running a jewelry line, Ivanka Trump is a Trump organization vice president for development.
	News of the conversation came as a report surfaced that Donald Trump had asked Macri to approve a building project by one of his companies in Buenos Aires, a claim that Macri's government has sharply denied.
	Malcorra said there was no discussion between Macri and Trump on real estate development.
	"No. Not at all. They just talked about maintaining the (bilateral) relationship and recalled the ...

Argentine prez, Ivanka Trump spoke during congratulatory call

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Tropical Storm Otto strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean as it lurched toward Central America, causing three deaths in Panama and prompting coastal evacuations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
	Otto became the seventh hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic season as it moved westward packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour, the US-based National Hurricane Center said.
	The hurricane is expected to pick up strength and speed as it approaches the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua before making landfall, the NHC said in a 2100 GMT bulletin.
	Currently, hurricane-force winds were extending up to 10 miles from the center.
	Otto's rains "will likely result in life-threatening flash floods and mud slides," while "life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions" will be experienced along the coasts of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the US center warned.
	In Panama, two people died from a mudslide and one was killed by a falling tree at the onset of Otto's heavy rain, the 

Hurricane Otto heads toward Central America, kills 3

A UN aid convoy carrying food, water and other basic supplies was able to cross frontlines in Syria to reach a rebel-held city, the first cross-line delivery this month, the UN spokesman has said.
	The food and other assistance will help 107,500 Syrians living in Rastan and nearby villages in the Homs region of western Syria, which has not received any aid since July.
	Nearly six million Syrians live in hard-to-reach areas including one million people in besieged areas, according to the United Nations.
	The deliveries, which require complex negotiations to ensure the security of the aid workers, were announced a day after UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien yesterday told the Security Council that the humanitarian crisis was worsening in Syria.
	O'Brien said there had been no cross-line deliveries in the month of November despite a series of UN resolutions calling for unimpeded access for humanitarian aid.
	Three aid convoys recently sent to hard-to-reach areas were turned back at ...

UN aid crosses Syrian frontlines for first time in weeks

A US drone strike has killed a senior Al-Qaeda leader in Syria who previously operated in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.
	The November 18 strike near Sarmada in northwestern Syria targeted Abu Afghan al-Masri, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
	"Al-Masri, an Egyptian, originally joined Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and later moved to its Syrian affiliate," Cook said, noting that Masri had ties to "terrorist" groups operating throughout Southwest Asia.

'Senior Al-Qaeda leader' killed in US strike in Syria:Pentagon

Armed gunmen stormed a school today in a Kenyan province bordering Somalia, spraying bullets but not injuring anyone, official sources said, without confirming whether they were Shabaab group militants.
	The gunmen stormed a room where secondary school students were taking an exam and exchanged fire with police officers guarding the campus before fleeing, they said.
	"Students scampered for safety when the gunmen stormed the school and fired shots," a senior police officer from Wajir told AFP.
	Six policemen were guarding the examination centre at the time, regional governor Mohamud Saleh said.
	It was not immediately clear if the shooting was linked to the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group, which regularly carries out attacks in Kenya, including a massacre at Garissa University in April 2015 in which 148 people were killed.
	But the area where today's incident occurred is also the scene of regular inter-clan violence related to border disputes between Wajir and Garissa counties.
	Saleh ..

Gunmen charge school in strife-hit Kenya region

The EU will require big foreign banks operating in Europe to set aside billions in reserve funds in a tit-for-tat move against the United States that could also affect post-Brexit Britain, according to a draft proposal seen by AFP.
	The European Commission, the executive body of the 28-nation European Union, will tomorrow announce a series of new banking regulations that will include the new requirement.
	"We are actually mirroring what the US has already done," a European source said in advance of the announcement of the new capital requirements.
	The US in 2014 angered Brussels when it suddenly required major European banks -- such as Germany's Deutsche Bank -- to park billions in the United States in case problems at their subsidiaries threatened to involve the US taxpayer.
	The EU warned at the time that these extra costs risked sparking a protectionist reaction in Europe.
	If approved into EU law, the new measure would require major US banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to 

EU takes on US in tit-for-tat bank row

Canada plans to order 18 Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from Boeing and is seeking offers to update its aging combat fleet, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said today.
	Canada remains a partner in the development program of Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter jet. In 2010, it ordered 65 of the aircraft but reversed the deal a year ago because of exorbitant costs and a campaign promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
	Pending the government's call for offers and awaiting the next aircraft to update the fleet, the 18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets will be deployed from 2018 as an interim solution, Sajjan said.

Canada to order 18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets

More than a century after the British expelled Myanmar's last king, descendants held an emotional ceremony in Mandalay's Golden Palace today in a watershed moment for a country rediscovering its royal heritage after decades of colonialism and military rule.
	The last scions of the Konbaung dynasty gathered in the former seat of royal power as monks chanted prayers to mark the end of their family's reign, the first time they have publicly marked King Thibaw's exile to India 130 years ago inside the palace.
	Among them was Prince Paw Thaya, one of only two surviving grandchildren of the last monarch, now both in their 90s.
	"When we were young we used to come and play here," a beaming Taw Phaya, dressed in a traditional maroon sarong and cream jacket, told AFP inside the audience hall where his grandfather once ruled from on high.
	"The British tried to keep us away from the common people. But... Still today the common people will pay respects to royalty," he added.
	Thibaw was only on .

Descendants of Myanmar's last king mark his exile by Britain

America's newest warship, the super high-tech USS Zumwalt, broke down in the Panama Canal just a few weeks after the vessel was commissioned, the Navy and reports said today.
	The guided missile destroyer, whose stealth capabilities give it a strikingly angular shape, needed to be towed yesterday to a nearby former US naval station after suffering an "engineering casualty", the US Naval Institute's news site reported.
	The Zumwalt was en route from Baltimore, where she was commissioned on October 15, to San Diego.
	Navy spokesman Commander Ryan Perry said in a statement that "the timeline for repairs is being determined now".
	"The schedule for the ship will remain flexible to enable testing and evaluation in order to ensure the ship's safe transit to her new homeport in San Diego," Perry said.
	An unnamed defense official told USNI News that repairs to the Zumwalt could take up to 10 days.
	The USD 4.3 billion Zumwalt is the first in a new line of revolutionary guided missile ...

High-tech US stealth ship breaks down in Panama Canal

The Pentagon has softened rules on US troops carrying firearms while at government facilities, an action prompted by a series of deadly attacks on uniformed personnel.
	Troops already carry weapons as part of certain job functions, but the new rules will allow commanders to authorise the carrying of privately-owned handguns, according to a November 18 directive.
	Commanders may grant permission to Department of Defense "personnel requesting to carry a privately owned firearm (concealed or open carry) on DoD property for a personal protection purpose not related to performance of an official duty or status", the directive states.
	In July last year, an attack on a Chattanooga, Tennessee recruitment centre and a Navy and Marine Corps reserve centre left four marines and one sailor dead at the hands of a lone gunman, who according to the FBI was inspired by radical Islamist propaganda.
	The rampage prompted Congress to ask President Barack Obama's administration to loosen current ...

Pentagon softens rules on carrying of firearms in US

Chilean authorities are suing the giant breakfast cereal-makers Nestle and Kelloggs for putting children's cartoon characters on packets of fattening food in breach of an anti-obesity law, officials said today.
	The government's National Consumer Service said in a statement it had filed a suit against the two companies plus Masterfoods, distributor of M&M chocolates, under June's "Food Labelling Law."
	It accuses the companies of breaching the law by "using children's characters on packets of various products classed as 'high in'" certain unhealthy ingredients.
	It said the companies had argued they had a commercial right to use the illustrated children's characters as a brand symbol.
	Chile passed the law on June 27 aiming to curb high levels of obesity.
	Chilean authorities estimate that one in three children under six in the South American country suffers from excessive weight.
	The law obliges manufacturers to add warnings to packets of food high in sugar, saturated fats and ...

Chile sues Nestle, Kellogg's in anti-obesity drive

The United States today named a French veteran of the Foreign Legion as a suspect in the planning of bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels.
	The US State Department added Abdelilah Himich, also known as Abu Suleiman Al-Faransi, to its list of "specially designated global terrorists."
	The designation said he founded 300-strong Islamic State "European foreign terrorist fighter cell" and reportedly helped plan the deadly attacks.
	US and French officials describe Himich as 27 or 28 years old and as a Moroccan-born French citizen who served six months in the French Foreign Legion.
	In November last year, Islamists attacked the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, sprayed cafes with bullets and set off bombs outside a soccer match.
	In all 130 people died, and hundreds more were hurt.
	Then in March, suicide bombers attacked Brussels airport and a metro station, killing 32 more.
	According to the State Department, Himich helped plan these attacks, as well as providing fighters for Islamic State 

US names French IS suspect as Paris attacks planner

A Canadian man was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for plotting to massacre shoppers at a mall in the port city of Halifax, home to the nation's Atlantic fleet.
	Randall Shepherd, 21, described by the defense as a disenfranchised youth, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
	"I'm deeply sorry this has happened," he reportedly told the Nova Scotia court.
	A spokesperson for the Crown told AFP the prosecution and defense jointly recommended to the judge a 10-year sentence.
	American alleged co-conspirator Lindsay Souvannarath, 24, meanwhile, still faces prosecution in the plot. Her case is scheduled to go to trial in May.
	The Crown said the pair along with a third man, James Gamble, 19, who was found dead in his home on the eve of the would-be attack, planned to shoot shoppers and throw Molotov cocktails at storefronts at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Valentine's Day 2015.
	Acting on a tip, police arrested Shepherd and Souvannarath at the Halifax airport and foiled the .

Canada Valentine's Day massacre plotter gets 10 years

Israel today jailed an elderly ultra-Orthodox rabbi for 18 months after he confessed to sexually assaulting three women, the justice ministry said.
	Rabbi Eliezer Berland was convicted of sexually assaulting the women, kissing them against their will and rubbing himself against them, the ministry said in a statement.
	Berland, 78, initially denied culpability but later accepted a plea bargain giving him the 18-month sentence.
	He told the court today he "regrets his actions from the bottom of his heart", Israeli media reported.
	"For such acts, the Bible would have pronounced the punishment of stoning," he supposedly added, promising to have no more contact with women.
	Berland is a spiritual leader in the Breslov Hasidic sect, a strand of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, who respect ancient Jewish laws in all aspects of everyday life.
	Many of the faithful remain convinced of his innocence despite his arrest at the end of a highly publicised manhunt.
	The rabbi, who has a long white beard and 

Israel jails rabbi for 18 months over sex assault

Some Zika-infected babies who appeared normal at birth still showed significant brain defects and went on to develop unusually small heads, a condition known as microcephaly, researchers said today.
	A total of 13 Brazilian babies whose mothers were infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus while pregnant were described in a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
	"Among these infants, 11 later developed microcephaly," said a CDC statement.
	"Slowed head growth and microcephaly were accompanied by significant neurologic complications."
	Seven of the 13 children had epilepsy, and "all had significant motor disabilities consistent with mixed cerebral palsy," said the report.
	The infants were studied for their first year of life, and were too young to evaluate for any intellectual deficits.
	Researchers have known that Zika infection can cause microcephaly, and can also cause brain defects even without the appearance of microcephaly.
	But the latest study shows ..

Zika babies can develop microcephaly in first year

Five prominent Zimbabwe war veterans arrested earlier this year in a crackdown on critics of President Robert Mugabe, appeared in court today for insulting the 92-year-old leader.
	The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) spokesman, Douglas Mahiya, and four executives briefly appeared before a Harare magistrate for authoring a highly-critical statement accusing Mugabe of "dictatorial" behaviour.
	Mugabe, in power since 1980, has faced a groundswell of opposition and calls to step down in recent months as the country's moribund economy collapses.
	The leaders of veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war were not asked to enter their pleas and the hearing was postponed to tomorrow.
	Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa hinted to the court that the five will contest the charges.
	"There is no offence disclosed by that document," she said of the statement issued in July.
	"It was referring to the president of the (Zanu-PF) political party," but not the state president.
	In 

Zimbabwe war veterans in court for insulting Mugabe

Britain tomorrow delivers its first budget since the Brexit referendum, with economists expecting a slight shift away from years of austerity as the nation readies its EU exit strategy.
	The Conservative government's finance minister Philip Hammond will deliver his so-called Autumn Statement before parliament around 1230 GMT tomorrow - exactly five months after the Brexit vote.
	"We need to be match fit for the opportunities and challenges" arising from Brexit, Hammond declared on Sunday, while warning that Britain still faced an "eye-watering" deficit.
	Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to trigger Britain's exit from the European Union by the end of March, after disaffected British voters sent shockwaves across the world in the June 23 referendum by choosing to leave the bloc.
	Some economists argue that Donald Trump's shock election as US president could similarly persuade May's administration to do more to help workers who have felt shunned by government policies.
	"May has made 

Britain braces for first budget since Brexit vote

Renewed clashes between Yemeni government forces and rebels killed more than 40 people today, military officials said, a day after a fragile 48-hour ceasefire expired without halting the violence.
	Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi repelled an attack by Shiite Huthi rebels and their allies on the western outskirts of Taez city, the officials said.
	The attack that began late yesterday targeted the Al-Dhabab area, which provides pro-Hadi forces with their only access to the flashpoint city of 300,000 people that is surrounded by insurgents.
	Warplanes from the Saudi-led Arab coalition took part in operations to repel the attack, officials said.
	Military officials also reported heavy artillery fire in an eastern suburb of Taez as pro-Hadi forces pressed a campaign to wrest back control of a presidential palace, police headquarters and an air defence base from the Huthis.
	Eleven rebel fighters and five pro-government soldiers were killed in the clashes around the ...

More than 40 killed in renewed Yemen clashes

Iraq has to up its crude output because dwindling oil prices and the fight against Islamic State have left "a huge hole" in the economy, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said today, as the OPEC cartel scrambles to agree a production cut deal.
	"As oil makes up for more than 90 per cent of Iraq's budget, a huge hole was knocked in the budget by the fall in prices right at the same time as we have had to increase spending on the army due to the fight against IS," al-Jaafari told reporters during an official visit in Budapest.
	"We need international understanding because we have to increase production in this situation. Iraq may be a rich country but it has huge problems. It wouldn't be fair now if we decreased production," he added.
	Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, has been pumping more oil over the past few months to reach an average of 4.56 million barrels per day (mb/d) in October.
	In a surprise move, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in September ..

Iraq has to up oil output because of 'budget hole': FM

An attack by Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists against a Lake Chad army base manned by an anti-insurgent regional force has left six Cameroonian soldiers dead, a military source said today.
	"Boko Haram attacked a base of the Mixed Multinational Force on the island of Darak (on Lake Chad) at around 2200 (2100 GMT)" yesterday, said the source, who asked not to be named. He said six soldiers had been killed.
	Boko Haram frequently travel around the many islands of Lake Chad, which borders northeast Nigeria, the far north of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
	A civilian from a vigilante group working with security forces to combat Boko Haram incursions was also killed, another security source said.
	The jihadist group, which is seeking to impose strict Islamic Sharia law in Nigeria's mainly-Muslim north, has killed at least 20,000 people and left more than 2.6 million homeless in its six-year insurgency.
	Cameroon has battled the extremist group since 2014 and has joined Chad, Nigeria, Niger and ...

Six soldiers killed in Boko Haram attack in Cameroon

An online petition calling for the British monarchy to pay for 369 million pounds in repairs to Buckingham Palace has gathered momentum and by today, had garnered over 132,000 signatures.
	Last week, royal officials outlined a plan for Queen Elizabeth II's official home to undergo "essential works" to replace electrical wiring, water pipes and boilers in the biggest overhaul since the 1950s.
	To fund the 369 million pounds (431-million euro, USD 458 million) repairs, the government is asking parliament to approve an increase in the sovereign grant -- the annual allowance provided by the government to support the Queen in her official duties.
	Many members of the public are not so keen.
	"There is a national housing crisis, the NHS (National Health Service) is in crisis, austerity is forcing cuts in many frontline services," Mark Johnson, who launched the online petition, wrote.
	"Now the Royals expect us to dig deeper to refurbish Buckingham Palace. The Crown's wealth is inestimable. .

AFP

AFP

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