Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope Sunday that he can "make history" in Washington this week during talks on US President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Middle East.
Netanyahu has been invited to meet Trump at the White House on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the project, which has already been dismissed by the Palestinians.
"We are in the midst of very dramatic diplomatic developments, but the climax is still ahead of us," Netanyahu told reporters ahead of a weekly cabinet meeting.
"In a short while, I'll leave for Washington to meet my friend, the President of the United States Donald Trump, who will present his deal of the century... I'm full of hope that we can make history," he added.
Trump on Thursday said he will release his long-delayed plan before meeting Netanyahu in Washington.
"It's a great plan. It's a plan that really would work," Trump said.
Netanyahu's political rival Benny Gantz has also been invited to the White House to meet with Trump on ...

Netanyahu hopes to 'make history' at talks on Trump peace plan

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Hong Kong's Disneyland announced it was shutting its doors on Sunday until further notice over the deadly virus outbreak in central China, a day after city authorities classified the crisis as an emergency.
The park said it was taking the step to protect "the health and safety of our guests and cast members", mirroring a similar move by Shanghai's Disneyland.
Ocean Park, a rival amusement park on Hong Kong's main island, said it was also closing its doors.
On Saturday, Hong Kong classified the outbreak as an "emergency" -- the city's highest warning tier -- and announced ramped-up measures to reduce the risk of further infections.
The move came as city leader Carrie Lam faced criticism in some quarters over her administration's response to the crisis.
Calls have been made by politicians and some medical experts to halt, or limit, arrivals from the Chinese mainland where the epidemic began.
Of the six people to have tested positive for the virus, five arrived via a newly built ...

Hong Kong Disneyland closes over China virus fears

Japan will evacuate all its nationals from China's quarantined city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a deadly virus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday.
"We have decided to send back all (Japanese citizens in Wuhan) to Japan if they wish so, by every means including a chartered flight," Abe told reporters.
"We are coordinating with the Chinese government at various levels, and we will accelerate the process to realise a swift implementation" of the evacuation from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, Abe said.
Earlier, a foreign ministry official told AFP that 430 Japanese were in Hubei province.
The move comes as several other countries are arranging plans to evacuate their personnel and citizens.
The outbreak, which has killed 56 people and infected nearly 2,000 across China, is believed to have originated in a live animal market in Wuhan.
China is one of Tokyo's biggest trading partners and around 160 Japan-linked companies have offices in the region's central city ..

Japan will evacuate nationals from China virus city: Abe

Syrian regime forces have reached the outskirts of a key city on the edge of the country's last rebel-held stronghold, a monitor and a pro-government newspaper said Sunday.
The mainly deserted city of Maaret al-Numan is a strategic prize lying on the M5 linking Damascus to Syria's second city Aleppo, a main highway coveted by the regime as it seeks to regain control of the entire country.
It is one of the largest urban centres in the beleaguered northwestern province of Idlib, the last stronghold of anti-regime forces and currently home to some three million people -- half of them displaced by violence in other areas.
The regime and its Russian ally have escalated their bombardment against the jihadist-dominated region since December, carrying out hundreds of air strikes in southern Idlib and the west of neighbouring Aleppo province.
Over the past 24 hours, government ground forces have seized seven villages on the outskirts of Maaret al-Numan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights .

Syria regime forces on edge of key rebel-held town: monitor

Top seed and home hope Ashleigh Barty survived a scare to battle into the Australian Open quarter-finals in three sets on Sunday.
The world number one beat American 18th seed Alison Riske 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and next plays two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, her opponent at the same stage last year.
Kvitova won on that occasion and Barty will be out for revenge, after she avoided becoming the latest big name to exit. Six of the top 10 women's seeds are already out.
"It was third time the charm for me last week and it was third time tonight as well," said the 23-year-old, who also needed three sets to beat Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in the first round.
"I just had to hang in there and try and give myself a chance." On a day of celebrations for Australia Day, Barty got in the party mood by searing into an early 3-0 lead at a capacity 15,000 Rod Laver Arena.
Barty, named Young Australian of the Year on Saturday, was broken by the 29-year-old Riske but wasted little time in hitting back ...

Top seed Barty battles into Australian Open quarter-finals

Sebastian Soderberg made golfing history on Sunday, the Swede completing his final round at the Dubai Desert Classic in a European record time of one hour and 36 minutes.
The 29-year-old was playing alone and first off after 71 players made the cut.  With his brother Jesper on the bag, the duo hatched a plot to polish off the round as quickly as possible, their plan included sprinting after hitting each shot and between the holes.
Soderberg said he needed a buy-in from his brother and caddy to execute the plan.
"I thought about it last night, but the important thing was that my brother on the bag, he had the big job, because he ran non-stop pretty much," Soderberg revealed.
"He said this morning that he was excited about it, so we said 'let's do this'."
The previous fastest round on the European Tour was one hour and 59 minutes by Belgium's Thomas Pieters at the Italian Open last year.
On the PGA Tour, American Wesley Bryan needed just 89 minutes to finish his final round at the 2017 .

Speedy Soderberg sprints to European record round in Dubai

Tennys Sandgren won a "war" against 12th seed Fabio Fognini over four intense sets to roar into his second Australian Open quarter-final in three years Sunday.
The American proved too hot for the Italian who was nursing a battered hand, winning 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4 to set up a last-eight clash against either Roger Federer or Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
"That was fun. Playing him was just a war," said Sandgren, ranked 100.
"He is so good. You can never count him out at any stage. I had expectations of a fight and that's what we had."
Sandgren, a devout Christian, achieved his best Grand Slam result at Melbourne Park by reaching the last eight in 2018, but it was overshadowed by a row over his political views and links to right-wing activists.
He has put the controversy behind him and shown battling qualities in his run to the quarter-finals this year, having also knocked out eighth seed Matteo Berrettini in the second round.
Asked about playing either Fucsovics or Federer, he 

Sandgren wins 'war' against Fognini to make Open last eight

Mark Wood finished with five wickets as England took a 217-run first innings lead on the third day of the fourth and final Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday.
South Africa were bowled out for 183 at lunch in reply to England's 400. Fast bowler Wood had figures of five for 46.
Quinton de Kock (76) and Dwaine Pretorius (37) held up England's progress with a 79-run partnership for the eighth wicket but both were dismissed shortly before the scheduled lunch break.
The interval was delayed and it only needed another six minutes for England to claim the last wicket.
Ben Stokes made the crucial breakthrough when he had Pretorius caught at gully and Wood followed up by bowling De Kock and having Dane Paterson caught behind.
England, leading the series 2-1, remained in firm control but De Kock and Pretorius prevented what threatened to be a rout when South Africa, resuming on 88 for six, lost the wicket of Vernon Philander to the sixth ball of the morning.
De Kock ...

England lead by 217 runs as Wood ends South African resistance

Defending champion Novak Djokovic swept into the Australian Open quarter-finals but 15-year-old Coco Gauff exited in tears on Sunday after failing in her bid to become the Open era's youngest Grand Slam winner.
Djokovic, on the hunt for his eighth Melbourne title, was remorseless against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, crushing the 14th seed 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to book an 11th appearance in the last eight.
The Serb's reward is a match-up with big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, who is back in form after a run of injuries and dismissed 2018 finalist Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
"Milos is one of the tallest, strongest players on tour and has one of the biggest serves," said Djokovic, the 16-time Grand Slam winner.
"I've got to be ready for missiles coming from his side of the net."
Gauff's giant-killing Australian debut generated intense hype as she attempted to become the youngest Major-winner in the post-1968 Open era, breaking the record set by a 16-year-old Martina Hingis in 1997.
The ...

Bittersweet Coco as Djokovic picks up steam at Australian Open

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur said she hoped to inspire young people across the Arabic-speaking world after she became the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final on Sunday.
The unseeded 25-year-old knocked out China's Wang Qiang, who upset Serena Williams in the previous round, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 to extend her dream run in Melbourne.
Jabeur, the highest-ranked Arab woman in history -- she reached a career-high 51 last year, and is now 78th -- will next play America's Sofia Kenin in the last eight.
"I'm trying to inspire many (of the) young generation back home either in Tunisia or the Arabic world, especially in Africa, which is amazing," Jabeur said.
"I mean, it's not impossible. I made it. Like I said before, I've been practising in Tunisia from the age of three through 16 or 17. I'm 100 percent Tunisian product."
Africa's number one, the first Tunisian woman to win a main-draw match at the Australian Open, said she had received messages from people watching in the early hours back 

Jabeur aims to 'inspire generation' after Arab tennis breakthrough

Coco Gauff warned she is not even close to achieving her full potential and targeted the Tokyo Olympics after the 15-year-old exited the Australian Open in tears on Sunday.
Gauff's fellow American Sofia Kenin recovered from a set down to win 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-0 and reach the last eight in Melbourne.
The 14th seed plays Ons Jabeur after the unseeded Tunisian defeated China's Wang Qiang to become the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.
Gauff, the youngest player in the draw, is one of the stories of the Australian Open, beating Venus Williams in the first round and then reigning champion Naomi Osaka in round three.
Gauff, who turns 16 in March and now has to get back to school homework, blamed her loss on too many errors and said that nerves had nothing to do with it.
But she also admitted that the last few weeks had almost been too good to be true.
"I couldn't really write this, I don't think anybody could really write how this past couple months have gone," said the .

'Couldn't write this': Gauff, 15, proud after teary Melbourne exit

In Cairo's centuries-old Darb al-Ahmar district, Salama Mahmoud Salama's traditional dye workshop is a multi-coloured hive of workers busy with all kinds of fabrics.
They lay out the long, flowing threads, to be used for everything from handmade shoes to rugs and drapes, and dip them in large, hot colour baths.
They have no gloves or masks to protect them from the dyes and fumes.
"We start by levelling the cotton out, then immersing it in dye and adding salt to get the colour right," 83-year-old Salama says one busy morning.
The workshop in Islamic Cairo has been going strong for almost 120 years.
"We rinse the wet threads before flattening them out in an electric presser and then leave them out to dry," he adds.
Of the 23 historic dye workshops that used to service the city, only a handful remain.
While industrial dye factories usually work with at least of a tonne of yarn at a time, Salama says he can colour as little as half a kilogramme (just over a pound).
His loyal clients come .

Dye workshop a colourful dip into old Cairo craft

Coco Gauff's bid for history at the Australian Open ended in tears in the last 16 on Sunday as the 15-year-old crashed out in three sets to fellow American Sofia Kenin.
The 14th seed Kenin recovered from a set down to win convincingly 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-0 and Gauff left the court crying.
Kenin plays Tunisia's unseeded Ons Jabeur after she defeated China's Wang Qiang to become the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.
"I just did the best I can. I just tried to take it like any other match," said Kenin, who also had tears in her eyes afterwards.
"I know she's (Gauff) playing well, I just tried to play my game and fight for every point and just not focus on anything else."
Gauff, the youngest player in the draw, has been one of the stories of the Australian Open, beating Venus Williams in the first round and then stunning reigning champion Naomi Osaka in round three.
The supremely talented teenager, who turns 16 in March, was attempting to become the youngest player to ...

Coco Gauff, 15, crashes out in tears at Australian Open

Security forces shot live rounds to clear protest hotspots in Baghdad and southern Iraq for a second day Sunday, sparking skirmishes with demonstrators determined to keep up their movement.
The anti-government protesters had feared their campaign would be squashed when riot police Saturday moved in on their tent camps in the capital, the southern port city of Basra, the holy city of Najaf and other cities.
But the demonstrators returned in large numbers in the evening and on Sunday morning, with security forces trying to clear them out again.
In the capital, they used live rounds in an attempt to disperse small anti-government rallies in Khallani and Wathba squares, near the main protest camp of Tahrir Square, according to a police source.
At least 17 protesters were wounded, including six with bullet wounds, the source said.
The young demonstrators have mostly thrown rocks at riot police but some have tossed Molotov cocktails.
In Nasiriyah to the south, security forces also fired ...

Iraq protesters wounded in second day of clashes with security forces

An explosive eruption of the Philippines' restive Taal volcano no longer appears imminent, authorities said Sunday as they lifted most of a mass evacuation order but warned residents to remain ready to flee.
Warning signs like earthquakes have been steadily waning since Taal burst to life two weeks ago with plumes of ash and lava, forcing over 135,000 people into shelters over fears a massive blast was coming.
The nation's seismological agency said steadily shrinking ash and gas emissions were signs of "decreased tendency towards hazardous explosive eruption", leading them to drop the alert by a notch.
The immediate impact of the reduced warning was the lifting of the evacuation order for nearly all the towns that ring the volcano, a tourist attraction that sits in the middle of a lake.
"Residents of all towns under lockdown except Agoncillo and Laurel now have the option to return," local governor Hermilando Mandanas told a press conference.
"There's a possibility that the volcano ...

Philippines lowers volcano alert, thousands can return home

Thousands of people joined Invasion Day protests in cities across Australia Sunday to mark the beginning of British colonisation of the vast continent.
January 26 is officially recognised as Australia Day, a public holiday to celebrate the origins of the modern nation and is commemorated with fireworks, concerts and citizenship ceremonies.
However, the date is a time of mourning for indigenous Australians, who have inhabited the land for 65,000 years and view the arrival of British settlers in 1788 as heralding two centuries years of pain and suffering.
Annual rallies have steadily grown in size as protesters bring attention to injustices faced by indigenous people and call on the government to change the date of Australia Day.
It was only formally established as a nation-wide celebration in 1994.
This year, non-indigenous Australians were asked to give reparations in the form of a donation to the #PayTheRent campaign.
Melbourne rally organiser Lidia Thorpe, a former Victoria state ...

Thousands rally across Australia for 'Invasion Day' protests

President Martin Vizcarra looks set to break the opposition stranglehold on Peru's Congress as legislative elections get underway on Sunday, the first time they have been held separately from a general election.
The vote comes just 15 months ahead of the next general election, and after Vizcarra successfully dissolved Congress in September in a bid to break a political crisis over repeated clashes with the Keiko Fujimori-led opposition.
Fujimori's Popular Force party held an absolute majority in the single-chamber legislature with 73 out of 130 seats, but on Sunday they are expected to suffer a drubbing at the ballot box, largely due to the wide-ranging Odebrecht corruption scandal that snared Fujimori in its tentacles.
Fujimori is accused of accepting USD 1.2 million in illicit party funding from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht for her 2011 election campaign.
Odebrecht has admitted to paying at least USD 29 million to Peruvian officials since 2004, and bribing four former .

Peru president eyes blow to opposition in congressional polls

Defending champion Novak Djokovic swept past Diego Schwartzman and into an Australian Open quarter-final with big-serving Milos Raonic Sunday as he zeroes in on an eighth Melbourne Park title.
The rampant Serbian second seed was on another level to Schwartzman, the 14th seed, crushing the Argentine 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to book an 11th appearance in the tournament's last eight.
Raonic is his next hurdle and the Canadian has also been in fine touch. He is yet to drop a set, blasting past fellow former world number three Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
"Milos is one of the tallest, strongest players on tour and has one of the biggest serves," said Djokovic, who is into his 46th Grand Slam quarter-final, second only to Roger Federer's 57.
"I've got to be ready for missiles coming from his side of the net. One key element will be how well I'm returning."
The Serb has met 32nd seed Raonic nine times and won them all.
But the Canadian is back to full fitness after years of injury ...

Rampant Djokovic sets up Raonic quarter-final

The death toll from a powerful earthquake which struck eastern Turkey rose to 31, officials said Sunday, as rescue efforts continued.
The magnitude 6.8 quake hit on Friday evening, with its epicentre in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in Elazig province but also affected neighbouring cities and countries.
The Turkish government's disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said 31 people died, the majority in Elazig but at least four in nearby Malatya, and 1,607 were injured.
Rescuers scrambled all of Saturday and searched Sunday to rescue people alive from under the rubble. The latest number of individuals rescued was 45, according to AFAD.
Nearly 80 buildings collapsed while 645 were heavily damaged in Elazig and Malatya, the agency said in a statement.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised Saturday that Turkey's housing agency TOKI would "do whatever is necessary and make sure no one is left without a home".
He attended the funeral of a woman and her son in Elazig ...

Turkey quake death toll rises to 31

One province and three major cities in China will ban long-distance buses, authorities said Sunday, as they scramble to contain a deadly new virus that has spread across the country.
The eastern Shandong province, with a population of 100 million people, will suspend long-distance buses entering the province, state broadcaster CCTV reported, following the announcement of similar measures in the cities of Tianjin, Beijing and Xi'an.
Inter-city buses in the province will only be allowed to leave if stations have temperature screening measures, CCTV said.
From 6 pm (1000 GMT) Sunday, Xi'an will suspend long-distance buses and tourist chartered buses entering the city of 10 million people, local officials said on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, following the announcement of similar measures in Tianjin and Beijing.
Inter-city taxis will be suspended, except those from the city's airport, the statement said.
The measures are to stop the spread of the virus through "passenger transport by ..

Chinese province, cities ban long-distance buses over virus concerns

A third major city in China will ban long-distance buses, authorities said Sunday, as they scramble to contain a deadly new virus that has spread across the country.
From 6 pm (1000 GMT) Sunday, Xi'an will suspend long-distance buses and tourist chartered buses entering the city of 10 million people, local officials said on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, following the announcement of similar measures in Tianjin and Beijing.

AFP

AFP

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