Belgrade was on Thursday investigating a video that purports to show a Russian agent providing cash to an unidentified man in Serbia, triggering alarm in the Balkan state.
A Serbian intelligence official confirmed late Wednesday that the video is authentic and identified the Russian agent as Georgy Kleban.
The clip, whose origins are still unconfirmed, shows the Russian meeting in a car park with a man who local media have portrayed as a Serbian intelligence officer.
During the encounter the Russian hands the man a plastic bag. Later the Serb, whose face is blurred, is seen inside his car counting money from an envelope that was in the bag.
"Our services, both civilian and military, are intensely engaged in establishing all the circumstances related to this event," Relja Zeljski, the chief of Serbian intelligence's analytical section, told state-run RTS.
On Thursday President Aleksandar Vucic convened a meeting with the National Security Council over the affair. He is due to visit ...

Serbia investigates video of 'Russian spy' cash hand-off

PTI Automatic

British Airways flights were facing delays in and out of London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Thursday after a technical glitch overnight, the airline said.
"Our teams are working hard to resolve a technical issue which is affecting some of our flights," said a spokeswoman for BA, owned by airlines group IAG.
"We have rebooked customers on to alternative flights and offered hotel accommodation where they have been unable to continue their journeys last night.
"We are very sorry for the disruption to their travel plans. We plan to operate a full flight schedule today," she added.
BA warned that there would be knock-on delays -- but declined to comment on the nature of the problem nor the number of flights affected.
"This is the latest in a long line of British Airways technical glitches causing delays and cancellations," said Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel.
"Yet again it's thousands of passengers who are paying the price -- left tired, frustrated and with a 

British Airways says flights hit by glitch

Ratings agency Moody's on Thursday slashed its outlook for German banks from "stable" to "negative", warning their profitability and creditworthiness would "decline" in the coming months.
"Banks' weak profitability will decline further as net interest income falls" amid low or negative interest rates set by the European Central Bank, Moody's vice-president Bernhard Held said in a statement.
While banks must for now set aside little cash to cover the risk of borrowers falling behind on payments, such charges are "unsustainably low", he judged.
Especially smaller banks that rely on customers' deposits for their funding are seeing profits sapped by low rates, which have prompted many bosses to blast the ECB for the policy.
Also Thursday, Bundesbank (central bank) vice-president Claudia Buch warned German lenders' "vulnerability has gradually grown" to credit risks, as she presented the institution's annual financial stability report.
Banks could have underestimated future lending risks ..

Moody's sees 'negative' outlook for German banks

Moscow on Thursday unveiled the latest addition to its sprawling public transportation system, aiming to rival the suburban rail links of Paris and Berlin and divert commuters away from cars.
Called Moscow Central Diameters, the network reaches suburban towns in the Moscow region mainly using the existing railways but upgrading the trains and claiming to provide a more convenient and cheaper service.
The first two links launching on Thursday connect suburbs west of Moscow to towns in the south and north, passing through Moscow's central train stations.
The network will eventually include five such links.
Officials have put the price tag for the scheme at 200 billion rubles (USD 3.1 billion), though newspaper Kommersant reported that the projected cost ballooned to 931 billion rubles.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has overseen the completion of several major infrastructure projects in the capital to upgrade clogged roads and introduce modern public transport.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ..

Moscow launches new $3bn suburban rail scheme

The UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday urged Iran to explain the presence of uranium particles at an undeclared site, as a landmark deal aimed at curbing Tehran's atomic activities threatens to collapse.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report made public last week that its inspectors had "detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency".
The agency's acting head Cornel Feruta said IAEA and Iranian officials would meet in Tehran next week to discuss the matter, adding that the UN body had not received any additional information.
"The matter remains unresolved... It is essential that Iran works with the agency to resolve this matter promptly," he told IAEA member states at a meeting of the agency's board of governors.
A diplomatic source told AFP that the IAEA would send a high-ranking technical delegation to Iran next week.
The particles are understood to be the product of uranium which has been mined and .

IAEA urges Iran to explain uranium particles at undeclared site

Six environmental conservationists accused of "spying" on Iranian military sites have received sentences of up to 10 years in prison, according to state news agency IRNA and Shargh daily.
Sentences "from four to 10 years" have been issued for some of the case's suspects, IRNA quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili as saying.
Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer who represents some of the defendants, told Shargh daily that six of the eight have had their sentences handed down.
Aghasi, however, was not present in court as the state has designated its own hand-picked lawyers to represent the defendants.
He told Shargh daily that Niloufar Bayani and Morad Tahbaz had received 10-year sentences, while Taher Ghadirian and Houman Jokar had been given eight years and Amirossein Khaleghi and Sepideh Kashani six years.
"Sam Rajabi and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh's sentences are yet to be announced," he added.
The defendants were among conservationists working with the local environmental group ...

Iran environmentalists receive prison sentences of up to 10 years

Htoo Maung sits down to lunch, sharing a bowl of traditional noodle soup with old friends, an ordinary act that has become extraordinary in Myanmar's Rakhine state -- because he is Muslim, and they are Buddhist.
They used to live side by side as neighbours. But now he can only visit them under a strict curfew enforced by armed guards before he must return to the muddy camp where he and the rest of Kyaukphyu town's Muslims have been confined for seven years.
In 2012 inter-communal unrest swept through swathes of western Myanmar, including Htoo Maung's home town, after allegations spread that a Buddhist woman had been raped by Muslim men.
Mobs ransacked homes and police rounded up Muslims for their "own safety" to sites that would later be turned into camps.
More than 200 died, tens of thousands were displaced and the stage was set for the bloody purge of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine five years later.
Many fear the enduring deep sectarian suspicions and .

Myanmar town offers glimmer of hope for Muslims enduring 'apartheid'

Oil companies are becoming increasingly unfashionable partners for British cultural institutions, as they ditch corporate sponsorship under pressure from artists and environmentalists.
Members of the "BP or not BP?" protest group on Tuesday disrupted an event for the British Museum's new exhibition on Troy, which is sponsored by the British oil giant.
Activists dressed as Greek gods and heroes such as Zeus, Athena and Achilles, were sprayed with a black liquid by "Petroleus" -- a deity created especially for the occasion.
"BP's sponsorship of the British Museum is, ironically, just like the famous Trojan Horse highlighted in the exhibition," said activist Sophie McIntosh.
"The company sponsors the museum in order to look like a generous gift-giver that cares about culture but, in reality, it's a cynical attempt to deflect attention from something far more sinister."
A spokeswoman for the museum told AFP she "understands" the concerns.
But temporary exhibitions such as the Troy show ...

Britain's art world turns its back on oil cash

Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been offered a six-month deal to come to the aid of struggling former Italian giants AC Milan, according to reports in Italy on Thursday.
The 38-year-old striker confirmed his departure from Los Angeles Galaxy last week following the club's elimination from the Major League Soccer playoffs.
Gazzetta dello Sport and Sky Sports Italia reported that the former seven-time European champions have now made contact with the player's agent Mino Raiola.
The US-owned club want the former Swedish international for six months and are prepared to pay him six million euros ($6.6 million) if he remains for 18 months in total, Gazzetta claimed.
Milan finished fifth last season, missing out on a return to Champions League football by just a point to city rivals Inter.
They have had a poor start to this campaign and are 14th after 12 games before they host last year's runners-up Napoli on Saturday in the San Siro.
Ibrahimovic played for two seasons between 2010 and ...

AC Milan offer Ibrahimovic six-month deal - reports

Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg was awarded an international children's peace prize on Wednesday, for her work in the struggle against climate change which has resonated with schoolchildren across the world.
Cameroonian peace activist Divina Maloum, aged 15, also received the International Children's Peace Prize, awarded by the Dutch KidsRight organisation, which has been handing out the prize since 2005.
Thunberg could not accept her award in person at the ceremony in The Hague because she is crossing the Atlantic by boat on her way to an international climate conference in Madrid.
However she sent a message saying she was "incredibly grateful and honoured for this prize".
The 16-year-old climate campaigner left the United States in mid-November, hitching a ride to Europe aboard a catamaran to attend a UN climate summit in Madrid in early December.
Thunberg rose to international prominence last year when she founded the "school strikes for the climate" movement. Tens of ...

Greta Thunberg awarded international children's peace prize

Scoreboard from the first day of the first cricket Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday:
Pakistan
Shan Masood c Smith b Cummins
27
Azhar Ali c Burns b Hazlewood
39
Haris Sohail c Paine b Starc
1
Asad Shafiq b Cummins
76
Babar Azam c Burns b Hazlewood
1
Iftikhar Ahmed c Labuschagne b Lyon
7
Mohammad Rizwan c Paine b Cummins
37
Yasir Shah b Starc
26
Shaheen Afridi c Paine b Starc
0
Naseem Shah c and b Starc
7
Imran Khan not out
5
Extras: (B-4, LB-8, NB-1, W-1)
14
Total: (86.2 overs)
240
Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-75, 3-77, 4-78, 5-94, 6-143, 7-227, 8-227, 9-227, 10-240
Bowling: Starc 18.2-52-4, Hazlewood 20-6-46-2, Cummins 22-7-60-3, Lyon 17-3-40-1, Labuschagne 8-0-24-0, Smith 1-0-6-0.

Brisbane, Nov 21 (AFP) Scoreboard from the first day of the first cricket Test between Australia and Pakistan at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday:

China's demand for donkey skins to make a traditional medicine could wipe out more than half the world's donkey population in the next five years, researchers said Thursday.
Nearly five million skins are used every year to make ejiao, a gel believed in China to be a remedy for troubles ranging from colds to ageing, putting enormous strain on donkey populations around the world, Britain-based animal welfare group Donkey Sanctuary said in a report.
Ejiao was once the preserve of emperors but is now highly sought after by a burgeoning middle class, with production growing 20 percent each year between 2013 and 2016, Donkey Sanctuary said.
China's domestic donkey population has collapsed by 76 percent since 1992, and the country imports most of the donkey skins it uses, mainly from traders in South America, Africa and Asia.
There are currently around 45.8 million donkeys in the world, Donkey Sanctuary said.
The donkey skin trade has resulted in "suffering on an enormous and unacceptable ...

China 'medicine' demand threatens world donkey population: report

A lawyer for some of the alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday said they wanted to speak to Prince Andrew about his links to the late convicted sex offender.
Queen Elizabeth II's second son, 59, has faced outrage for days after he gave a television interview in which he defended his friendship with the disgraced financier.
The prince is accused of having had sex with a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein, who was found dead in a New York prison in August.
Andrew denies the allegations.
But on Wednesday he said he was stepping down from public duties because the outcry was causing "major disruption" to the royal family and the charities and organisations associated with it.
He said he was "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required".
US lawyer Lisa Bloom, who represents five women allegedly assaulted by Epstein, told BBC radio that Andrew should speak to everyone probing the allegations -- including her.
"All of the staff who 

Prince Andrew urged to cooperate with US over Epstein

British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Thursday sets out his party's manifesto for next month's election, promising the most radical plan for change for decades.
The party's programme of pledges includes nationalisations, a huge investment in public services and corporate reform, which Corbyn insists are "fully costed" and deliverable.
On Brexit, the key issue of the December 12 election, he has promised to strike a new exit deal with the European Union and hold a second referendum on Britain's membership.
Opinion polls show Labour trailing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives but the opposition is still hoping to galvanise voters like it did in the last vote in 2017.
Ahead of the manifesto launch in Birmingham, central England, Corbyn claimed the programme was "full of popular policies that the political establishment has blocked for a generation".
He repeated the attacks on the rich and powerful that have been a feature of Labour's campaign so far, arguing that ...

'Time for real change': UK Labour makes election pitch

The European Union on Thursday urged Iran to show "maximum restraint" in handling protests that have rocked the country in recent days, leaving several people dead, urging an end to violence.
Demonstrations erupted in sanctions-hit Iran on Friday, hours after the price of petrol was raised by as much as 200 percent and unrest spread to at least 40 urban centres, with officials confirming five deaths.
A spokeswoman for the EU expressed condolences to the families of the dead and called for dialogue to resolve the tensions.
"We expect Iran's security forces to exercise maximum restraint in handling the protests and for protesters to demonstrate peacefully. Any violence is unacceptable," Maja Kocijancic said in a statement.
"The rights to freedom of expression and assembly must be guaranteed." She added that the EU expects the Iranian authorities to restore communications and end a near-total internet blackout in place since the weekend.
Amnesty International said more than 100 ...

EU urges end to Iran protest violence

South Africa's elite police on Thursday arrested a senior lawmaker and ex-state security minister for graft, the first such high-profile arrest in recent years.
Bongani Bongo, a close ally of former president Jacob Zuma, is accused of offering a bribe to a lawyer who was building the state's case in a 2017 parliamentary inquiry into the troubled state-owned power utility Eskom.
"The charges are that he offered money to (an) advocate... which (the prosecutor) refused, that is the charge of corruption that we have against him now," prosecutions spokesman Eric Ntabazalila told state broadcaster SABC in Cape Town.
Bongo, who currently chairs the home affairs committee in parliament, appeared before a magistrate court and was freed on bail of 5,000 rand (306 euros, $340).
He was ordered to return to court on January 31.
Zuma appointed Bongo state security minister just two weeks after he allegedly tried to bribe lawyer Nthutuzela Vanara during a parliamentary probe into Eskom. He lasted ...

S African ex-security minister arrested for corruption

Pope Francis met with Thailand's supreme Buddhist patriarch on Thursday in a gilded Bangkok temple on the first full day of his Asia tour aimed at promoting religious harmony.
This is the pontiff's first visit to Buddhist-majority Thailand -- where just over 0.5 per cent of the population are Catholics -- before he jets off to Japan on Saturday.
He is pushing a message of inter-faith peace on a four-day visit that will see him lead a mass later Thursday for tens of thousands of faithful from across Southeast Asia.
The 82-year-old head of the Catholic church also delivered impassioned remarks about the plight of vulnerable children and women who he said deserved a "dignified" future.
In a highly symbolic meeting Thursday, he sat down with Thailand's supreme Buddhist patriarch Somdej Phra Maha Muneewong at Bangkok's Ratchabophit temple in the city's historic old quarter.
"Catholics have enjoyed freedom in religious practice, despite their being in a minority, and for many years have ...

Pope meets Thai Buddhist patriarch on visit promoting religious peace

An online fundraiser for koalas injured in devastating bushfires topped Austrlain dollar 1 million on Thursday, making it Australia's biggest campaign on the GoFundMe platform this year.
Deadly bushfires have ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia, and wildlife carers estimate the blazes have killed hundreds of koalas this month in New South Wales state alone.
A crowdfunding page set up by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital to provide automatic water drinking stations for wild koalas soared past Australian dollar 1 million, with donations from more than 20,000 people from countries including the United States, France and England.
The wildlife charity's "Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires" drive, which had an initial goal of just Australian dollar 25,000, got more donations than any other campaign in Australia this year, GoFundMe said, and is the second-biggest since the platform launched Down Under in 2016.
It is one of 700 bushfire-related fundraisers launched on the ...

Online fundraiser for bushfire-hit koalas tops Aus$1 mn

An Australian court found Thursday that Johnson & Johnson was "negligent" in supplying thousands of women pelvic meshes without adequate testing or health warnings, a ruling that exposes the firm to millions of dollars in damages.
Federal Court Justice Anna Katzmann upheld a class action from more than 1,000 Australian women who say the mesh -- designed to support weakened muscles holding up the pelvic organs -- had disastrous side-effects.
The amount of damages will be set in next year, but the ruling said three companies in the Johnson & Johnson group rushed to get the sub-standard products to market without adequate testing, while vastly underplaying potential dangers.
"The risks were known, not insignificant, and on the respondents' own admission, could cause significant and serious harm" the judge said. "A far more cautious approach was warranted." Lawyers for the women said the devices caused "incontinence, infection and chronic pain" among a litany of problems.
"It has ...

Johnson & Johnson found 'negligent' in Australian lawsuit

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger warned Thursday that an armed conflict could break out between the United States and China if they fail to resolve their trade war.
The sober remarks from Kissinger, who was instrumental in normalising diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing, came at a conference in Beijing on the future of the two economic giants.
"If conflict is permitted to run unconstrained, the outcome could be even worse than it was in Europe," he said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.  "World War I broke out because of a relatively minor crisis ... and today the weapons are more powerful," the former top diplomat said.
China and the US have been caught in a trade dispute for 18 months, with the two sides struggling to reach an agreement despite a series of negotiations.
Tensions have also been running high on the diplomatic front.
Beijing has lashed out at Washington over US naval operations in the disputed South China Sea, US criticism of China's mass .

US-China trade war could spark real war: Kissinger

Singapore has deported a Hong Kong YouTube star after he organised a small gathering to discuss the protests convulsing his home city in violation of public assembly laws, police said Thursday.
The city-state's elite are increasingly nervous about the unrest in rival financial hub Hong Kong, observers say, as they fear it could inspire demonstrations in the tightly-controlled country where protests are rare.
Police launched a probe after Alex Yeung, a pro-Beijing restaurateur known for his anti-protest tirades on YouTube, organised the gathering last month in a bar with a handful of people, mostly Hong Kongers.
Organising a public assembly without a police permit in Singapore is punishable by a fine of up to Sg$5,000 ($3,700). Repeat offenders can be fined up to Sg$10,000 or jailed for a maximum of six months or both.
But after wrapping up their probe, police decided to give Yeung only a warning and sent him back to Hong Kong.
"Singapore has always been clear that foreigners should ...

AFP

AFP

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