A British judge on Friday scheduled a full extradition hearing to begin in February next year for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted in the United States on espionage charges.
Assange, 47, is accused of violating the Espionage Act by releasing a vast trove of classified military and diplomatic files in 2010 about US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He is currently serving a 50-week prison sentence for violating British bail conditions in 2012.

UK judge sets February 2020 for Assange extradition hearing

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The Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May is the only one possible for an orderly withdrawal from the EU, the bloc's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Friday as the race to succeed the British prime minister hots up.
"I repeat calmly that the United Kingdom still wants to leave the European Union... so the agreement that is on the table is the only agreement possible for an orderly withdrawal," Barnier said.
"This is where we're at and we're waiting on the nomination of a new prime minister in London and what it will tell us, that's what matters," Barnier told European and African senators meeting in Paris, including the speaker of Britain's House of Lords, Norman Fowler.
On Thursday former London mayor Boris Johnson, a figurehead of the 2016 Brexit campaign, topped the first round of voting for a new leader of the Conservative party and the country.
Johnson, who wants to negotiate better withdrawal terms, has pledged to take Britain out of the EU by an October 31 deadline "deal or 

May's deal 'only agreement possible' for orderly Brexit: Barnier

A first intact head of a gigantic adult wolf which died about 32,000 years ago and was preserved in permafrost has been found in the Russian Arctic, scientists have said.
Covered with thick fur, the head was found by a local on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh River in Russia's remote Arctic region of Yakutia last summer.
It features a well-preserved brain, soft tissue and a set of powerful teeth and measures 41.5 centimetres (16 inches) in length.
By comparison, the torso of a modern-day wolf is between 66 and 86 centimetres long.
The head was handed to local palaeontologists who teamed up with scientists from the Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo to study it.
"It is the first ever such find," Albert Protopopov, head of mammoth fauna studies at the Yakutia Academy of Sciences, told AFP on Friday.
"Only cubs have been discovered before."
Research shows the animal died about 32,000 years ago in the Pleistocene epoch, when the most recent Ice Age occurred.
The wolf is believed to 

Head of 32,000-year-old wolf found in Russian Arctic

Hong Kong's embattled leader faced mounting pressure on Friday to abandon a deeply unpopular plan to allow extraditions to China as key allies urged a rethink following unprecedented political unrest.
The international finance hub was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
Opposition to the extradition bill has united an unusually wide cross section of Hong Kong against the proposal and sparked huge rallies.
The city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam has so far refused to meet protester demands to withdraw or scrap the bill.
But on Friday Lam found herself facing calls from within her own political camp to reverse course and tamp down spiralling public anger.
Prominent pro-Beijing lawmaker Michael Tien openly called on Lam to postpone the bill.
"She would gain points instead of losing points," he told reporters.
"Nothing is ever too late. New 

Pressure mounts on Hong Kong leader over extradition plan

A cheating husband cannot divorce his wife despite having a years-long affair, a South Korean court ruled Friday, insisting only the injured party in a marriage could initiate a legal separation.
Movie director Hong Sang-soo, 58, a Cannes film festival regular, filed for divorce in 2016, shortly after his relationship with actress Kim Min-hee became public.
But Hong's wife, whom he wed in 1985, refused to play along -- leading to a drawn-out legal battle that has lasted for years.
Seoul Family Court on Friday dismissed Hong's petition, and awarded costs against him.
South Korea remains a conservative society, where until 2015, anyone indulging in extramarital sex risked a two-year prison sentence.
Even since decriminalisation, public disapproval of affairs remains strong.  Despite her successes on the silver screen, 37-year-old Kim -- who won best actress at Germany's pretigious Berlinale in 2017 -- has struggled to inspire warmth among the South Korean public.
Her portrayal of an ...

South Korean court tells cheating husband he must stay married

Regime and Russian air strikes and shelling killed at least 28 people including seven civilians in embattled northwest Syria, a war monitor said Friday, despite a ceasefire announced by Moscow.
The civilians were killed in regime air strikes and shelling on the south of Idlib province and the north of Hama province Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Russian and regime air strikes also killed 21 jihadist and Islamist fighters in the same region the same day, the Britain-based monitor added.

Regime and Russia bombardment kills 28 in northwest Syria: monitor

The first four days of Apollo 11's journey to the Moon had gone according to plan, but just twenty minutes before landing, the atmosphere grew tense as the crew encountered a series of problems.
It was July 20, 1969, and as the world followed the spacecraft's progress, it briefly lost radio contact with mission control in Houston.
Then, as the lunar module Eagle was in the middle of its descent, piloted by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and mission commander Neil Armstrong, an alarm bell began ringing.
Eagle had detached two hours earlier from the main part of the vessel, the command module, Columbia, where the third crew member Michael Collins remained in orbit.
It was an anxious moment for Armstrong, a brilliant test pilot and aeronautical engineer, but a man of famously few words.
"Give us a reading on the 1202 Program Alarm," he radios to mission control. They are told to keep going. Houston realizes the onboard computer is experiencing an overflow, but all systems are functional.
Below ...

To the Moon and back: 50 years on, a giant leap into the unknown

Tankers like those apparently attacked in the Gulf of Oman operate through increasingly treacherous waters, facing mounting dangers from piracy and collision as well as geopolitical hazards.
Around 60 million barrels of petroleum product move each day on the seas globally, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
And around a third of this volume passes through the Straits of Hormuz, a critical shipping passage.
This waterway is a principal route for crude exports from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq. It is also a key route for natural gas exports from Qatar.
Other highly strategic waterways include the Strait of Malacca between Singapore and Indonesia, the Suez Canal in Egypt and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
"Blocking a chokepoint, even temporarily, can lead to substantial increases in total energy costs and world energy prices," said EIA in a 2017 report.
"Chokepoints also leave oil tankers ...

Piracy, collisions, missiles: tankers in troubled waters

China on Friday called for dialogue after the United States accused Iran of being behind attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
"We hope that all the relevant sides can properly resolve their differences and resolve the conflict through dialogue and consultations," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing.
"This conforms with the interests of regional countries, and also conforms with the interests of the international community," he added.
The two tankers, one Norwegian- and one Japanese-owned, were set blaze in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Iran on Thursday, escalating tensions across the region and sending world oil prices soaring.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was strong evidence of Iran's culpability and warned Washington would defend its forces and allies in the region.  Iran's foreign ministry hit back on Friday, dismissing the accusations as "baseless".
China was one of the eight global buyers allowed to import Iranian ...

China calls for 'dialogue' after Gulf of Oman tanker attacks

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Friday that US actions present a serious threat to global and regional stability, speaking at an international forum in Kyrgyzstan.
"The US government over the last two years, violating all the international structures and rules and using its economic, financial and military resources, has taken an aggressive approach and presents a serious risk to stability in the region and the world," Rouhani said, in translated comments, at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Eurasian security alliance.

Iran's Rouhani says US 'serious threat to global stability'

When Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, he became the biggest live television star in history.
Officially more than 500 million people gathered around their sets to watch him leap from the ladder of Apollo 11's Eagle landing craft and onto the surface of the Sea of Tranquility.
But as AFP reported at the time, that figure was probably an underestimation.
Experts now believe the real number was closer to 700 million, a fifth of the planet's population at the time.
Next month will mark 50 years since Armstrong's famous phrase -- "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" -- was heard around the world.
The moment was the culmination of an unprecedented 31-hour live link-up between NASA and major US TV networks.
Armstrong's first steps onto the lunar landscape on July 21, 1969 were followed second-by-second by viewers across the globe, with the notable exception of China and the old Soviet bloc.
Normal life across the planet stopped for those special moments, AFP ...

When the world stopped to watch Armstrong's moonwalk

The United Arab Emirates said Friday that twin attacks on tankers in the Sea of Oman just weeks after four ships were damaged off the UAE coast marked a dangerous escalation".
"The attack against the tankers in the Gulf of Oman is a worrying development and a dangerous escalation," the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted after Thursday's blasts.
Gargash also condemned a Yemeni rebel missile attack which wounded 26 civilians at an airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
He said the "blatant attack on civilians" was only the latest in a spate of rebel assaults "undermining the UN's political work & sending a message of continuing violence & hostility".
These developments "must spur the international community to act to maintain peace and security in the region", Gargash said.
"The responsibility for avoiding an escalation is collective."
The two tankers, one Norwegian- and one Japanese-owned, were set blaze in the Gulf of Oman off the ...

UAE says Gulf of Oman tanker attacks 'dangerous escalation'

The crew of a Japanese-owned tanker hit in an apparent attack in the Gulf of Oman saw a "flying object" before a second blast on board, the operator's head said Friday.
"The crew members are saying that they were hit by a flying object. They saw it with their own eyes," Yutaka Katada, head of Kokuka Sangyo shipping company, told reporters.
"We have received a report saying that something seems to have flew in, there was an explosion and it created a hole in the body of the ship," he added.
Katada on Thursday had told reporters that the Kokuka Courageous, which was loaded with methanol, had suffered two apparent attacks.
After the first, "our crew members made evasive manoeuvres but three hours later it was hit again," he said Thursday.
On Friday he said he did not yet have information about the nature of the first attack on the tanker.
The blasts caused a fire on board, but Katada said Friday there had not been major damage. The crew were evacuated, with one member suffering minor ...

Crew on Japan tanker saw 'flying object' before attack: company head

World oil prices have risen following suspected attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, worsening frayed tensions in the crude-rich Middle East region.
The rise in oil prices - jumping as much as 4.5 per cent before pulling back somewhat - boosted share prices of energy companies, while global stock markets also won some support from the prospect of US interest rate cuts this year.
The Gulf of Oman lies at the other end of the strategic Strait of Hormuz from the Gulf, part of a vital shipping lane through which at least 15 million barrels of crude oil and hundreds of millions of dollars of non-oil imports pass each day.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of responsibility for the incidents and said the United States would raise the attacks at a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for later Thursday. Iran labelled the attacks "suspicious."
US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery finished up 2.2 per cent at USD 52.28. The advance marked a reversal ...

Oil prices surge after suspected attacks on tankers

Born to a wild father and captive mother, nearly one-year-old twin pandas roll on the grass in a conservation base in southwest China, marking an important achievement in the preservation of the country's beloved animal.
Pandas are listed as a vulnerable species, but conservation efforts have helped reduce their danger of extinction.
The pair, named Hehe (meaning Harmony, pronounced Huh-huh) and Meimei (Happiness, pronounced May-may), were taken out of a dormitory on a bright sunny day this week to gulp milk and munch bamboo in front of some 100 visitors.
After eating, the cubs tumbled on the grass and played on a swing before they were returned to their cool dormitory for a noon nap.
The birth of Hehe and his younger sister Meimei, on July 25 last year in the Hetaoping panda base , was a success in China's attempt to introduce genes of wild pandas into the captive population.
The achievement was recognised by Guinness World Records on Wednesday.  The twins now live in the Shenshuping 

Happiness and Harmony: 'Big step forward' as twin pandas grow

Iran dismissed as "baseless" Friday US accusations that it carried out twin attacks that left two tankers ablaze in the Gulf of Oman, escalating tensions across the region and sending world oil prices soaring.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Washington would defend its forces and allies in the region, and the United States pressed its case as the UN Security Council met to address the incident -- the second in a month in the strategic shipping lane.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted Friday that the US administration had "immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran without a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence".
He accused it of seeking to "sabotage diplomacy" amid a visit to Iran by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and "cover up its economic terrorism against Iran" in enforcing crippling unilateral sanctions.
With tensions spiralling between Iran and the United States, the European Union called for "maximum restraint" and UN chief Antonio Guterres ..

Iran denies tankers attack as tensions soar

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas bases in Gaza early Friday, the military said, after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants hit a Jewish theological seminary in southern Israel.
There were no reported casualties on either side.
"Last night, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory," Friday's military statement said.
It said that in response the Israeli Air Force "fighter jets and aircraft targeted terror infrastructure in military compounds and a Hamas naval force military compound as part of a strike on a number of Hamas terror sites throughout the Gaza Strip." The seminary, in the town of Sderot, was empty at the time of the rocket attack as students had left to return to their homes elsewhere to celebrate the Jewish sabbath -- which begins on Friday-- with their families.
"If the rocket had hit a few hours earlier there would have been a disaster," former defence minister Amir Peretz, a Sderot resident, said in an interview Friday with Israeli public radio.  .

Israeli jets hit Gaza after rocket fire into Israel

Lee Chong Wei's tearful retirement was not just a sad conclusion to one of badminton's great careers, it also ended his remarkable rivalry with China's Lin Dan.
The duo reigned over the sport for more than a decade and have only relinquished that hold in recent years as their powers waned.
Both are well past their prime, but the Malaysian was forced to call it quits after being diagnosed last year with early stage nose cancer.
An emotional Lee, who will be 37 in October, told a press conference on Thursday: "My plan to retire was originally after the (2020) Olympic Games. I made this decision due to my health."
Lee, a triple Olympic and world silver medallist, had successful medical treatment but he has not trained since April and his hopes of making next summer's Tokyo Games were remote after his ranking tumbled. He was ranked a lowly 191 in the world this week.
Badminton fans will be denied one last Olympic showdown between Lee and Lin, who is one year younger and almost certain to .

Lee retirement leaves 'Super Dan' ploughing lonely Olympic furrow

Hong Kong social media lit up on Friday when protesters noticed Google's translation software was briefly churning out a rather odd suggestion during a week that has seen the worst political violence to hit the city in decades.
Eagle-eyed Google users discovered that when people entered the phrase "I am sad to see Hong Kong become part of China" the suggested translation in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese converted the word "sad" to "happy".
It was not immediately clear what sparked the gaffe but Danny Sullivan, an official at Google, said in a tweet "we're looking into why we had this translation and expect to have a fix to resolve it soon".
The company's hugely popular software tool uses complex algorithms and deep learning computers, as well as allowing users to make suggested translations to improve accuracy.
"Oh my god, I can't believe my eyes," one Facebook user commented under one of the many screen grabs of the false translation that went viral on Friday.
"The app ...

Hong Kongers alarmed by Google translation gaffe

Iran's foreign ministry Friday dismissed as "baseless" US accusations of being behind attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, adding Washington was trying to "sabotage diplomacy".
The US had "immediately jumped to make allegations against Iran --(without) a shred of factual or circumstantial evidence," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet.
That showed it was "abundantly clear that the #B_Team is moving to a #PlanB: Sabotage diplomacy -- including by @AbeShinzo -- and cover up its #EconomicTerrorism against Iran".
Zarif regularly uses the term "B Team" to refer to US National Security Advisor John Bolton as well as Israel's prime minister, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are all pushing a hard line on Tehran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of being behind Thursday's attacks which left at least one of the tankers ablaze off the Iranian coast, while the crews had to abandon ship.
"It is the assessment of the United States that the ...

Iran denies role in Gulf of Oman attacks

Iran's foreign ministry on Friday dismissed the US accusation that it was behind the attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman as "baseless".
Responding to the "baseless accusations" of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi insisted that Iran had come to "help" the ships in distress and "saved" their crew as quick as possible, according to a statement published on his Telegram channel.

AFP

AFP

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