The Philippines on Thursday branded as "illegal" the recent presence of hundreds of Chinese ships near a disputed island in the South China Sea -- a rare public rebuke of Beijing by Manila, which has largely set aside the once tense standoff.
Control over the South China Sea is a point of regional contention because trillions of dollars of goods pass through it, and rich petroleum reserves are thought to sit deep beneath its waters.
Under President Rodrigo Duterte, however, Manila has largely set aside its previously confrontational stance on China's claims in favour of seeking trade and investment from Beijing.
Pag-asa, also called Thitu island, is held by the Philippines, but in the first three months of the year at least 275 Chinese fishing and coast guard vessels were sighted in the area, the Philippines military said.
"The presence of Chinese vessels near and around Pag-asa (island) ... is illegal," the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.
"Such actions are a .

Philippines calls Chinese ships 'illegal' near disputed island

PTI Automatic

South Korea launched the world's first nationwide 5G mobile networks two days early, its top mobile carriers said Thursday, giving a handful of users access in a late-night scramble to be the first providers of the super-fast wireless technology.
Three top telecom providers - SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus - began their 5G services at 11 pm local time Wednesday, despite previously announcing the launch date would be April 5.
Hyper-wired South Korea has long had a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul had made the 5G rollout a priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth.
Along with the US, China and Japan, South Korea had been racing to claim the title as the world's first provider of the ultra-fast network.
But speculation that US mobile carrier Verizon might start its 5G services early forced South Korean providers to hastily organise a late-night launch, Yonhap news agency reported.
In the event, Verizon began rolling out its 5G services in Chicago and ...

South Korea launches 5G networks early to secure world first

A Maori lament echoed across Christchurch Friday as a survivor of the New Zealand mosque attacks told a national remembrance service he had forgiven the gunman responsible for the racist massacre that shocked the world.
Thousands attended the service in the grieving southern city, standing silently with heads bowed while the names of 50 people killed by a self-avowed white supremacist gunman were read out.
Speakers honoured the dead and those who survived the March 15 attacks, including 22 people who remain in hospital, among them a critically injured four-year-old girl.
Wearing a traditional Maori cloak, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was joined by representatives from nearly 60 nations, including her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.
Ardern, who has been widely hailed for her response to the tragedy and received a prolonged standing ovation when she took the stage, praised the way New Zealanders had embraced their devastated Muslim community since the attacks.
"Racism exists, ...

Christchurch survivor tells remembrance service: 'I choose peace'

Japan's closely watched factory output rose modestly in February with unemployment staying at record low levels, official data showed Friday, underscoring the patchy recovery of the world's third largest economy.
Factory output for February rose 1.4 percent month-on-month after a 3.4 percent dip in January, the trade and industry ministry said Friday.  The reading compares with market expectations of a 1.0 percent rise.
"The recovery in output is not strong, reflecting weak exports," Taro Saito, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, told AFP.
Industrial production was particularly weak in electronic parts and devices, "because these products are for exports to China" and have been affected by a Chinese economic slowdown, he added.
The ministry said Japan's factory output is "pausing" on the whole, but forecast a rise in March and April.
But Saito said the pace of any rise "is likely to still be weak and can even be interpreted as flat, so we will be carefully watching more ...

Japan's factory output rises, unemployment stays low

US President Donald Trump will host his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in next month, Seoul said Friday, after the latest summit between Washington and Pyongyang ended in deadlock.
Moon has long backed a policy of engagement with nuclear-armed, sanctions-hit Pyongyang and was instrumental in brokering talks between
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.  But the failure of Kim and Trump to reach an agreement in Hanoi on curtailing Pyongyang's nuclear programme in exchange for relaxation of sanctions has raised questions over the future of the process.
Moon will visit Washington for two days from April 10, an official from the South's presidential Blue House told AFP.
"The two leaders will have in-depth talks... to coordinate their stance on setting up a peace regime on the Korean peninsula through complete denuclearisation," Yoon Do-han, the senior presidential press secretary said Friday.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang abruptly pulled its staff out of an inter-Korean liaison ...

Trump, Moon to meet in Washington in April: Seoul

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was arrested Friday on a fraud charge, her second detention in what press freedom advocates have said is retaliation for her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The veteran reporter, named a Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for her work, was taken into custody by authorities at Manila airport, said Beth Frondoso, a co-founder of Ressa's website Rappler.
"They got her at the airport," Frondoso told AFP. "We will be filing bail." Philippine authorities arrested Ressa in February on an internet libel charge, which sparked international condemnation and allegations that she was being targeted for Rappler's critical stance on Duterte.
"This case against Ressa... is unprecedented and speaks volumes of the Duterte administration's determination to shut the website down for its credible and consistent reporting on the government," said Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch.

Philippines arrests journalist Maria Ressa on fraud charge

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro arrives in Israel Sunday, where he will walk a diplomatic tightrope as he seeks to shore up ties with his right-wing counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu while keeping key Arab trade partners onside.
Bolsonaro's controversial pledge to move Brazil's embassy to Jerusalem is expected to be high on the agenda during the three-day visit as Netanyahu uses the occasion to boost his standing ahead of April 9 elections.
The Brazilian ex-army captain's trip comes after his recent visits to the United States and Chile, as part of efforts to build ties with conservative governments around the world.
Neither Brazil nor Israel has released details of the visit, but Bolsonaro is expected to focus on correcting their lopsided trade relationship by boosting Brazilian exports, mainly soybeans and meat.
He is also expected to seek greater access to Israeli defense technology.
In 2018, Brazil's exports to Israel were worth $321 million dollars, while imports, including ...

Brazil's Bolsonaro to walk diplomatic tightrope in Israel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government Thursday extended by six months an embargo on weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, instituted last October in response to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The ban has faced opposition from within the German government and the EU, but has the support of rights groups.
"The order to halt authorised weapons exports to Saudi Arabia is extended by six months from March 31 to September 30, 2019," government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
Berlin reacted to Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October by declaring a freeze on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries involved in the Yemen war.
It has since faced protests by EU partners because the ban has impacted joint defence projects such as the Eurofighter and Tornado jets.
While France and Britain have urged Germany to end the export halt, human rights groups argue it should stay in place -- a view that has many backers among ..

Germany adds six months to Saudi arms export ban: government

Canada's Quebec province on Thursday unveiled controversial draft legislation that would ban a significant section of public servants from wearing religious symbols such as a crucifix, yarmulke or hijab.
The measure -- which applies to police, teachers and others in positions of authority -- is expected to become law by June with Premier Francois Legault's government holding a majority of seats in the Quebec legislature.
But it was swiftly panned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who said:"For me, it's unthinkable (that) a free society would legitimize discrimination against anyone based on religion."
Montreal mayor Valerie Plante voiced "serious concern about the message that this bill sends to minorities about their fundamental rights."
The important thing, she said, was that the process of making laws was secular, not that people divested themselves of religious attire and symbols.
Teachers unions said they would not enforce the law, while pundits and the government's own lawyers, ..

Quebec moves to ban religious symbols in public service

The World Trade Organisation confirmed Thursday that Washington failed to fully comply with a 2012 order to halt subsidies to Boeing, marking a partial victory for rival aircraft maker Airbus and the EU.
The ruling from the WTO appeals body was the latest blow in the decade-long clash between the titans of the civil aircraft industry, which has seen both Airbus and Boeing score points along the way.
The WTO ruled in March 2012 that billions of dollars of subsidies to Boeing were illegal and notified the United States to bring them to an end.
But just a few months later, the European Union filed a new complaint with the global trade body, alleging that Washington was not complying with that order.
In a ruling published in June 2017, the WTO said the US had brought 28 of 29 programmes into compliance, but agreed with Brussels that Washington had not taken "appropriate steps to remove the adverse effects or... withdraw the subsidy" in the case of Washington State.
Both the EU and the US .

WTO confirms US failed to fully comply over Boeing subsidies

The number of confirmed cholera cases in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique climbed sharply to 139 Thursday as authorities prepared to roll out a mass vaccination campaign to stem the spread of the deadly disease.
"The total number of cholera cases is now 139," government health officer Ussein Isse told AFP.
President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday told a news conference authorities had called off rescue operations for victims of the deadly cyclone which tore through the central parts of the country on March 15.
He described it as the "worst humanitarian disaster in Mozambique".
The storm killed at least 468 people and affected 1.85 million.
He said 945 rescuers had taken part in the two-week long search and rescue operation.
"We thank all of them. They are heroes," he said.
World Health Organization official David Wightwick said mass cholera vaccinations would start next week.
The country is awaiting the delivery of 900,000 doses of vaccines expected in the country on Monday.
Officials said the ...

Cholera cases rise to 139 as Mozambique prepares mass vaccinations

- Mexico has not proposed offering asylum to President Nicolas Maduro as part of talks with the United States aimed at resolving Venezuela's political crisis, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
The denial came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was in contact with Mexico and Norway about Maduro's future, appearing to confirm that Washington was seeking a country where the embattled president could be sent into exile.
Mexico City confirmed the talks, but said that "as of today, those conversations have not mentioned any possibility that Mexico could grant asylum to any member of the Venezuelan government," foreign ministry spokesman Roberto Velasco said in a statement.
"There have been conversations with the secretary of state and his team to try to facilitate a dialogue in Venezuela," he said.
Testifying before Congress Wednesday, Pompeo was asked by Representative Albio Sires whether Mexico and Norway, which have both offered to broker an end to the crisis, .

Mexico not offering asylum to Venezuela's Maduro: Official

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognized as interim president by the US and its allies, on Thursday rejected an announcement by the regime that he was barred from public office.
Guaido said the order, issued earlier Thursday by Auditor General Elvis Amoroso, was invalid.
"He is not auditor general.... The legitimate congress is the only one with power to designate an auditor general," he said.

Venezuela: Guaido rejects regime announcement stripping him of office

Twitter said Thursday it could start tagging tweets from newsworthy figures such as US President Donald Trump that break its rules, while stopping short of deleting them.
The one-to-many messaging platform used extensively by Trump to fire off comments, some of them inflammatory, said it is exploring ways to add context to tweets considered to be of legitimate public interest but which violate its terms of service.
"Twitter is exploring ways to provide more context around tweets that violate our rules, but are newsworthy and in the legitimate public interest," the company said in an emailed statement.
A day earlier, Twitter's trust and safety chief Vijaya Gadde made similar remarks asked about abusive tweets, which may be from a public figure such as Trump.
Gadde said during an on-stage interview at a Washington Post technology forum in San Francisco that Twitter was looking at ways to "put some context around it so people are aware that that content is actually a violation of our ...

Twitter may tag rule-breaking Trump tweets

Venezuela's auditor general's office announced Thursday it has stripped opposition leader and speaker of congress Juan Guaido of the right to hold public office for 15 years.
The move, announced by Auditor General Elvis Amoroso on state television, marked another effort by President Nicolas Maduro's regime to politically sideline Guaido, who is recognized by the US and 50 other countries as Venezuela's interim president.
Amoroso said his office decided "to ban this citizen (Juan Guaido) from all elected public office for the maximum duration under the law." Venezuela's single-chamber congress, called the National Assembly, is in opposition hands and stands as the sole institution not under the control of Maduro.
The country's supreme court and a parallel legislature set up by Maduro in 2017 regularly adopt decisions scrapping National Assembly motions against the regime.
The National Assembly, for its part, often ignores or passes laws annulling decisions by what it regards as an ...

Venezuela: Maduro regime strips Guaido of public office

Jens Stoltenberg will remain as NATO secretary general through to September 2022 after the organisation Thursday extended his mandate by two years.
The former Norwegian prime minister arrived in the post in 2014 and had been handed a previous two-year extension to 2020.
In a statement, the alliance said its 29 members had "expressed their support for the Secretary General's work to adapt and modernise NATO and ensure it remains fit for the future."
Stoltenberg, 60, vowed to pursue that goal and tweeted: "Honoured by the decision by the #NATO Allies to extend my term as Secretary General until 30 September 2022."
The 70-year-old organisation faces numerous challenges, not least demands from US President Donald Trump that Washington's European allies increase their share of defence spending.
NATO has also deplored Russia's threat to deploy new intermediate range missiles which can reach reach European capitals following the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) ...

Stoltenberg extends stay as NATO head to 2022

Two "assailants" and a policeman were killed and two people injured in violence in Comoros Thursday, a minister said, after a defeated presidential candidate bidding to unseat the president was arrested.
The Indian Ocean nation is in the grip of a political crisis following President Azali Assoumani's victory in Sunday polls that his opponents say was rigged and led rivals to unite against him.
One of those hurt Thursday was a policeman who suffered minor injuries while another "assailant" was badly hurt following an exchange of gunfire near a barracks in the capital Moroni, Interior Minister Mohamed "Kiki" Daoudou told journalists.
"The situation is under control, an investigation is underway," he said, urging people not to assume the bloodshed was linked to the opposition leader's arrest.
Soilihi Mohamed is a widely respected former colonel who was named head of an opposition transitional authority hoping to unseat Azali.
A group who attempted to help former major Faissoil Abdou ...

Three killed in Comoros as opposition and government face off

Prime Minister Theresa May will put her twice-rejected Brexit divorce deal to a third parliamentary vote on Friday in a renewed bid to avoid a chaotic split from the European Union in two weeks.
May's throw of the dice comes a day after her dramatic pledge to resign in order to persuade her rivals to finally back her vision for breaking Britain's 46-year membership of the bloc.
The prime minister's back is against the wall as she tries to keeping Britain's economy from imploding and the pound from plunging when a post-Brexit border splits the two tight trading partners.
Andrea Leadsom, the government's representative in parliament, said Thursday that the new vote gave recalcitrant lawmakers the chance to secure Britain's delayed departure from the EU on May 22.
"I encourage all MPs to support it and ensure that we leave the EU... giving people and businesses the certainty they need," she told MPs.
The government is hoping that holding the vote on the day when Britain was meant to ...

Britain to hold third vote in Brexit crisis

Ocean heat hit a record high in 2018, the United Nations said Thursday, raising urgent new concerns about the threat global warming is posing to marine life.
In its latest State of the Climate overview, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reaffirmed that the last four years had been the hottest on record -- figures previously announced in provisional drafts of the flagship report.
But the final version of the report highlighted worrying developments in other climate indicators beyond surface temperature.
"2018 saw new records for ocean heat content in the upper 700 metres," a WMO statement said.
The agency said the UN had data for heat content in the upper 700 metres (2,290 feet) of the ocean dating back to 1955.
Last year also saw new heat records for the ocean's upper 2,000 metres, but data for that range only goes back to 2005.
The previous records for both ranges were set in 2017.
About 93 per cent of excess heat -- trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come ...

Ocean heat hits record high: UN

Swedish lender Swedbank, which is embattled over allegations of money-laundering in Baltic countries, fired its CEO and suspended trading of the company's shares on the Stockholm stock exchange Thursday.
"The developments during the past days have created an enormous pressure for the bank. Therefore, the board has decided to dismiss Birgitte Bonnesen from her position," chairman Lars Idermark said in a statement.
Chief financial officer Anders Karlsson will serve as acting CEO until a permanent replacement is appointed.
"It's been a dramatic morning. As chairman (of the board of directors) of Swedbank, I regret this deeply," Idermark told shareholders as they gathered for their annual general meeting.
At the same time, Swedbank's share was suspended from trade in Stockholm after losing a quarter of its value since February 18, the day before the money-laundering reports emerged.
It has lost 30 per cent of its value since its peak this year in mid-January.
When trading resumed more ...

Swedbank sacks CEO after money-laundering scandal

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said Thursday it had cleared five more Russian athletes to return to international events, albeit competing under a neutral banner and not representing Russia.
Athletics' governing body banned Russia in November 2015 because of evidence of state-sponsored doping, but Russian athletes cleared by the IAAF can compete as neutrals.
The athletes concerned are Elizaveta Kamenets, Alexander Komarov, Rail Kutuev, Liliia Mendaeva and Aleksey Shevchuk, and they take to 68 the number of Russians cleared to compete since the start of 2019.

AFP

AFP

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