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.

Five Russian athletes cleared to compete as neutrals

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Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa was on Thursday assured of his re-election as head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after his only remaining challenger withdrew from the contest.
Qatari Saoud al-Mohannadi pulled-out of the vote and backed the Bahraini, according to a statement from the Qatar Football Association.
"The Qatari Football Association announces its support for Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa for a new term as head of the AFC," read the statement.
A third candidate, Mohamed Khalfan al-Romaithi from the United Arab Emirates, had already dropped out of the running.
The re-election will go ahead early next month and means Sheikh Salman, who in 2016 unsuccessfully stood against Gianni Infantino in the FIFA presidential elections, will now head the AFC for at least a decade.
He was first elected in 2013, and he will serve a fresh four-year-term from next month.
Notably the QFA statement said Sheikh Salman was in Qatar for talks with Mohannadi.
Since 2017, ...

AFC head Sheikh Salman to be re-elected unopposed

The under-pressure International Boxing Federation (AIBA), which is fighting to keep its sport on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic roster after a storm of corruption allegations, will have to sweat it out until May before the IOC decides on its fate.
Boxing's inclusion in Tokyo depends on the outcome of an investigation into AIBA by the International Olympic Committee, which has presented the body with a list of 41 questions via audit firm Deloitte.
"The matter is being studied and we will make no comment for the moment," IOC spokesperson Christian Klaue said on Thursday.
"We will file a full report at the IOC Lausanne executive committee meeting on May 22," he added.
Gafur Rakhimov stepped down as head of AIBA last week, which the IOC deemed as merely the first step in a long march towards the required standards.
AIBA made a plea to the IOC on Wednesday saying significant progress had been made on their accounting and claiming that the body would collapse without IOC support.
The IOC has ...

Boxing body AIBA to discover Olympic fate in May

Russia said Thursday its troops will stay in Venezuela "for as long as needed" and urged the United States not to worry about Moscow's ties with a traditional ally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide spoke after US President Donald Trump demanded that Russia remove its military from the crisis-stricken country.
President Nicolas Maduro is presiding over economic chaos, with the oil-rich country unable to provide basic medical and food supplies to much of the population.
"We don't think that third countries should worry about our bilateral ties," said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"We are not interfering in Venezuela's domestic affairs in any way and we expect third countries to follow our example and allow Venezuelans to decide their fate themselves," he told reporters.
Peskov said no one told the US how to conduct its foreign policy and Moscow expected the same treatment and "mutual respect".
He said Russia was sending military equipment and experts to Venezuela under ...

Kremlin says US not to 'worry' about Russia-Venezuela ties

A Bangladesh court sentenced five men to death in absentia for atrocities perpetrated during the country's war of independence in 1971, prosecutors said Thursday.
A special court said the fugitives were found guilty of serial abuses during the war, which saw Bangladesh gain independence from Pakistan. Critics say the so-called International Crimes Tribunal, which has no international oversight, is politically motivated and used to target the opposition.
"They were charged with murder, abduction, looting, arson and rape in Netrokona in 1971," prosecutor M.R. Badol told AFP, referring to a northern district some 170 kilometres from Dhaka.
Prosecutors said the four accused were connected to Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh and one allied to the country's main opposition party.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accuses Jamaat of collaborating with Pakistani forces during the war and has banned it as a political outfit.
Bangladesh says Pakistani ...

Bangladesh court sentences five accused war criminals to death

The death toll from an alleged terror attack on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht rose to four on Thursday after an injured man died in hospital, prosecutors said.
"One of the seriously injured victims of the fatal shooting in the tram on 24 Oktoberplein in Utrecht died today of his injuries. He was a 74-year-old man," a prosecutors' statement said.
"This means that the 37-year-old suspect of the fatal shooting on March 18 is now suspected of four-fold murder or manslaughter with a terrorist objective, the attempted murder and a threat with a terrorist objective."
Another seriously injured victim remains in hospital while a third injured person has returned home, prosecutors added.
Prosecutors said on Friday that the suspect, previously named as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, confessed to terrorist charges over the rampage and said he acted alone.
The investigation continued and a court will decide at the end of next week on his further detention, the statement said.
Thousands of Dutch .

Fourth victim of Dutch tram shooting dies: prosecutors

At least 15 people died when a bomb exploded on a busy street and ripped into a nearby restaurant in Somalia's capital on Thursday, medics said.
Security officials and witnesses reported bodies strewn on the ground as plumes of smoke rose high into the air after the bomb detonated on Mogadishu's Maka Al-Mukarama road, one of the seaside capital's main thoroughfares, an area busy with businesses and travellers.
It struck as people were eating lunch.
Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, director of the Aamin Ambulance service, said that 15 people had been killed, as well as several more wounded by the ferocious blast.  Witnesses described scenes of devastation.
"The car bomb struck a restaurant along the road," said Abdulahi Osman, who was nearby to the explosion. "This really was a disaster."
Vehicles were tossed into the air by the blast, which also damaged surrounding buildings. Witnesses said several cars and three-wheeler motorbikes were destroyed by the force of the explosion.
"I saw 16 ...

15 killed as Somalia bomb hits restaurant at lunchtime

Qatar and France signed on Thursday a World Cup security agreement signed in Doha following a meeting between the country's respective prime ministers.
The agreement "aims to build a strategic partnership for the preparation of the World Cup in 2022 and the management of the security of the event", according to a statement released after the signing.
No further details were given.
It was announced after a meeting between Sheikh Abdallah bin Khalifa al-Thani and his French counterpart Edouard Philippe in the Emiri Diwan.
The deal emphasises the close ties between Qatar and France.
Twenty-four hours earlier the French-designed Qatar national museum was opened to great fanfare in Doha, in a ceremony attended, among others, by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
France's sporting ties to Qatar also include owning the French football champions, Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the French being seen as instrumental in helping the World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East for the first ..

Qatar and France sign World Cup 2022 security deal

The UN Security Council ordered countries worldwide to step up the fight against terrorism financing Thursday by ensuring they have laws that make it a serious crime to fund terrorist acts.
The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that was the first stand-alone measure dedicated specifically to countering the financing of terrorism.
The resolution calls on all states to "ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offenses" to prosecute those who collect funds or provide economic resources to terrorist organizations.
The binding resolution was drafted under chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which means it can be enforced with sanctions.
UN counterterror chief Vladimir Voronkov told the council that the measure "comes at a critical time" as recent attacks have shown that terror groups have access to financial flows through legal and illegal means.
The resolution urged countries to establish financial intelligence units to strengthen efforts .

UN pushes countries to crack down on terror financing

Three patients died in a fire that engulfed a room in the men's ward of a psychiatric hospital in the central Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, officials said Thursday.
"A fire erupted around midnight. Three men died -- patients, who have been identified," hospital chief Mariana Gospodinova told BNR public radio.
The other 60 patients in the hospital were safely evacuated, she added.
"The fire started from their (the three victims') room, maybe from a cigarette or some other inflammable substance, but for the time being it is unclear if it happened by accident or was intentional," Plovdiv regional prosecutor Rumen Popov said.
He however added that the initial investigation at the site ruled out the possibility of an electrical fault.
The strict regime at the ward -- which kept patients with paranoid schizophrenia locked in their ward and banned the possession of lighters or matches -- "suggests arson", Popov said.
The three dead -- all men in their fifties -- had been sent to the hospital ...

Three die in Bulgaria psychiatric hospital fire

The British government said it intended to bring back Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal for a third vote in parliament on Friday to avoid a chaotic no-deal divorce from the EU.
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 bond with the European project.
The government's back is against the wall as it tries to avert potential economic disaster and financial panic in the coming weeks.
The House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said the government was trying to secure permission for a third vote from parliament speaker John Bercow.
He already rejected a similar attempt last week after ruling that the version May was bringing back was essentially the same text that lawmakers had already twice rejected by resounding margins.
"We recognise that any motion brought forward tomorrow will need to be compliant with the speaker's ruling and that discussion is ongoing," ...

Britain's May seeks third Brexit vote Friday

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday Israel is prepared for a widespread military campaign in Gaza as tensions simmered following the latest flare-up -- but only after all other options were exhausted.
Netanyahu has been seeking to head off political pressure over Gaza ahead of April 9 elections, in which he faces a strong challenge from former military chief Benny Gantz.
"In recent days I gave instructions to fortify forces, to add vehicles, to be prepared for a comprehensive campaign," he said during the inauguration of a new road in northern Israel.
The premier, who was speaking after visiting military forces on the Gaza border, noted however that a war would be the last option.
"All Israelis should know that if a comprehensive campaign is required, we will enter it strong and safe, after we have exhausted all other possibilities," said Netanyahu, who also serves as defence minister.
Palestinian militants had on Monday fired a long-distance rocket from the Gaza Strip, ...

Netanyahu says prepared for 'comprehensive' Gaza operation

Around 40 children have been killed and many injured in one year of demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, the UN said Thursday, calling for an "urgent de-escalation".
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered at least weekly along the border in protests that have led to deadly clashes with the Israeli military.
Demonstrators are calling for Israel to lift its crippling decade-long blockade of Gaza, while also demanding refugees be allowed to return to homes their families fled in the late 1940s during the creation of the Jewish state.
Around 40 children have been killed in the protests and "nearly 3,000 others have been hospitalised with injuries, many leading to life-long disabilities," the UN children's agency (UNICEF) said.
"UNICEF reiterates its outrage at the very high numbers of children who have been killed and injured as a result of armed conflict 2018," said UNICEF's Middle East director Geert Cappelaere.
He called on both sides to "ensure children .

40 children killed in year of Gaza border protests: UN

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called on OPEC to boost oil output following a fairly steady rise in crude prices in 2019.
"Very important that OPEC increase the flow of Oil. World Markets are fragile, price of Oil getting too high. Thank you!" Trump said on Twitter at around 1230 GMT.
Oil prices took a brief, sharp turn downward after the statement before recovering somewhat.
Near 1300 GMT, US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was down 88 cents at $58.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Since becoming president, Trump has periodically put pressure the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to open the taps to add more supply to the market and lower prices.
OPEC in December reached a deal to with Russia and some other producers to limit output to shore up prices.
Since January, US oil futures have risen 28.6 per cent while oil futures in London have gained 23.9 per cent.

Trump presses OPEC to boost output to cool oil prices

Four Burkina Faso paramilitary police died Thursday in an attack on a base near the border with Mali, a region that sees frequent attacks by jihadists, security sources said.
The base in Barani "was the target of a terrorist attack led by an unidentified armed group at around five am (0500 GMT)," the source told AFP.
Another security source reported four gendarmes dead and "major material damage including a burnt vehicle".

Four Burkina police killed near Mali border: security sources

The EU on Thursday urged London to provide a way forward on Brexit, taking note that the British Parliament had failed to agree a fresh solution to the UK's divorce from the bloc.
"The European Commission takes note of the indicative votes in the House of Commons last night. This is part of an ongoing political process in the UK, which we fully respect," EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
"We counted eight 'no's last night, now we need a 'yes' on the way forward," he added.
Schinas was referring to the parliament's unprecedented step on Tuesday of voting a choice of alternate solutions to the near-dead divorce deal May reached with Brussels after 17 months of talks.
But none of the eight options secured a majority and another vote has been set for Monday on some of the proposals.
A proposal to hold a second referendum -- a popular idea with EU supporters -- came second while those promoting a cleaner break finished near the bottom.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told ...

EU 'needs yes' on Brexit after UK MPs vote no

The Council of Europe rights group said Thursday that it had formulated the first internationally agreed definition of sexism, in a bid to help governments put an end to discrimination and violence against women.
In recommendations to its 47 member states, the council made a specific link between prejudice and violence against women, and urged governments to criminalise "sexist hate speech".
The call for more intense actions comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement against sexist assault which emerged in the wake of the slew of allegations against Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein in 2017.
"Acts of 'everyday' sexism are part of a continuum of violence creating a climate of intimidation, fear, discrimination, exclusion and insecurity which limits opportunities and freedom," the council said.
It called on government leaders and other public figures to promptly denounce discriminatory speech or acts in order to combat longstanding gender stereotypes.
The text defines sexism as acts, ...

European rights watchdog sets legal 'first' with sexism definition

The eurozone is in better financial shape than a decade ago, but not solid enough to withstand another economic crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told a Paris conference that the currency union "is not resilient enough" to emerge unscathed from "unexpected economic storms".
Lagarde acknowledged that the currency union was now "more resilient than a decade ago when the global financial crisis struck.
"But it is not resilient enough," she said.
"Its banking system is safer, but not safe enough. Its economic well-being is greater overall, but the benefits of growth are not shared enough," Lagarde told the gathering, which was organised by the French central bank.
The warning comes as signs are multiplying of slower economic growth, especially in powerhouse Germany and the bloc's second-biggest economy, France.
On Friday, indications of a weak first quarter for the eurozone mounted as a closely-watched survey ...

Eurozone 'not resilient enough' to weather another economic crisis: IMF chief

Gunfire rocked the Comoran capital Thursday after police arrested a defeated presidential hopeful who was named head of an opposition transitional authority hoping to unseat President Azali Assoumani.
An aide confirmed the arrest of former military colonel Soilihi Mohamed who came third in Sunday's poll which the opposition said was rigged by the government.
Civilians deserted the streets of Moroni and taxis stopped collecting passengers, an AFP correspondent saw, following the crackle of gunfire around the Kandani military base.
Police earlier broke up a women's protest march and arrested 12 demonstrators.
Comoros has had a volatile political history since independence and has endured more than 20 attempted coups, four of which were successful.
The opposition has flatly rejected Azali's victory as the angry mood threatened to spark a new political crisis on the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Mohamed had previously said that the opposition "will use all peaceful means to oust the ...

Gunfire rocks Comoros as opposition and government face off

Kazakhstan's new president will visit ally Russia on his first foreign visit, his office said Thursday, days after predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev suddenly quit the post he held for three decades.
Nazarbayev, who had ruled the energy-rich Central Asian nation since before it gained independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union,  announced his shock resignation in a televised address last week.
Career diplomat and political loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, took over from Nazarbayev but signalled in his first speech after inauguration that his predecessor would retain a decisive role in decision-making.
The 78-year-old, who has the constitutional status of "Leader of the Nation" as well as a life-time position as chief of the security council, is known for careful diplomacy that privileges key partners Russia and China while maintaining cordial ties with the West.
The announcement of Tokayev's forthcoming visit to Russia on April 3 will therefore be viewed as a ...

Kazakhstan new president to visit Russia first

Russia said Thursday its troops will stay in Venezuela "for as long as needed", rejecting US President Donald Trump's demand that Russia remove its military from the crisis-stricken country.
Russia's weekend deployment of troops and equipment to bolster President Nicolas Maduro has ratcheted up already high international tensions over Venezuela where the Trump administration is pushing for regime change.
The Russian foreign ministry insisted Thursday the presence of its troops there did not pose a threat to anyone.
"They are involved in the implementation of agreements in the sphere of military and technical cooperation," said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, adding they would remain in the country "for as long as needed."
"Russia is not changing the balance of power in the region, Russia is not threatening anyone unlike citizens in Washington whom I have just quoted," she told reporters.
She was referring to Trump's comments that "Russia has to get out" of Venezuela as well as ..

AFP

AFP

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