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 ..

Russian says its troops in Venezuela 'for as long as needed'

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Britain's government said it intended to hold a third parliamentary vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal on Friday but was awaiting the go-ahead from House of Commons speaker.
"We recognise that any motion brought forward tomorrow will need to be compliant with the speaker's ruling and that discussion is ongoing," Andrea Leadsom, who represents the government in parliament, told MPs.
"A motion will be tabled just as soon as possible and obviously by later today," Leadsom said Thursday.
Commons Speaker John Bercow has previously blocked a third vote on the deal, invoking a 17th-century statute that prevents parliament from voting on the same thing again and again.
"The only way we ensure we leave in good time on May 22 is by approving the withdrawal agreement by 11:00 pm on March 29," she said.
Leadsom pointed out that EU leaders had granted an extension until May 22 "provided that the withdrawal agreement is approved by the House of Commons this week".

UK govt plans third Brexit deal vote on Friday

Iceland's budget carrier WOW Air said it had ceased operations and cancelled all flights on Thursday, stranding thousands of passengers.
The collapse of the troubled airline, which transports more than a third of those travelling to Iceland, comes after buyout talks with rival Icelandair collapsed earlier this week.
"All WOW Air flights have been cancelled. Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines," the carrier said in a statement.
"Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances. Information on those airlines will be published, when it becomes available."
Iceland's government said it estimated that 4,000 travellers were stranded, including around 1,300 currently in transit.
At Reykjavik airport, hundreds of passengers were stranded as 30 WOW Air flights to Paris, New York, Montreal were cancelled.
Two Portuguese tourists, Cristiana and Nuno Barrocas, were in Iceland as part of a trip around the ...

Iceland's WOW Air budget carrier collapses, cancels all flights

The BBC on Thursday said it had agreed to pay damages to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko over an article that incorrectly claimed Kiev paid USD 400,000 to secure a meeting with US leader Donald Trump.
Poroshenko, who is seeking re-election in weekend polls, sued the broadcaster over the report from May last year.
The article on the BBC website claimed that Kiev gave Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen a "secret payment of at least USD 400,000" to "fix talks"  at the White House in June 2017.
"We apologise to Mr Poroshenko for any distress caused and have agreed to pay him damages, legal costs and have participated in a joint statement in open court," the BBC said in a statement on its news site.
It did not give any indication of the size of the payment.
Poroshenko had said via lawyers that the article harmed his "political and business" reputation and caused him "substantial distress and embarrassment".
Allegations of "serious corruption" were especially damaging because 

BBC pays damages to Ukraine president over Trump report

Kyrgyzstan has charged two people with inciting inter-ethnic hatred after they protested a visit to the Central Asian country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, their lawyer said Thursday.
Nurlan Karymshakov and Gulzana Imayeva, who are husband and wife, were arrested while staging a protest outside the Russian embassy in the capital Bishkek on Wednesday, the lawyer, Zamir Zhooshev, told AFP.
Activists said the pair held posters calling Putin a "killer" and an "occupier" and called for Russia to leave the military base it controls in Kyrgyzstan.
Putin arrived Thursday on a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished ex-Soviet ally that looks to Russia for much-needed investment and security.  Kyrgyz police confirmed the arrests but did not provide further details.
"They have been charged with inciting inter-ethnic hatred," lawyer Zhooshev said.
The offence "is a serious crime and can carry a prison sentence up to 10 years," he said, calling the charges "complete nonsense."
The Kyrgyz 

Kyrgyzstan charges two with hate crime for anti-Putin protest

At least 11 people died when a bomb exploded on a busy street and ripped into a nearby restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu 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.
"The death toll we have confirmed so far is 11 people, with 16 others wounded," said Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, director of the Aamin Ambulance service, adding that the toll could still rise.
"There could be more losses."
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 nearby buildings.
Witnesses said several cars and three-wheeler ...

11 dead as Somalia bomb blast hits restaurant at lunchtime

President Donald Trump renewed Thursday his threat to close the vital US-Mexico border, claiming America's southern neighbour was doing "NOTHING" to slow the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States.
In a flurry of early morning tweets, Trump warned: "May close the Southern Border!"
"Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country. They are all talk and no action," he added.
"Likewise, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have taken our money for years, and do Nothing. The Dems don't care, such BAD laws." Trump has previously made similar threats, including in December in the early days of America's longest ever federal government shutdown, when he vowed to seal the frontier "entirely" if Congress does not approve billions of dollars in funding for a wall.
Lawmakers demurred and Trump declared a national emergency instead to bypass Congress and unlock the money to fulfill his 2016 campaign promise to build a border wall.
The move drew ...

Trump threatens to shut Mexico border, again

North Korean tourism officials on Thursday urged Vietnamese travellers to seize a "golden" opportunity to visit the country following a summit between Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi last month.
With an economy crippled by international sanctions, isolated North Korea is keen to boost its nascent tourism sector by attracting more foreign visitors, the bulk of whom currently come from China.
A North Korean tourism official said it is prime time for Vietnamese visitors to travel to the country after Hanoi hosted Trump and Kim for a second round of nuclear talks in February.
"We had a very successful summit in Hanoi... this is the right chance, the golden chance for us to generate a tourist market of Vietnam to DPRK," Ham Jin of the official Korea International Travel Company (KITC) told AFP Thursday.
His company hosted a booth at a tourism fair in Hanoi this week -- with brochures advertising a dolphinarium, a science and technology complex and the Victorious ...

North Korea woos Vietnam tourists after Hanoi summit

Britain has identified "significant" issues in Chinese giant Huawei's engineering processes that pose "new risks" for the nation's telecommunications, a government report found Thursday.
"Further significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei's engineering processes, leading to new risks in the UK telecommunications networks," read annual findings from the government's Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) oversight board.
Huawei is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-generation 5G mobile networks that will bring near-instantaneous connectivity for smartphones, but some Western nations have barred it amid fears Beijing could gain access to sensitive communications and critical infrastructure.
A Huawei spokesman on Thursday told AFP that the company was taking the concerns "very seriously" and they would be used as part of its "ongoing" process to improve its capabilities.
HCSEC stressed that it "does not believe that the defects identified are a ...

UK identifies fresh Huawei risks to telecom networks

The presence of Russian troops in Venezuela does not present a threat to anyone, the foreign ministry said Thursday after US President Donald Trump demanded that Russia remove its troops from the crisis-stricken country.
The United States and more than 50 other countries recognise Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president while Russia, along with China, backs beleaguered socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.
Russia's deployment of troops and equipment to bolster Maduro has ratcheted up already high international tensions as the Trump administration is pushing hard for regime change amid mounting chaos in the once-rich country.
"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," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists.
She referred to Trump's comments on Wednesday that "Russia has to get out" of Venezuela as well as to statements by US Secretary of State 

Russia says 'not threatening anyone' in Venezuela

Malaysia's ousted prime minister is scheduled to go on trial next week over a massive financial scandal that helped topple his government, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Najib Razak had originally been due to stand trial in February over allegations linked to his involvement in the looting of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
He and his cronies are accused of plundering billions of dollars from the investment vehicle and spending it on everything from high-end real estate to artworks in a fraud that stretched around the world.
An 11th-hour appeal by his legal team succeeded in getting the case postponed, a hold-up that sparked fresh criticism of the new government's failure to swiftly bring him to justice.
But a judge reportedly ruled that the trial -- related to just a small amount of the total sum allegedly looted -- should now proceed, and a prosecutor confirmed it would start on Wednesday.
"Prosecutors are ready and we will call the witnesses on Wednesday to provide the ...

Malaysia ex-PM to face trial next week on 1MDB charges

Russia's military presence in Venezuela does not present a threat to anyone, Moscow said Thursday after US President Donald Trump demanded that Russia remove its troops from the crisis-stricken country.
"Russia is not threatening anyone unlike citizens in Washington," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists after referring to statements by White House officials.

Russia 'not threatening anyone' in Venezuela: foreign ministry

Bayern Munich's veteran Dutch winger Arjen Robben has admitted he is unlikely to make a fairy-tale return from injury in the Bundesliga club's top-of-the-table clash against Borussia Dortmund next week.
Robben, 35, has been out of action for several months and is set to leave Bayern after a decade of service at the end of this season. An iconic figure at the club, he had hoped to return to fitness in time for the Dortmund game, but now appears to have given up on the idea.
"I still don't know whether I will be fit, we will have to see, but I think it is probably unrealistic," Robben told Munich newspaper Abendzeitung at a charity run in central Munich on Wednesday evening.
"I am on the road to recovery, but I am not yet training with the team," he said.
"I think it will take a bit more time. All I can do is keep working hard and fighting to get back on the pitch."
Robben's last appearance for Bayern was in a 5-1 Champions League win over Benfica on November 27.
Since then, he has ...

Robben gives up hope of a return against Dortmund

Indonesia's president has started beaming a hologram of himself to reach voters in key battleground provinces as he shuttles around the Southeast Asian archipelago ahead of national polls.
Joko Widodo, running for re-election in the world's third-biggest democracy, has a tight schedule so he and his vice-presidential running mate are projecting three-dimensional images of themselves at some campaign rallies, his team said.
The high-tech campaign launched this week and is targeting the heavily populated provinces of West, Central and East Java -- seen as key sources of support.
More than 190 million people are registered to vote on April 17, with thousands running for seats in parliament and local councils across Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority nation.
Like the candidate himself, Widodo's life-sized hologram will keep moving across the Southeast Asian nation in the coming weeks.
The 57-year-old leader is believed to be the first Indonesian politician to rely on a ...

Indonesian leader taps 'hologram campaigning' ahead of polls

- Manchester United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the club's permanent manager on a three-year contract on Thursday following a highly successful caretaker spell in charge.
The Norwegian, 46, has inspired a dramatic revival of United's fortunes since taking over from the sacked Jose Mourinho in December, winning 14 of his 19 games and leading the Red Devils to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Solskjaer, who scored 126 goals in 366 appearances for United, was already a hero to fans as the man who scored the stoppage-time winner in the 1999 Champions League final to complete the treble.
"From the first day I arrived, I felt at home at this special club," Solskjaer said in a statement on the club's website. "It was an honour to be a Manchester United player, and then to start my coaching career here.
"The last few months have been a fantastic experience and I want to thank all of the coaches, players and staff for the work we've done so far.
"This is the job that I always .

Solskjaer appointed as permanent Man Utd manager

China on Thursday hit back at criticism from the United States' top diplomat who called its treatment of Muslims "shameful hypocrisy" after speaking with a former prisoner from a Chinese detention camp.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comment after meeting with Mihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur ethnic group who has spoken publicly in the US about what she said was widespread torture in China's prisons for the minority group.
Beijing claims the camps are "vocational training centres" that provide language classes and employment, steering locals away from extremism.
Pompeo's comments are "extremely absurd and grossly interfere in China's internal affairs," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing.
"Currently, the overall situation in Xinjiang society is stable ... and all ethnic groups get along harmoniously," he said.
"We urge the US to respect the facts ... and stop the malicious smearing and groundless accusations against the ...

China slams US criticism of Muslim treatment as 'absurd'

China has said it is investigating other public security officials to "thoroughly eliminate the poisonous influence" of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei, who is facing possible graft charges.
Meng -- who had also served as vice minister of public security -- has been expelled from the Communist Party and his official positions while his case was handed over to prosecutors.
He had vanished last September during a visit to China from France, where Interpol is based, and was later accused of accepting bribes.
The Public Security Ministry said in a lengthy statement late Wednesday that it held an internal meeting that "stressed that it is necessary to completely and thoroughly eliminate the poisonous influence of Meng Hongwei".
It said that Meng's expulsion was "all his own doing" and that he had used state assets to support his family's extravagant lifestyle, echoing a party anti-graft watchdog statement announcing his expulsion on Wednesday.
All party cadres involved in Meng's case ...

China to 'eliminate poisonous influence' of ex-Interpol chief

A Vietnamese woman on trial for assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother is expected to learn next week whether her second bid for freedom has succeeded, her lawyer said Thursday.
Doan Thi Huong is accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam with nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017, in a Cold War-style hit that shocked the world.
Her co-accused -- Siti Aisyah from Indonesia -- was unexpectedly released earlier this month after prosecutors withdrew a murder charge following pressure from the government in Jakarta.
But a few days later, Huong's request to have her charge dropped was rejected, sparking anger in Vietnam and accusations of unfair treatment.
The 30-year-old's lawyers have lodged a second application to the attorney-general seeking her release, and on Monday prosecutors are expected to announce his decision in court.
"The second representation was essentially to the attorney-general to reconsider his rejection of the earlier representation," her lawyer, Hisyam ..

Vietnam woman in Kim Jong Nam case in new release bid

Monsanto has been ordered to pay some USD 80 million to an American retiree who blames his cancer on the agribusiness giant's weedkiller Roundup, in a case that could influence the outcome of thousands more like it.
A San Francisco jury Wednesday found the firm, which is owned by Bayer, had been "negligent by not using reasonable care" to warn of the risks of its product, ordering it to pay Edwin Hardeman USD 75 million in punitive damages, a little over USD 5 million in compensation and USD 200,000 for medical expenses.
It was the second stinging legal verdict for Monsanto in recent months after it lost a case to a California school groundskeeper suffering from terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was ordered to pay out tens of millions of dollars.
The jury also found that Roundup's design was defective and that the product lacked sufficient warnings of potential risk.
The same jury had previously found in an earlier part of the trial that a quarter century exposure to Roundup, whose .

Monsanto ordered to pay USD 80 mn in Roundup cancer trial

Manchester United appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the club's permanent manager on a three-year contract on Thursday, following a highly successful caretaker spell in charge.
The Norwegian has inspired a revival of United's fortunes since taking over from the sacked Jose Mourinho in December, winning 14 of his 19 games and leading the Red Devils to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Solskjaer named permanent Man Utd manager

Sri Lanka's state energy provider sought divine intervention Thursday to break a crippling power shortage, dispatching envoys to the country's north to offer holy water to a tree sacred to Buddhists.
The island nation has endured widespread energy shortages all week as a severe drought bites into hydro-electricity production, resulting in unpredictable blackouts and emergency measures to slash usage.
Some businesses were hoarding fuel for generators, fearing the situation would not improve, as hours-long rolling outages forced Sri Lankans to sleep outdoors to escape the heat.
In the hope of provoking much-needed rain, the Ceylon Electricity Board said it would offer alms to the Sri Maha Bodi, a tree in Anuradhapura revered by the island's Buddhists.
Pots of water blessed by monks were sent by motorcade to the Bodi, believed to have grown from a sapling of an older tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.
"There will be several offerings at the bodi 

AFP

AFP

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