New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday welcomed Facebook's move to curb support for white nationalism on its platforms but said more needed to be done in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks.
The social media giant has unveiled tougher guidelines on hate speech for Facebook and Instagram, ruling that white nationalism and white separatism are both linked to organised hate groups and will be banned.
When making the announcement, the California-based company did not specifically reference the March 15 Christchurch atrocity that claimed 50 lives when a self-avowed white supremacist targeting Muslims opened fire in two mosques.
But Ardern made it clear she believed it was a direct response to the criticism that has since been levelled at Facebook, which the accused gunman used to livestream the attack.
"Arguably these categories should always have fallen within (Facebook's) community guidelines on hate speech," she told reporters.
"But it's positive that ...

New Zealand PM says Facebook curbs not enough

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Cristiano Ronaldo will undergo further tests in Turin on Thursday as he battles to be fit for Juventus's Champions League double header against Ajax after picking up a thigh injury on international duty for Portugal.
The 34-year-old pulled up injured after half an hour into European champions Portugal's 1-1 Euro 2020 qualifier draw against Serbia.
Juventus said initial tests in Portugal had shown "a minor injury" to Ronaldo's right thigh, with their Champions League quarter-final first leg tie against Ajax on April 10.
Ronaldo flew to Barcelona for personal business on Wednesday, and not for a consultation, with the Portuguese star later posting a photo of himself on social media.
Italian media reported the five-time Ballon d'Or had returned by private jet to Turin late on Wednesday with tests scheduled with Juventus medical staff on Thursday morning.
But Ronaldo will likely miss the champions next three Serie A games, against Empoli on Saturday, Cagliari on April 2, and AC Milan four 

Injured Ronaldo returns to Turin for tests

Roger Federer is preparing himself for a barrage of Kevin Anderson big serves after the Swiss superstar sealed his place in the ATP and WTA Miami Open quarter-finals in just 61 minutes.
Federer is celebrating 20 years at this tournament and edged closer to his fourth title in South Florida as the up and coming Russian Daniil Medvedev was swatted aside 6-4 6-2 on Wednesday.
Next up for the 20-time Grand Slam-winning legend is the South African world number seven who famously beat the 37-year-old at Wimbledon in 2018 over five dramatic sets.
That triumph was Anderson's only win over Federer in six attempts - and the only time he's won a set.
But having classily dealt with Medvedev, the former world number one knows it won't be as straightforward with the 6 ft 8 in Anderson at the other end of the Hard Rock Stadium's center court.
"I think if you beat me at Wimbledon, you've got my attention," smiled Federer.
"He's got a great serve and I'm happy he's playing again after his injury.
"So .

Federer ready for Anderson barrage after Miami romp

A Peruvian judge said Wednesday that soldiers had committed crimes against humanity by "systematically" raping nine female farmers between 1984 and 1995 during the conflict with the Shining Path guerrillas.
"Because this is a crime against humanity, the trial will take place in public hearings," Judge Edhin Campos said.
Fourteen non-commissioned officers who are now retired were accused of having repeatedly raped nine women in the Andean region of Huancavelica, one of Peru's poorest, during the bloodiest period of the conflict between the military and the Maoist guerrillas.
"It's a historic decision... We are not talking about isolated instances of rape but systematic rape on military bases," said Juan Jose Quispe, an attorney for six of the victims.
"We are now waiting for the trial to take place within two years and for those responsible to face the law and be sentenced." Prosecutors said that several of the women became pregnant as a result of the rapes, and more women likely were .

Peruvian ex-soldiers accused of 'systematic' rape

A comedian whose political experience is limited to playing the president in a TV show is likely to top the first round of voting when Ukrainians go to the polls on Sunday.
Actor Volodymyr Zelensky's bid started as a long shot but he has leapfrogged establishment politicians amid public frustration over corruption and stagnating living standards.
The 41-year-old star of political comedy "Servant of the People," which returns for its third season this week, is polling at around 28 percent, well ahead of his nearest rivals.
The main suspense ahead of the weekend vote is who of incumbent Petro Poroshenko and ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko will progress to the run-off, as several polls put them neck and neck with around 16 percent.
Zelensky, who has a young support base, confesses he has "no experience" but insists he has the strength to lead Ukraine -- a country of 45 million locked in a separatist conflict.
"I don't have all the knowledge but I'm learning this now," he told AFP in ..

Comedian ahead as Ukraine presidential campaign enters final days

Crackdown on hate speech: Facebook  to curb white nationalism, separatism

The ban will be enforced starting next week at the leading online social network and its image-centric messaging service Instagram.

Agencies

Saudi women activists detained for almost a year offered their defence at an emotionally charged hearing on Wednesday, alleging torture and sexual harassment during interrogation, courtroom sources said.
Eleven women responded to charges that rights groups say include contact with international media and human rights groups, in the second hearing of a high-profile trial that foreign reporters and diplomats are barred from attending.
Some of them wept and consoled each other and their family members gathered before a three-judge panel in Riyadh's criminal court as they accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks and flogging and groping them in detention, two people with access to the trial told AFP.
At least one of the detained women tried to commit suicide following her mistreatment, a close relative said.
The government, facing intense international scrutiny of its human rights record, denies the women were tortured or harassed.
The women, including prominent ...

In Saudi trial, detained women speak of torture, abuse By Anuj CHOPRA

Turkey on Wednesday accused US President Donald Trump of resorting to "bully boy" tactics over a disputed move to proclaim that the Golan Heights -- captured from Syria in 1967 -- belong to Israel.
"Unfortunately, Trump is behaving like a bully boy," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told A Haber television during an interview.  "He did the same on Jerusalem."
On Monday, Trump signed a proclamation recognising Israel's 1981 annexation of the strategic plateau, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel's move has not been recognised internationally, and three UN Security Council resolutions have called for it to withdraw from the territory.
"How can you do this despite the United Nations?" Erdogan said. "What are you doing? Being at the helm of a state like the US does not give you such a right."
The Turkish leader added: "America has preferred to escalate tensions ... rather than contribute to peace." Last December, Trump went against decades of practice by ...

Turkey's Erdogan hits out at Trump over Golan Heights

Embattled aviation giant Boeing pledged Wednesday to do all it can to prevent crashes like the two that killed nearly 350 people in recent months, as it unveiled a fix to the flight software of its grounded 737 MAX aircraft.
Boeing gathered hundreds of pilots and reporters to unveil the changes to the MCAS stall prevention system, which has been implicated in the tragedies in Ethiopia and Indonesia, as part of a charm offensive to restore the company's reputation.
"We are going to do everything to make sure that accidents like this don't happen again," Mike Sinnett, Boeing's vice president of product strategy, told reporters at a factory in Washington state.
Meanwhile, across the country in the nation's capital, the head of the US air safety agency faced harsh questions from senators over its relationship with and oversight of Boeing.
Dan Elwell, the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, defended his agency but acknowledged that as systems become more complex, the FAA's .

Boeing unveils fix to flight system after deadly crashes

The mystery over a commando-style assault on North Korea's embassy in Madrid, allegedly led by man who had an Uber account in the name of "Oswaldo Trump", deepened Wednesday after a shadowy group committed to overthrowing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed responsibility.
A dissident organisation known as the Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) said it had orchestrated the raid carried out on February 22 to end illicit activities rampant in North Korea's foreign missions.
It denied using any violence, saying in a statement on its website that its members were invited into the embassy "and contrary to reports, no one was gagged or beaten."
But the statement contradicts a Spanish National Court report published a day earlier, which said a group of people had roughed up employees of the embassy and robbed computers before fleeing.
The alleged leader of the group, Adrian Hong Chang, a 35-year-old Mexican who had an Uber account in the name of Oswaldo Trump, contacted "the FBI in New York ..

Mystery deepens over raid at North Korea's embassy in Madrid

European lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday for an EU-wide ban on single-use plastic products such as the straws, cutlery and cotton buds that are clogging the world's oceans.
The text had already been approved in negotiations with member states and EU officials and it will now be rapidly approved into law. The ban comes into effect from 2021.
EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said Europe was not the worst source of plastic pollution, but that the pioneering measure could serve as an example to the world.
"Asian countries are very much interested in what we're doing. Latin American countries too," he said.
"Even though our share of the pollution is relatively limited, our change of the economic model has a global impact." The law passed by 560 votes to 35 in the Strasbourg assembly.
Aside from the ban on a dozen kinds of disposable products for which alternatives exist, the EU will encourage member states to reduce the use of plastic packaging and introduce stricter .

EU parliament approves ban on single use plastics

A court in Chile on Wednesday ordered the Roman Catholic Church to pay damages of around $440,000 to the victims of influential former priest Fernando Karadima.
The court in Santiago ordered the Church to pay 100 million pesos -- around USD 146,000 -- to each of three of his victims.
Juan Carlos Cruz, Andres Murillo and James Hamilton had sued the Church for "moral damage" for covering up years of sexual abuse perpetrated by Karadima, a senior Chilean cleric.
Pope Francis eventually defrocked the priest last year at the height of public outrage in the South American country over clerical sexual abuse and its concealment.  A Vatican investigator dispatched by Francis to Chile concluded there was "a culture of abuse" within the Chilean church in a 2,300-page report.
The pope later invited Cruz, Murillo and Hamilton to meet him at the Vatican to hear their testimonies and ask for their pardon.
In May last year, Francis summoned all 34 Chilean bishops to Rome over the crisis and all ...

Chile orders Church to pay damages to ex-priest's victims

Fourteen people were killed overnight Tuesday when a small-scale mine in a tin-rich area of eastern DR Congo collapsed, local officials said.
The incident happened in Niyabibwe, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, they said Wednesday.
Miners had dug a shaft to look for cassiterite, a source of tin, but the walls caved in after heavy rain.
"The search for survivors began at around 3 am and is ongoing," senior administrative official Muhima Kateete told AFP.
"Fourteen bodies have been recovered, and there are nine injured," he said.
Delphin Birimbi, head of a local association of NGOs, said the toll was provisional.  Nine people are in hospital for serious injuries, a health worker said.
Accidents are common and frequently deadly in the Democratic Republic of Congo's subsistence mines, where safety is poor and risk-taking high.
Figures indicating the scale of the problem are sketchy, given that many mines are illegal and remote.

Fourteen dead in DR Congo mine collapse

US President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Russia drop support for Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro after Moscow deployed troops and equipment to bolster the hard-left government.
"Russia has to get out," Trump said at the White House alongside Fabiana Rosales, wife of opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by the United States and more than 50 other countries as Venezuela's interim president in place of Maduro.
Rosales was given a high-profile reception in the Trump administration's latest bid to boost Guaido, who is under severe pressure from Moscow-backed Maduro. On Thursday, she will meet with US First Lady Melania Trump in Florida.
Trump said "all options are on the table" when asked by journalists if the United States was considering military action to back up a major campaign of economic sanctions aimed at crippling the Maduro government's finances.
"They've got a lot of pressure right now. They have no money, they have no oil, they have no nothing. ...

Trump tells Russia 'to get out' of Venezuela

Facebook on Wednesday announced it will ban praise or support for white nationalism at the leading online social network and its image-centric messaging service Instagram.
Facebook said it will begin enforcing the ban next week, ratcheting up its rules against hateful content to include white nationalism and separatism.
"It's clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services," the social network said.

Facebook bans praise of white nationalism, separatism

A French pilot hailed for bravery during a hijacking drama targeting Jews on an Air France flight in 1976 has died aged 95, his son told AFP on Wednesday.
Michel Bacos was flying from Tel Aviv to Paris when Palestinian and German radicals hijacked the aircraft which was eventually flown to Entebbe in Uganda.
The former French Resistance fighter earnt France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, for refusing to leave the plane and ordering his crew to remain with Jewish passengers who were separated from non-Jews.
He died in the south of France where he had been living with his wife for the last 30 years, their son Eric Bacos told AFP.
The hostages were eventually freed after six days by Israeli commandos, who launched a raid that has since been re-told in multiple documentaries and films as one of the most famous special-forces operations in history.
The commandos freed all but four of 105 hostages, with the loss of one Israeli soldier, Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Israeli Prime 

Hero French pilot in Entebbe hijack dies aged 95

Skipper Aaron Finch fell 10 short of his third consecutive hundred but still took Australia to 266 for 6 in the third ODI against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The right-handed opener scored 90 off 136 balls with five boundaries and a six to anchor Australia -- who won the toss and opted to bat -- after light rain delayed the start by 15 minutes at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Finch, who scored 116 and 153 not out in Australia's eight wicket wins in the first two matches -- could have been the first Australian to score three hundreds in as many ODIs.
Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara holds the record of most successive hundreds with four while nine other batsmen (none from Australia) have struck three consecutive hundreds in ODI cricket.
Glenn Maxwell (55-ball 71 with eight boundaries and a six) gave the total its final touches. Finch holed out to leg-spinner Yasir Shah in the 42nd over but he had once again built the innings.
Australia started shakily and lost opener Usman Khawaja off just .

Finch misses record hundred as Australia post 266-6

US President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Russia withdraw from Venezuela after it deployed troops and equipment in the crisis-torn country.
"Russia has to get out," Trump said as he welcomed to the White House Fabiana Rosales, the wife of opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognized by the United States and more than 50 other countries as Venezuela's interim president.

Trump on Venezuela: 'Russia has to get out'

Southwest Airlines trimmed its revenue estimate Wednesday, citing flight cancellations due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding among key factors dragging on earnings.
Southwest, which focuses primarily on travel within the United States, cancelled 9,400 flights in the first quarter, with the Boeing grounding accounting for about a third of that number, the company said in a securities filing.
The disclosure highlighted the hit from the Boeing debacle to US airlines following a Federal Aviation Administration order on March 13 after two deadly crashes involving the aircraft.
Larger carriers American Airlines and United Continental have also signalled a likely hit to first-quarter earnings resulting from cancelled 737 MAX flights.
About 40 per cent of Southwest's flights were cancelled due to weather, with the remaining 30 per cent resulting from maintenance disruptions connected to talks with a mechanics union.
In total, these cancellations will result in USD 150 million in lost revenues ..

Southwest cuts sales outlook as 737 MAX grounding hits US carriers

A Palestinian volunteer medic was killed by Israeli forces during clashes in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Sajid Muzher, 17, was killed in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, the ministry said.
He was shot by Israeli forces while working as a volunteer medic, a ministry spokesman told AFP.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Palestinian health minister Jawad Awad said the "occupation's killing of a volunteer medic by shooting him in the stomach is a war crime."
The Palestinian Medical Relief Society confirmed he was working with them, saying in a statement he was shot while trying to treat one of those wounded in clashes.
Israeli forces frequently enter refugee camps to carry out arrests or other operations, often sparking clashes with residents.
The World Health Organization "strongly condemned" the killing in a statement, saying the man was killed while ...

Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in West Bank clash: ministry

Canada's trade deficit narrowed to 4.2 billion Canadian dollars (USD 3.1 billion) in January as commerce with countries other than the United States ramped up, the government statistical agency said Wednesday.
The figure, following a record trade deficit of 4.8 billion Canadian dollars (revised upward) in the previous month, was higher than economists had expected.
"Overall, the data out today continue to provide a mixed picture of the Canadian economy," said CIBC Capital Markets analyst Royce Mendes.
According to Statistics Canada, exports rose 2.9 per cent to 47.6 billion Canadian dollars in January.
Higher exports of refined gold to Britain and gold transfers to Hong Kong within the banking sector, as well as increased transportation equipment sales to Saudi Arabia, were partially offset by lower exports of soybeans to China, it said.
After five consecutive monthly decreases, energy exports rose in January to 7.1 billion Canadian dollars. That was driven by a 36.5 per cent increase 

AFP

AFP

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