For Muslims in China's re-education camps, indoctrination starts with early morning patriotic songs and sessions of self-criticism, and often ends with a meal of only pork, according to one exiled former detainee.
UN experts say China holds one million Muslims in camps in the heavily policed Xinjiang region where most of the country's ethnic Uyghur, the largest Muslim minority, live.
Beijing has rejected the accusations and says it runs education training centres as part of its fight against Islamist extremism in the Muslim-majority region.
The sites are a kind of "campus", according to China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Yucheng speaking last week.
For Omir Bekali, an ethnic Kazakh who says he spent several weeks in a camp in Karamay in Xinjiang before fleeing to Turkey a year ago, it was more about trauma than education.
The camps had only one objective, he said, to strip detainees of their religious belief.
"Every morning, at 0700 to 0730, we had to sing the Chinese ...

Former Muslim detainee tells of China camp trauma

PTI Automatic

Indonesia's national carrier Garuda will call off a multi-billion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes involving the plane, the company said Friday, in what is thought to be the first formal cancellation for the model.
"We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled," said Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan.
"The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have the confidence" in the plane, he said, adding that the airline was awaiting a response from Boeing.
Garuda had already received one of the 737 MAX 8 planes, he said, part of a 50-plane order worth USD 4.9 billion at list prices when it was announced in 2014.
Garuda is also talking to Boeing about whether or not to return the plane it has received, the spokesman told AFP.
The carrier had so far paid Boeing about USD 26 million, while Garuda's chief told Indonesian media outlet Detik that it would consider switching to a new version of the ...

Indonesia's Garuda cancels 49-plane Boeing 737 order after crashes

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime defied the US on Thursday to arrest a top aide of opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognizes as the crisis-hit country's interim leader.
Interior Minister Nestor Reverol accused the aide, Roberto Marrero, a 49-year-old lawyer who serves as Guaido's chief of staff, of leading a "terrorist cell" bent on attacking the government's leadership with the help of Colombian and Central American mercenaries as well as "acts of sabotage on public services to create chaos." He said weapons and foreign cash were found in a predawn raid on Marrero's home.
He added that Marrero's 34-year-old bodyguard, Luis Paez, was also arrested and faced the same charges and a search was on for "identified" collaborators.
Later, President Nicolas Maduro said he would "not be afraid to fight terrorist groups to put them in jail." The development triggered alarm internationally.
The United States, the European Union, and a grouping of Latin American ...

Venezuela arrests Guaido aide for 'terrorism' in defiance of US

Eden Hazard ensured Belgium kicked off their qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 on Thursday with a brace in a home victory over Russia, while a Memphis Depay-inspired Netherlands romped to a 4-0 win over Belarus.
World Cup semi-finalists Belgium earned a battling 3-1 win over Russia in Brussels as Hazard struck twice for Roberto Martinez's side in their opening game in Group I.
Youri Tielemans rounded off a flowing move with a crisp low strike to fire Belgium ahead on 14 minutes at the King Baudouin Stadium, but Thibaut Courtois gifted Russia an immediate equaliser.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper, put under pressure by Artem Dzyuba, panicked and scuffed the ball straight to Denis Cheryshev who duly swept home into an empty net.
Michy Batshuayi had a shot cleared off the line, and later hit the post, but Hazard restored Belgium's lead just before half-time after drawing a foul from Yuri Zhirkov in the area.
The Chelsea playmaker sealed the three points two minutes from time with an alert ...

Hazard lifts Belgium in Euro qualifying as Depay triggers Dutch rout

At 36, Fabio Quagliarella has put his years of torment at the hands of a stalker behind him as he prepares to line up for Italy over eight years after his last cap thanks to the best season of his career in Serie A, where he is the top scorer ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Even if Roberto Mancini is focusing on youth as he rebuilds the Azzurri after their failure to qualify for last year's World Cup, the Italy coach could not ignore Quagliarella's remarkable performance with Sampdoria where he has scored 21 goals in 28 games, two more than Ronaldo and Polish sensation Krzysztof Piatek.
The veteran could earn his 26th cap -- eight and a half years after his last -- in Italy's Euro 2020 Group J qualifiers against Finland on March 23 in Udine or Liechtenstein in Parma three days later.
"I may be the oldest of the group, but I'm living everything with great enthusiasm and serenity," Quagliarella told Rai Sport on Thursday.
"I'm now at an age where you also know how to manage emotions." ...

Quagliarella, 36, finding his place among Italy's young guns

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has said she believes fans should still feel confident to travel to France for the second leg of their Women's Champions League quarter-final despite the concerning scenes that marred their 2-0 first-leg win at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday.
Police discovered a cache of weapons in a coach carrying PSG fans to Chelsea's home ground, which they believed had been damaged by travelling supporters earlier on Thursday, and also arrested one supporter for possession of illegal drugs.
Such incidents, while familiar in men's football, are highly unusual in the women's game.
But Hayes tried to put them in context by telling BBC Sport after Thursday's match:
"We have to remember that the women's game is progressing, that fans are following, and with that comes the same level of scrutiny, and ultimately they have to behave, whether it's our fans or their fans.
"The police dealt with it in the right way," she added.  As to whether Chelsea supporters should make 

Chelsea Women's manager hopes fans travel to Paris after worrying scenes

Venus Williams displayed the mental strength that has made her a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion on Thursday, holding off a spirited challenge by Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic at the WTA Miami Open.
The 38-year-old American, a quarter-finalist at Indian Wells last week, turned back Jakupovic 7-5, 6-3 in 78 minutes to reach the second round after a rough start.
Jakupovic was serving for the first set and Williams was on the back foot before the qualifier wilted under the pressure and 43rd-ranked Williams booked a second-round matchup against Spanish 24th seed Carla Suarez Navarro.
Tenth seed Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion and younger sister of Venus, will open in the second round against Sweden's Rebecca Peterson, who eliminated German qualifier Laura Siegemund 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.
Venus credits her mother, Oracene Price, with instilling the character and desire to match the tennis skills developed by their father and long-time coach Richard Williams.
"Growing up .

Venus Williams holds off Jakupovic to advance at Miami tennis

Lionel Messi will start Friday's friendly against Venezuela in Madrid as he makes his return for Argentina following a self-imposed eight-month exile, coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed.
Scaloni said that Messi would line up alongside Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez and Atlanta United's Gonzalo Martinez in attack as he revealed his full starting team.
"It's a joy for me and for everyone that he's back," Scaloni told a news conference on Thursday.
"Now what remains is try and get the team to play along with him and get the best out of him. We're all very happy that he's back."
"It is the others who have to take that step so that Argentina can return to the level it had," added Scaloni, who replaced Jorge Sampaoli as coach following the last-16 defeat by France at the 2018 World Cup.
Messi has missed six friendlies since the tournament in Russia but many believe he will be an essential part of the team that travels to Brazil for the Copa America, which kicks off June 14.
"We have a way 

Messi to start Venezuela friendly on Argentina return

Tesla chief Elon Musk on Thursday urged workers to make helping with the "biggest wave" of deliveries in the electric car maker's history their top priority, Business Insider reported.
The news website posted a copy of an internal email from Musk rallying Tesla troops to pitch in with "a massive wave of deliveries" throughout Europe, China and North America.
"This is the biggest wave in Tesla's history," the email read. "For the last ten days of the quarter, please consider your primary priority to be helping with vehicle deliveries. This applies to everyone." The firm is experiencing the kind of tremendous increase in delivery demand seen in North America last year in Europe and China, according to the email, which added the situation was exacerbated by component supplier shortages in Europe.
Musk was reportedly seeking volunteers to drive Tesla cars to destinations such as shipping points, but said he did not expect the delivery crunch to recur in future quarters.
Tesla did not ...

Tesla chief Musk calls on workers to help deliver cars

European leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed Thursday on a short delay to Britain's divorce from the European Union in the hope of ensuring an orderly Brexit.
Britain had faced a sharp cliff-edge deadline of March 29 to leave, but May's EU colleagues said the split could wait until May 22 if British lawmakers approve a withdrawal accord next week.
But if the House of Commons rejects the deal -- as it has done twice before -- Brexit will take place on April 12, unless Britain has decided by then to take part in this year's European Parliamentary elections.
"April 12 is the key date in terms of the UK deciding whether to hold European parliament elections," EU Council president and summit host Donald Tusk said, announcing the arrangement.
Britain would need time to legislate to take part in the May 23 to 26 election, and May has insisted it will not try, preferring in her words "to honour" voters' decision to end London's 46-year-old membership.
"I believe strongly ...

EU leaders offer two options for short Brexit delay

Prime Minister Theresa May has accepted an offer of two options for short delays to the date of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, EU president Donald Tusk said Thursday.
"I met Prime Minister May several times tonight to make sure the UK accepts the extension scenarios and I am pleased to confirm we have an agreement on this," the EU council president said.

Britain's May accepted Brexit delay plan: EU's Tusk

Almost 100 people, mostly women and children, died as a ferry packed with families celebrating Kurdish New Year sank in a swollen river in the former jihadist stronghold of Mosul, in Iraq's worst accident in years.
There was an outpouring of grief among residents who only this year resumed the annual festivities on the banks of the Tigris after the northern city's recapture from the Islamic State group.
Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi decreed three days of national mourning as he visited the site of the tragedy. He ordered a swift investigation "to determine responsibilities".
The vessel was crammed with men, women and children crossing the Tigris Thursday to go to a popular picnic area to celebrate Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year and a holiday across Iraq marking the start of spring.
The accident, which struck as the overloaded vessel turned back, also coincided with Mother's Day in Iraq.
The interior ministry, issuing a fresh toll, said 94 people had died and 55 were rescued, after its 

Almost 100 dead as Iraq ferry sinks on spring holiday trip

Defying US warnings, President Nicolas Maduro's regime on Thursday arrested a top aide of opposition leader Juan Guaido, who Washington recognizes as Venezuela's interim leader.
Guaido and the opposition-ruled National Assembly denounced the arrest of Roberto Marrero, charging on Twitter that he was taken from his home during a pre-dawn raid by intelligence officers.
The United States has repeatedly warned Venezuelan Maduro against arresting Guaido or his aides.
The United States and a grouping of Latin American nations plus Canada vigorously condemned the arrest and demanded Marrero's release.
"They have grabbed Roberto Marrero, my chief of staff. He yelled out that they planted two rifles and a grenade" as a pretext for the arrest, Guaido tweeted. "The raid happened at around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). We don't know his whereabouts.
He must be released immediately." He later told a news conference that "we won't be intimidated" by the "vile, vulgar kidnapping." Maduro and Guaido both claim 

Guaido aide arrested in Venezuela as regime defies

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday approved giving Sri Lanka two more years to set up a credible war crimes investigation into the island nation's brutal civil war.
The UN's top rights body approved without a vote a resolution to postpone discussing the implementation of an official probe into crimes committed during the 37-year guerilla war, which ended in May 2009.
Sri Lankan government troops were accused of killing at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians in the final months of the war.
A 2015 UN Human Rights Council resolution gave Sri Lanka 18 months to establish a credible investigation. Colombo secured a two-year extension in 2017 that expires this month.
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned earlier this week that Sri Lanka could slip back into conflict unless it addressed the "worst crimes" during the final stages of its ethnic war.
She told the Human Rights Council that Sri Lanka was yet to set up the special judicial mechanism as promised four years ago to try war ...

UN rights body grants Sri Lanka war crimes probe extension

Britain's defence ministry has started up a no-deal Brexit operations centre in a nuclear-bomb-proof bunker in central London, a spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
"It's a team that's ready to support any action if it becomes necessary," the spokesman said, adding that the new centre has "all the right infrastructure".
"As we get closer to a theoretical or possible no-deal, this is the place where the response could be co-ordinated", the spokesman said.
Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal, unless one can be agreed in time or an Brexit extension is implemented.
The defence ministry in December said 3,500 military personnel would be on stand-by to help government departments for "any contingencies" in case of a no-deal outcome.
The spokesman said those troops were now "at readiness".
The military's crisis management operation for a no-deal Brexit, which is dubbed "Operation Redfold", was activated at the beginning of this week.
The bunker is underneath the 

British military opens no-deal Brexit nerve centre

US top diplomat Mike Pompeo became the first high-ranking American official to visit the Western Wall with an Israeli prime minister on Thursday, providing another boost to Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election campaign.
Two experienced former US diplomats could not recall such a senior US official visiting the site with an Israeli premier.
It could be taken as tacit approval of Israel's sovereignty over the site, one of the holiest in Judaism and located in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.
The visit comes less than three weeks before Israel's April 9 elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tough challenge from a centrist alliance led by a former military chief of staff, Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu is also due to visit Washington and meet with his close ally US President Donald Trump twice next week.
On Thursday afternoon, Netanyahu and Pompeo, along with US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, approached the wall together, placing a hand on it before depositing prayers on slips of paper, as 

Pompeo visits Western Wall with Netanyahu in break with diplomatic practice

The Royal Mint, Britain's official coin-maker, has joined the legions of people and businesses left in limbo over Brexit as the country asks the EU to delay its departure from the bloc.
The 1,100-year-old government-owned company had planned to issue a new 50-pence coin to mark Britain's European Union exit on March 29 -- with the date inscribed on it -- and had started producing test pieces.
The Treasury announced in October the commemorative piece "will be available to buy from Spring 2019".  But amid the chaos engulfing the withdrawal process, it said that no coins have been produced yet for sale.
"The commemorative 50-pence coin... will be made available following our departure," a Treasury spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show over the weekend whether he would have to melt coins with the wrong date, Finance Minister
Philip Hammond said they could instead become "collectors' pieces".

UK's commemorative Brexit coin on hold amid political crisis

China said Thursday it had invited European diplomats to visit the restive northwest region of Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of rights abuses against the ethnic Uighur Muslims.
"In order to enhance the understanding of the achievements of Xinjiang's economic and social development in Europe... the Chinese side invited the diplomatic envoys of European countries to visit Xinjiang," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.
The dates of the visit and other arrangements were under discussion, he said, hoping the trip would allow the diplomats to "experience the stability and harmony of Xinjiang, and the real situation of people of all nationalities living and working in peace and contentment".
As many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang, according to a group of experts cited last year by the United Nations.
Beijing claims the camps are "vocational training centres" that help steer people who may be ...

China 'invites' EU diplomats to visit Xinjiang

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump's "historic" pledge to recognise Israel's disputed annexation of the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967.
"At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights," he wrote on his personal Twitter account. "Thank you President Trump!" Trump's statement of intent on the strategic plateau Israel seized in the Six-Day War came after US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo visited Jerusalem and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Netanyahu at the Western Wall in the city's Israeli-annexed eastern sector.
It was the first time such a high-ranking US official had visited the highly sensitive site in the Old City, part of the mainly Palestinian east of Jerusalem, alongside an Israeli premier.
Both US gestures serve to boost Netanyahu's campaign for a fifth term, less than three weeks before Israel's April 9 .

Netanyahu hails Trump's 'historic' pledge on Golan sovereignty

At least 77 people died as a ferry packed with families celebrating Kurdish New Year sank in a swollen river in the former jihadist stronghold of Mosul, in Iraq's worst accident in years.
There was an outpouring of grief among residents who only this year resumed the annual festivities on the banks of the Tigris after the northern city's recapture from the Islamic State group.
The vessel was crammed with men, women and children crossing the Tigris to go to a popular picnic area to celebrate Nowruz, the Kurdish New Year and a holiday across Iraq marking the start of spring.
While war and jihadist attacks have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in Iraq in recent years, such accidents are relatively rare.
"It's a disaster, no one expected that," said a young man who had just managed to reach the shore.
"There were a lot of people on the boat, especially women and children," he told AFP.
A Mosul security source said the high water levels and overcrowding on the boat, with well over ...

Dozens dead as Tigris ferry on spring holiday trip sinks in Iraq

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the United States should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, an area seized from Syria and annexed in a move never recognized by the international community.
"After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights," Trump said in a tweet.
Trump called the territory "of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!" This is the second recent diplomatic bombshell dropped by Washington, which is Israel's main backer, in seeking to redraw the fraught Middle East map.
In 2017, Trump went against decades of practice by recognizing the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, rather than the previously accepted Tel Aviv.
Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next Monday and Tuesday. The Israeli leader, who is running for reelection, will be in Washington for the annual conference of the 

AFP

AFP

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