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 

Trump: US should 'fully recognize' Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Thursday that it was delaying until next month its ruling on a challenge filed by South African double Olympic champion Caster Semenya against the IAAF.
A decision in the controversial case had been due next week, but the world's top sport court said it would not issue a verdict "until the end of April" because both sides had filed additional material since the hearing in February.
Semenya is challenging proposals by the International Association of Athletics Federations that aim to restrict female athletes' testosterone levels.
The IAAF is seeking to force so-called "hyperandrogenic" athletes or those with "differences of sexual development" (DSD) to seek treatment to lower their testosterone levels below a prescribed amount if they wish to continue competing as women.
The athletics governing body has argued the moves are necessary to create a "level playing field" for other female athletes.
A wide coalition has rallied behind Semenya's cause, .

Sports court delays Semenya verdict until April

Emirati Mohammed Khalfan Al-Romaithi withdrew his candidacy for the Asian Football Confederation presidency on Thursday, paving the way for the reelection of Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.
The pair said in a statement that they would work together for the "independence and transparency of the AFC".
Romaithi announced he would run on March 7, promising change to Asian football's governing body, with the former police chief of Abu Dhabi quoted as saying at the time: "Asia deserves better."
His withdrawal leaves Sheikh Salman facing Qatar's Saud al-Mohannadi in the election, which is due to be held on April 6.

UAE's Al-Romaithi withdraws from AFC presidency race

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that Europe was "finally" united in addressing the threat from China, as Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a five-day tour of the continent.
Xi's visit comes a week after the European Union released a 10-point plan outlining a shift to more assertive relations with Beijing, warning that China was a "rival" to the bloc as well as its biggest trading partner.
The EU is split on handling China, with some fearing the rise of a global superpower and others, especially in Europe's south, willing to make deals for investment in ports, energy and transport.
"Since the beginning of my mandate, I have been calling for a real awareness and defence of European sovereignty," Macron said as he arrived for a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
"Finally, on subjects as important as China, we have it," Macron said, hailing the European Commission's document as a "very good" strategy to manage Beijing.
"I welcome this European awakening," he added, before ..

Macron hails Europe 'awakening' to China threat

European leaders piled the pressure on British MPs Thursday to back a divorce deal they have negotiated with Prime Minister Theresa May, warning that the alternative was a cliff-edge exit from the EU next week.
May has asked EU leaders for a three-month delay to Brexit to allow her to try one more time to get her withdrawal agreement through parliament, and the bloc has indicated it could postpone exit day to May 22.
But as they arrived at a two-day summit in Brussels dominated by Britain's deep political crisis, the other 27 leaders warned that this would be possible only if MPs approve next week the deal they have already resoundingly rejected twice.
"In the case of a negative British vote then we'd be heading to a no deal," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters.
"We all know it. And it's essential to be clear in these days and moments."
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he expected his fellow European leaders to agree in principle on Thursday to May's request for a ...

EU leaders pile pressure on UK MPs to back Brexit deal

A ferry packed with families celebrating Kurdish New Year sank in a swollen river in the former jihadist stronghold of Mosul Thursday, leaving more than 70 people dead in Iraq's worst accident in years.
The accident sparked an outpouring of grief among residents who only recently resumed festivities on the banks of the Tigris after the northern city's recapture from the Islamic State group.
The vessel was packed with men, women and children crossing the Tigris to go to a popular picnic area.
"It's a disaster, no one expected that," said a young man who had just managed to reached the shore.
"There were a lot of people on the boat, especially women and children," he told AFP.
Seventy-one people died including 19 children, according to interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan, while 55 people were rescued.
"The boat sank because there were too many passengers on board, more than a hundred," another security official based in Mosul told AFP.
The authorities had warned people to be careful ..

Dozens dead as ferry sinks in north Iraq

FIFA on Thursday slapped a lifetime ban on the disgraced former head of Ecuador's football federation, Luis Chiriboga, after finding him guilty of taking bribes.
Chiriboga was one of the executives arrested in 2015 amid a massive US-led crackdown on corruption in world football.
FIFA's independent ethics committee investigated him over "schemes in which he received bribes in exchange for his role in awarding contracts to companies for the media and marketing rights to various football tournaments," it said in a statement.
After finding him guilty, FIFA's ethics judges banned Chiriboga from all football-related activities for life and fined him 1 million Swiss francs ($1 million, 887,000 euros).  Prosecutors in Ecuador have already convicted Chiriboga of money laundering.
Ecuador has rejected requests by American prosecutors for Chiriboga to stand trial in the United States, because the country does not extradite its own citizens.  Chiriboga led Ecuador's football federation for 18 ...

FIFA bans former Ecuador football chief for life

Facebook on Thursday admitted that millions of passwords were stored in plain text on its internal servers, a security slip that left them readable by the social networking giant's employees.
"To be clear, these passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused or improperly accessed them," vice president of engineering, security, and privacy Pedro Canahuati said in a blog post.

Facebook admits storing passwords in plain text

Brazil's ex-president Michel Temer was arrested Thursday, an official said, as part of a sprawling anti-corruption probe that has already claimed dozens of political and corporate scalps.
Police arrested Temer, the 78-year-old predecessor of current far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, in Sao Paulo, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Rio de Janeiro told AFP.
Former mines and energy minister Moreira Franco was also detained along with six others, including business people, G1 reported.
Temer, Brazil's most unpopular leader ever, faced a number of corruption accusations on leaving office last year.
Launched in 2014, the Car Wash investigation uncovered a vast graft operation involving Petrobras and major construction companies and bribes to politicians of several parties.
Temer is just the latest former president caught up in the probe that has rocked Brazil's business and political elites.
The center-right politician took over as a caretaker figure after the last Workers 

Brazil's ex-president Michel Temer arrested in 'Car Wash' probe

Australian skipper Aaron Finch hopes his team carry the momentum of a series win in India to their five-match series against Pakistan starting in Sharjah from Friday.
The Pakistan series is the last chance for Australia to fill any gapes before they defend their title in the World Cup starting in UK from May 30.
Finch hopes his team keeps improving.
"It is about trying to maintain our momentum that we got in India," said Finch of the 3-2 come from behind win earlier this month -- Australia's first series win in India since 2009.
The win in India -- after six consecutive one-day series defeats -- was a boost for the Australia team who lost two key players -- skipper Steven Smith and opener David Warner -- to bans for ball tampering  last year.
"I think since we played South Africa in Australia we have got better and better," said Finch of the 2-1 series defeat in November last year.
"I think we are starting to get a real clear strategy in a real game plan and how we want to play ...

Finch hopes Australia carry momentum in Pakistan series

A second round of talks on ending the Western Sahara conflict began behind closed doors in Switzerland Thursday, with the UN voicing hope the sides would discuss "how to build trust".
Foreign ministers from Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania along with the chief negotiator from the Polisario Front liberation movement joined United Nations envoy to the disputed region, former German president Horst Kohler, in a secret location "near Geneva".
The UN said the aim of the two-day talks was to take "a further step in the political process towards reaching a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."
A first round of talks was held at the UN in Geneva last December after six years of stalemate, but did not yield any breakthrough.
The UN said the purpose of the new round "is for delegations to start approaching elements needed for building an enduring solution based on compromise."
"The meeting will ..

UN hosts new round of Western Sahara talks

At least 10 people were killed Thursday in an explosion at a chemical plant in Ain Sokhna on Egypt's Red Sea coast, security and medical sources said.
Two medics told AFP that 10 bodies had been received at a morgue in Suez.  Families of victims gathered outside the morgue, an AFP stringer at the site said.  Officials have not confirmed a final toll or the location of the blast.
Local media have reported an industrial accident, citing several figures.
Ain Sokhna, part of the Suez governorate, is around 130 kilometres south east of Cairo.
The resort town doubles as an industrial hub with several petrochemical, ceramics and steel factories.

At least 10 dead in Egypt chemical plant blast

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday showed again a gruesome video shot by the Christchurch mosque gunman as an election campaign prop despite criticism from New Zealand authorities.
On election trail for a March 31 local vote, Erdogan has projected the video and repeatedly referenced the attack that killed 50 people, saying it targeted Islam and Turkey.
The gunman's so-called "manifesto" mentions Turkey and the minarets of Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia, now a museum, that was once a church before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman empire.
New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters protested on Monday that politicisation of the massacre "imperils the future and safety of the New Zealand people and our people abroad, and it's totally unfair".
At a rally in the northwestern city of Eskisehir, Erdogan again showed both the video and the so-called manifesto in order to attack the main opposition party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu who had warned against "terrorism ..

Turkey's Erdogan again shows mosque attack video despite NZ outrage

At least 12 people were killed Thursday after a gas tank exploded at an Egyptian fertiliser factory on the Red Sea coast, according to a security source.
No final numbers of the casualties in Ain Sokhna have been officially confirmed, but medical sources told AFP 10 bodies had been received at a nearby morgue following an incident.
Egypt's official news agency MENA said a total of 15 have been killed and wounded.

12 killed in Egypt chemical plant blast: security source

Britain faces a "national emergency" as the risk of a no-deal Brexit rises, business and union leaders warned in an open letter to embattled Prime Minister Theresa May.
The heads of Britain's biggest employers' grouping, the Confederation of British Industry, and union umbrella organisation the Trades Union Congress, urged May to change tack and find a "Plan B" to avert the country leaving the European Union without a deal.
"Our country is facing a national emergency.Decisions of recent days have caused the risk of no-deal to soar," read the letter from CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn and TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady.
"Firms and communities across the UK are not ready for this outcome. The shock to our economy would be felt by generations to come," added the pair, who have demanded an "urgent meeting" with May.
The grim warning, contained in a rare coming together of two organisations usually at odds with one another, comes as May meets the other 27 EU leaders in a ...

UK facing 'national emergency' on Brexit: business, unions

A third pilot was in the cockpit of the Lion Air 737 jet a day before it crashed, killing all 189 people on board, Indonesia's air safety agency said Thursday.
Following October's crash, the National Transportation Safety Committee had said it was interviewing people who flew on the plane a day earlier, with some passengers reporting a frightening, erratic trip.
The agency said Thursday that investigators had interviewed the off-duty pilot who was on the Bali-Jakarta flight, but declined to confirm a Bloomberg report that he prevented an accident by helping the crew disable a malfunctioning flight-control system.
A different crew flying the same Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet a day later suffered a similar problem, but were unable to fix it before its fatal plunge into the Java Sea, the report said.
"We interviewed that pilot because we wanted to know what he had seen and heard," NTSC investigator Nurcahyo Utomo told reporters in Jakarta, without offering further details.
Earlier this month, ...

Extra pilot in cockpit of Lion Air jet, day before crash: Indonesia

A cyclone that ravaged three southern African countries last week has killed at least 350 people, affected more than 1.7 million others and left 15,000 people still stranded by floods, according to estimates Thursday.
As the toll surged from the region's biggest storm in years, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced plans to tackle an emerging threat to survivors from malaria and cholera.
Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique last Friday, unleashing hurricane-force winds and rains that flooded the hinterland and drenched eastern Zimbabwe.
Mozambican Land and Environmental Minister Celso Correia said 217 lives had been lost and 15,000 out of 18,000 stranded people still needed to be saved.
"Yesterday we had counted 15,000 people that still need rescue today -- 15,000 people who are in bad shape.
They are alive, we are communicating with them, delivering food, but we need to rescue them and take them out," he told reporters.
A total of 65,000 people are in ...

Toll from cyclone-hit southern Africa surges as UN launches health

Finnish authorities will launch an investigation into claims that Nokia phones have been transmitting users' personal data to China, the country's data protection ombudsman announced on Thursday.
"Based on our initial analysis it appears that personal data has also been transferred (to China)," Reijo Aarnio, Finland's data protection ombudsman, told the news agency STT.
The Norwegian broadcaster NRK published claims on Thursday that data from Nokia's 7 Plus mobile phones, including location information and serial numbers, has been sent to servers of the state-owned company China Telecom.
"The idea is that data moves freely within the EU, but when we go outside the EU, there must always be a legal basis," Aarnio said.
"We are requesting information to try and find out whether there was a legal basis in this case. The second thing is how notification has worked, so were phone users aware that information about them is being transferred to China?" he said.
The Finnish-owned company HMD ..

Finland to investigate suspected Nokia Chinese data breach

Venezuelan intelligence officers Thursday arrested the chief of staff of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader recognised by the US and other countries as interim leader, Guaido and the opposition-ruled congress said on Twitter.
Roberto Marrero was grabbed by SEBIN officers when they staged a pre-dawn raid on his Caracas home, according to Guaido and a recorded voice message by Marrero published on social media.
The United States has repeatedly warned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government against arresting Guaido or his aides, and Washington's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly called for Marrero's release.
"They have grabbed Roberto Marrero, my chief of staff. He yelled out that they planted two rifles and a grenade," Guaido tweeted.
"The raid happened at around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). We don't know his whereabouts. He must be released immediately."
Maduro and Guaido both claim to be legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Maduro, 56, retains the loyalty of military brass and has ...

Chief of staff to Venezuela's Guaido arrested

A barber's association in a northern Bangladesh town has warned its members not to give "foreign" haircuts or beard styles on pain of fines, an official said Thursday.
An association order has been hung up at every barber shop in the town of Bhuapur in the conservative Muslim-majority South Asian nation of 165 million people.
Any stylists infringing the directive face fines of 40,000 taka (USD 480).
Flamboyant hairstyles adopted by some of the Bollywood and Hollywood movie heroes and top cricketers have become increasingly popular among young men in Bangladesh, where short and neat cuts used to be the norm.
The head of the association Shekhar Chandra Sheel told AFP they took the measure following a request from the local police chief.
"He asked us not to cut hair and beards following the Western model. He said these hairstyles are spoiling our young generation," he said.
He said barber shops in the neighbouring towns of Sakhipur and Basail have also adopted similar measures.
Bhuapur ..

Bangladesh town barbers face fines for 'foreign' cuts

A Vietnamese blogger who vanished in Thailand earlier this year is being held in a Hanoi prison, his friend and wife confirmed Thursday.
Truong Duy Nhat wrote weekly posts about politics and current affairs for Radio Free Asia (RFA) and last posted about the prospects for change in Vietnam in light of major anti-government demonstrations in Venezuela.
All independent media is banned in Vietnam and bloggers, activists and rights lawyers are routinely jailed.
The one-party state has seen an uptick of arrests under a hardline leadership in charge since 2016, with nearly 60 put behind bars last year according to an AFP tally.
Nhat, 55, fled to Thailand in January and applied for refugee status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, according to RFA.
His employer and family lost contact with him soon after and he has not been heard from since.
The UN said does not comment on individual cases.
Nhat's friend Pham Xuan Nguyen said he visited Hanoi's T-16 jail on Wednesday and received ...

AFP

AFP

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