Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev shocked the nation on Tuesday by announcing his resignation after nearly 30 years in power.
The Central Asian strongman, 78, had ruled Kazakhstan since before the collapse of the Soviet Union and leaves no obvious successor.
His announcement came a year ahead of the country's next scheduled presidential election and amid growing frustration over falling living standards.
In a broadcast address to the nation, Nazarbayev said he had decided to step down and that the chairman of the Kazakh senate would take over.
"I have taken the decision to resign from the post of presidency," Nazarbayev said.
"The mandate of the presidency will pass to the chairman of the senate for the remainder of my presidential term."
The senate chair position is currently held by Nazarbayev loyalist Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 65, a former prime minister and career diplomat.
The announcement came less than a month after Nazarbayev sacked his government, citing a lack of ...

Longtime Kazakh leader announces shock resignation

PTI Automatic

Britain's possible request for an extension to remain in the European Union beyond the March 29 deadline will not be unquestioningly accepted, an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.
"An extension is not for certain or automatic," the aide said, echoing demands by several EU officials that British Prime Minister Theresa May lay out clear reasons why a delay would be necessary.
May is scrambling to avoid a chaotic no-deal departure in 10 days' time, and EU leaders had hoped she would attend their summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday with a plan to ratify the withdrawal deal before the deadline.
But EU heavyweights Germany and France have already warned they will not agree to delay Brexit simply to save the prime minister's skin.
Macron's aide said France would assess a British demand for an extension with two criteria.
"First point: is there a plan, a strategy, to justify an extension?" the aide said.
"Second point: we need to look at the impact on the European ...

Brexit extension not 'certain or automatic': French presidential aide

The UN said Tuesday it was mobilising aid for some 600,000 people hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, warning the world did not yet appreciate the scale of the "massive disaster."
Four days after Idai made landfall, the UN's World Food Programme said it had already dispatched more than five tonnes of emergency provisions to the affected areas.
"WFP aims to support 500,000 to 600,000 people in the coming weeks," spokesman Herve Verhoosel told reporters in Geneva.
"I don't think that the world (has) realised yet the scale of the problem," he added.
While Mozambique's government has estimated that 600,000 people have been impacted, WFP's analysis of satellite imagery indicated that up to 1.7 million people in the country were in Idai's "path."
But, Verhoosel stressed, not all of those necessarily need emergency support.
A spokesman for the UN's emergency response office (OCHA), Jens Laerke, described  Ida as "a massive disaster." More than a thousand people are feared to have ...

UN ramps up response to killer Mozambique storm

Eleven Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Morocco on Tuesday signed on to the first regional team to cooperate on a space programme, the UAE said.
"Today at the Global Space Congress in Abu Dhabi, we attended the signing of a charter to establish the first Arab body for space cooperation, bringing together 11 Arab states," said Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum in comments carried by the government media office.
The pan-Arab team's first project is "a satellite that Arab scientists will work on from here in the UAE", he said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed, the UAE's vice president and prime minister, vowed in 2017 to send four Emirati astronauts to the International Space Station by 2022.
The UAE announced last month that its first astronaut will blast off on a mission to the station on September 25.
The oil-rich Gulf state has two astronauts in training as it looks to get an ambitious space programme aimed at exploring Mars off the ground.
The astronaut ...

UAE announces pan-Arab body for space programme

A Chinese firm that holds the largest stake in southern France's Toulouse airport is considering selling out and has already received interest from potential investors, its chief said.
"Maybe a new shareholder or a new operator can bring better value to the airport," Mike Poon told AFP in an interview on Monday, adding the company was "studying opportunities".
Poon heads Casil Europe, the holding company created by China's state-owned Shandong Hi-Speed Group and the Hong Kong-based Friedmann Pacific Asset Management, which bought 49.99 percent of the airport for 300 million euros ($340 million) in 2015.
Last year the French government opted against selling Casil an additional 10 percent, which would have given it a controlling stake in the fast-growing regional hub.
It was a victory for local governments and the Toulouse Chamber of Commerce, which own a combined 40 percent stake and who had accused Casil of under-investing in order to extract as much profits as possible.
But Poon ...

Chinese investor weighs sale of Toulouse airport stake

A Republican congressman is suing Twitter claiming the online platform discriminates against conservatives by hiding their messages, and for allowing "abusive, hateful and defamatory" content about the lawmaker.
The complaint was filed by Representative Devin Nunes, an ally of President Donald Trump, in a Virginia state court, and released online by Fox News. It seeks $250 million in damages.
Nunes alleges that Twitter "shadow bans" conservatives -- purportedly making their messages less visible -- and failed to crack down on parody accounts such as "Devin Nunes' Mom" and "Devin Nunes' cow" which accused him of obstructing investigations into the president.
The suit echoes accusations from Trump that major internet platforms discriminate against conservatives, even though he himself has more than 59 million followers on Twitter.
Twitter declined to comment on the lawsuit, but has in the past vigorously denied claims that its platform is politically biased.
Legal analysts have largely .

US lawmaker sues Twitter, alleging anti-conservative bias

A 3,000-year-old carved stone tablet from Babylonia, which promises a curse on those who would destroy it, is to be flown home from Britain after being looted during the Iraq War.
British Museum boss Hartwig Fischer handed over the priceless work to Iraqi Ambassador Salih Husain Ali during a ceremony on Tuesday after museum experts had verified its provenance.
"It is a very important piece of Iraq's cultural heritage," said Fischer, praising the "extraordinary and tireless work" of border officials.
They spotted the object at London's Heathrow airport in 2012 and contacted the museum after being presented with fake documents.
"They seized this item when they saw it at a British port and several years later, after a lot of legal work, we are able to effect this transfer," said Michael Ellis, Britain's Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism.
"It's a very important and significant moment." It is still not clear how the object was taken out of Iraq, "but we believe it was probably stolen 

UK returns 3,000-year-old tablet looted during Iraq War

Restrictions over large swathes of Pakistani airspace continued to affect numerous flight routes, officials said Tuesday, weeks after clashes between Pakistan and India brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.
The continued constraints come weeks after Pakistani authorities said they had fully reopened the country's airspace after it was closed for days following clashes and aerial dogfights between the two countries late last month.
"All entry and exit points to and from India remain closed," a senior Pakistan official told AFP on the condition of anonymity, saying the decision to keep portions of the country's airspace closed was reviewed daily by authorities.
The closure of large swathes of the eastern airspace effectively shuts off major international flight routes in and out of Islamabad and Lahore along with select domestic routes.
"At least seven domestic and four international destinations are suspended," Pakistan International Airlines spokesman Mashud Tajwar ...

Pakistani airspace restrictions keep routes closed, carriers off balance

Pope Francis has rejected the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who was handed a six-month suspended  sentence this month for failing to report sex abuse by a priest under his authority, the cardinal said on Tuesday.
"Monday morning, I handed over my mission to the Holy Father. He spoke of the presumption of innocence and did not accept this resignation," Barbarin, who has appealed his sentence, said in a statement.

Pope rejects resignation of French cardinal in sex abuse cover-up: Church

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced his shock resignation on Tuesday, 29 years after taking office.
"I have taken the decision to refuse the mandate of the presidency," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Nazarbayev came to power in oil-rich Kazakhstan when it was still a Soviet republic and has never indicated a successor.
The move comes on the back of growing social discontent and an economy still recovering from an oil price plunge in 2014.
The announcement also comes just weeks after the ageing strongman dismissed the country's government.
Nazarbayev will enjoy significant policy-making powers following his resignation thanks to his constitutional status as "Leader of the Nation".
He also became lifelong head of the country's security council last year.

Kazakh president says resigning after three decades in office

Four members of staff at an Oslo primary school were slightly hurt when a pupil threatened an employee with a knife, Norwegian police said Tuesday.
Police sent several patrols to the school in the Brynseng district after reports of "violence and a threatening situation", the force said on Twitter.
A pupil at the school, which has students between six and 13 years old, was threatening a staff member with a bread knife, Norway's NTB news agency reported.
Police said they overpowered the boy, who was described in Norwegian media reports as very young.
None of those hurt were stabbed with the knife, but suffered bites or were stabbed with a fork by the boy, Verdens Gang newspaper reported.
All were staff at the school, said police.
The incident reportedly happened after a confrontation in the playground.

Norway school boy threatens staff with knife: police

As the first bodies of the Christchurch mosque shooting victims were returned to grieving families, Muslim volunteers from across New Zealand and Australia descended on the small town to help in the burial process.
Islamic custom dictates that people have to be buried as soon as possible, but the scale and devastation of Friday's massacre -- that saw 50 killed in the usually quiet southern New Zealand city -- has delayed the handover of bodies to next of kin.
Police said Tuesday that just six bodies have been released so far and a total of 12 victims identified. As anguished relatives wait, waves of volunteers have driven or flown in to ease the burden on exhausted locals.
"We are a Muslim community, regardless of where we are situated through the country and the world, there is always going to be a connection with other Muslims when tragedy occurs," Javed Dadabhai, a volunteer from Auckland, told AFP.
"Quite specifically, Christchurch is a small community, so... when you see a loss ..

Volunteers descend on Christchurch with burial process to start

China's goth community posted selfies wearing black lipstick and sombre white makeup in an online protest over a peer who was forced to remove her makeup before boarding a subway car.
The social media blitz prompted an apology from the transport company in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Goths are a subculture known for their black clothes and makeup -- with a popular segment known as "Gothic Lolita" whose members dress in dark outfits inspired by Victorian dolls.
Writing about the encounter on her Weibo social media account, the woman, who goes by the username EIGA-In My Heart, said she was stopped by a female security officer at a Guangzhou metro station on March 10 after her makeup was deemed "too scary".
"On the basis of what law am I being stopped and my time being wasted? "If there is, I will make a banner for the station of my own expense stating: thick makeup and goth outfits are prohibited on the metro," she wrote, adding that it was not the first time this has happened to ...

Chinese metro apologises after goth makeup removal demand

Sri Lanka announced Tuesday that an overseas joint venture had committed $3.85 billion to a new oil refinery -- the single largest foreign investment in the country's history.
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka said construction would begin this weekend on the refinery and storage facility jointly financed by Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas and a Singapore-registered company.
Deputy international trade minister Nalin Bandara said he expected the refinery, which will eventually produce 200,000 barrels a day, to be fully operational within four years.
"This is the biggest single foreign investment (in Sri Lanka's history)," he told reporters in Colombo.
It is more than double the next largest foreign investment -- a $1.4 billion land reclamation project next to Colombo port.
Oman will fund 30 percent of the new oil project while Singapore-based Silver Park International, which is majority owned by a business interest in India, will finance the rest.
It is being constructed near the ...

Sri Lanka wins record foreign investment in oil project

Denmark's biggest telecom group TDC has chosen Swedish firm Ericsson over existing provider Huawei to roll out its ultra-fast 5G mobile network across the country, as a debate rages over security concerns surrounding the Chinese giant.
The US and several other Western nations have shut Huawei out of tenders for the development of fifth-generation, or 5G, networks, because of the company's close ties to the Chinese government.
"TDC has chosen Ericsson to build and deploy its 5G network," TDC CEO Allison Kirkby said in a statement released on Monday night.
The statement did not mention Huawei, which has equipped TDC's network since 2014.
"Over the past year, TDC has negotiated with several suppliers about the upcoming 5G rollout," the statement said.
The decision comes as Germany launches an auction for the construction of its own 5G network after the US reportedly warned it could scale back the sharing of sensitive information with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware made by Huawei .

Danish telecom group shuns China's Huawei for 5G rollout

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she would struggle until the last possible moment to achieve an orderly Brexit, saying the interests of Germany, Britain and the EU were at stake.
"I will fight to the last hour of the deadline on March 29 for an orderly exit (of Britain from the European Union)," she told a conference in Berlin.
"We don't have a lot of time for it but still have a few days." Merkel admitted she had been surprised by the bombshell announcement on Monday by House of Commons speaker John Bercow that he could not put Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan to another vote in its current form.
"I must confess that I was not familiar with the rules of order of the British parliament from the 17th century," she said with a wry smile.
And she stressed ahead of a crunch EU summit in Brussels Thursday and Friday at which Brexit is to take centre stage that the ball remained in London's court to plot the way forward.
"I am as of now unable to say what my position ...

Merkel says will 'fight to last hour' for orderly Brexit

Taiwan's new StarLux Airlines signed a deal on Tuesday worth up to USD 6 billion for 17 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft in one of the island's biggest single commercial plane purchases.
The deal included five A350-900s and 12 A350-1000s with ten options, which are scheduled to be delivered from late 2021, the companies said.
StarLux, founded in May 2018 by Taiwan's EVA Airways former chairman Chang Kuo-wei, is set to operate regular international flights starting in 2020.
"The aircraft purchase deal today is one of the largest in Taiwan ... We promise to all that we will use the latest equipment, " Chang said at the signing ceremony in Taipei.
The company declined to disclose financial details of the deal, which is the largest single purchase of Airbus planes in Taiwan.
According to Airbus list prices it is worth nearly USD 6 billion, though aircraft manufacturers usually offer discounts on large orders.
StarLux has also leased ten Airbus A321 neos, set to be delivered from October, which ...

Taiwan's new carrier StarLux signs deal with Airbus for 17 planes

Britain's mostly right-wing newspapers branded parliamentary Speaker John Bercow an obnoxious, despotic traitor on Tuesday after his bombshell ruling threw the Brexit process into disarray.
After Bercow ruled MPs could not vote again on the EU divorce deal unless it was substantially changed, newspapers labelled him the "Brexit Destroyer" and a "preening egotist" bent on stopping Britain leaving.
But editorials in the more pro-EU papers said the dramatic situation, 10 days out from Britain's scheduled departure date, was entirely Prime Minister Theresa May's fault and Bercow had been right to assert parliamentary primacy over of the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union.
The Daily Mail's front page was a picture of Bercow grinning, with the headline: "Smirk that says: Brexit be damned." Its parliamentary sketch said: "Me, me, me... the twitchy windbag was at his despotic worst." And its editorial said Bercow, 56, was revelling in a "brazen act of sabotage... detonating this 

British press brands speaker Bercow 'Brexit destroyer'

Kurdish-led fighters advanced in the Islamic State group's last bastion in eastern Syria, confining holdout jihadists to a tiny pocket on the edge of Baghouz village, the force said Tuesday.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said those IS fighters who had not yet surrendered had been forced out of their main encampment and cornered into a very small area on the banks of the Euphrates River.
"SDF is in control of the Daesh encampment area in Baghouz," spokesman Mustefa Bali said on Twitter in English, using the Arabic acronym for the jihadist group.
But SDF fighters have not taken up positions in the so-called encampment, a jumble of mangled vehicles, makeshift berms and tents on the edge of Baghouz village.
"This is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight against Daesh," Bali said.
After another night of fighting and the surrender of yet another batch of jihadist fighters, the few acres of land controlled by IS shrank further.
It is unclear how long ...

Syria force makes gains in last IS redoubt

Dutch prosecutors and police said they were "seriously" investigating a terrorist motive for the Utrecht tram attack because of evidence including a letter found in the main suspect's getaway car.
"So far, a terrorist motive is seriously being taken into account. This is based on a letter found in the getaway car among other things and the nature of the facts," they said in a joint statement.

Letter in Dutch suspect's getaway car suggests terror motive: prosecutors

More than half of all international patent applications filed last year came from Asia, a further sign of innovation shifting "from west to east," the United Nations said Tuesday.
In the latest annual breakdown of patent filings released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United States remained the leading individual country for applications in 2018.
But on a regional basis, Asia's surge continued.
"Asia is now the majority filer of international patent applications via WIPO, which is an important milestone for that economically dynamic region and underscores the historical geographical shift of innovative activity from west to east," the agency's director general Francis Gurry said in a statement.
WIPO's complex system of registering international patents involves multiple categories.
In the main category -- the Patent Cooperation Treaty  -- the US led the way with 56,142 applications, followed China (53,345) and Japan (49,702).
Germany and South Korea came ..

AFP

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