Britain's knife-crime epidemic should be treated "like a disease", interior minister Sajid Javid said Tuesday, as the government announced a summit following another weekend of stabbings.
The issue was top of the news agenda again after 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed in an east London park as she sat with friends, and Yousef Ghaleb Makki, also 17, died near Manchester -- the ninth and 10th teenagers to be knifed to death this year.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would hold a "summit... in the coming days... to explore what more we can do as a whole society to tackle to this problem.
"A growing number of young people have lost their lives in a cycle of mindless violence that has shocked us all," she told MPs.
"We will only defeat the scourge of violence if we understand and address the complex root causes," she added, under pressure from main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He blames cuts to police forces for making the problem worse.
"If there are sufficient ...

London vows knife crime action after tragic weekend

PTI Automatic

Iran hopes to have its part of a new payments vehicle -- devised to bypass US sanctions -- ready within a fortnight, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday.
"We hope it will be before the end of the Iranian calendar year," Araghchi told reporters in Vienna, referring to March 20.
He said that Iran now had a "clearer picture" of how the new vehicle, known as INSTEX, would work and that its managing director would visit Tehran for discussions "very soon".
But he added that only when the mechanism was fully operational would Iran be able to assess whether it "can work properly and can produce results, (and) can do payments between Iran and European countries".
Araghchi was in the Austrian capital for a "joint commission" with representatives from China, Russia, Britain, Germany and France -- all signatories of the international deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
INSTEX is seen as key to European Union efforts to preserve the deal struck in 2015 between world powers and ..

Iran's part in US sanctions bypass scheme ready 'this month'

Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese telecom executive at the centre of an escalating row between Ottawa and Beijing, was due in court in Canada Wednesday to get a date for a hearing into a US extradition request.
Meng's arrest in Vancouver in December on a US warrant infuriated China, which arrested several Canadians days later in what was widely seen as retaliation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said he was "very concerned" over reports in Xinhua that two of the Canadians, including a former diplomat, were suspected of espionage.
Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei, a telecoms giant founded by her father, was changing planes in Vancouver when she was detained at Washington's request for allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran.
Canada's justice department last week gave its nod for the case to proceed, saying evidence against Meng submitted by the United States was sufficient to put before a judge under its treaty obligations.
Meng, 47, has been granted bail until the outcome 

Huawei exec due in court in Canada as row with China heats up

Veiled women carrying babies and wounded men on crutches hobbled out of the last jihadist village in eastern Syria on Wednesday after US-backed forces pummelled the besieged enclave.
The Syrian Democratic Forces leading the assault expected more fighters to surrender with their families in tow before moving deeper in the Islamic State group's last redoubt.
Bandaged and bedraggled, gaggles of suspected jihadists in long brown robes limped away from the hellscape of Baghouz across fields of yellow flowers to reach an SDF screening centre.
The tiny village on the banks of the Euphrates River where diehard IS fighters have made a bloody last stand has regurgitated unexplained numbers of people.
Kurdish officers in the SDF and aid groups have voiced their surprise that the flow of evacuees never seemed to dry up after weeks of evacuations.
On Tuesday alone, "3,500 people were evacuated from Daesh-held territory," said SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Hundreds ...

Hundreds limp out of besieged Syria jihadist enclave

Russian officials will be able to fine or block online media outlets for publishing news they deem "fake", under a law approved by lawmakers Wednesday.
Rights groups say the move amounts to censorship.
Russia's lower house of parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, voted in favour of the bill in the key second of three readings.
The law would allow prosecutors to decide what amounts to "fake news" and gives a media watchdog the power to demand an outlet delete the information. Websites that fail to comply would be blocked.
Fines could reach 1.5 million rubles (over USD 22,700) if the infraction leads to grave consequences like death or rioting.
Fake news disseminated via the internet can "lead to mass unrest" and undermine state security, the bill's authors say.
Lawmakers in Russia first began to speak of the need for such a law after a blast on New Year's Eve killed dozens in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk.
Several versions of the ...

Russian MPs vote to punish media for 'fake news'

Finnish officials have begun work to bring the country's sexual assault legislation into line with international standards, by defining rape as sex without consent, the country's justice minister said on Wednesday.
Although considered one of the world's most gender-equal societies, Finland has come under fire for its legal definition of rape which requires a victim to prove violence was used, or that they were in a state of fear and helplessness.
"In January I decided that the justice ministry will begin a total reform of rape legislation," Justice Minister Antti Hakkanen said during an event hosted by the rights group Amnesty International.
"The legislation will be clearer than it currently is, and brought up to date, in part, by strengthening the legal role of consent," Hakkanen said.
The proposal for the new law will come before parliament some time during the coming four-year parliamentary term, the justice ministry said.
Anger at Finland's record on tackling sexual crimes came to 

Finland begins planning 'no means no' rape law

Iran hopes to have its part of a new payments vehicle -- devised to bypass US sanctions -- ready within a fortnight, its Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday.
"We hope it will be before the end of the Iranian calendar year," Araghchi told reporters in Vienna, referring to March 20 when the Iranian year ends.
Araghchi was in the Austrian capital for a "joint commission" with representatives from China, Russia, Britain and France -- all signatories of the international deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
The new payments vehicle, known as INSTEX, is seen as key to European Union efforts to preserve the deal struck in 2015 between world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The US was also initially a signatory but last May US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and in November imposed sweeping new sanctions on Iran.
Araghchi said there was "very strong support" for the deal from all participants at the ...

Iran to set up its part of nuclear deal mechanism 'this month'

Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has slammed Germany head coach Joachim Loew for the timing of his decision to cut Thomas Mueller, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels from his plans.
Rummenigge is "irritated" that Loew dropped the bombshell on Tuesday - a week before Bayern's crunch Champions League home game against Liverpool and in the midst of the Bundesliga title race.
"We consider the timing and circumstances of the announcement, both to the players and public, as questionable", wrote Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in a joint statement with sport director Hasan Salihamidzic.
"The last international match of the German national team took place on 19 November 2018" - three and a half months ago.
Loew flew to Munich on Tuesday to tell Mueller, 29, Boateng and Hummels, both 30, who have 246 appearances for Germany between them, that their international careers are over.
Loew made the announcement with Germany to host Serbia on March 20 in a friendly, then play a Euro 2020 

Rummenigge 'irritated' after Loew ditches Bayern trio

Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria captured around 400 Islamic State group jihadists as they attempted to slip out of their besieged enclave of Baghouz, a senior officer said Wednesday.
The Syrian Democratic Forces intercepted a large group trying to escape from the village, the last tiny patch of territory under IS control, the officer said.
"Four hundred IS fighters tried to flee Baghouz" on Tuesday night, the SDF official said on condition of anonymity.
Their breakout was organised by a network that aimed to spirit them to remote regions, he said without specifying exactly where.
They were on foot and included Syrians as well as fighters from several other nationalities, the officer added.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly jihadist fighters and their relatives, have left IS's last bastions in and around Baghouz in recent weeks.
Among the 3,500 people who poured out of Baghouz on Tuesday following intense bombardment by the SDF and its international allies, 500 were suspected ...

Syria force nets 400 jihadists trying to flee enclave

Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn left his Tokyo detention centre Wednesday after more than 100 days in custody, following a shock court decision granting him bail of one billion yen (USD 9 million).
Ghosn left the detention centre in northern Tokyo flanked by guards, wearing a blue cap, a white medical face mask and a work jacket with orange reflective stripes.
Unrecognisable from the tycoon who dominated the auto sector for decades, Ghosn's outfit was a far cry from his usual sharp suits and caught the waiting pack of the world's media off guard.
Without acknowledging the banks of cameras snapping wildly, he drove off in a silver van -- a Suzuki -- complete with a workman's ladder strapped to the top.
Ghosn's unexpected outfit was the latest surprise in a case that has provided frequent twists and turns that kept Japan and the business world on tenterhooks.
The man who once stood at the head of the world's top-selling car alliance paid his hefty bail bond "in cash," according to the .

Ghosn out on bail after more than 100 days

Sanctions have worsened Venezuela's crippling economic and political crisis, the UN human rights chief said Wednesday, as Washington warned it may expand measures targeting President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government.
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said sanctions had exacerbated the crisis but also slammed Maduro's "violations of civil and political rights" in her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"Venezuela clearly illustrates the way violations of civil and political rights -- including failure to uphold fundamental freedoms, and the independence of key institutions -- can accentuate a decline of economic and social rights," said former Chile president Bachelet.
Venezuelans have been battered by an economic meltdown, shortages of food and medicine and a bitter political standoff between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido -- who has been recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries.
"This situation has been exacerbated by sanctions," ...

Venezuela crisis worsened by sanctions: UN

An Albert Einstein "puzzle" has been solved thanks to a missing page of manuscript emerging in a collection of his writings acquired by Jerusalem's Hebrew University, officials announced Wednesday.
The handwritten page, part of an appendix to a 1930 paper on the Nobel winner's efforts towards a unified field theory, was discovered among the 110-page trove the university's Albert Einstein archives received some two weeks ago.
Most of the documents constitute handwritten mathematical calculations behind Einstein's scientific writings in the late 1940s.
There are also letters that Einstein, born in Germany in 1879, wrote to collaborators which deal with a range of scientific and personal issues, including one to his son, Hans Albert.
The 1935 letter to his son expresses concern about the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
Nearly all the documents had been known to researchers and available in the form of copies -- "sometimes better copies, sometimes very poor copies", said Hanoch ...

Einstein 'puzzle' solved as missing page emerges

Envoys from the 28 EU member states on Wednesday unanimously rejected a proposal by the European Commission to add Saudi Arabia and other nations to the bloc's money-laundering blacklist, European sources said.
The ill-fated plan, drawn up by the EU's executive arm, infuriated Saudi Arabia as well as the United States and exasperated European capitals.
The EU's 28 interior ministers will formalise the rejection at talks in Brussels on Thursday, a European source told AFP.
The EU governments "cannot support the current proposal," said a strongly worded draft statement that will be approved by the ministers.
EU diplomats have complained that the way the commission had drawn up the list was unclear and potentially vulnerable to legal challenges.
The list "was not established in a transparent and resilient process that actively incentivises affected countries to take decisive action while also respecting their right to be heard," the draft said.
The controversial list faced a diplomatic ..

EU vetoes plan to add Saudi Arabia to money-laundering list

The UN rights chief on Wednesday renewed her request to access China's Xinjiang region, where large numbers of the Uighur ethnic minority are reportedly being held in re-education camps.
In her annual address to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet said her office was seeking to "engage" with China on conditions in Xinjiang.
She also re-issued her requests for "full access to carry out an independent assessment of the continuing reports pointing to wide patterns of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions, particularly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region".
A UN panel of independent experts has said there are credible reports that nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic language-speaking minorities are being held in Xinjiang.
Beijing at first denied the allegation, but later admitted putting people into "vocational education centres".
Xinjiang has long suffered from violent unrest, which China claims is orchestrated by an organised "terrorist" ...

UN rights chief renews call for access to China's Xinjiang

There is no widespread support for the Dalai Lama in Tibet and ordinary people are grateful to the Communist Party for "bringing them a happy life", Chinese officials insisted Wednesday.
This week marks the 60th anniversary of a failed uprising which led to Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fleeing into exile in India.
Beijing -- which claims it "peacefully liberated" the Himalayan area -- stands accused of political and religious repression in the region.  But China insists that Tibetans enjoy extensive freedoms and argues it has brought economic growth.
"Since defecting, the Dalai Lama has not done a single good thing for the Tibetan people," Tibet party boss Wu Yingjie said during a meeting at the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary meeting.
"Tibetan people have gratitude in their hearts. They are grateful to the Communist Party for bringing them a happy life." At least 150 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest against Beijing's presence .

China denies Tibet support for Dalai Lama

The European Union said a solution to the Brexit deadlock remained elusive Wednesday after the latest "difficult" talks with Britain weeks before its March 29 exit.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier gave the state of play after meeting his British counterparts late Tuesday amid efforts to get the divorce deal through parliament in London.
Barnier informed the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, that "while the talks take place in a constructive atmosphere, discussions have been difficult," commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
Barnier added that "no solution has been identified at this point that is consistent with the withdrawal agreement," Schinas told a press conference.
Prime Minister Theresa May agreed the withdrawal agreement in November, but the British parliament overwhelmingly voted it down in January and MPs continue to challenge it.
Barnier met on Tuesday with UK attorney general Geoffrey Cox and Brexit minister Stephen Barclay over dinner in the Belgian ..

EU says 'no solution' yet to break Brexit deadlock

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said the Russian special services had ended the work of hundreds of spies and informers in the country last year.
In a speech to the officers of the FSB security service, which he led before becoming president, Putin said foreign intelligence agencies were stepping up activity in Russia.
"Thanks to successfully executed special operations, the activity of 129 spies and 465 informers was stopped" in 2018, he said.
"Foreign intelligence agencies are striving to increase their activity in the Russian space, looking for access by any means to political, economic, scientific, technological information," he added.
The FSB's work "must be efficient, especially regarding the production of Russian weapons systems," Putin said.
Russia's security and intelligence agencies have rarely been out of global headlines in recent years.
Moscow is accused of interfering in foreign elections, and ordering the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the English town of ..

Putin says Russia cracking down on foreign spies

Germany on Wednesday extended a temporary, disputed ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia, but only until the end of the month.
In October, Berlin froze sales of military equipment to countries involved in the Yemen conflict following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
It has since faced protests by EU partners because the ban, originally imposed until March 9, has impacted joint defence projects such as the Eurofighter and Tornado jets.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday that the export ban had been extended by three weeks until the end of March.
"We decided this with a view to developments in Yemen," he said after a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet.
"We believe that the Yemen war must end as soon as possible." About 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the Yemen war since March 2015, though rights groups say the death toll is much higher.
Germany has a troubled relationship with foreign arms sales, a legacy of its dark past.
Polls 

Germany extends Saudi arms export freeze till end-March

A team from the office of the International Criminal Court prosecutor was in Bangladesh on Wednesday for a preliminary probe into alleged atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military in 2017.
A statement emailed to AFP from the ICC confirmed the tour -- the maiden official visit by the ICC -- but said it was part of prosecutor office's "ongoing preliminary examinations concerning the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar".
"A preliminary examination is not an investigation. Such visits in the context of preliminary examinations are standard practice, and the delegation will not engage in any evidence collection in relation to any alleged crimes," it said.
"The independent and impartial preliminary examination of the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar is on-going and following its normal course," it added.
A Bangladeshi official said the ICC would visit Rohingya camps in the country's southeastern district of Cox's Bazar where some 740,000 Rohingya took refuge after they ...

ICC team probes Rohingya atrocities in Bangladesh

Envoys from the 28 EU member states on Wednesday unanimously rejected a proposal by the European Commission to add Saudi Arabia and other nations to the bloc's money-laundering blacklist, European sources said.
The ill-fated plan, drawn up by the EU's executive arm, infuriated Saudi Arabia as well as the United States and exasperated European capitals.
The EU's 28 interior ministers will formalise the rejection at talks in Brussels on Thursday, a European source told AFP.

EU vetoes plan to add Saudi Arabia to money-laundering list: European sources

Andy Murray says he is no longer in pain but the former world number one is unsure whether he will be able to play top-level tennis again following a second hip operation.
The 31-year-old underwent hip resurfacing surgery at the end of January in a final throw of the dice to try to overcome the problem that first became a serious issue in 2017.
"I want to continue playing, I said that in Australia," Murray said at a sponsorship event at London's Queen's Club. "The issue is I don't know whether it's possible." "I'm a lot happier now than I was, certainly the last 12 months, because I have no pain in my hip now and I was in pain for a long time," he added.
"The rehab is slow but it's been going pretty well. I just need to wait and see how things progress. If it's possible, I'd certainly love to compete again."
Murray, who has won three Grand Slams, announced at an emotional press conference ahead of the Australian Open in January that he planned to retire after Wimbledon but was more ...

AFP

AFP

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