Much has changed at Manchester City in the three seasons since Pep Guardiola took charge tasked with turning the wealth of the club's Abu Dhabi backers into domination of English football.
However, if Guardiola's men are to reel in Liverpool to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League, Sergio Aguero is likely to be the primary source of goals just as the Argentine has been for the past seven seasons.
Aguero was a City legend from the moment he won the club's first title in 44 years with virtually the last kick of the campaign in his debut season.
But the 30-year-old is now staking a claim to be regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest ever imports, particularly if he spearheads a fourth title triumph in eight years in England.
Already firmly established as City's all-time leading scorer, Aguero's hat-trick in Sunday's 3-1 win over Arsenal was his 14th for the club, his 10th in the league - just one short of Alan Shearer's all-time record.
It also took his 

Aguero still Man City's go-to goal getter

PTI Automatic

The Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada has called for a peaceful change in government in Venezuela, without military intervention.
They also urged Venezuela's military to support opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president and "not to impede the entry and transit of humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans."
Eleven of the group's 14 members said in a joint statement after meeting in Ottawa - which saw protesters briefly disrupt a closing press conference - that they "reiterate their support for a process of peaceful transition through political and diplomatic means without the use of force."
At the same time, the group welcomed into the Lima Group Guaido's "legitimate government of Venezuela" and vowed to "recognize and work with" his representatives in their respective countries.
At a closing press conference, host Chrystia Freeland, Canada's foreign minister, said 34 countries have so far recognised Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader until new elections are ...

Lima Group calls for Venezuela regime change without force

The US Senate has approved by a large majority an amendment critical of President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, in a sign of the deep discontent caused by the policies within his own Republican ranks.
The resolution was sponsored by the Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell, who said last week the measure "would acknowledge the plain fact that Al-Qaeda, ISIS and their affiliates in Syria and Afghanistan continue to pose a serious threat to our nation."
It passed by a majority of 70 to 26 - opposed by only three of the 53 Senate Republicans. The amendment will eventually be incorporated into a broader security law on the Middle East.
According to the text, the "precipitous withdrawal of United States forces" from either country "could put at risk hard-won gains and United States national security."
In December, Trump tweeted plans to remove America's 2,000 troops out of Syria, arguing that the Islamic State group had been defeated, ...

Senate rebukes Trump over Syria, Afghanistan pullouts

Fourteen civilians were killed in a jihadist attack in northern Burkina Faso near the Mali border, the military has said.
The army conducted raids in three northern provinces in response and said it had "neutralised" 146 militants, according to a report that AFP could not immediately confirm from an independent source.
The jihadist attack, which took place in the town of Kain in the Yatenta province bordering Mali, is one of the most serious recorded in the country.
Army spokesman Colonel Lamoussa Fofana said in a statement: "On the night of Sunday 3 to Monday, February 4, 2019 a terrorist attack in Kain left 14 civilian victims.
"In response to this attack, the national defence and security forces immediately began operations in the Kain, Banh (Loroum Province, north) and Bomboro (Kossi Province, northwest) areas.
"This counterattack... resulted in a land and air operation which neutralised 146 terrorists in the three areas," the statement said on Monday.
A military source confirmed .

14 civilians killed in jihadist attack in Burkina Faso: army

The US special envoy for North Korea will head to Pyongyang on Wednesday for talks ahead of a much-anticipated second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the State Department has said.
In addition to preparations for the summit, Stephen Biegun's meetings with North Korean official Kim Hyok Chol will "advance further progress on the commitments the president and Chairman Kim made in Singapore: complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," a statement read on Monday.
In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Trump said the date and venue of his upcoming second summit with the North Korean leader had been agreed -- and would likely be announced before or during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Vietnam is seen as the most likely venue for the meeting, which is expected to take place late this month, and follows their landmark first summit in Singapore last June.
That meeting - the first-ever between the ...

US special envoy for N. Korea going to Pyongyang: official

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's envoy to Washington are among the top guests invited to attend US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, lawmakers have announced.
In keeping with tradition, the 535 members of the US Congress may invite someone to accompany them to the annual speech, to be held Tuesday, where the president is expected to tout his accomplishments and outlines his vision for the future.
It's an occasion for the Democrats, Republicans and independents of the 100-member Senate and 435-member House of Representatives to bring guests who symbolize policy goals and bring attention to the causes they hold dear.
Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi woman who escaped the clutches of the Islamic State group to become a leading campaigner against sexual violence in war, and Carlos Vecchio, whom the US has recognised as Venezuela's top diplomat in Washington, are among the high-profile guests this year.
Murad was invited by Jeff ..

Nobel winner Murad, Guaido envoy invited to Trump's State of Union

A Palestinian was shot dead and another wounded in a clash at a military checkpoint in the northern West Bank, Palestinian officials said, without giving further details.
The Israeli army said its troops fired at "two assailants who hurled an explosive device" on Monday in the vicinity of the checkpoint, near Jenin, but it did not confirm if either were hit. It said no soldiers were hurt.
The Palestinian health ministry named the dead man as Abdullah Tawalba, 19, and said in a statement that he was "hit by live bullets" and died in the Jenin hospital.
It called him a "martyr" - a term used to describe those killed while carrying out attacks.
Officials at the hospital had earlier said his name was Abdallah Abu Talib, aged 20, and said he was killed in the Jalameh incident.
Both sources said a second man was injured moderately.

Palestinian killed, one wounded by Israeli fire in West Bank

Virginia politics went into further turmoil as the lieutenant governor of the eastern US state, where the governor is under intense pressure to resign, was accused of sexual misconduct.
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, who would take over if Governor Ralph Northam steps down, strongly denied the allegation made by a woman about a sexual encounter they had in a hotel room 15 years ago.
Fairfax, 39, a Democrat who won election along with Northam in November, said it had been a "100 per cent consensual encounter". "There was no inappropriate contact whatsoever," Fairfax told reporters.
"Years later, now we have a totally fabricated story out of the blue that's meant to attack me because of where I am in politics," he said on Monday. "This has been weaponised and used as a smear."
The allegations against Fairfax came as Northam, 59, is facing calls to step down from both Republicans and Democrats alike.
Northam has been fighting for his political survival since a 1984 yearbook surfaced 

Virginia politics roiled by racism, sexual misconduct charges

Pope Francis and a top Muslim cleric have issued a joint call for freedom of belief during the first visit by the head of the Catholic church to the birthplace of Islam - the Arabian Peninsula.
Francis, who has made outreach to Muslim communities a cornerstone of his papacy, is on an historic three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
He is due to hold an open-air mass on Tuesday for 135,000 of the Muslim country's million Catholic residents, set to be the largest ever public gathering in the Gulf state.
On Monday, the pope held talks in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb - imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's prestigious seat of learning.
The two religious leaders signed a document on "human fraternity for world peace and living together", described by the Vatican as an "important step forward in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims".
They called for "freedom of belief", the "promotion of a culture of tolerance", the "protection of places of worship" and "full ...

Pope and top Muslim cleric in joint call for freedom of belief

British sports minister Mims Davies has said she plans to meet with football authorities following recent incidents of racist chanting and abuse at major matches.
Davies, speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, said she planned to hold talks in the coming weeks with England's governing Football Association, Premier League and English Football League.
Campaign groups including Kick it Out and Stonewall will also be invited to discuss what else can be done to clamp down on racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic abuse at matches.
In December, Chelsea suspended four people from their Stamford Bridge ground in west London pending a police investigation into alleged racial abuse of Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling during City's 2-0 defeat in a Premier League match.
The same month saw a Tottenham Hotspur fan fined by a court for throwing a banana skin at Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Meanwhile the FA are investigating alleged racist chanting by some Millwall supporters during .

British sports minister to meet with football officials over racism

Mark Zuckerberg has said he sees Facebook as a largely "positive" force for society as the embattled social network marked its 15th anniversary.
Even as Facebook is facing a wave of criticism over issues of manipulation, misinformation, abuse and other social ills, Zuckerberg said on Monday it would be a mistake "to overly emphasize the negative" impacts of social media and the internet.
The Facebook co-founder and chief executive said he sees profound social changes "as networks of people connected via the internet replace traditional hierarchies and reshape institutions from government to business to media."
In a post on his Facebook page, he argued that "while any rapid social change creates uncertainty, I believe what we're seeing is people having more power, and a long term trend reshaping society to be more open and accountable over time."
He said Facebook and other social networks have fundamentally changed how people interact with their communities and institutions.
"I'll ...

Zuckerberg sees 'positive' force of Facebook despite firestorm

A court in Conakry on Monday sentenced 19 people to jail terms of between 10 years and life over the killing of the head of Guinea's public treasury, who was gunned down in 2012 months after busting an embezzlement plot.
The accused were prosecuted for a range of crimes, including possession of weapons of war, armed robbery, complicity with murder and murder.
Their sentencing comes more than six years after the killing of Aissatou Boiro in Conakry by a group of assailants, one wearing military uniform, in a high-profile murder that rocked western Africa, which is plagued by chronic political violence and endemic corruption.
Seven of the defendants, including the accused assassin Mohamed Sankon, were sentenced to life in prison with a minimum period of 30 years, said Ibrahima Kalil Diakite the head of the tribunal in Conkary. Ten were sentenced to 20 years and two others were given 10-year jail terms.
The court issued arrest warrants for six fugitives, while one other accused died in ..

19 jailed in Guinea over murder of public treasury head

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido accused President Nicolas Maduro on Monday of trying to illicitly transfer up to USD 1.2 billion from public coffers to a bank in Uruguay.
He said Maduro was seeking to move the money from the Venezuelan Economic and Social Development Bank to Uruguay and called on the Montevideo government "not to lend itself to stealing".
"We are talking about between USD 1 billion and USD 1.2 billion dollars," said Guaido, who was recognized as Venezuela's interim president Monday by more than 15 European states.

Venezuela's Guaido claims Maduro trying to move USD 1.2 bn to Uruguay

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday welcomed major European powers' recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president and urged others to follow suit.
"We encourage all countries, including other EU member states, to support the Venezuelan people by recognizing Interim President Guaido and supporting the National Assembly's efforts to return constitutional democracy to Venezuela," Pompeo said in a statement.
Pompeo also renewed the US call on Venezuela's military to part ways with Maduro, a socialist firebrand who presides over a crumbling economy.
"We repeat our call to the Venezuelan military and security forces to support their country's constitution and protect all Venezuelan citizens, including Interim President Guaido and his family, as well as US and other foreign citizens in Venezuela," Pompeo said.
Major European powers including Britain, France, Germany and Spain on Monday recognized Guaido as leader until new elections are held after ...

US urges others to follow European recognition of Venezuela's Guaido

The toll from a dam collapse at a mine in southeast Brazil has risen to 134 deaths after more than a week of searches, and 199 missing, authorities said Monday.
The count showed the gradual recovery operation of bodies more than a week after the January 25 disaster at the dam, owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, near the town of Brumadinho.
Those listed as missing were presumed dead, but not yet located under the layers of muddy mining waste that had been released when the tailings dam broke apart. Almost all the victims were workers at the mine.
A fire services spokesman said it was possible that not all the bodies would be located and recovered.
"After a while, because of the decomposition of the bodies, it becomes impossible to recover the remains. But until that moment comes, even if we have to stay four, five or six months, the fire offices will work without stopping," he said.
The disaster occurred three years after a similar dam-collapse tragedy at another mine in the same ...

Toll in Brazil dam disaster at mine rises to 134 dead, 199 missing

The EU warned Tehran over its ballistic missile programme and interference in the Syria conflict Monday, while welcoming a new mechanism to trade with Iran while bypassing US sanctions.
In a long-awaited statement on Iran that has been the subject of more than a week of wrangling in Brussels, the EU restated its commitment to saving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and took aim at Washington for abandoning the pact and reimposing sanctions.
The bloc hailed the creation last week by France, Britain and Germany of a system to allow firms to trade with Iran without falling foul of US sanctions as vital to supporting legitimate business and said the "resolve to complete this work is unwavering".
But with numerous European powers growing increasingly concerned about Tehran's missile programme, meddling in several Middle East conflicts and recent attempted attacks on opposition figures living in the EU, the bloc urged Iran to mend its ways.
The statement criticised Iran's "provision of ...

EU backs Iran trading system but warns on Syria, missiles

The United States urged other countries Monday to bring home hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers captured in Syria, a delicate issue for allies such as France as Washington withdraws troops.
After allies grappled for weeks on what to do with the extremists left in Syria, the United States came down clearly on the side of repatriation.
The United States said that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -- which played a major role in crushing the Islamic State group and has warned that it may not be able to guard its jails once US troops leave -- had been holding the jihadists "securely and humanely".
"The United States calls upon other nations to repatriate and prosecute their citizens detained by the SDF and commends the continued efforts of the SDF to return these foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.
President Donald Trump on December 19 stunned Western allies by announcing that the ...

US asks nations to repatriate jihadists as it leaves Syria

Tens-of-thousands of Dutch citizens living in Britain will have until the end of the year to get their taxes in order in case of a no-deal Brexit, the Dutch government said Monday.
Britain is set to become a "third country" if it quits the European Union without a deal on March 29, leaving between 100,000 to 150,000 Dutch citizens living there "with a different tax regime," it said in a statement.
Therefore the Dutch government is introducing a transitional  scheme for Dutch citizens and businesses, meaning "taxes will be the same as if Britain had not yet left the EU" until the end of the year.
"For many Dutch citizens and companies a no-deal Brexit will bring lots of uncertainty," Dutch Deputy Finance Minister Menno Snel said.
"Therefore I want to give people this transitional period to be able to prepare themselves," Snel added.
Citizens living in Britain but paying taxes in the Netherlands will lose, for instance, the right to tax credits and the right to certain deductible items .

Tax reprieve for Dutch citizens in UK if no-deal Brexit

Neither protagonist in the US-China trade war stands to benefit from their stand-off, the UN said Monday, suggesting others could cash in instead, with the EU possibly winning big.
In a report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) examined the repercussions of the tariff tit-for-tat already under way between the two trade giants, as well as the expected impact of a significant tariff hike scheduled to take effect on March 1.
The report, titled "The Trade Wars: The Pain and the Gain", said that "bilateral tariffs alter global competitiveness to the advantage of firms operating in countries not directly affected by them".
It predicted that the European Union would be the biggest winner, taking home some USD 70 billion in additional trade thanks to the trade war.
Last year, Washington and Beijing imposed tariffs on more than USD 360 billion in two-way trade, after Trump initiated the trade war because of complaints over unfair trade practices.
The two countries hailed ...

UN says EU could win big in US-China trade war

Crowds of Sudanese protesters chanted "freedom, freedom," as riot police fired tear gas on anti-government rallies in the capital and its twin city of Omdurman on Monday, witnesses said.
They said protesters took to the streets in two districts of Khartoum and in Omdurman, across the Nile.
Riot police swiftly moved in to disperse the protests, firing tear gas at one of the rallies in Khartoum and in the twin city, according to witnesses.
Even as police fired tear gas, protesters kept up the "freedom, peace, justice" rallying cry of an anti-government campaign that erupted in December, witnesses said.
Monday's demonstrations came after campaigners called for new rallies this week against the government of President Omar al-Bashir.
Deadly protests have rocked the east African country since December after cash-strapped Khartoum cut a vital subsidy on bread.
The protests quickly escalated into anti-government demonstrations across cities and towns, with protesters calling on Bashir to ...

Sudan protesters chant 'freedom' as police fire tear gas

Russia's economy expanded 2.3 per cent last year, growing more quickly than the government and the IMF had predicted, according to state statistics published Monday.
Russia's growth rate accelerated from 1.6 per cent in 2017 and exceeded the economy ministry's prediction of 1.8 per cent as well as the International Monetary Fund's forecast of 1.7 per cent.
The country's economy only returned to growth in 2017 after two years of recession in 2015 and 2016.
Russia's Rosstat statistics agency said that GDP last year was 103.6 trillion rubles (USD 1.578 trillion), with growth in sectors such as hotels and restaurants boosted by hosting the World Cup.
The economy ministry had initially predicted 2.1 per cent growth before revising this down to 1.8 per cent, taking into account the impact of US sanctions on the ruble.
Strong growth in the construction sector of 5.3 per cent was one of the factors that pushed the year's figures higher than expected.  This was due to large construction ...

AFP

AFP

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