The latest proposal backed by President Donald Trump to end the government shutdown -- which would reopen federal agencies and provide USD 5.7 billion for a border wall -- failed Thursday in the US Senate.
The measure did not get the 60 votes needed in the 100-member upper chamber of Congress to advance. A Democratic proposal, up for a vote later on, was also expected to fail.
The shutdown is now in its 34th day, with hundreds of thousands of federal workers left unpaid across the country and in US installations abroad -- and the knock-on effects affecting millions more.

Trump-backed measure to end shutdown fails in US Senate

PTI Automatic

The United Nations cautioned Nepal Thursday that it risked failing war crimes victims as a deadline for investigating atrocities during its decade-long Maoist conflict draws near without a single case being resolved.
Nepal established two commissions in 2015 to probe abuses by government forces and Maoist rebels during the civil war that left 17,000 dead and others missing without a trace.
The government had promised to deliver justice to victims but three years later, rights watchdogs say almost no progress has been made.
With the mandate for both commissions set to expire in a fortnight, Kathmandu has yet to extend its commitment to continuing the peace process.
"Any solution should have the needs of victims at its heart. Only then can the peace process move forward," the UN said in a statement jointly signed by the US, UK, France and Germany, among other nations.
"We are united in the view that without broad public trust in the process, Nepal will not be able to bring closure to ...

UN urges Nepal to focus on war crimes victims as probes languish

British public broadcaster the BBC could open a major new European office after Brexit, perhaps in Brussels or Amsterdam, a Belgian official told AFP on Thursday.
The BBC did not have any immediate comment on the report, which comes as businesses look to adapt to a future where Britain is outside the European Union.
"The BBC is planning, given Brexit, to open a major base on the continent," a Belgian government source told AFP, confirming press reports.
"The prime minister met BBC managers yesterday in Davos to sell them on Belgium. We know we're on the shortlist. There are two more, including Amsterdam."
Belgian leader Charles Michel is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an annual get-together for the global business, media and political elite.
"We have several trump cards," the official continued.
"We're a multilingual country, we have several international institutions like the EU and NATO and we're close to London, three hours by Eurostar."
The BBC already has a ...

BBC eyeing post-Brexit base in Brussels or Amsterdam: source

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and expressed support, after several other nations recognised self-declared Venezuelan leader Juan Guaido, the Kremlin said.
"The President of Russia expressed support for the legitimate authorities of Venezuela in the context of a domestic political crisis that has been provoked from the outside," it said.

Putin rings Venezuela's Maduro to show support: Kremlin

The EU reacted cautiously Thursday to the fast-moving crisis in Venezuela, reluctant to abandon all hope of dialogue in a country with a huge European expat community.
On Wednesday, the United States, Canada and most of Caracas' South American neighbours endorsed opposition leader Juan Guaido's claim on the Venezuelan presidency.
But European and EU leaders, while expressing support for popular protests against incumbent Nicolas Maduro, did not go so far -- stressing calls for new elections.
In doing so, they hope to preserve an opportunity to reason with the Maduro regime, and to shield thousands of European expatriates from possible retaliation or mob violence.
"Europe supports the restoration of democracy," France's President Emmanuel Macron declared Thursday, dubbing Maduro's May 2018 election "illegitimate".
"I hail the courage of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who march for their freedom," he said, without endorsing Guaido's self-declaration as president.
In this, he ..

EU cautious as allies back Venezuela 'acting president'

James Anderson completed the 27th five-wicket innings haul of his record-breaking Test career as the West Indies were eventually dismissed for 289 an hour into the second morning of the first Test against England in Barbados on Thursday.
England were 30 for one in reply at the lunch interval.
Having triggered a West Indies collapse with four wickets late on day one to reduce the home side to 264 for eight at stumps, Anderson ended the stubborn resistance of Alzarri Joseph when he was caught at third slip by Jos Buttler.
Despite failing to score, Joseph partnered Shimron Hetmyer for almost an hour as the senior batsman added another 35 runs to the overnight score.
With that strike Anderson equalled Ian Botham's record for the most five-wicket innings hauls in Tests by an England cricketer.
It was on England's previous Test tour of the Caribbean that Anderson went past Botham's tally of 383 wickets to become his country's leading wicket-taker in the traditional format of the ...

Anderson equals Botham record with 27th five-wicket haul

Claims for jobless benefits last week sank to the lowest level in nearly 50 years, signalling continued strength of the US labour market despite a slowing economy, according to data released Thursday.
The decline came despite a spike in US government workers filing for unemployment benefits amid the longest government shutdown in history.
The sudden drop in claims also marked a recovery from increased layoffs following the back-to-back natural disasters of late 2018 and pointed to another strong month of job creation in January.
For the week ending January 19, first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell by 13,000, sinking below the 200,000 threshold to 199,000 -- the lowest since November 15, 1969, the Labour Department reported.
The four-week moving average also fell by 5,500 to 215,000.
In the prior week ending January 12, claims lodged by federal civilian employees soared more than 140 per cent to hit 25,419.
Claims by newly discharged veterans also bounced 40 per cent higher 

US jobless claims hit lowest since 1969

Greece's parliament on Thursday postponed for several hours a historic vote on a deal to change the name of neighbouring Macedonia, as protesters rallied against the agreement.
Initially scheduled to be held after midnight, the vote will be held Friday from 1230 GMT onwards because of the large number of lawmakers who want to speak on the issue, state TV ERT said.
The move was announced as flag-carrying protesters began to gather outside parliament in Athens, monitored by riot police.
Macedonia's parliament 10 days ago backed a constitutional revision to change the country's name to the Republic of North Macedonia.
But for the deal to go through, the change must also be approved by Greek MPs.
Earlier on Thursday, Communist party activists draped giant banners outside the Acropolis, reading: "No to the Tsipras-Zaev agreement".
That was a reference to the landmark compromise agreed in June between Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
On Sunday, 

Greek vote on Macedonia name change postponed to Friday

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned Thursday that a no-deal Brexit would lead to "chaos" but ultimately could bring about the same divorce deal rejected by the British parliament.
Veradkar gave his warning at the World Economic Forum in Davos where the deadlocked divorce has been a recurrent topic, with just weeks to go before Britain is meant to quit the European Union on March 29.
The fate of the Irish border is the biggest stumbling block in the exit talks, with opposition in London over a so-called "backstop" in the deal binding Britain into an EU customs union until new trading ties are agreed.
The premier said Ireland would have a "major dilemma" in the case of no deal, with Dublin then under EU obligation to treat its border with Northern Ireland as an international frontier.
But he told reporters that both Britain and Ireland "would have responsibilities to abide by the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process" for Northern Ireland, which rules out imposing a hard ...

Brexit 'chaos' could be followed by same EU deal: Irish PM

A bomb attack hit near the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital Thursday but caused no casualties, state media said, in the second such blast in Damascus in less than a week.
Eight years into Syria's devastating civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime is in control of almost two-thirds of the country.
Until last week, Damascus had enjoyed more than a year of respite from planted explosives.
On Thursday, state news agency SANA reported "a terrorist bombing in the Adawi area" in the northeast of the capital.
An explosive device was planted in a car, it said, "causing material damage but no casualties".
Images on state media showed the mangled remains of a sky blue car. A scorched jumble of metal appeared where the car seats once were, but part of its bonnet had survived.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the blast hit near the embassy of key government ally Russia, lightly wounding four people.
The explosion came after another in Damascus .

Second bomb attack in days hits Damascus

Venezuela's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino on Wednesday accused opposition leader Juan Guaido of launching a "coup d'etat" by proclaiming himself acting president in defiance of socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking at a press conference surrounded by top military brass, Padrino said Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, was attempting a coup "against democracy, against our constitution, against the President Nicolas Maduro: the legitimate president.

Venezuela military slams opposition leader's presidential claim as 'coup'

The US Treasury announced sanctions Thursday on two Iran-backed militias fighting in Syria in a move aimed at raising pressure on Tehran and the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Fatemiyoun Division, comprising Afghan nationals, and the Zaynabiyoun Brigade, consisting of Pakistanis, were placed on Treasury's financial blacklist, which aims to cut off their access to international financial networks to choke their operations.
Both militias are recruited by the Revolutionary Guard, the Treasury said, from communities of refugees and migrants living inside Iran, and sent to fight for the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
"The brutal Iranian regime exploits refugee communities in Iran... and uses them as human shields for the Syrian conflict," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a statement.
"Treasury's targeting of Iran-backed militias and other foreign proxies is part of our ongoing pressure campaign to shut down the illicit networks the regime uses to export terrorism and unrest .

US sanctions two Iran-backed militias fighting in Syria

Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas said Thursday they would not accept a fresh tranche of Qatari funds, accusing Israel of imposing new conditions on the money entering the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The rejection of the expected USD 15 million raised fears of fresh tensions along the Gaza-Israel border, ahead of weekly protests on Friday.
"We refuse to receive the third Qatari grant in response to the (Israeli) occupation's behaviour and attempts to evade the agreement," Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas's deputy head in Gaza, told journalists.
Al-Hayya did not name specific conditions that were changed, but said Israel was playing politics with the funds ahead of upcoming elections.
Under an informal agreement struck in November, Gulf state Qatar has sent USD 15 million a month into the strip.
The funds to pay salaries of Hamas employees and support impoverished Gazans are in exchange for relative calm along the border, where often violent protests have taken place since March 2018.
The money .

Hamas says rejects Qatari aid millions over Israeli conditions

Peace talks to end chronic violence in the Central African Republic began in Khartoum on Thursday, attended by representatives of the government and 14 armed groups, the UN peacekeeping mission in the CAR said.
The meeting, brokered by the African Union after 18 months of exploratory work, will be the eighth bid in almost six years to forge peace.
Since 2013, thousands have been killed and a quarter of the population of 4.5 million have fled their homes.
Warlords will dialogue directly with high-ranking emissaries of the Bangui government, including ministers and President Faustin-Archange Touadera's chief of staff.
The talks, aimed at reaching an accord and setting up a follow-up committee, could last up to three weeks, according to Sudanese authorities.
Touadera controls only a fraction of the state, despite the support of more than 13,000 troops and police in the UN's MINUSCA peacekeeping mission.
The rest is held by militias, who typically portray themselves as defenders of a ...

Central African Republic peace talks open in Khartoum

DR Congo's new President Felix Tshisekedi fell ill briefly as he was delivering his inauguration speech on Thursday following the country's first peaceful handover of power.
Tshisekedi, 55, returned to the microphone after 12 minutes, saying: "A famous president of our country said in his time: 'understand my emotion'."
He was quoting the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who said those words in 1990 as he was announcing the end of single-party rule in the vast central African country.
"The campaign we had to run... got the better of me," Tshisekedi added, apologising for the interruption as his predecessor Joseph Kabila looked on impassively through his trademark dark glasses.
State television had interrupted its live broadcast of the historic event after Tshisekedi said, "I don't feel well", and sat down as family members came to his side.
During the ceremony, Tshisekedi received the national flag and a copy of the constitution from Kabila, who is stepping aside after 18 years at the .

DR Congo's Tshisekedi falls ill during inauguration speech

Washington and Beijing are "miles and miles" from resolving their trade war, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday.
A high-level Chinese delegation is due in Washington next week as both sides work to reach a resolution ahead before March 1, when US duty rates on Chinese imports are due to rise sharply.
"There's been a lot of anticipatory work done but we're miles and miles from getting a resolution and that shouldn't be too surprising," Ross told CNBC.
Wall Street futures suddenly fell during his remarks, which came a day after the White House had moved to rebut media reports that the China trade talks had hit serious obstacles.
While much work remained to be done, Ross added there was still "a fair chance" of reaching a deal, while noting that the dispute involved issues that were difficult to address in a short timeframe.
"I believe china would like to make a deal. I believe we would like to make a deal but it has to be a deal that works for both parties," he said.
"I'm ..

US, China 'miles and miles' from resolving trade conflict: US official

Air transport workers warned the five-week-old US government shutdown could cause US commercial aviation to collapse as they planned a protest Thursday in the US capital's Reagan Washington National Airport.
"We have a growing concern for the safety and security of our members, our airlines, and the travelling public due to the government shutdown," leaders of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Air Line Pilots Association and Association of Flight Attendants said in a strong statement.
"In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break.
It is unprecedented," they said.
With a divided Congress expected to prove unable to pass either of two bills aimed at ending the shutdown in votes scheduled Thursday, the three unions noted that air traffic controllers, transportation security officers, safety inspectors and air marshals have all been working for over a month without ...

Shutdown 5th week: air transport workers warn 'system will break'

Amateur boxing's governing body was upbeat Thursday over the steps it has taken to avoid being potentially kicked out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The AIBA is being investigated by the International Olympic Committee which in November froze preparations for boxing at next year's Games, warning it could be stripped of the right to run the competition.
Since the IOC launched their investigation the two sides have yet to meet face to face.
"There is no meeting planned with the IOC up to now," AIBA executive director Tom Virgets told AFP.
"AIBA is preparing documents to present that will address the additional advances that we have made on every question and area that the IOC has asked us to report on." He called for hearings conducted by the IOC's probe to be held in public.
"AIBA is transparent, and wants to be an open book. We have nothing to hide!" assured Virgets.
An IOC spokesman said they would sit down with the AIBA "once all the documents and responses we have from AIBA have been .

AIBA says progress made in fight to avoid Tokyo KO

West Indies women's captain Stafanie Taylor will miss her team's three-match T20 international series in Pakistan which starts later this month over security concerns, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Thursday.
The 2016 World Twenty20 champions are set to play games in Karachi on January 31, February 1 and February 3.
But all-rounder Taylor, one of the biggest stars in the women's game, will only join the squad for the following one-day international series in the United Arab Emirates.
"Following the detailed security plan from the PCB and the independent security assessment....Stafanie Taylor has opted out of touring Pakistan," the CWI confirmed.
Only a handful of international cricket matches have been played in Pakistan since an attack on the Sri Lankan men's team bus in Lahore in 2009 which killed six police officers and two civilians and injured six members of the team.
Zimbabwe played five games at Lahore in 2015, while Sri Lanka returned to the country for the first time .

West Indies captain Taylor skips Pakistan tour over security concerns

A bomb attack hit a northeastern neighbourhood of the Syrian capital Thursday, state media said, in the third such explosion in a regime-held area in less than a week.
State news agency SANA reported "a terrorist bombing in the Adawi area with an explosive device planted in a car, causing material damage but no casualties".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast hit near the embassy of key government ally Russia.
The Britain-based war monitor said four people were lightly wounded.
The latest blast came after the first explosion in Damascus in more than a year on Sunday, in which the Observatory reported "some people killed and injured".
State media said there were no victims.
On Tuesday, a car bomb killed one in the regime's coastal stronghold of Latakia, according to state media.
Syria's civil war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the bloody repression of anti-government protests.
With key military backing from ...

Bomb attack hits Syrian capital: state media

Yemen's embattled government accused rival rebels on Thursday of failing to abide by a truce reached between the warring parties at UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden last month.
"The legitimate government remains committed to the Sweden accords," state-run Saba news agency quoted Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as saying.
Hadi accused Yemen's Huthi rebels of failing to respect an agreement on the flashpoint port city of Hodeida, controlled by the insurgents since 2014, Saba said.
The news comes as reports surface that the UN is looking to replace the head of a monitoring mission to Hodeida, a lifeline to millions of Yemenis dependent on its imports to survive.
The United Nations' Yemen envoy, Martin Griffiths, met with Hadi in Riyadh on Thursday, after holding talks with rebels in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Also at the Riyadh meeting was retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, who heads a monitoring team tasked with overseeing the Hodeida truce.
Diplomatic sources on Wednesday 

AFP

AFP

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