Greenland's melting ice, which causes sea levels to rise, disappeared four times faster in 2013 than in 2003 and is noticeable across the Arctic island, not just on glaciers, researchers warned on Tuesday.
"While 111 cubic kilometres of ice disappeared per year in 2003, 10 years later this figure had almost quadrupled to 428 cubic kilometres," the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Space Lab said in a statement.
Its researchers contributed to a study on changes to Greenland's ice sheet, published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"These are notable and surprising changes we are seeing in the ice melt pattern," DTU professor Shfaqat Abbas Khan said.
Until now, most of Greenland's ice melt was observed on the ice cap, predominantly on the glaciers in the island's northwest and southeast.
But most of the ice loss from 2003 to 2013 was from Greenland's southwest region, which is largely devoid of large glaciers.
Michael Bevis, a professor at Ohio 

Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: Study

PTI Automatic

Armed robbers held up a bank off Paris' famous Champs-Elysees avenue Tuesday, tying up employees for hours and breaking into safety deposit boxes, police said.
The daring raid saw several men rush into Milleis bank at opening time, tie up employees, and spray them with a mysterious liquid before rifling through some 30 safe deposit boxes, a source close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity.
Formerly called Barclays France, the bank is less than 200 metres (218 yards) from the French presidential palace.
Despite high security in the area, the men made an undetected getaway at several hours later, around midday, with their haul from Milleis, which targets high-end customers.
The value of the stolen items was not immediately known.
"We saw nothing, heard nothing. It was when police arrived that we found out what was going on," a nearby shopkeeper told AFP as investigators swarmed the area.
A lone gunman attacked a bank near the Arc de Triomphe monument in February last ...

Daring Paris bank raid near Champs-Elysees

Son Heung-min's South Korea needed an extra-time winner to beat world ranked 113th Bahrain 2-1 as they stumbled into the Asian Cup quarter-finals in unconvincing fashion on Tuesday.
Kim Jin-su's diving header at the end of the first extra period proved the difference as the two-time champions met unexpected resistance before winning in Dubai.
But Paulo Bento's side, runners-up in 2015 and one of the favourites for the title, survived to reach the last eight, where they will face Qatar or 2007 winners Iraq.
Tottenham star Son took a boot to the head as he weathered some robust challenges in a first half which South Korea dominated with 73 percent of possession.
Bahrain nearly stunned the Koreans with Mohamed Marhoon's stinging early shot as South Korea took time to settle into their rhythm.
But from the half-hour Son started to make his presence felt with some typically direct running which caused panic in the Bahrain defence.
South Korea broke the deadlock two minutes from half-time, .

Son's Korea survive Bahrain scare to reach Asian quarters

Russia will not face new penalties for missing a December deadline to allow investigators access to the Moscow laboratory at the centre of alleged state-sponsored doping, the World Anti-Doping Agency said Tuesday.
"Several members of the (Executive Committee) voiced their disappointment that the deadline had been missed but agreed that no sanction in that regard should be imposed," WADA President Craig Reedie said.
Reedie said "significant progress" had been made in "resolving the Russian doping matter", but WADA warned though that if any doping data from Russia was tampered with, it would take swift action.
Jonathan Taylor, who heads WADA's Compliance Review Committee, said: "If that review were to confirm tampering, the CRC would consider that to be extremely serious non-compliance and can be expected to recommend that WADA pursues the most stringent sanctions."
This is the latest chapter in an affair that surfaced with Richard McLaren's July 2016 report detailing doping in Russia ..

Russia avoids new doping penalties over missed deadline: WADA

Workers at the Tower of London went on strike Tuesday for the second time in months in a dispute over pensions, without affecting tourist visits.
Workers at the tower and at Hampton Court Palace are in dispute with their employer, Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), over plans to close a salary pension scheme and replace it with another.
The change affects about 11 percent of HRP's 1,100 workers.
The 24-hour strike by over a dozen staff was organised by the GMB trade union.
"Due to the small number of people involved, the strike will have no impact on the day-to-day running of our sites, and we will be remaining open throughout," said HRP chief executive John Barnes.
He said the pension scheme would still close in April, as it was "financially unsustainable.

Tower of London workers strike over pensions

British ferry operator P&O said Tuesday that it will register to Cyprus its ships operating on the English Channel in order to function more smoothly after Brexit.
The company operates a total of 20 ships and six of those will be re-flagged -- which means a change in their national registration.
"In advance of Britain leaving the European Union on 29th March 2019, we undertook a review of the flag status of our ships on the English Channel," a spokesman said.
"For operational and accounting reasons, we have concluded that the best course of action is to re-flag all ships to be under the Cyprus flag."
The decision will result in "fewer inspections and delays, and will result in significantly more favourable tonnage tax arrangements as the ships will be flagged in an EU member state", he added.
"We have no plans to make any other changes, including the terms and conditions of any of our seafarers, as a result of the new arrangements.

P&O Ferries seeks to navigate Brexit

There is "no compromise" on Brexit that commands majority public support in Britain, with opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May's deal the only point of agreement, a leading pollster said Tuesday.
"No procedural or substantive option appears to be both widely popular and capable of bridging the Brexit divide," said the University of Strathclyde's John Curtice.
"Our politicians are constantly being told that you should be seeking the centre ground. The problem with Brexit is that the centre ground of politics is rather thinly populated," he said, presenting a report entitled "Brexit and Public Opinion 2019" in London.
The report, drawn from collated polls, highlights the challenge facing prime minister May as she tries to resurrect the deal she struck with the European Union after if was comprehensively rejected by MPs.
A slim majority of the public are in favour of her renegotiating the deal, but none of the possible outcomes of that renegotiation enjoy majority support, according .

No public mood for compromise as Brexit gulf widens: Study

A car bomb exploded Tuesday in the Syrian regime's coastal stronghold of Latakia, killing one person and wounding four others, state news agency SANA reported.
"Initial reports indicate that a car bomb exploded and that the driver was killed while four other people were wounded," SANA said, adding that the explosion occurred in the city's Al-Hammam square.
Authorities found a second bomb in the same place and defused it just before it was due to blow up, the agency added.
It published video footage showing a burnt-out car surrounded by firefighters and soldiers.
Latakia is a bastion of the family of President Bashar al-Assad.
The city, the capital of Latakia province located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, has largely escaped the violence that has devastated other regions of Syria since the conflict began in 2011.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, Tuesday's blast was caused by an explosive device hidden inside the car or near ...

Car bomb hits Syria regime stronghold Latakia

Taiwanese rescue teams were trying Tuesday to retrieve the body of a dead hiker who became famous on social media for taking selfies on top of mountain peaks dressed in a bikini.
Gigi Wu -- dubbed the "Bikini Climber" by fans -- used a satellite phone on Saturday to tell friends she had fallen down a ravine in Taiwan's Yushan national park and badly injured herself.
Rescue helicopters struggled to reach her because of bad weather and officials eventually located her lifeless body on Monday.
"The weather conditions in the mountains are not good, we have asked our rescuers to move the body to a more open space and after the weather clears we will make a request for a helicopter to bring the body down," Lin Cheng-yi, from the Nantou County Fire and Rescue Services, told reporters.
Officials said Wu had told friends she was unable to move the lower half of her body after a fall of some 20-30 metres (65-100 feet) but was able to give her coordinates.
She is the latest in a string of social 

Taiwan's 'Bikini Climber' social media star dies after ravine fall

Pakistan tailender Hasan Ali hit a fighting half-century after his top-order teammates failed in the second one-day international against South Africa at Kingsmead on Tuesday.
Pakistan were bowled out for 203, a total which seemed unlikely when Hasan, batting at number ten, came in with his side in desperate trouble at 112 for eight.  Hasan hit a career-best 59 off 45 balls, with five fours and three sixes, and shared a ninth wicket stand of 90 with captain Sarfraz Ahmed (41).
South Africa, beaten by five wickets in the first match in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, sent Pakistan in and dominated the early exchanges.
Four batsmen succumbed to short-pitched bowling from South Africa's seam bowlers, while three fell to left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
Medium-pacer Andile Phehlukwayo had career-best figures of four for 22. Shamsi took three for 56.
Kagiso Rabada started Pakistan's slide when he dismissed Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam, both caught off mistimed pull shots against short ...

Hasan Ali rescues Pakistan innings in second ODI

Three Russian bomber crew members died and another was injured when their plane crashed on a training flight Tuesday, Moscow's defense ministry said, days after a deadly collision between two jets.
"A Tu-22M3 plane made a hard landing after a training flight due to going into a snow flurry," falling apart on impact, TASS agency quoted the defense ministry as saying.
"Two pilots have been sent to a medical facility... two crew members have died," it said. The plane was not carrying munitions, it said.
A third pilot died from injuries later, a representative of the regional trauma hospital told the agency.
The incident occurred in Russia's northern Murmansk region. Sources told Russian agencies that emergency services were trying to put out a fire at the accident site.
Tu-22M3 is a strategic long-range bomber originally developed in the 1970s. Some of these planes participated in Russia's Syria campaign, their strikes against Islamic State jihadists widely publicised on Russian ...

Three dead after Russian bomber crash during training flight

A Belarusian escort who claimed she had proof of Russian collusion with Donald Trump's election campaign was freed from a Russian jail on Tuesday following her arrest last week, lawyers said.
Anastasia Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, was arrested alongside Alexander Kirillov, a self-styled sex guru, when the two arrived at Moscow's main airport following their deportation from Thailand last Thursday.
Vashukevich had been waiting to travel on to the Belarusian capital Minsk.
"The investigation made a decision to free them from jail with the obligation to appear" for further proceedings, Kirillov's lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina told AFP.  Vashukevich was deported from Thailand after pleading guilty to participating in a "sex training course".
She became famous after posting videos allegedly showing tycoon Oleg Deripaska and an influential Russian deputy prime minister on a yacht.
While in Thai prison, she said she had information about Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections.
Her 

Belarus escort who claimed Trump secrets freed from Russian jail

Paris got its first snowfall of the season Tuesday, prompting travel alerts for commuters but giving snowboard enthusiasts a chance to hit impromptu urban slopes.
The Eiffel Tower was closed as both tourists and locals made their way carefully along slushy sidewalks.
Visitors to the Sacre-Coeur church in Montmartre watched snowboarders tackle the steep lawns running alongside the stairs leading up to the basilica.
At least one major road to the southwest of the French capital was closed to traffic for a few hours after flurries brought several centimetres of heavy snow.
Last year nearly 1,000 vehicles were stranded on the stretch of the RN118 highway, forcing almost 2,000 people to spend the night in their cars.
Officials were determined to avoid a repeat, and city workers had already begun salting intersections around the capital Monday.
The RN118 reopened in the afternoon but speed restrictions were in effect, and the road was due to be closed to truck traffic again from 9:00 pm ...

Snowboards out as Paris gets first taste of snow

WEF 2018: We're still counting on Trump to attend, say Davos organisers

It forecast nearly 1,500 private jet flights over the week of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to airports near Davos in the Swiss Alps

'Worried about climate change, but can't stop chartering private jets'

Press Trust of India

FIFA, UEFA and several of the world's top football leagues on Tuesday condemned alleged piracy of television rights by the "beoutQ" network, which Qatar claims is backed by Saudi Arabia.
Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, and the Doha-based beIN Media Group have described beoutQ as a vast and sophisticated Saudi bootlegging network that has been transmitting stolen programmes via Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat.
FIFA, UEFA, the English Premier League, La Liga, the German Bundesliga and the Asian Football Confederation weighed in on Tuesday by blasting beoutQ's actions as "a clear and flagrant breach of our intellectual property rights".
"Collectively, we, as rights-holders in various football competitions, condemn the pirate entity beoutQ, which continues to abuse the operations of rights holders and legitimate broadcasters through its persistent and illegal screening of events for which it has made no effort to secure the rights," the powerful football bodies said in a joint .

FIFA, UEFA blast piracy network with alleged Saudi ties

The second woman carrying a gene-edited foetus in China could now be 12 to 14 weeks into her pregnancy, according to a US physician in close contact with the researcher who claimed to have created the world's first genetically-modified babies last year.
Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the scientific community after revealing that he had successfully altered the DNA of twin girls born in November to prevent them from contracting HIV.
State media reported on Monday that a preliminary investigation confirmed that a second woman became pregnant and that she will be put under medical observation, but no other details about her are known.
Professor He, who now faces a police investigation, had mentioned the potential second pregnancy at a human genome conference in Hong Kong in late November, but its status was unclear until now.
William Hurlbut, a physician and bioethicist at Stanford university in California who has known He for two years, told AFP it was "too early" at the time for .

China's second gene-edited foetus is 12-14 weeks old: scientist

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday defended Malaysia's ban on Israeli athletes, likening it to US President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Malaysia sparked a row with Israel after saying it would not allow Israeli swimmers to compete in a tournament later this year that serves as a qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
"Every country has the right to accept or refuse entry of anybody," Mahathir told a press conference in Vienna on Tuesday.
"You can see that in America now they are erecting a very high wall to prevent Mexicans from going to America," he said.
"We have the same idea, that people who are undesirable for our country will be kept out of our country," Mahathir added.
Last week Israel said the decision was motivated by "rabid anti-Semitism" on Mahathir's part.
Mahathir, now 93 and in his second stint as premier, has in the past attracted criticism for verbal attacks on Jews.
Last week he denied accusations of anti-Semitism, 

Malaysia PM cites Trump to defend Israeli athlete ban

China has promised four billion yuan ($588 million) in aid to Cambodia, the Southeast Asian country's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday on a visit to Beijing.
The largest investor in Cambodia, China has pumped billions of yuan into the economy and has written off debt while sweeping aside questions about Phnom Penh's abysmal rights record.
The four billion yuan grant will run from 2019 to 2021, Hun Sen said in a post on his official Facebook page, accompanied by pictures of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the day before.
Xi has also pledged to import 400,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia this year, increase bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2023 and encourage more Chinese investment into the country, the prime minister's post said.
The pledge comes just days after the European Union resumed tariffs on rice imports from Cambodia, following intensive lobbying by Italy, who said cheap imports were damaging its farmers.
On Tuesday, Hun Sen was welcomed at the cavernous 

China promises Cambodia $600 million aid at PM visit

French carmaker Renault said Tuesday that it would hold a board meeting Thursday to name a replacement for its boss Carlos Ghosn, who remains in custody in Japan over alleged financial misconduct.
Sources close to the discussions told AFP that the company would put forward Thierry Bollore to replace Ghosn as chief executive and Michelin chief Jean-Dominique Senard as board chairman. Ghosn currently holds both roles.
Renault, part of a powerful alliance with Japanese carmakers Nissan and Mitsubishi, officially declined to comment on Ghosn's replacement, beyond confirming Thursday's board meeting.
A trade union source said the meeting would take place at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) on Thursday.
Ghosn has already been stripped of his positions as chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi in the wake of the allegations.
The French government, Renault's biggest shareholder with a stake of more than 15 percent, is particularly keen to see the company appoint a new leader.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire ...

Renault board to replace Ghosn on Thursday

Five tourists including a honeymooning couple have drowned in a single week in the Maldives, officials said, prompting a nationwide safety warning to holiday resorts in the pristine islands.
Tourism officials said all resort operators in the paradise archipelago were urged Monday to keep a close eye on their clients after the spate of deaths.
Strong currents caused by a north-east monsoon were blamed for the slew of drownings in the idyllic atoll nation, where such accidents are usually few and far between.
Around 1.4 million tourists visit the Maldives every year but the latest government data shows just 31 people drowned in 2017.
On January 13, two Filipino newlyweds were swept to their deaths by a powerful undertow.
The man got into trouble and his wife went to his aid, but both perished. Their bodies were recovered and repatriated to the Philippines, officials said.
An 84-year-old Czech tourist and a 66-year-old South Korean woman died within two days of each other at a resort ...

Maldives issue warning amid spike in tourist drownings

Rafael Nadal continued his relentless march towards an 18th major title Tuesday as an emotional Petra Kvitova swept into her first Grand Slam semi-final since a terrifying knife attack almost ended her career.
On day nine of the Australian Open, the fairytale runs of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Danielle Collins were also extended as they too swept into the last four.
Second seed Nadal inched closer to winning an event he has only claimed once before when he trounced unseeded American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in another ruthless display from a man who has not dropped a set so far.
Tiafoe had announced himself by beating fifth seed Kevin Anderson, but was no match for a player at the peak of his powers as he attempts to become only the third man to win all four Slams twice and the first to do so in the Open era.
"I had some trouble at this event all my career, so I'm very happy with the way I played tonight," said the Spaniard, who faces another young gun Tsitsipas in the semi-finals.
"I 

AFP

AFP

Page 796 - Afp