Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will visit Qatar, state media in the Gulf state said, in what would be his first trip abroad since widespread protests began against his rule.
Bashir would arrive in Doha on Tuesday and meet the country's ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the following day, according to the Qatar News Agency.
"Brotherly relations between the two countries will be discussed," at the two leaders' meeting as well as issues of mutual interest, said the QNA.  No further details were given.
Anti-government protests against Bahir's iron-fisted rule began on December 19 after his government's decision to triple the price of bread.  The demonstrations have spread to several cities and officials say 26 people have died so far in the protests, while rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at more than 40.
They are the biggest challenge yet to the authority of Bashir, who swept to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed coup.
Sudan is facing an economic ..

Sudan's Bashir to travel to Qatar amid protests

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Theresa May, Britain, Brexit

May promised a more consultative strategy on Brexit that would include parliament but also business leaders and civil society but her statement essentially offered no solutions

British PM Theresa May says will return to EU to discuss Irish backstop

Press Trust of India

The United Nations warned Monday that trade disputes, climate change and a me-first attitude to addressing global problems were threatening prospects for world economic growth.
The global economy is expected to continue growing at a steady pace of around 3 percent in 2019 and 2020 but there are signs the expansion has peaked, according to the UN's annual report on the world economic situation and prospects.
Economic growth is uneven and is often failing to reach where it is most needed, said the report released by the UN department of economic and social affairs.
UN chief economist Elliot Harris said trade disputes showed a loss of support for multilateral approaches and were putting at risk prospects for a global response to possible future economic shocks.
"What we see happening is a growing tendency to look out for one's self first instead of staying with that framework of collaborative and cooperative action," Harris told a news conference.
Trade relations between the United ...

UN warns trade disputes, climate could disrupt growth

A group of soldiers rose up against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro at a command post near Caracas on Monday, but were quickly arrested after posting an appeal for public support in a video, the government said.
"We are the professional troop of the National Guard against the regime, which we completely repudiate. I need your help, take to the streets," a man who identified himself as the group's sergeant said in video images circulated on social media.
Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino issued a statement shortly afterwards saying the soldiers had been arrested.
"During the arrest, stolen weapons were recovered and (the mutineers) are providing useful information to intelligence services and the military justice system," added Padrino, who said the rebels would "face the full force of the law."
No information on the number of mutineers has been given.
The soldiers rose up during the early hours of Monday morning at a National Guard command post in Cotiza, north of Caracas, which .

Venezuela military group arrested after call to disavow Maduro

Pakistani authorities on Monday arrested a founding member of an ethnic Pashtun movement on terrorism charges and for making anti-government speeches, police sources said.
Alamzeb Mehsud who helped launch the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM) was arrested in Karachi after appearing at a rally in the southern city on Sunday, a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"He was arrested today and he is likely to appear in court tomorrow (Tuesday)," the source added.
Mobile phone footage shared by the PTM appears to show Mehsud being rounded by up police.
Amnesty International denounced the "disappearance" of Mehsud and called on the Pakistani authorities to bring him to court or release him immediately.
Police on Sunday said they were filing complaints against Mehsud and a dozen other activists from the movement including its leader Manzoor Pashteen for making inflammatory speeches against the state at the demonstration.
The PTM has rattled the military since it burst ...

Pakistan police arrest Pashtun rights activist after rally

Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she would seek further talks with Brussels to salvage her Brexit deal, but offered no new solutions to break the deadlock, just 10 weeks before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union.
MPs in the House of Commons last week roundly rejected the divorce terms May has struck with the bloc, raising the risk that Britain crashes out with no deal on March 29.
She responded by opening talks with rival political parties, but in a statement to the Commons on Monday failed to suggest a radically different approach.
May offered guarantees to the opposition Labour party on workers' rights and promised greater input for lawmakers over future trade talks with the EU.
But she said her focus would be on addressing concerns among her own Conservative MPs and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) over the controversial Irish border "backstop" plan in the current deal.
"I will be talking further this week to colleagues -- including in the ...

British PM promises new EU talks in bid to salvage Brexit deal

France has summoned Italy's ambassador to protest against comments by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, who accused Paris of continuing to colonise Africa and causing people to migrate from the continent, a government source told AFP.
The ambassador was summoned Monday after the "unacceptable and groundless" comments by Di Maio on Sunday, a source in the cabinet of France's Europe Minister Natalie Loiseau told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Di Maio made a series of incendiary remarks while visiting the Abruzzo region in central Italy, the latest sign of serious tensions between the populist government in Rome and France's centrist leader Emmanuel Macron.
"The EU should sanction France and all countries like France that impoverish Africa and make these people leave, because Africans should be in Africa, not at the bottom of the Mediterranean," Di Maio said.
"If people are leaving today it's because European countries, France above all, have never stopped colonising dozens of 

France summons Italian envoy over Di Maio Africa comments

A Mexican journalist was found murdered in the northern state of Baja California Sur, the governor said Monday, the first reporter killed this year in what has become one of the world's most dangerous countries for the press.
Rafael Murua, a community radio station director who had received death threats for his work, went missing Sunday night, according to local media reports. Governor Carlos Mendoza confirmed the journalist had been found murdered, condemning the killing.
"This cowardly crime will not go unpunished," the governor wrote on Twitter.
"My solidarity to the family and all journalists working in Baja California Sur." Murua, 34, was under the Mexican government's protection program for journalists and rights activists, said Balbina Flores, country director for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
The group reported at least nine journalists' murders in Mexico last year, making it the third-most-dangerous country to be a reporter after war-torn Afghanistan and ...

Mexico journalist murdered, first of 2019

Ten people died off Russia-annexed Crimea in the Black Sea on Monday after a fire engulfed gas tankers sailing under the flag of Tanzania, authorities said.
"There are 10 dead," Alexei Kravchenko, spokesman for Russia's Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, told AFP.
The fire broke out when one vessel was transferring fuel to another, driving both crews to jump overboard, said Kravchenko.
"A search-and-rescue operation is under way," he said, adding that 14 crew members have been found alive.
Authorities in the Crimean city of Kerch were preparing to receive the victims, he added.
The ships, the Kandy and the Maestro, had crews of nationals from India and Turkey.
The accident struck close to the Kerch Strait, which has become a new flashpoint in tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
In November, Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait as they tried to pass from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea.
The confrontation was the first open military ...

Ten people dead after fire on two vessels off Crimea

Venezuela's Supreme Court declared the leadership of the opposition-controlled National Assembly illegitimate and its decisions "void" Monday after it repudiated the presidency of Nicolas Maduro.
The latest escalation in the power struggle between Maduro and the new president of the assembly, Juan Guaido, came on the same day as a brief military uprising in Caracas and amid opposition calls for mass protests on Wednesday.
Supreme Court president Juan Jose Mendoza read a statement to the press declaring that the legislature "does not have a legitimate board of directors." He charged that it was "usurping its authority, and therefore all its decisions are void."
Hours earlier, the government said it arrested a group of mutinous soldiers who attacked a National Guard command center in Caracas.
The soldiers had managed to post a video on social media announcing their repudiation of Maduro's regime and calling on the public to take to the streets in support.
Guaido, on being sworn in as ...

Venezuela's top court declares parliament leadership illegitmate

A Mozambican journalist who was arrested while interviewing people displaced by jihadist attacks in the country's north has been formally charged with espionage, a media rights group told AFP on Monday.
A respected radio journalist, Amade Abubacar was arrested on January 5 in Macomia, a small town in one of the areas worst hit by the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.
Lazaro Mabunda of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), which is providing him with legal representation, said Abubacar had been formally charged with espionage and various other offences on Friday.
The prosecution said the "names and contacts of jihadists wanted by the police" had been found in Abubacar's possession, Mabunda told AFP.
But he said the charge was unfounded as Abubacar was known for his investigative work, which involved contact with people wanted by the police without implying collaboration.
"The prosecution alleges that Amade Abubacar was gathering information to send to jihadists ...

Mozambique journalist charged with espionage

At least 24 people were killed when a bus in southwest Pakistan burst into flames after crashing with a truck on Monday, officials said.
The bus carrying dozens of passengers was heading from the southern city of Karachi to Panjgur district, when it crashed in Lasbela district.
"We have recovered 24 bodies from the vehicle. All of them were burned," local administration chief in Lasbela district, Shabir Mengal, told AFP.
"The bus is very hot from the inside, we are taking out bodies slowly." Senior police official Agha Ramzan Ali also confirmed the crash and said a rescue operation was underway.
Deadly traffic accidents are very common in Pakistan owing to reckless driving and the bad condition of roads.
Every year hundreds of people lose their lives in traffic related incidents in the country.

24 killed in Pakistan bus crash fire

Russia on Monday threatened retaliation after the European Union slapped sanctions on Russian military intelligence chiefs over the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain.
"We reserve the right to take retaliatory measures over this unfriendly step," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The European Union introduced sanctions against Igor Kostyukov, the new chief of Russia's GRU military intelligence, and his first deputy Vladimir Alexseyev.
Kostyukov took over the GRU after the death of his predecessor Igor Korobov last November.
The EU also released the real names of the two agents accused by Britain of carrying out the chemical attack in Salisbury last March, confirming earlier reports identifying them as Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin.
Moscow said the claims did not "stand up to criticism." "An information campaign unleashed by the British authorities over this case primarily has a domestic agenda," the Russian foreign ministry ...

Russia threatens 'retaliatory measures' over EU sanctions

Future generations face an environmental "time bomb" as the world's groundwater systems take decades to respond to the present day impact of climate change, scientists warned on Monday.
Found underground in cracks in soil, sand and rock, groundwater is the largest useable source of freshwater on the planet and more than two billion people rely on it to drink or irrigate crops.
It is slowly replenished through rainfall -- a process known as recharge -- and discharges into lakes, rivers or oceans to maintain an overall balance between water in and water out.
Groundwater reserves are already under pressure as the global population explodes and crop production rises in lockstep.
But the extreme weather events such as drought and record rainfall -- both made worse by our heating planet -- could have another long-lasting impact on how quickly reserves replenish, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
An international team of researchers used computer modelling of ...

Scientists warn of climate 'time bomb' for world's groundwater

Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Monday appointed a new prime minister, part of a reshuffle coinciding with a rising wave of jihadist attacks.
A decree naming Christophe Dabire as the new premier was read on state television by the government's general secretary.
Dabire was previously Burkina's representative at the eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and in the 1990s served as minister to former president Blaise Compaore, partly at a time when Kabore himself was premier.
Dabire's portfolios were for health, followed by secondary and higher education, and then scientific research.
He takes over from Paul Kaba Thieba, an economist whose departure along with the rest of the cabinet was announced by the presidency on Friday.
No official explanation has been given for the reshuffle, but sources close to Kabore said he wanted a fresh approach on tackling the country's problems.
Burkina Faso, which lies in the heart of the vast Sahel region, is .

Burkina Faso names new PM as jihadists attacks worsen

The British government launched a phone app Monday to allow some 3.5 million EU nationals to apply to stay after Brexit -- immediately receiving a mixed reception from immigrants increasingly concerned about their fate.
Most European citizens currently living in Britain will need to apply for "settled status" or "pre-settled status", depending on how long they have been there, to continue to work and claim benefits after Brexit.
The partial app rollout is a test stage before the scheme becomes fully operational on March 30, the day after Britain is due to leave the European Union.
It will stay open until late 2020 or 2021, depending on whether Britain leaves the EU with a deal or not.
But some of those trying to use the system on Monday -- which currently requires an Android smartphone and a biometric passport -- hit immediate roadblocks.
"I'm supposed to be an easy case," Polish journalist Jakub Krupa, who has been in Britain for six and-a-half years, told AFP after the online tool ..

Britain launches app for EU citizens to stay after Brexit

South African former executive on Monday told a corruption probe that his old company had paid monthly bribes for years to a minister who served under scandal-tainted ex-president Jacob Zuma.
Angelo Agrizzi, ex-chief operating officer of the Bosasa contracting company, has given days of bombshell testimony to a judicial commission probing allegations of government corruption under Zuma.
Agrizzi said he was responsible for counting and packing 50,000 rand (USD 3,600) in cash, which was to be delivered each month to Nomvula Mokonyane.
The practice continued from 2002 until 2016 when Agrizzi left the company, he said.
Mokonyane, who is currently environmental affairs minister, served as Zuma's minister of water and sanitation between 2014 and 2018, and was earlier a provincial minister.
"We knew she was close to former president Zuma," Agrizzi, dressed in a dark-grey pin-stripped suit, told the inquiry.
"She was going to speak to him (Zuma) and another person to have any charges against .

Zuma ally took monthly bribes from S Africa company, inquiry hears

Kyrgyzstan is gearing up to introduce legislation that would oblige its president to wear a national pointed hat on diplomatic trips following a national uproar.
On Monday a parliamentary committee supported the proposal -- which will also see fines levied for insults to the felt hat -- the first step towards the legislation's introduction for a general parliamentary vote.
The bill is a result of a furore that erupted in late 2017 when a dog was photographed wearing an Ak-Kalpak hat at a dog show.
The headpiece, which is usually white, has a special place in the Central Asian country, revered so much that it has its own national day.
The four-panelled hat symbolises "the peaks of the magnificent Kyrgyz mountains, forever snow-capped," a former presidential advisor, Topchubek Turgunaliyev, told AFP last year.
Patriots called for the dog's owners to be punished for insulting the hat, triggering heated debate in the parliament, which passed a law to give the Ak-Kalpak hat its own ...

Kyrgyzstan to decide on national hat's status

The Taliban said it met with US officials in Qatar on Monday, in the latest round of talks between the insurgents and Washington aimed at bringing an end to the 17-year war.
The US has not officially commented on the reported meeting, which follows the last confirmed talks between the two parties in the UAE in December.
"Following American acceptance of the agenda of ending the occupation of Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from being used against other countries in the future, talks with American representatives took place today in Doha, the capital of Qatar," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
The announcement comes a day after US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad left Pakistan where he had met with Prime Minister Imran Khan, who arrived in Doha for an official visit Monday.
Khalilzad's has held a flurry of meetings around the region, including in Kabul last week, to garner support for the burgeoning dialogue.
Taliban representatives have met several times .

Taliban announces meeting with US officials in Qatar

Mexico registered a record 33,341 homicides in 2018, according to officials statistics released Monday, breaking the record set in 2017 in violence fuelled by a war on the country's powerful drug cartels.
More than 200,000 people have been murdered in Mexico since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006. The previous record was 28,866 homicides in 2017.

Mexico murders set new record in 2018

Takehiro Tomiyasu's lone strike sent Saudi Arabia crashing out of the Asian Cup as Japan beat the three-time champions 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals on Monday.
Tomiyasu's first-half header was enough to seal it for Japan as the last-16 game between two teams with seven titles between them failed to live up to its billing.
Japan, record four-time winners of the Asian Cup, march on to a quarter-final with Southeast Asian champions Vietnam despite not yet hitting top form at the tournament.
Saudi Arabia were in the ascendancy early on but it was Japan who snatched the advantage with a straightforward goal from a set piece on 20 minutes.
From a corner, Belgium-based defender Tomiyasu climbed above his marker and nodded firmly into the bottom corner for his first of the tournament.
The Saudis twice came close with headers as they strived for a way back, and Hatan Bahbri curled one just off-target as he went for the top corner.
Yoshinori Muto's shot was blocked on the hour-mark but most ..

AFP

AFP

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