At least four people have been killed in more attacks blamed on herdsmen in central Nigeria's Benue state, an area wracked by deadly sectarian violence between herders and farmers, officials said today
According to the Benue state police commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, police were investigating an "incident" yesterday evening in the village of Gbeji.
"There is said to be an attack by suspected herdsmen in the area but we can confirm that as at this morning, four dead bodies were recovered there. We have stepped up security in the area and we are investigating," he told media.
Nevertheless, according to a local chief, Joseph Anawah, 10 people had been killed over a period of 24 hours in attacks aimed at a number of villages, including Gbeji.
"On Tuesday evening between 6 pm and 9 pm ... fully armed herdsmen came down heavily on the affected communities," he said.
"They burnt down houses and killed about eight people in the community and injured many." The attackers continued and "killed ..

4 killed in attack in volatile central Nigeria

PTI Automatic

Pope Francis admitted today that he had made "grave mistakes in the assessment and perception of the situation" in Chile after reading the findings of an investigation into sexual abuse committed by the clergy in the country.
Francis said in a letter to Chilean Bishops released by the Vatican that he intends to summon them to Rome to discuss the investigation, which involves Bishop Juan Barros' alleged cover-ups of abuse by priests in his diocese.

Pope Francis admits 'grave errors' in Chile sex abuse scandal

US President Donald Trump considers Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his Russian ally responsible for a suspected chemical attack in rebel-held Douma and is still mulling a response, the White House said today.
"The president holds Assad and the Russians responsible for the attack," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.
"All options are on the table," Sanders said when asked about a potential US riposte. "Final decisions have not been made on that front." Trump earlier warned that "missiles will be coming" in response to the alleged chemical atrocity in Syria.

Trump holds Syria, Russia responsible for chemical attack: WH

Three Russian journalists were injured in Syria when their vehicle was shot at Wednesday after an assignment in the former rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, the Russian defence ministry said.
The incident happened in the early evening after the journalists had investigated the situation in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, which Syrian regime and allied forces have recently retaken.
"They were targeted by unknown assailants firing light arms," the Russian army said in a statement.
The journalists received medical attention and "their lives are not in danger," according to the statement, run by Russian news agencies, which added that three men had received leg injuries.
The journalists were working for the NTV channel, owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, as well as the Rossiya-1 state television channel and Russian army channel Zvezda.
Russia is the Syrian regime's biggest international ally.  Last July a journalist with the Arab service of Russian state-owned channel RT was killed in ..

Three Russian journalists injured in Syria: Moscow

Syria's army has evacuated key defence buildings in Damascus over fears they might be targeted by Western strikes in response to an alleged chemical attack, a monitor said Wednesday.
The United States and France have warned of a strong response after an alleged deadly chemical attack by the regime on the rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday.
"The buildings of the ministry of defence and the army headquarters have been empty for two days," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Regime forces have also evacuated military airports as well as the bases of the elite Fourth Division and Republican Guard outside the capital, the Observatory said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Damascus regime.
A source with pro-regime forces told AFP: "The Syrian army has taken protective measures especially for military airports and bases." The source said they expected the Americans would inform the Russians before any strike.
US President Donald Trump said "missiles ..

Syria army vacates main defence buildings in Damascus: monitor

Russian President Vladimir Putin today called on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take any action that could further destabilise the situation in Syria, following Israeli strikes against a regime military base on Monday.
In a telephone call, Putin urged Netanyahu "to abstain from any action that could further destabilise the situation in the country, which would represent a threat to its security," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin calls on Netanyahu not to take any 'destabilising action' on Syria

International airlines said today they were modifying their flight plans after a warning from Europe's air safety watchdog about potential military strikes on Syria in the coming days.
The European Aviation Safety Agency alerted airlines on Tuesday of the possible launch of "air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours", urging them to take precautionary measures.
"Air France has taken the EASA information into account and modified its flight plans for affected destinations, mainly Beirut and Tel Aviv," the airline said, adding that it was monitoring the situation.
Lebanon's Middle East Airlines will also be changing flight paths for planes heading to Beirut, an official at the city's airport told AFP.
"The decision includes all arriving and departing flights starting from tomorrow morning (Thursday) following the warning from the European Aviation Safety Agency," the official said.
Flights from the Gulf will be affected more than others, with expected delays of 30 to 

EU airlines adjust after Syria missile strike warning

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said today the Pentagon is ready to provide options for a Syria strike in response to a suspected chemical attack, but noted the US and its allies are still gathering information.
"We are still assessing the intelligence, ourselves and our allies, we are still working on this," Mattis told reporters when asked if he had seen enough evidence to blame President Bashar al-Assad's regime for the alleged chemical attack in Douma.
"We stand ready to provide military options, if they're appropriate, as the president determined."
President Donald Trump vowed on Twitter that missiles would be launched at Syria following Saturday's alleged chemical attack, all but guaranteeing a military strike against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Russian army has accused the White Helmets civil defense organization in Syria of staging a chemical weapons attack in Douma that has led to calls for further Western intervention.
Trump and other Western leaders have vowed 

Pentagon 'ready' to provide military options for Syria: Mattis

AFP's chief executive Emmanuel Hoog announced Wednesday that he was withdrawing his bid for another five-year term at the head of the international news agency after failing to secure government support.
"I was made aware this morning that my candidacy did not have the necessary and crucial support of the state, as has been the case since 2010," Hoog said in his letter to the company board which was emailed to staff.
"With regret, I am withdrawing my candidacy," the 55-year-old said.
The board had been due to interview Hoog on Wednesday alongside a rival candidate for the top job, Fabrice Fries, former head of communications company Publicis.
The interview with Fries has gone ahead, despite calls for a delay from some board members.
Fries, 58, led the consultancy until 2016 and was previously a top executive at French media group Vivendi and advertising firm Havas after studying at Berkeley and Harvard in the US and France's elite Ecole Nationale d'Administration.
To secure the CEO ...

AFP CEO Emmanuel Hoog to step down

Pep Guardiola's current torrid time as Manchester City manager took a further turn for the worse today with news that UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings into his "improper conduct".
Guardiola was dismissed from the field of play after a half-time tirade at the referee in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat by Liverpool in the quarter-final of the Champions League.
The second-leg defeat saw the Spaniard's side exit the European club competition 5-1 on aggregate.
UEFA said the charges against Manchester City were "Josep Guardiola - Dismissal from the bench ... Improper conduct of the coach".
Liverpool also didn't escape, with UEFA listing charges of "setting off of fireworks" and "throwing of objects".
This case will be dealt with by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body on May 31, it added.

UEFA to probe Guardiola, Liverpool

Free-spending French giants Paris Saint-Germain are set to face UEFA sanctions for breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP), according to a report by the Financial Times today that claims PSG "overstated" sponsorship contracts to the tune of 200 million euros.
Bankrolled by Qatari owners, PSG smashed the world transfer record by signing Brazilian star Neymar for 222 million euros in August and committed to completing another 180-million-euro deal for French teenage sensation Kylian Mbappe this summer when agreeing a one-year loan deal from Monaco a few weeks later.
Introduced by European football's governing body in 2010, FFP limits clubs to making losses of no more than EUR30m over three seasons.
"Preliminary investigations show that sponsorship contracts worth about EUR200m have been 'overstated' at the Qatari-owned football club," said the Financial Times report.
"Unless UEFA can be persuaded to assign a higher value to the sponsorship deals, the French club is on course to breach FFP 

PSG to fall foul of UEFA's FFP investigation - report

Hungarian hammer thrower Kristian Pars, a gold-medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics, has been banned until July next year after failing a doping test, Hungarian media reported today.
Pars, 36, tested positive for use of a banned non-performance-enhancing substance after a routine check in January.
The substance was found in the athlete's urine sample, said a statement by the Hungarian Athletics Federation (MASZ).
"I am incredibly ashamed for what happened," said the 36-year-old Pars on Tuesday after receiving the ban.
Officials accepted his argument that the substance entered his system during the off-season and that it was not performance enhancing.
"I will never be able to forgive myself," said the athlete, who also won European gold in 2012 and 2014.
"It's a sad day for Hungarian athletics, but I am convinced that he has learned from his mistakes," said MASZ head Marton Gyulai.
The period of the ban means Pars could still compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Hungarian Olympic champion Pars handed doping ban

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would not take part in "Twitter diplomacy", after US President Donald Trump tweeted that "missiles will be coming" to Syria.
"We do not take part in Twitter-diplomacy. We support serious approaches. As ever, we believe it is important not to take steps that could damage an already fragile situation," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in comments reported by news agencies.
Trump tweeted that strikes could be expected in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians in Syria's Douma, telling regime-backer Russia to "get ready".
The message comes one day after Russia vetoed a US-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council to set up a panel to identify the perpetrators of Saturdays' alleged toxic gas attacks.
Russia has said its military specialists found no evidence of a chemical attack, and suggested that rebels staged or spread rumors of an attack to pin the blame on Damascus.

Kremlin says won't take part in Trump's 'Twitter diplomacy'

A furious losing boxer from Zambia reeled off an extraordinary succession of expletives and alleged that he was cheated out of victory at the Commonwealth Games today.
Mbachi Kaonga insisted he had beaten home boxer Clay Waterman of Australia in their light-heavyweight quarter-final on the Gold Coast.
But ring-side judges awarded the decision to Waterman on a 4-1 points decision, infuriating Kaonga and the red mist quickly descended.
As Waterman was doing an interview off to the side of the ring, Kaonga bumped into him and then swore into the camera, the Australian boxer and local officials said.
The 23-year-old Kaonga then raged into the media interview zone and launched into an expletive-filled rant.
"They are killing amateur boxing," barked Kaonga, shaking with anger.
"Just because it's his own ground, they gave him the fight when he didn't win. They are killing the sport," he added before storming off.
"I gave him a little bit and told him to shut up," Waterman said with a ...

Beaten Zambia boxer launches foul-mouthed Games tirade

Saudi Arabia's air defences today "intercepted" a ballistic missile fired from rebel-held Yemen at Riyadh, a military spokesman said, adding two others were shot down in southern Saudi Arabia.
The announcement came after an AFP journalist witnessed explosions and heard three blasts over the capital, which has previously been targeted by Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.
"An Iranian ballistic missile launched from Sadaa towards Riyadh was successfully intercepted by Saudi Air Defence earlier today," Colonel Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis, said.
He said Saudi forces also intercepted two missiles in the southern Jizan and Najran provinces close to the border with Yemen.
The attacks were claimed by the rebels via their news outlet Al-Masirah.
"The missile force carried out a large-scale ballistic missile attack on various parts of Saudi Arabia," Al-Masirah said.
As the announcement on the missile interceptions emerged, Malki also said in a ...

Missiles, drones from Yemen 'intercepted' over Saudi Arabia

The Russian army today said the situation in the former Syrian opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta had been "totally stabilised".
"The situation in Eastern Ghouta has been totally stabilised. Refugees are continuously returning to where they lived. As of today some 60,000 people have returned to their homes," Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir said at a briefing in Moscow.
Rebels were in the process of leaving their last outpost of Douma, Poznikhir said, adding that "there has not been a single shot or confrontation in Eastern Ghouta for the last five days".
Military police would be sent to Douma from Thursday to keep the peace, he said.
Poznikhir also accused the White Helmets civil defence organisation of staging a chemical weapons attack in Douma on Saturday that has led to US President Donald Trump promising strikes.
According to the rescuers, some 40 people were killed in a chemical attack that the West has blamed on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, prompting strong ...

Syria's Eastern Ghouta 'totally stabilised': Russian army

Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned in England last month along with her Russian ex-spy father, has refused consular assistance from the Russian embassy, a British foreign ministry spokesman said.
"We have previously passed on the Russian embassy's offer of consular support to Yulia," the spokesman said today.
"She is free to decide on whether she wishes to pursue that. To date, we understand she has not done so," he said.
Britain blames Russia for the nerve agent attack on the two on March 4, which has sparked an international diplomatic crisis.
Russia has vehemently denied the accusation and has requested access to the Skripals, who are both Russian citizens.
The hospital that has been treating the two in the English city of Salisbury said on Tuesday that Yulia Skripal had been discharged while her father would remain for treatment.
Responding to reports that the pair may be resettled, the Russian embassy to London said: "Secret resettlement of Mr and Ms Skripal, barred from any contact 

Poisoned ex-spy's daughter refuses Russian help: ministry

The number of Jews around the world is lower than before World War II, Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics said today ahead of the Jewish State's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.
According to the CBS, there are approximately 14.5 million Jews in the world, compared to 16.6 million in 1939 when World War II began.
The compilation uses census figures from 2016, it said.  Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins Wednesday evening on the Jewish calendar, commemorates the six million Jewish victims of the Nazis during World War II.
Nearly half of the world's Jews -- 6.44 million -- live in Israel, with the United States home to the second largest population of 5.7 million.
Nearly half a million Jews live in France, 390,000 in Canada and 290,000 in Britain.
There are Jewish communities of over 100,000 in Argentina, Russia, Germany and Australia, according to the Hebrew University's Harman Institute of Contemporary Judaism, the source for the CBS data.
The CBS said their ...

Israel says world Jewish population lower than pre-Holocaust

The Russian army today accused the White Helmets civil defence organisation of staging a chemical weapons attack in Syria's Douma that has led to calls for further Western intervention.
"Acting purely as a terrorist organisation, the odious 'White Helmets' once again staged for the cameras a 'chemical attack' on the civilians of Douma," Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir said at a briefing in Moscow.

Alleged chemical attack in Syria's Douma 'staged' by White Helmets: Russian army

Iran today hit back at Saudi accusations that Tehran provides "support for terrorism", pointing at alleged links between Riyadh and jihadists such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Countries in the region "will never forget the role played by Saudi Arabia in conspiring for, supporting and arming violent terrorists and extremists... such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh (IS) and other similar groups," Iran's foreign ministry said.
It also singled out Saudi support for Iraq's fallen dictator Saddam Hussein in his 1980-1988 war against Iran, its military intervention in Yemen since 2015 and its apparent rapprochement with Israel.
Iran, a bitter regional rival of Saudi Arabia with which diplomatic ties were cut in 2016, was responding to the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who yesterday referred to Tehran's "support for terrorism" during a visit to Paris.
The Wahhabist ideology which is historically linked to the Saudi monarchy has inspired the ideology of jihadist groups, and 15 ..

Iran hurls 'support for terrorism' charge back at Saudi

More than two dozen F/A-18 Hornets roared off the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in an ear-splitting display of US military might as the aircraft carrier sailed through the South China Sea.
The training exercise yesterday came ahead of a port call in the Philippines, which along with several other nations is embroiled in disputes with Beijing over its claim to the strategic waters.
The demonstration, during a visit by Philippine generals and journalists, was held just days after Beijing flexed its own military muscle with a huge naval drill involving its sole aircraft carrier and dozens of other vessels several hundred kilometres to the north.
"We have seen Chinese ships around us," carrier strike group commander Rear Admiral Steve Koehler said.
"They're one of the navies that operate in the South China Sea but I would tell you that we've seen nothing but professional work from the ships that we've encountered," he said.
Koehler acknowledged "there's a lot of disputes" over the ...

AFP

AFP

Page 964 - Afp