Three Iranian fighters were killed Monday in a strike attributed to Israel on a Syrian airbase in the province of Homs, Iran's Fars news agency said.
Blaming the "Zionist regime", the news agency said "three defenders of the shrines... fell as martyrs" in the attack on the base, publishing the names and photos of the three young men.
Tehran uses the term "defenders of the shrines" to refer to Iranian fighters in Iraq and Syria.

Three Iranians killed in strike on Syria airbase: Iranian media

PTI Automatic

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis today pointed toward Russia's role in a suspected poison gas attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma, and said he would not rule out a military response.
Russia was supposed to guarantee the disposal of Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons in September 2013, but President Bashar al-Assad's regime is suspected of conducting repeated gas attacks since then.
"The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons," Mattis said at the Pentagon in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart.
"Working with our allies and our partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue ... I don't rule out anything right now."
Syria has been accused multiple times of using toxic weapons including sarin gas in the country's seven-year war, which has killed more than 350,000 people.
Backed by Moscow, Assad has waged a seven-week assault .

'I don't rule anything out': Mattis on taking action in Syria

The convicted mastermind of a deadly twin bombing in Jakarta last year claimed by the Islamic State group was sentenced to nine years in prison today.
Kiki Muhamad Iqbal, 38, was found guilty of organising the suicide attacks that killed three policemen and injured a dozen others at a busy bus station in the sprawling capital.
Ahmad Sukri and Ikhwan Nur Salam, who blew themselves up in the huge explosions in May 2017, said in court they attended a mosque where Iqbal gave fiery sermons calling on Muslims to "die as martyrs".
"(The defendant has been) proven, legally and convincingly, of committing the crime of plotting and mobilising others to commit a criminal act of terrorism," presiding judge Purwanto told the North Jakarta court.
It was less than the 12-year jail term that prosecutors had demanded.
Iqbal, who was arrested two weeks after the bombings, pleaded not guilty and said he had no knowledge that the two men would carry out an attack.
He had already served time in jail after 

Indonesia suicide bomb mastermind jailed for nine years

Spain's King Felipe VI defended the work of judges during a visit to Catalonia today, in the presence of a magistrate who charged 13 Catalan separatists over their independence bid.
The Spanish monarch's firm stance against independence has angered some who say he should not take sides.
The bitter dispute over demands for independence plunged Spain into crisis last year and is now being thrashed out in the courts.
"I am aware, and we all are, of the difficulty and great responsibility which your role involves," Felipe said during a ceremony for newly graduated judges in Barcelona, the capital of the wealthy northeastern region.
"You can always count on the confidence and support of the Crown."
Among those in attendance was Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, widely criticised in Catalonia for having charged 13 separatists with rebellion over their failed bid to declare independence last year.
Llarena is due to decide later this week if he will let one of the 13, Jordi Sanchez, leave ...

Spanish king backs judges during Catalonia visit

Russia's deputy prosecutor general today accused Britain of refusing to cooperate on the investigation into the killing of a former spy, at a briefing on the deaths of other Russians in the UK.
Saak Karapetyan said the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter was a pretext for an "anti-Russian campaign" as he drew parallels with the killing of spy Alexander Litvinenko and the death of oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
"In the three cases, British authorities... refused any cooperation with Russia and kept secret the result of their own inquiry," he said.
"We want to cooperate, we suggest cooperation but (the British) have other ideas and other points of view on the question," he said.
"In the three cases, the Russian secret services have been falsely accused of using poisons on British territory, which has allowed each time to launch calls for sanctions against Russia," Karapetyan added.
Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium in 2006, while Berezovsky was found hanged in his home outside .

Russian prosecutor says UK withholding facts on Skripal

The UN World Tourism Organization said today it has appointed FC Barcelona's Argentine star Lionel Messi as an ambassador to promote responsible tourism.
"During my travels I have had the opportunity to know other cultures and societies as well as other ways to see the world and this is very enriching," Messi said in a statement released by the Madrid-based United Nations body announcing his nomination.
"I am happy I can join this mission of promoting responsible tourism," the five-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year award added as the body steps up its campaign to minimise harm tourism can cause to the environment and historical sites.
The UN body defines "responsible tourism" as tourism that "helps maximise the sector's benefits while minimising its potentially negative impact on the environment, cultural heritage and societies across the globe".
World Tourism Organization chief Zurab Pololikashvili said it was a "great honour" to have Messi promote "the positive values 

UN body names Messi responsible tourism ambassador

Malaysia's veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad said today that missing flight MH370 might have been taken over remotely in a bid to foil a hijack, reviving one of the many conspiracy theories surrounding its disappearance.
The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
No sign of the Boeing 777 jet was found in a vast search of the southern Indian Ocean and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended early last year.
Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.
The search restarted in January, in an area north of the original zone that scientists now believe is the likeliest crash site. A private research vessel is scouring the seabed, commissioned by Malaysia on a "no find, no fee" basis.
Mahathir, 92, who is leading an opposition bid to topple ...

Mahathir raises 'remote takeover' theory in MH370 mystery

Thirteen people were killed and several injured when a fire broke out at an apartment complex in Vietnam's southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City early today, authorities said.
The fire in the Carina Plaza highrise building started around midnight on the lower floors of the building and soon spread to the upper floors.
An official told AFP that many of the victims died of suffocation as they tried to flee the fire by running to higher floors.
"Thirteen people were pulled out dead and more than a dozen others injured. They died from suffocation," the official from the neighbourhood's government office told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
She said officials had not yet determined the cause of the fire.
Photos on social media showed residents being rescued from balconies and plumes of black smoke rising from the tall building.
The fire was extinguished by dawn Friday, though the area was shrouded in thick smoke for several hours, according to images on state-run media.
The .

Thirteen dead in Vietnam highrise apartment fire

World number one Dustin Johnson crashed out of the World Golf Championships Dell Technologies Match Play after suffering his second defeat of the tournament.
Defending champion Johnson, who suffered an upset loss to Austrian Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, was beaten 4&3 by Canada's Adam Hadwin at the Austin Country Club in Texas.
The loss made it impossible for Johnson to progress from Group One in the round-robin phase to the weekend's knockout rounds, with Hadwin -- who halved his opening match with Kevin Kisner -- assured of finishing above the top seed.
Johnson trailed from the opening hole against 38th seed Hadwin, who set up a simple birdie chance after hitting his iron from the fairway to within four feet.
Johnson birdied the fifth to draw level but Hadwin edged back in front on the sixth after draining a 13-foot eagle putt on the 590-yard par-five.
The 30-year-old from Moose Jaw went two up at the turn with another superb putt, rolling in a 38-footer.
Johnson then found ...

World No.1 Johnson crashes out at WGC Match Play

South Korea's Park Hee-young, Sweden's Caroline Hedwall and American Jackie Stoelting each fired a six-under par 66 to share the lead after the opening round of the LPGA Kia Classic.
In the final tuneup before next week's first major championship of the LPGA season at Rancho Mirage, Park and Hedwall opened with bogey-free rounds at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, California.
"It was just a solid day," Hedwall said. "I hit it really well and started making a couple putts in my back nine. Just I'm really happy with how I'm playing and looking forward to the rest of the days."
Hedwall began on the back nine and birdied six of her last 10 holes to join the lead pack. She birdied 18, followed with birdies at the second and third holes, birdied the par-5 fifth and eighth holes and closed with a birdie at the ninth.
Hedwall is winless in 125 LPGA events, her eight titles worldwide including five in Europe and three in Australia, including her most recent at the 2013 Women's New South Wales ...

Park, Hedwall and Stoelting shoot 66s to share LPGA lead

World champion Lewis Hamilton made an ominous start to the season as he led a Mercedes one-two in opening practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix here today.
Hamilton clocked a best time of one minute 24.026 seconds among his 27 laps to be a half-second quicker than team-mate Valtteri Bottas (1:24.577) in Melbourne.
The 33-year-old Briton is gunning for his fifth world title this year, an achievement which would match the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and leave him just two adrift of Michael Schumacher's all-time record.
Dutchman Max Verstappen was third quickest in his Red Bull with 1:24.771, some 0.745sec behind Hamilton, while his Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth.
Ricciardo was heard saying on the team radio: "Still disconnected. I struggle with the front when leaning on it, and I feel like the rear hurts on exit still."
The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and fifth fastest, but, significantly, between 0.8-0.9secs slower than ...

Ominous start: Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in season's first practice

Kane Williamson carved out a New Zealand record 18th century as he extended the Black Caps' commanding first innings lead over England on a rain-hit day two of the first Test here today.
At tea in Auckland, the New Zealand captain was not out on 100 with Henry Nicholls on 36 for a lead of 139 runs, after England crumbled to be all out for 58 on day one.
New Zealand resumed on Friday at 175 for three with Williamson and Nicholls calmly adding 22 runs in 40 minutes, enough time for the skipper to reach his historic hundred, before rain drove the players from the field.
Tea was taken 30 minutes early, although the weather had cleared by then.
Williamson began day two on 91 and faced 25 deliveries before he clipped James Anderson through the gully for a single to bring up his milestone century, after sharing the previous record with team-mate Ross Taylor and the late Martin Crowe.
He scored his first Test century on debut -- 131 against India at Ahmedabad in 2010 -- and now, in his 64th ..

Williamson hits record ton as NZ extend lead

EU leaders decided today to recall the bloc's envoy to Russia after backing Britain's assessment that Moscow was likely behind a nerve agent attack on an ex-spy, officials said.
A number of EU countries are also considering expelling Russian diplomats or recalling their own envoys following the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England.
"After agreeing on attribution, they continued the discussions on how could they go beyond just words and actually really have some deeds," a senior EU official said after the first day of the summit.
"Some member states are looking into possibly expelling Russian diplomats or recalling national diplomats.
"But there was also an agreement to recall the EU ambassador to Moscow for consultations."
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed the recall of the EU envoy.
Another EU source told AFP the recall was a "show of intent".
The 28 EU leaders said in a statement "that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is .

EU to recall envoy to Russia over spy attack: officials

British Prime Minister Theresa May told EU leaders today that securing a deal on the post-Brexit transition period had created a "new dynamic" to now tackle the toughest questions of trade and Ireland.
British and EU negotiators this week agreed the terms of a 21-month transition period intended to smooth Britain's withdrawal from the bloc starting in March 2019, paving the way for talks to begin on the future bilateral partnership.
"We have the chance, now, to create a new dynamic in the talks to work together to explore workable solutions -- in Northern Ireland, in our future security cooperation and in order to ensure the future prosperity of all our people," May told a summit dinner in Brussels, according to her office.
"This is an opportunity it is our duty to take and to enter into with energy and ambition."
May was due to leave Brussels after the dinner, leaving the other 27 EU leaders to meet without her on Friday to formally agree the transition deal.
They will also approve ..

May says transition deal creates 'new dynamic' for Brexit talks

Three years into their war on Yemen's rebels, Saudi Arabia and its military allies -- armed by the US and Britain -- could stand guilty of war crimes, Amnesty International said today.
While all parties in the Yemen war are accused of neglecting civilian safety, the Saudi-led coalition, which intervened on the side of the government in 2015, is behind "the latest in a long string of potential war crimes" documented by Amnesty, said the London-based rights group.
"There is extensive evidence that irresponsible arms flows to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have resulted in enormous harm to Yemeni civilians," said Lynn Maalouf, head of Middle East research at Amnesty.
"But this has not deterred the USA, the UK and other states, including France, Spain and Italy, from continuing transfers of billions of dollars worth of such arms.
"As well as devastating civilian lives, this makes a mockery of the global Arms Trade Treaty."
The United States and Britain are both signatories to the treaty, .

Amnesty slams US, UK for arming Saudi coalition in Yemen war

Brazil's top court today delayed until April 4 a decision on whether ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should go to jail if he loses an appeal next week.
The Federal Supreme Court decision is a shot in the arm for the 72-year-old leftist leader, the front-runner for October's presidential election, and means he cannot be jailed for at least two weeks.
The court, sitting in the capital Brasilia, was expected to decide whether losing an appeal next Monday at a lower court would automatically mean Lula's immediate arrest and incarceration, or if he would be given recourse to seek further legal remedies.
A court in Porto Alegre is to give its verdict on Monday on Lula's appeal against a 12-year jail sentence for money laundering and corruption.
The eventual ruling by the 11 judges, when they reconvene on April 4, will weigh heavily on Brazilian politics, seven months before the presidential elections, which Lula, despite his legal travails, is favoured to win.
The court convened at ..

Brazil Supreme Court delays decision on Lula imprisonment

EU leaders agreed today with Britain's assessment that Moscow was "highly likely" responsible for the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy, the bloc's president Donald Tusk said.
The 28 leaders unanimously backed a statement at a summit in Brussels saying that Russian involvement was the "only plausible explanation" for the nerve agent attack in the southwestern English city of Salisbury.
The show of solidarity came after British Prime Minister Theresa May personally appealed to her colleagues and warned that Russia posed a long-term threat to world security.
"#EUCO (European Council) agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for #SalisburyAttack and that there is no other plausible explanation," Tusk tweeted.
The statement was significantly tougher than one endorsed by the bloc's 28 foreign ministers on Monday, which said only that the countries took Britain's assessment "extremely seriously" and stopped short of blaming Russia.

EU leaders agree Russia 'highly likely' behind UK spy attack: Tusk

Catalan separatists failed to elect their candidate to head the regional presidency in a confidence vote today after the most radical faction of Catalonia's independence movement abstained from voting.
Jordi Turull obtained 64 votes in favour, 65 against and four abstentions, falling short of an absolute majority in the 135-seat Catalan parliament needed to win.
He will face a second vote in two days when just a simple majority is needed to win but will have to appear before a judge tomorrow who may remand him in custody over his role in Catalonia's independence drive.

Catalan separatist candidate fails to win regional presidency

A Syrian rebel group, which still controls a pocket of the Ghouta enclave in the east, today announced a ceasefire from midnight to allow negotiations with the regime's ally Russia, a spokesman for the faction said.
The announcement came after air raids targeted the part of southern Ghouta under the control of the Faylaq al-Rahman rebel group.

Syrian rebel group in Ghouta enclave announces ceasefire

The United States formally approved defence contracts totalling more than USD 1 billion with Saudi Arabia today, as the kingdom's crown prince continued his American tour.
The State Department confirmed it had green-lighted a USD 670 million deal for anti-tank missiles, a USD 106 million contract for helicopter maintenance and USD 300 million for ground vehicle parts.
An official said the deals had been in the pipeline since President Donald Trump has announced more than USD 100 billion in possible new contracts on a visit to Riyadh last year.
"This proposed sale will support US foreign policy and national security objectives by improving the security of a friendly country," the Defence Security Cooperation Agency said.
Western governments are under pressure from campaigners, including some US lawmakers, to halt or limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia as its forces fight in Yemen's brutal civil war.
But the United States, France and Britain continue to pursue lucrative deals to sell and ..

US approves $1 billion in Saudi defence contracts

Air India launched yesterday the first scheduled service to Israel to be allowed to cross Saudi airspace, a sign of a behind-the-scenes improvement in ties between the Arab kingdom and the Jewish state.
Flight AI 139 landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport about 30 minutes after its scheduled arrival time of 1:15 am IST.
"This is a historic moment," Israeli Transport Minister Yisrael Katz told AFP on the tarmac as the Boeing Dreamliner rolled to a halt.
"It is the first time that there is an official connection between the state of Israel and Saudi Arabia," he said in Hebrew.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin was also there to welcome the flight.
"A new era has begun," he said.
There will now be three flights weekly in each direction, ending a decades-long Saudi ban on the use of its airspace for commercial flights to Israel.
Israel's national carrier El Al currently operates an India service to Mumbai that takes a detour over the Red Sea to avoid flying over Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi ..

AFP

AFP

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