Israel's military admitted for the first time today it was responsible for a 2007 air raid against a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor, a strike it was long believed to have carried out.
The admission along with the release of newly declassified material related to the raid comes as Israel intensifies its warnings over the presence of its main enemy Iran in neighbouring Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeatedly called for the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran to be changed or eliminated.
US President Donald Trump, who met Netanyahu at the White House this month, has said that the nuclear deal must be "fixed" by May 12 or the United States will walk away.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to respond to questions related to the admission and the release of the documents, including over the timing, which could be seen as a warning regarding Iran's activities.
The declassified material includes footage of the strike, video of a speech by military ...

Israel admits 2007 Syrian 'nuclear reactor' strike for first time

PTI Automatic

Russia's suspected involvement in the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter in Britain shows Moscow has "chosen to be a strategic competitor," US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis suggested today.
"We've always been willing to cooperate with Russia where possible," Mattis told reporters when asked if he saw scope for improved relations with Russia following President Vladimir Putin's re-election.
"Unfortunately they have chosen to be a strategic competitor of late from what happened in the United Kingdom," he added, in an apparent reference to the March 4 attack in Salisbury.
Mattis also called Russia out over its annexation of Crimea and military involvement in eastern Ukraine.
"The list goes on," Mattis said.
Russia is facing huge pressure from Britain and its allies to explain how its former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned on British soil with a nerve agent that Britain says is Soviet-designed.
The crisis has resulted in tit-for-tat diplomat ...

Mattis points to UK poisoning, calls Russia 'strategic competitor'

A police officer in the US state of Minnesota who shot dead an unarmed Australian woman last July was charged with murder, in a case that sparked an international outcry.
Mohamed Noor shot Justine Damond, a 40-year-old resident of the city of Minneapolis, after she called to report a possible rape in the evening hours, and approached the police car that had arrived to investigate.
"From the short time between when Ms Damond Ruszczyk approached the squad car, to the time that Officer Noor fired the fatal shot, there is no evidence that Officer Noor encountered a threat... that justified his decision to use deadly force," Hennepin County prosecutor Mike Freeman said yesterday.
"Instead, Officer Noor recklessly and intentionally fired his handgun from the passenger seat, in disregard for human life."
Noor was charged with counts of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, which respectively carry sentences of up to 25 years, and up to 10 years.
The shooting caused outrage in ..

US officer charged with murder of unarmed Aus woman

The United States is not seeking a trade war over tariffs but does not fear one, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said today after a meeting of G20 finance ministers.
A trade war "is not our goal, but we are not afraid of it," Mnuchin said at the end of the two-day meeting in Buenos Aires aimed at averting a crisis sparked by looming US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
"We have to be prepared to act in the US interest to defend free and fair reciprocal trade. In doing that there is always a risk.
"That's not our goal. But we are not afraid of it," he said.
Mnuchin was speaking after ministers agreed not to condemn the US move in the meeting's final statement, but instead spoke of "heightened economic and geopolitical tensions."
"Downside risks persist and, over the medium term, challenges remain to raise growth and make it more inclusive," the ministers from the most developed and emerging economies said.
The final communique, approved three days before US trade tariffs on steel ...

US unafraid of trade war after G20 meet

Cambridge Analytica, the British firm at the centre of a major data scandal rocking Facebook, has suspended its chief executive as lawmakers demanded answers from the social media giant over the breach.
Alexander Nix will stand aside pending an investigation into boasts he made to an undercover reporter about entrapping politicians and operating shadowy front companies "and other allegations", the company board said.
"In the view of the Board, Mr. Nix's recent comments secretly recorded by Channel 4 and other allegations do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation," the company said in a statement.
Cambridge Analytica has denied claims it harvested data from up to 50 million Facebook users as part of its work for US President Donald Trump's election campaign.
But the row has plunged Facebook into a major scandal, facing investigations on both sides of the Atlantic over its use of personal data, ...

UK firm in Facebook row suspends CEO as lawmakers demand answers

Iran's foreign minister today lashed out at Donald Trump over the US president's message to the country on the occasion of its Nowruz Persian New Year celebrations.
"With millennia of civilisation, Iranians have the historical depth to ignore the absurd insults of an arriviste leader; one whose entire command of history, politics and diplomacy can be condensed into 280 characters - but even so, still superior to his juvenile royal stooge," Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter, referring to Trump's own tweets.
In his message released by the White House, Trump said: "The Iranian people face another challenge: rulers who serve themselves instead of serving their people".
The US president also denounced Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.
"Twenty-five centuries ago, Darius the Great asked God to protect Iran from three dangers: hostile armies, drought, and falsehood. Today, the Iranian regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) represents all three."
Since taking office in January ..

Iran lashes Trump over 'absurd insults'

US President Donald Trump vowed today that authorities will get to the bottom of a series of bombings in Texas, saying whoever carried them out was "very, very sick."
His comments during a White House meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came after a fifth package exploded on a conveyor belt in an FedEx package sorting facility near San Antonio.
The other four parcel bombs blew up in the Austin area.
"It's terrible," he said. "This is obviously a very, very sick individual or maybe individuals. These are sick people, and we will get to the bottom of it.

Trump calls those behind Texas package bombs 'sick people'

China has announced it is building the world's fastest wind tunnel to develop a new generation of super-fast airplanes, but it could also be used for hypersonic missile technology.
Wind tunnels test how air will pass over a solid object, helping designers improve aerodynamics or reduce stress points for objects as they reach high speeds.
State-run Xinhua news agency ran a report late yesterday revealing the development of what it said would be "the world's fastest hypersonic wind tunnel".
"The 265-meter-long tunnel can be used to test hypersonic aircraft that can travel at speeds of up to Mach 25 (30,625 kph), 25 times the speed of sound," Han Guilai, a researcher with China's State Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying.
To compare, the current fastest generation of fighter jets can travel up to speeds of around 2.5 Mach.
The revelation comes as the world's leading military nations embark on a race to develop the next .

China to build 'world's fastest' wind tunnel

Heavy air strikes and shelling killed 29 civilians in the main town of Syria's rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus today, a Britain-based monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the regime or its Russian ally carried out the air raids on the enclave's main town of Douma.

Bombardment kills 29 civilians in Syria's Ghouta: monitor

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his foreign minister today demanded that Iran allow the Canadian widow of an environmentalist who died in prison to leave the country.
In a Twitter message, the Canadian leader said: "Iran must allow Maryam Mombeini to leave the country and travel to Canada to be with her family."
He was echoed by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who said in a statement: "We continue to call on Iranian authorities to immediately give Maryam Mombeini, a Canadian citizen, the freedom to return home."
As well, the pair renewed calls for the Iranian regime to explain how her husband, Kavous Seyed Emami, an academic and environmentalist, died in Tehran's Evin prison in February.
Canada is "gravely concerned" about Seyed Emami's death," Freeland said.
"The regime must provide answers in the death of her husband, Kavous Seyed Emami, in Evin prison," Trudeau said.
Seyed Emami was arrested in January and accused of spying for Israel and the United States. Iranian ...

Canada ups pressure on Iran to let environmentalist's wife leave

Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone today, days after the Russian leader secured a fourth term in the Kremlin.
White House officials confirmed the call, but offered no immediate details about whether Trump offered his congratulations after an election that appears to have had significant flaws.
The White House had earlier indicated that no call with Putin was planned and the Russian leader played down talk of a rift.

Trump, Putin speak by phone after Russian vote

US lawmakers will vote today on whether to end American involvement in Yemen's bloody civil war, an extraordinary effort to overrule presidential military authorisation just as Saudi Arabia's crown prince visits Washington.
The rare Senate vote addressing American war powers aims to shut down US military involvement in Yemen within a month unless Congress formally authorises continued involvement.
The US military is currently supporting a Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.
The vote, which was being forced to the floor by a bipartisan group of senators including Bernie Sanders, could cause diplomatic embarrassment on a day President Donald Trump when meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is launching a three-week US tour.
Some US lawmakers have long expressed concern about the Yemen conflict, which has seen high levels of civilian casualties and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The Pentagon since 2015 has provided "non-combat support" to Saudi ...

US Senate to vote on military involvement in Yemen war

The diplomatic snub of Russia's World Cup gathered steam Tuesday as four countries said they were either not sending officials in support of Britain's partial boycott or considering the move.
London last week said British ministers and royals would not attend the showpiece in protest over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England.
The Skripals survived the nerve agent attack but remain in critical condition.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said her government had found that Russia was "culpable" of the attack -- a charge Moscow angrily denies.
England is still expected to send its team and none of the 31 nations that qualified alongside the host have said they would not do so.
But Polish President Andrzej Duda's office said he will be skipping the tournament's opening ceremony on June 14 in Moscow.
"Yesterday, the president made the decision not to participate as a representative of Poland at the World Cup in Russia," presidential chief of ...

Countries weigh diplomatic snub of Russia's World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo says the key to his staggering success is believing nobody is better than he is -- and he advised his Portuguese teammates to adopt the same attitude.
The Real Madrid star made the comments as he accepted the Portuguese player of the year award in Lisbon.
"We should always believe we are the best," said Ronaldo, who led Portugal to the Euro 2016 title and who is now turning his gaze to the 2018 World Cup.
"You need to think big. I always believe that nobody is better than me, out on the pitch at least," he said.
"On a personal and collective level I have had a dream year. I won five trophies (Champions League, UEFA Supercup, World Club Cup, Spanish league title and the Spanish Supercup), the Ballon D'Or and the FIFA 'Best' title."
Ronaldo, who has been voted Ballon D'Or winner five times, is currently in Lisbon with the Portugal squad who play fellow World Cup qualifiers Egypt on Friday and the Netherlands three days later.
The 33-year-old has scored 79 goals in 147 .

Cristiano Ronaldo says self-belief key to success

Three people, including the assailant, were critically injured in a shooting at a high school in the eastern US state of Maryland today, officials said, just days before a nationwide student-organised march against school violence.
The shooting occurred shortly after 8:00 am (1200 GMT) at Great Mills High School, located about a 90-minute drive southeast of the US capital Washington.
"A single shooter fired a round at a female victim just at the beginning of the school hours this morning," St. Mary's County Sheriff Tim Cameron told the MSNBC television network.
The sheriff said the shooter was "engaged" by the "school resource officer" responsible for security and was critically wounded.
He said a female student was in critical condition and a "young man" was in critical but stable condition. All three were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
Police cars and emergency vehicles with flashing lights could be seen surrounding the school.
"It happened really quickly, right after school 

Two plus attacker hurt in Maryland school shooting: sheriff

Jordi Sanchez, a separatist civic leader in jail over his alleged role in Catalonia's secession bid, is mulling dropping his bid to lead the region in what could ease a months-long political blockage.
In an appeal today at the Supreme Court against the decision to keep him in jail pending a probe into alleged sedition and rebellion, Sanchez's lawyers said he was "considering giving up his (parliamentary) seat in the coming days."
If he does this, separatist parties would be able to designate a new candidate for the presidency of Catalonia, which has been under direct rule from Madrid since October 27 when regional lawmakers declared independence.
While separatist parties won subsequent regional elections in December, retaining their absolute majority in parliament, they have still not been able to form a government.
Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont, who was sacked by Madrid after the independence declaration and left for Belgium where he lives in self-exile, was their ...

Jailed Catalan separatist mulls dropping leadership bid

Russian prosecutors requested today a nine-year prison sentence for Yury Dmitriyev, a respected activist who has researched and exhumed Stalin-era mass graves, for allegedly producing child pornography, his lawyer said.
"The prosecutor requested nine years," his attorney, Viktor Anufriyev, told AFP after a court hearing in northwestern Russia.
"Both the criminal case itself and the prosecutor's position are not based on law. They are based on some other motives."
Dmitriyev, 62, who is the head of rights group Memorial's branch in Karelia in northwestern Russia, has been accused of taking pornographic pictures of his adoptive daughter.
A spokeswoman for the Karelia prosecutor's office, Tatyana Kordyukova, told AFP she could not comment on the closed-door hearing.
Dmitriyev's supporters say the case against him is an attempt by authorities to muzzle the outspoken historian whose research drew international attention to one of the darkest chapters of Russia's history.
Experts, who last ..

Russian gulag historian faces 9 years in prison: lawyer

Humanitarian aid today reached desperate families displaced to the northern Syrian town of Tal Rifaat by a nearby Turkish offensive, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Ankara's two-month assault on Kurdish fighters in the region of Afrin, further west, has forced tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in Tal Rifaat.
The humanitarian situation in the town has been dire, and today the ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent began delivering much-needed aid.
"The 14-truck convoy includes 25 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid. Distribution of bread, blankets and bottles of water already started," said ICRC spokeswoman Ingy Sedky.
Deliveries would also include diapers, kitchen sets, and water tanks.
Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups launched an assault on the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in the Afrin region on January 20 and captured its urban centre on Sunday.
According to the United Nations, around 100,000 people have fled the fighting, but the Syrian ...

Aid reaches Syrians displaced by Turkey's Afrin assault: ICRC

Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands today won the prestigious Abel Prize for developing a programme connecting representation theory to number theory, Norway's Academy of Sciences and Letters said.
"The programme has enlisted hundreds of the world's best mathematicians over the last 50 years. No other project in modern mathematics has as wide a scope, has produced so many deep results, and has so many people working on it," the Academy said in a statement.
The so-called Langlands programme dates back to 1967, when the then-associate professor at Princeton University wrote a letter to renowned French mathematician Andre Weil outlining his new theory.
It suggested deep links between two areas, number theory and harmonic analysis, which had previously been considered unrelated.
Weil circulated the letter widely to colleagues, and it has engaged a large number of mathematicians since then.
Now aged 81, Langlands will be awarded the 6.0-million-kroner (632,00-euro, USD 776,000) Abel ...

Canadian mathematician Langlands wins Abel Prize

Seychelles' opposition coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, said today it would not ratify a deal signed with India to build a military base on one of the archipelago's outlying islands.
The deal would see India invest USD 550 million dollars (446 million euros) in building the base on Assumption island to help it ensure the safety of its vessels in the southern Indian Ocean.
Indian soldiers would be deployed on the island which lies 1,135 kilometres (705 miles) southwest from the capital Victoria, and help train Seychelles' troops.
However the deal has faced some resistance from locals, and Wavel Ramkalawan, head of the opposition Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (Seychelles Democratic Union in Creole) said the coalition "will not ratify the Assumption deal. This deal is dead".
The LDS had held a majority in parliament since its victory in 2016 legislative elections.
Yesterday, President Danny Faure said he would meet with Ramkalawan on March 26 to discuss the deal, which was ...

Seychelles opposition to block India military deal

Even the richest black boys raised in the US earn less in adulthood than white boys from similar backgrounds, according to a wide-ranging study.
While white men who grew up wealthy tend to stay that way, black boys raised in affluent families and neighborhoods are more likely to become poor than to stay well-off, researchers at Stanford and Harvard universities found.
White boys fare better than black boys who grow up side-by-side with parents on similar incomes in 99 per cent of American neighborhoods, according to the study, which traced the lives of 20 million children.
No such income disparity exists between black and white girls from families with comparable earnings, however, according to the research, carried out in collaboration with the US Census Bureau.
"A defining feature of the 'American Dream' is upward income mobility: the ideal that children have a higher standard of living than their parents," said The Equality of Opportunity Project, a joint initiative between ...

AFP

AFP

Page 978 - Afp