Venezuela has formally launched its new oil-backed cryptocurrency in an unconventional bid to haul itself out of a deepening economic crisis.
The leftist Caracas government put 38.4 million units of the world's first state-backed digital currency, the Petro, on private pre-sale from the early hours.
During the first 20 hours of the pre-sale, which runs through March 19, Venezuela received "intent to buy" offers to the tune of USD 735 million, according to President Nicolas Maduro.
"The Petro reinforces our independence and economic sovereignty and will allow us to fight the greed of foreign powers that try to suffocate Venezuelan families to seize our oil," he said.
A total of 100 million Petros will go on sale, with an initial value set at USD 60, based on the price of a barrel of Venezuelan crude in mid-January -- but subject to change.
Economist and cryptocurrency expert Jean-Paul Leidenz told AFP prices during the pre-sale "will be agreed privately," and will then fluctuate ...

Venezuela begins selling oil-backed cryptocurrency

PTI Automatic

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte believes the English champions can do "something incredible" by knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League at the Camp Nou on March 14, despite blowing a lead to draw the first leg of their last-16 tie 1-1.
Willian gave reason to a bold team selection from Conte on Tuesday by putting the English champions ahead just after the hour mark, having also hit the woodwork twice before half-time.
However, Barca pounced on a very rare Chelsea mistake on the night as Andres Iniesta intercepted a slack pass by Andreas Christensen and squared for Lionel Messi to slot home his first goal in nine appearances against Chelsea.
"We must be realistic. We are talking about Barcelona. They show tonight to be a strong, fantastic team," said Conte.
"We have showed that if we are ready to work very hard together defensively, but continue to have the right feeling when you win the ball when you have the chance to score, we can try to do something incredible at the Nou ...

Chelsea capable of the 'incredible' to spring Barca surprise: Conte

Former world No.3 Milos Raonic got his 2018 off to a roaring start with a 6-1, 7-5 rout of Taro Daniel in the first round of the Delray Beach Open here.
Raonic is ranked 32nd in the world which is vastly different than last year when he came into Delray Beach ranked fourth on the men's ATP Tour.
Injuries limited Raonic's time on the court in 2017 and this was just his second tour-level win in six months.
So his straight set victory on Tuesday against Japan's Daniel is a sign of better days ahead as he seeks his ninth career Tour title.
"It's a good thing I was able to win today and it gives me a lot of things that I believe I can do better tomorrow," said ninth seeded Raonic.
"I just got to keep building day-by-day and working my way into it and just try to get in as many wins as possible. That's the most important thing."
Raonic has some unfinished business in Delray Beach. He advanced to the title match last year but hand to pull out against American Jack Sock because of a leg ...

Raonic has unfinished business in Delray Beach

The Pakistan Super League launches its third edition in Dubai tomorrow, adding a sixth team, more international stars and with hopes that the Twenty20 tournament can be staged entirely on home soil from 2019.
The new Multan Sultans and the confirmation of a slew of international greats such as Shane Watson and Brendon McCullum has given a lift to fans eager to forget last-year's spot-fixing scandal.
And the decision to stage the three final matches of the PSL at home, in Lahore and Karachi, could pave the way for the entire tournament to be staged in Pakistan next year.
The Sultans, bought by the Schon Group for $5.2 million -- twice the price tag of the previous most expensive team in the franchise, the Karachi Kings -- are coached by legendary Pakistani paceman Wasim Akram and skippered by Shoaib Malik.
They will take on defending champions Peshawar Zalmi in the opening match in Dubai Thursday, after a rousing opening ceremony set to include a performance by US rapper Jason ...

Three home games for growing PSL lift hopes for 2019 return

Thomas Mueller says Bayern Munich could repeat their 2013 treble after crushing 10-man Besiktas 5-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
Bayern have one foot in the quarter-finals with Besiktas facing a near impossible task for the return leg in Istanbul on March 14.
Both Mueller and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern ran riot in the second half in Germany.
"Everything is possible," Mueller said when asked whether Bayern can repeat their 2013 haul of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles.
However head coach Jupp Heynckes, 72, who oversaw the treble five years ago, insists Bayern must do better if they want all three titles again.
"Any talk like that is the job of journalists, the Champions League is a different competition and we must improve," said Heynckes.
"Everyone in the stadium saw that we found it hard in the first half.
"We didn't find our rhythm and we were nervous -- I don't know my team like that.
"In the first half ...

Mueller starts treble talk as Bayern rout Besiktas

Japan has reported a new suspected sanctions violation by Pyongyang to the UN after spotting an apparent cargo transfer between a ship marked with Chinese characters and a North Korean vessel, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
The incident is the third time this year that Tokyo has reported a cargo transfer by a North Korean vessel in violation of UN sanctions over Pyongyang's banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Japan's foreign ministry said late Tuesday a military patrol plane and an escort vessel observed the apparent transfer in the East China Sea on Friday afternoon.
The Japanese navy "found the Yu Jong 2, a North Korean-flagged tanker, lying alongside a small vessel of unknown nationality... on the high sea" around 250 kilometres (155 miles) offshore from the Chinese city of Shanghai, the foreign ministry said.
Four Chinese characters reading "Min Ning De You 078" meaning "Fujian Province, Ningde City, oil tanker 078" in English, were on the small vessel, the ...

Japan reports suspected North Korea sanctions breach

Liberia's new President George Weah has pledged to fight endemic corruption as he spoke about conditions in his "broke country" on the first day of an official visit to Paris.
The former international football star who, took office on January 22, is faced with a dire economic situation in Liberia following two civil wars and a deadly Ebola epidemic in 2013-2015.
"I inherited a country that is very broke, depleted by political malfeasance. We have to make sure that the things that happened will not happen again," Weah said.
"I ordered a complete audit to make sure that what belongs to the government goes to the government."
Weah also spoke at a conference about another top priority, education for young people who represent 60 percent of 4.7 million Liberians.
"I believe in education. Yes, I didn't have the opportunity in my early days but after my carrier I went back to school. Today I can boast of a masters degree," said the new leader, who grew up in a Monrovia slum.
Founded 170 ...

'I inherited a broke country', says new Liberian president

Up to 1,000 tourists were stranded in New Zealand's Golden Bay today after the remnants of Cyclone Gita buffeted the South Pacific nation, officials said.
Authorities said they were considering sending ferries to ship the holiday-makers out of the remote South Island region after huge landslips closed the main highway.
Elsewhere, the storm cut power to tens of thousands of homes, felled trees and washed away roads.
Cyclone Gita caused extensive damage as it tore through Tonga and Samoa last week, peaking as a top-of-the-scale Category Five super-storm.
It has since been downgraded but still carried a sting in the tail when it reached New Zealand overnight, bringing 140 kmh winds and around 7.8 inches of rainfall.
Seven local council areas, including the South Island's main city of Christchurch, declared a state of emergency on yesterday as officials anticipated the worst.
Most reported early today that the weather had not been as extreme as predicted, with the top of the South Island .

Tourists stranded as cyclone's tail hits New Zealand

Faced with an outpouring of grief and anger over a deadly school shooting in Florida, US President Donald Trump has threw his support behind moves to ban "bump stocks" -- an accessory that can turn a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic one.
Trump also said school safety was a "top priority" for his administration and he would be holding meetings on the subject this week and also next week, when he meets with governors from all 50 US states.
Calls to ban bump stocks have been mounting since Stephen Paddock, a retired accountant, used them on several of his weapons to kill 58 concertgoers in Las Vegas in October 2017 in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.
Although the former student who shot dead 17 people in Florida last week did not have bump stocks on his gun, there has been a renewed focus on the devices because outlawing them is a rare point of agreement between Democrats, some Republicans and the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby.
Trump -- who ..

Trump backs ban on 'bump stocks' on semi-automatic weapons

US President Donald Trump and his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to boost cooperation on security, trade and migration in a phone call, both countries said.
Tension between the two countries has soared over Trump's anti-Mexican rhetoric, but there are recent signs the two leaders are trying to smooth things over. Last week, the White House said the two presidents were working on arranging a meeting.
However, there was no mention of a meeting in yesterday's brief statements.
"President Trump underscored his commitment to expanding cooperation between the United States and Mexico on security, trade and immigration," the White House said.
Pena Nieto's office issued a similar statement.
Both sides said the two leaders also exchanged condolences over last week's school shooting in Parkland, Florida and a military helicopter crash in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that killed 14 people.
Trump's vows to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border, attacks on Mexican immigrants and ..

Trump, Mexican president talk security, trade, migration

Six hospitals have been struck over two days in the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, putting three out of service and killing several people, the United Nations said today.
"I am appalled and distressed by reports of the horrifying attacks against six hospitals in East Ghouta over the past 48 hours," said Panos Moumtzis, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis.
In addition to the six listed by the UN, another key hospital was hit and put out of service today, the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said.

Six Syria enclave hospitals bombed in two days: UN

Hollywood star George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal have pledged USD 500,000 to help fund a US student march on Washington demanding gun control reforms.
The "March for Our Lives" is scheduled to take place on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country. It comes after a 19-year-old armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida last week.
Surviving students, who have grown up with mass shootings at US schools but are young enough to feel optimistic that change can come, have vowed to make the tragedy a turning point in America's deadlocked debate on gun control.
"Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School," Clooney said in a statement.
"Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country," he added.
"In the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we're ...

Clooneys donate USD 500,000 to student gun reform march

- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said Turkish forces would soon lay siege to Syria's Afrin as a cross-border offensive targeting a Kurdish militia entered its second month.
On January 20, Ankara launched an air and ground operation supporting Syrian rebels against the People's Protection Units (YPG) in the Afrin region of northern Syria.
Turkey views the YPG as a Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
"In the coming days, swiftly, we will lay siege to the centre of the town of Afrin," Erdogan told parliament.
While some analysts say Turkey and pro-Ankara Syrian rebels have made slow advances, Erdogan defended the operation's progress, saying the army wanted to avoid putting the lives of both its troops and civilians needlessly "at risk".
"We did not go there to burn it down," he said, adding that the operation's aim was to "create a safe and liveable area", where Syrian refugees in 

Turkey vows to lay siege to Syria's Afrin 'in coming days'

Regime air strikes today pushed the death toll from three days of bombing in Syria's rebel Eastern Ghouta to over 200 as Damascus pitched pro-government forces into the fray against Turkey in a Kurdish-held border region.
The pro-regime fighters came under bombardment from Turkey after entering the northern Afrin region, escalating a month-long offensive by Ankara in another major twist for Syria's complex near-seven-year war.
To the south on the outskirts of Damascus, air strikes and rocket and artillery fire have battered the Eastern Ghouta enclave since Sunday in apparent preparation for a government ground assault on the besieged region.
More than 200 civilians have been killed, among them 57 children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
On yesterday alone, 127 civilians, including 39 children, were killed in the bombardment - the single bloodiest day for Eastern Ghouta in four years.
Air strikes today morning killed at least 66 civilians, including 15 children, the ...

Syria regime pounds rebel enclave, sends fighters to face Turkey

Germany's Social Democrats today started a membership ballot on whether to again govern under Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after an opinion poll showed them trailing the far-right AfD party for the first time.
The referendum for more than 460,000 members of the crisis-hit SPD is the last hurdle for veteran leader Merkel as she seeks to form a new government, five months after an inconclusive election.
If the rank-and-file of the 153-year-old labour party give the thumbs up - with the results to be announced on March 4 - Merkel is set to launch her fourth-term government within a few weeks.
If they vote 'no' in the postal and online ballot, Europe's biggest economy faces more political paralysis and likely snap elections that would threaten a speedy end to Merkel's 12 years in power.
Despite weeks of turmoil and bitter infighting, the SPD leadership is hopeful its members will back the proposal for a continuation of the current right-left "grand coalition" government, known 

Germany's crisis-hit SPD starts ballot on Merkel coalition

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas today called for an international conference to be held by mid-2018 to pave the way for recognition of Palestinian statehood as part of a wider Middle East peace process.
In a rare address to the UN Security Council, Abbas said he would step up efforts to achieve full UN membership for Palestine and urged countries that have yet to recognize it to do so.
"To solve the Palestine question, it is essential to establish a multilateral international mechanism emanating from an international conference," Abbas said.
His address to the top UN body came amid simmering global concern over President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem infuriated the Palestinians, who declared that Washington could no longer play a role as lead mediator in the Middle East peace process.
Abbas said his proposed conference should lead to full UN membership for the state of Palestine, mutual ...

Abbas, in rare UN speech, calls for Mideast peace conference

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller unveiled charges of lying today against a lawyer linked to a former campaign aide of President Donald Trump, as the probe into Russian election meddling gains pace.
Mueller's powerful team of investigators accused Alex Van Der Zwaan of knowingly making false statements about his communications with Richard Gates, a former senior official on the Trump campaign who is under indictment on money laundering and tax-related charges linked to his work in Ukraine.
Van Der Zwaan, a London-based lawyer with the global law firm Skadden Arps, was also accused of lying about his contacts with another unnamed person, the charges said.
Little information was provided about his links to the Trump campaign, but he represented his law firm in work done for the Ukraine government in 2012 on the corruption trial of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
At that time Gates and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort were working for the Russian-backed Ukraine ...

US prosecutor Mueller charges lawyer with lying in Russia probeWASHINGTON

President Michel Aoun led a delegation today to Iraq on the first visit by a Lebanese head of state to the war-scarred country, for talks that included ways to eradicate terrorism.
Aoun held talks with Iraqi President Fuad Masum and was due to meet Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other key officials before travelling to Armenia tomorrow.
"We had constructive talks which reflect the historical and brotherly ties that link our two countries and our people," Aoun told a joint news conference with Masum.
"I would like to take advantage of this occasion to congratulate the Iraqi people for their firmness, patience and determination in the face of adversity... and terrorism," he said.
Iraq has been scarred by decades of conflict.
After an eight-year war with neighbouring Iran in the 1980s, and the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq was targeted by the Islamic State group which seized swathes of the country following a 2014 offensive.
In December, Abadi declared "the end of the war" against IS ...

Lebanese president makes landmark visit to Iraq

Turkey today fired at Syrian pro-regime forces as they entered the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, Syrian state media said.
The shelling marks a major escalation in the month-old assault Turkey and allied rebels are waging on Afrin.
"Turkish regime forces targeted the locations of popular forces with artillery fire as they arrived to the Afrin region," state news agency SANA reported.
Turkey said they it fired "warning shots" at Syria pro-regime forces in Afrin.
"Pro-regime terrorist groups that are trying to advance towards Afrin retreated to about 10 kilometres from the town because of the warning shots," Turkish state news agency Anadolu said.
Hundreds of pro-government fighters arrived this afternoon to Afrin, to take a stand against a Turkish-led offensive on the region.
Their deployment marks the first time since 2012 that regime forces take up positions in the area, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
In a statement, YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud said 

Turkey shells pro-regime forces in Afrin: Syria state media

Russia's Communists today appealed to President Vladimir Putin in an open letter accusing Kremlin "provocateurs" of running a smear campaign against their presidential candidate.
The Communist Party chose a new face for the March 18 polls, opting for businessman Pavel Grudinin rather than veteran leader Gennady Zyuganov.
The party complains that Grudinin has faced a barrage of negative coverage in state-controlled and pro-Kremlin media, focusing on his foreign bank accounts and property.
In an open letter to Putin, Communist leader Zyuganov complained that "provocateurs close to the Kremlin" were "using the most unworthy methods to blacken the leading opposition party that is supported by millions of voters."
He urged the Kremlin to "rein in" such mud-slingers and prevent them causing "mayhem" on Russian television channels, in order to ensure a "free choice for citizens."
Zyuganov praised Grudinin, who is currently backed by seven per cent of Russians according to VTsIOM state ...

Communists accuse Kremlin of smear campaign

A three-year downturn in Dubai's property market will likely continue until at least 2020, Standard & Poors said today, citing low oil prices, the introduction of VAT and a Gulf diplomatic crisis.
A glut of housing units and weak demand were also key reasons for the decline, the credit ratings agency said in a report.
The emirates real estate sector has been on the slide since 2014, when crude oil prices crashed, dealing a harsh blow to many Gulf investors.
Home prices dropped more than 15 per cent between then and mid-2017.The downward trajectory continued through to the end of last year, the S&P report said, with prices of residential units falling a further five to ten per cent.
It said the introduction of a value added tax and a prolonged crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours, including the United Arab Emirates, had also put pressure on real estate prices.
S&P called the downturn a "correction" but said the sector may start to bounce back when Dubai hosts a ...

AFP

AFP

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