Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro took to the US president's favourite medium, Twitter, to ask him to start a dialogue between the two countries.
"@RealDonaldTrump campaigned pledging to promote non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries. Its time to keep your pledge," Maduro wrote yesterday, encouraging Trump to hold a meeting in Washington or Caracas.
Maduro and senior government officials, including Attorney General Tarek William Saab, have alleged that the US is orchestrating an alleged plan for a "military invasion" of Venezuela from neighbouring Colombia.
"The military bombing, the military invasion, the blood and fire occupation of a peaceful country like Venezuela are being planned," Saab charged last week, an allegation Colombia has flatly denied.
On a recent tour of Latin America, top US diplomat Rex Tillerson floated the idea of slapping sanctions on Venezuela's oil exports, the source of 96 percent of the country's revenues.
Tillerson met in Bogota with 

Maduro reaches out to Trump on twitter

PTI Automatic

Special counsel Robert Mueller is probing Jared Kushner's efforts to get foreign investors beyond Russia to provide financing for his company during the presidential transition, including in China, CNN reported today.
The probe was previously only said to have focused on the Russia contacts of President Donald Trumps senior adviser and son in law, only with the campaigns data analytics and Kushner's ties with disgraced ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Mueller's team is probing Kushner's conversations during the presidential transition to get financing for the Kushner Companies-backed 666 Fifth Avenue office building in New York after financial setbacks, CNN said, citing people familiar with the investigation.
Kushner's father founded the real estate developer and lender.
CNN said Mueller's investigators have yet to contact Kushner Companies or request interviews with its executives, and the reasons behind the focus on the outreach to foreign investors are unclear.
Kushner ..

US probe looking at Kushner foreign business contacts: report

Babies born in the world's poorest countries, most of them in Africa, still face "alarming" risks of death that can be 50 times as high as those in the richest countries, according to a UNICEF report released today.
While the last quarter-century has seen broad improvements in older children's health, "we have not made similar progress in ending deaths among children less than one month old," said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF's executive director.
"Given that the majority of these deaths are preventable, clearly we are failing the worlds poorest babies."
The differences are stark. A baby born in Pakistan -- the country with the worst newborn mortality rate -- faced a one in 22 chance of death, while a newborn in Japan had only a one in 1,111 risk of dying, the report said.
Of the 10 highest-risk countries, eight are in sub-Saharan Africa, countries where "pregnant women are much less likely to receive assistance," due to poverty, conflict or weak institutions, according to the report.
Those 

Babies born in poorest countries still face alarming risks: UNICEF

Heavy Syrian bombardment of the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta is targeting civilians and must stop immediately, the United Nations warned today.
"It's imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now," Panos Moumtzis, the UN's Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis said in a statement.
Several days of bombardment on Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, has killed hundreds of people, with one monitor of Syria's seven-year conflict saying that at least 77 people had died there yesterday alone.
Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent concerted effort to retake it.
Moumtzis, whose organisation has repeatedly called for a cessation of fighting in Eastern Ghouta to allow in desperately needed food and medical aid, said the humanitarian situation in the rebel enclave was ...

Targeting of civilians in Syria's Eastern Ghouta 'must stop': UN

Boko Haram jihadists launched an attack on a girls boarding school in northeast Nigeria but the students and teachers fled to safety, witnesses said today.
A convoy of fighters in pickup trucks descended on Dapchi village in the Bursari area of Yobe state around 6 pm (1700 GMT) targeting the school, resident Sheriff Aisami told AFP.
"When they stormed the village they began shooting and setting off explosives," Aisami said.
"This drew the attention of the girls in the Girls Science Secondary School, so the girls and the teachers were able to escape before the attackers got into the school."
Unable to kidnap the girls, the Boko Haram fighters looted the school before fleeing.
"There was an attack on the girls secondary school in Dapchi by Boko Haram," said a member of a local civilian militia battling the extremists.
"Obviously the attack was meant to abduct school girls but luckily they found none of the girls as they were taken away by teachers before they arrived," said the militia .

Boko Haram attacks girls school in northeast Nigeria

A Peruvian court ordered former president Alberto Fujimori today to stand trial for the 1992 killings of six farmers, arguing that he lacks immunity despite a recent pardon for a different crime.
The National Criminal Court said the pardon granted to Fujimori in a human rights case for which he was serving a 25-year sentence did not apply to the murders of the group.
Prosecutors asked to try the ex-president and 22 others for the death squad killings.
Fujimori, 79, was pardoned by the current Peruvian president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, on December 24 on humanitarian grounds because of ill health.
The former leader had been serving a sentence for crimes that included commanding death squads that killed suspected civilian sympathizers of left-wing guerrillas that his regime was fighting.
The pardon triggered street protests in Peru and was slammed by international rights groups as a blow in the struggle against impunity.
Kuczynskis pardon was seen by many as quid pro quo for help from ...

Peru court orders Fujimori tried for 1992 mass killing: official

Three policemen were killed in "a vicious attack" in the Iranian capital during protests by a Sufi sect today, a police spokesman told local media.
"Three police officers were martyred in the street in a vicious attack using a bus," spokesman Saeed Montazer Almehdi told the official IRNA news agency.
Footage shown on state television appeared to show the moment the bus ploughed into a group of police officers in northern Tehran.
Members of Irans Gonabadi Sufi order, known as dervishes, were protesting the arrest of members of the sect, according to unconfirmed social media reports.
Police said gunshots were fired to disperse the protests, and unverified footage on social media showed riot police running through the streets and clashing with black-clad protesters.
"The law enforcement forces arrested a number of dervishes and ended the protest by firing tear gas," a witness told IRNA.
The conservative-linked Fars news agency said several police officers were also wounded in the bus ...

Three police killed in Sufi protests in Iran

Heavy Syrian bombardment killed at least 77 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, a war monitor said, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault.
Yesterday's escalation came as pro-government forces were also expected to enter the northern Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, to take a stand against a month-old Turkish assault there.
Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent concerted effort to retake it.
A barrage of air strikes, rocket fire and artillery slammed into several towns across Eastern Ghouta yesterday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 children were among 77 civilians killed in the assault, while around 300 other people were wounded.
"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The main opposition National ...

77 dead as Syria enclave pounded ahead of expected ground assault

Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank is letting hundreds of investment bankers go, Bloomberg News reported today, the latest round of deep cuts in a years-long battle for profitability.
"At least 250" and perhaps as many as 500 "senior and mid-level" bankers in London and the US have been shown the door in the past two weeks, Bloomberg said citing people familiar with the decisions.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP.
In early February, executives acknowledged that 2017 had been on of the investment bank's worst years yet, with revenues sapped by low volatility on financial markets and limited client activity.
Revenues at the division fell 16 percent to 14.2 billion euros (USD 17.6 billion) last year, leaving Deutsche lagging behind competitors in the US and Europe like Santander or BNP Paribas.
Under chief executive John Cryan, who took the helm in 2015, Deutsche has undergone a painful course of treatment to return to health, reducing exposure to 

Deutsche Bank slashes up to 500 investment banking jobs:report

The driver of a van carrying members of the White House press pool was briefly detained outside Mar-a-Lago today after a security screening turned up a gun in his personal baggage.
The US Secret Service confirmed the incident but said it was resolved once it was determined that the driver was in "lawful possession" of the weapon.
"At no time was any Secret Service protectee in danger or impacted," it said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, although reporters have not seen him since Friday when he visited injured victims of the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school.
A 19-year-old armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle killed 17 people during Wednesday's rampage, which has reignited calls for changes in permissive US gun laws.
A security check in a parking lot across the street from Mar-a-Lago turned up a gun in the driver's baggage, according to a White House pool report.
The driver said he had forgotten to leave the 

Driver's gun found in Mar-a-Lago security incident

Saudi Arabia is set to host in March its first ever Arab Fashion Week, the Arab Fashion Council announced today, overturning decades of draconian policies on arts and entertainment.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne, has been leading a drive to reform the country's dependence on oil, including expanding the private sector and empowering women.
The Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council said on its website that fashion week would be held in Riyadh from March 26 to March 31, with a second edition already scheduled for October.
Arab Fashion Week will take place at Riyadh's eco-friendly Apex Centre, a white honeycomb-like venue designed by the late celebrated Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
In December, the Arab Fashion Council announced the opening of a regional office in Riyadh and named Saudi Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al-Saud as its honorary president.
"The first Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh will be more than a world-class event, it is a catalyst ...

Saudi Arabia to host first Arab Fashion Week

Iranian rescue teams were forced to suspend their hunt for a missing passenger plane for a second night today as severe weather and hazardous mountain conditions thwarted search efforts.
Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 disappeared on Sunday morning in the Zagros mountains with 66 people on board.
Officials said 60 helicopter sorties had flown today to no avail.
"The exact spot of the plane crash was not found, and given the darkness, heavy snowfall and fog in some regions, the aerial search operation was stopped and will be resumed tomorrow," Esmaeil Najjar, head of Iran's Crisis Management Organisation, told the ISNA news agency.
More than 120 mountaineers are deployed, he said, and "will stay in safe places in the mountainous area before resuming search operations tomorrow".
The search has been focused on the 14,465-foot (4,409-metre) Dena mountain, which is popular with Iranians training for climbs in the Himalayas.
The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, flew early ...

Search for missing Iran plane halted for second night

Oxfam issued its first direct apology to the Haiti government today following a report detailing the prostitution scandal that has shaken the NGO, expressing its "shame" and vowing to do better.
"We came here to share the report with the minister and express our shame and apologies to the Haitian government and to the Haitian people," said Simon Ticehurst, Oxfam's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"We've taken lots of measures to improve internal safeguarding measures.

Oxfam apologises to Haiti government over prostitution scandal

The former student accused of killing 17 people at a Florida high school appeared in court today for a procedural hearing, his first public appearance since he was held without bond on charges pre-meditated murder.
Nikolas Cruz, dressed in orange prison garb, sat with his head bowed during the brief hearing before Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Accused Florida shooter in court

A linchpin of South Africa's Gupta business family, which has been closely associated with ex-president Jacob Zuma, fought back today against a corruption probe by contesting an assets freeze.
Atul Gupta applied to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to force investigators probing a suspect farming scheme to release 10 million rand (USD 856,000) in frozen assets.
"Atul Gupta is challenging the court, he is requesting the court to reconsider the preservation order," NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku told AFP, confirming receipt of Atul's application.
Thirteen people are facing charges linked to allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was siphoned off by the Guptas.
Local media reports suggested that Zuma's son Duduzane, a business associate of the Guptas, is also among those being sought, and some speculated that he could be in Dubai.
Ajay Gupta, Atul's brother, is subject to an arrest warrant in connection to alleged state corruption in another .

Zuma ally fights S Africa graft probe

A homophobic video urging Russians to re-elect President Vladimir Putin has gone viral less than a month before the country's election.
The video, which appeared on social media on Friday, tells voters that if Putin's rivals win they will take Russia into a "nightmare" future in which they are forced to co-habit with gay men.
The video stars well-known screen actors but it was unclear who published it.
It has had more than three million views on the Facebook page of pro-Kremlin political analyst Alexander Kazakov.
In it, a middle-aged man dreams of a future without Putin, who is expected to win a fourth term in the March 18 vote.
In one of them, the character sees a gay man sitting in his kitchen filing his nails and eating a banana suggestively.
One of Putin's election rivals, liberal candidate Ksenia Sobchak, has called for Russia to allow gay marriage -- an unlikely prospect in a socially conservative country.
Some observers have suggested that Sobchak's candidacy was part of a ...

Anti-gay 'vote Putin' video goes viral in Russia

An Iraqi court has sentenced a German teenager to six years in jail for membership of the Islamic State group and illegal entry into the country, a judicial source said today.
The source told AFP that the girl, aged 17, was on Sunday handed a five-year term for belonging to IS and one year in prison for crossing illegally into Iraq.
On January 21, a German woman of Moroccan origin was sentenced to death by hanging on charges of providing "logistical support and helping the terrorist group to carry out crimes".
The two Germans are among hundreds of foreign suspected jihadists held by Iraqi authorities, who in December announced the defeat of IS after a gruelling three-year battle.
According to media reports in Germany, the condemned woman, named Lamia K, had left Mannheim in August 2014. She was arrested by Iraqi forces during the final stages last July of the battle for the northern city of Mosul.
At least two other German women are being held in prison in Iraq, including the teenager 

Iraq hands 6-year jail term to German jihadist teen: judiciary

Leg-spinner Rashid Khan starred as Afghanistan wrapped up a dominant 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe today, cruising to a 146-run victory in the fifth and final one-day international here.
After winning the toss and batting first, Afghanistan posted 241-9 from their 50 overs, before bowling out Zimbabwe for just 95.
The two teams meet again in Zimbabwe at the 2019 World Cup qualifiers next month, with the Asian side clear favourites to qualify for the tournament in England and Wales based on the evidence of this series.
The 19-year-old Khan struck a 29-ball 43, before taking the final three wickets to fall to finish with figures of 3-13.
Scores in brief:
Afghanistan 241-9 in 50 overs (Javed Ahmadi 76, Rahmat Shah 59, Rashid Khan 43) v Zimbabwe 95 in 32.1 overs (Rashid Khan 3-13).

Khan leads Afghanistan to thumping series win

Four-time defending champion Canada and reigning world champion United States advanced to the Pyeongchang Olympic women's hockey final with shutout triumphs today, setting up another showdown for gold between the arch-rivals.
The Canadians stretched their Olympic win streak to 24 games and kept alive their drive for five consecutive gold medals by beating the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0. The US women, who haven't won Olympic gold in 20 years, blanked Finland 5-0 to reach Thursday's title game.
"It's honestly a dream come true," US forward Hilary Knight said. "It's the worlds biggest stage. Its the game youve been dreaming of. You have to keep working and do the things you do well."
Only once in Olympic or world championship history has the final not been a US-Canada affair.
Canada needed over-time to beat the Americans in the 2014 Olympic final, but has since dropped three world finals to the Americans.'
"We're confident. Well stick with what has gotten us success the last three .

Canada, USA set up Olympic women's hockey final

The Islamic State group killed 27 pro-government fighters in an ambush in Iraq, their paramilitary group said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdads declaration of victory.
IS members, disguised as soldiers, attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.
"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," added the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS.
The paramilitary unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk.
A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.
They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.
They then ...

IS kills 27 Iraq pro-government fighters: paramilitary force

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today announced an "historic" contract for sales of billions of dollars worth of Israeli natural gas to Egypt.
"This will bring billions of dollars to state coffers," he said in a statement announcing the accord with Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
The Israeli energy group Delek said the value of the contract was USD 15 billion.
In September 2015, Jordan struck a deal to buy 300 million cubic feet (8.5 million cubic metres) of Israeli gas per day over a 15-year term.

AFP

AFP

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