Eleven months ago Mark McMorris  was fighting for his life after breaking 17 bones and  suffering a collapsed lung and ruptured spleen in a  snowboarding accident. Today he won Olympic bronze.
The 24-year-old staked an early claim for the most  inspirational story at the Pyeongchang Winter Games in the  snowboard slopestyle, sealing third behind compatriot Max  Parrot, in silver, and Amercian teenage gold medallist Red  Gerard.
McMorris's remarkable feat after cheating death did not  go unnoticed by US ski "queen" Lindsey Vonn, who tweeted a  split photo, one half of the Canadian in a hospital bed with  numerous tubes attached to him and the other showing him  smiling and a superimposed bronze medal.
"This is amazing!" Vonn tweeted to her 987,000 followers.
Talking after winning bronze, McMorris reflected on his  journey from near-death to worldwide headline maker.
"I don't want to think too much about the past today, but  I appreciate the fact I'm here on my snowboard," he ...

What a year: Deathbed to Olympic glory for Canadian

PTI Automatic

North Korean media lauded the players  and supporters of the unified Korean women's ice hockey team  today after their first match at the Olympics -- without  mentioning their 8-0 drubbing.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North's leader Kim Jong  Un, was on hand to watch the game against Switzerland with her  country's ceremonial head of state and South Korean President  Moon Jae-in.
The match was a political event as much as a sporting  one, with the unified team -- the Koreas' first for 27 years,  and first ever at the Olympics -- part of a deal forged last  month and a symbol of Moon's hopes for a "peace Olympics".
And Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency  focussed on the team and the North Korean cheerleaders rather  than the 8-0 defeat -- mentioning neither the outcome nor the  score in its dispatch.
"The appearance of the players and the impressive picture  of the cheering groups once again made the spectators feel  keenly that the Korean nation is a... nation which ...

Don't mention the score: N. Korean media silent on 8-0 loss

Wild winds disrupted the  Pyeongchang Winter Olympics today as a 17-year-old American  snowboarder made history by becoming the first Games gold  medallist born this millennium.
Red Gerard, born on June 29, 2000, celebrated a storming  win in slopestyle, which also made him the second youngest  individual winner in Games history.
"I'm super-psyched!" said Gerard, adding: "I cannot  believe it. I'm shaking right now, maybe from the cold or the  excitement, I don't know. But I'm ecstatic. I can't believe  it."
Slopestyle was one of the events that did not fall victim  to high winds on Sunday, when the showpiece men's downhill  skiing was aborted until Thursday following a pre-dawn meeting  of ski chiefs.
Later, as the gusts continued to swirl around  Pyeongchang, the women's slopestyle qualification was scrapped  with the competitors all going straight into Monday's final.
A day of extremes started with a surprise earthquake  alert, after a 4.7-magnitude quake rattled eastern South  ...

Take it as Red: Teen makes history as wind pummels Pyeongchang

Teen sensation Red Gerard  nailed a tension-packed final jump today to win the slopestyle  snowboarding and become the first Winter Olympic medallist  born this century.
Aged 17 and 227 days, Gerard handed the US their first  gold of the Pyeongchang Games with his slopestyle win, making  him the youngest US Winter Olympic champion since 1928.
Gerard,  born on June 29, 2000, also set a record for the  youngest gold medallist in any snowboarding event that was  held previously by Kelly Clark, the 2002 women's halfpipe  champion at age 18 years and 199 days.
The first medallist born in the 2000's, Gerard is also  the youngest US man to win Winter Olympic gold since 16-year-  old bobsled driver Billy Fiske piloted a five-man crew to the  title 90 years ago.
"I cannot believe it," Gerard said. "I'm shaking right  now, maybe from the cold, or the excitement. I don't know. But  I'm ecstatic. I can't believe it.
"Just to land a run would have been plenty for me and to  get on the podium, but .

US teen nails gold, first Winter Games medallist born this

An earthquake triggered an  alert and high winds disrupted competition at the Pyeongchang  Winter Olympics today, as officials warned of a severe freeze  and urged fans to wrap up warm.
After a bitterly cold first night of competition, a  shallow 4.6-magnitude earthquake jolted the eastern portion of  South Korea overnight, prompting warnings on mobile phones.
Early on Sunday, ski officials were forced to postpone  the showpiece men's downhill until Thursday as buffeting winds  made the high-speed slope too dangerous for competition.
Later, the women's slopestyle snowboarding also fell  victim to the wind, as the qualifying session was scrapped  with riders going straight into the final on Monday.
It comes after the first ski jumping final finished more  than an hour behind schedule, past midnight on Saturday, as  competitors were held up by swirling winds.
As if to complete the set of extreme conditions, an alert  warning of a high risk of fire -- given the dry, windy weather  -- ...

Earthquake, wind and fire: extreme conditions hit Olympics

Foreign experts today inspected  security arrangements in Karachi, which is scheduled to stage  the final of Pakistan's Twenty20 league next month -- the  city's first international match in nine years.
The third season of the Pakistan Super League starts in  the United Arab Emirates on February 22. The tournament will  move to Pakistan for two play-offs on March 20-21 and the  final in Karachi on March 25.
Security experts Reg Dickason and Richard Dennis  witnessed a full dress rehearsal for the final in Karachi.  They were also briefed by Pakistani security and government  officials on the arrangements.
"Whatever we have witnessed today, it's as good as I have  seen in all my years of work but I can't say a final word (on  hosting the final) now and will submit my report within the  next seven days," Dickason told media.
The team's report will be integral to paving the way for  the final.
International cricket in Pakistan was suspended after a  2009 militant attack on the Sri Lankan 

Pakistan gears up to host PSL final in Karachi

Roger Federer will target a  return to the top of the rankings as the Rotterdam World  Tennis tournament starts tomorrow, with the Swiss aiming to  become the oldest number one player in ATP history.
The test begins at the Ahoy stadium when the 36-year-old,  who claimed his 20th Grand Slam title a fortnight ago in  Melbourne, returns to the Dutch port city for the first time  since 2013.
Top seed Federer starts in the first round against a  qualifier in an event he has won twice before, lifting the  trophy in 2005 and 2012.
Should he reach the semi-finals, Federer would pass  Rafael Nadal to take over the world's top ranking.
But his quarter-final opponent could well be long-time  friend Stan Wawrinka, seeded fifth as he comes back from 2017  knee surgery.
Federer lies just 155 points behind the injured Nadal in  the standings, with a possible 180 points available for making  the last four in Rotterdam.
The Swiss would surpass Andre Agassi, who held the top  spot in 2003 aged 33 years 

Federer chases history in Rotterdam with return to summit

Gulf metropolis Dubai, on its never-  ending quest to break records, announced the opening of the  "world's new tallest hotel" today, pipping another towering  landmark in the city for the title.
The gleaming gold 75-storey Gevora Hotel stands 356  metres, or nearly a quarter of a mile, tall.
The new record-holder is within view of its predecessor,  Dubai's JW Mariott Marquis -- just one metre shorter.
The Gevora's first guests are expected tomorrow,  according to Emirati daily The National.
Dubai is also home to the world's tallest building, the  Burj Khalifa, which pierces the city skyline at 828 metres  (half a mile) high.
The city-state, one of seven sheikhdoms that make up the  energy-rich United Arab Emirates, aims to attract 20 million  visitors annually by 2020 when it hosts the global trade fair  Expo 2020.
The desert emirate boasts opulent shopping malls,  numerous luxury resorts and even an indoor ski resort.
A major transit hub situated on transcontinental air  routes, ...

Dubai opens world's tallest hotel, again

Britain's International Development  Secretary Penny Mordaunt warned today Oxfam must hand over to  authorities any information it has collected on a "shocking"  staff prostitution scandal in Haiti or face repercussions.
The Cabinet minister announced she will meet with the  British-based charity's leadership tomorrow as it continues to  reel from accusations it covered up the episode in 2011.
"If they do not hand over all the information that they  have from their investigation... then I cannot work with them  any more as an aid delivery partner -- and any other  organisation in those circumstances," she told the BBC.
In a sign of widening fallout from the scandal, the  Sunday Times reported more than 120 workers for Britain's  leading charities were accused of sexual abuse in the past  year, "fuelling fears paedophiles are targeting overseas aid  organisations".
Mordaunt said she was writing to all charities that  receive state aid demanding they step up efforts to tackle  sexual ...

UK govt to meet Oxfam tomorrow over Haiti prostitutes probe

Australian Open winner Caroline  Wozniacki insisted today that despite last month's  breakthrough Grand Slam triumph her life has not changed in  the slightest.
The world number one was speaking ahead of the Qatar  Open, which begins on Monday and where she could face the  player she defeated in the Melbourne final, Simona Halep.
"Life hasn't changed at all," she said.
"Life is the same. Still the same when I go back on the  practice courts, I still have things that I need to work on  and I still get stuff from my dad saying move your feet, do  this.
"So, nothing has changed in that regard."
Wozniacki is among nine of the 10 best female players in  the world who have congregated in Doha this week.
The Dane is seeded number one and if all goes according  to plan, she will meet number two seed Halep in next Sunday's  final.
The only top ten player missing in the Gulf is Venus  Williams, currently ranked number eight in the world.
However, former world number one Maria Sharapova has been 

Grand Slam hasn't changed my life, says Wozniacki

South Africa's president-in-  waiting Cyril Ramaphosa admitted today to "disunity and  discord" in the ruling ANC party as the deadlocked effort to  oust scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma grinds on.
Ramaphosa outlined his wish to replace "a period of  difficulty, disunity and discord" with "a new beginning" for  the party, vowing to tackle alleged corruption that has  tarnished Zuma's government.

S Africa's Ramaphosa admits ANC 'disunity', vows 'new

Prime Minister Theresa May and  senior Cabinet ministers will set out "Britain's road map to  Brexit" in a series of keynote speeches over the coming weeks,  Downing Street said today.
The addresses will culminate in a speech by May outlining  the government's ambitions for a future partnership with the  European Union after the country's departure from the bloc in  March, 2019.
"Brexit is a defining moment in the history of our  nation," a Downing Street source said.
"We will be forging an ambitious new partnership with  Europe and charting our own way in the world to become a truly  global, free trading nation.
"As we move along the road to that future, we will set  out more detail so people can see how this new relationship  will benefit communities in every part of our country."
The series will begin next week when Foreign Secretary  Boris Johnson makes "a rallying cry to those on both sides of  the Brexit debate," according to Downing Street.
May will then detail hoped-for new ...

Flurry of UK Govt speeches to detail Brexit 'road map'

A Russian passenger plane carrying  71 people crashed outside Moscow today after taking off from  the capital's Domodedovo airport, officials and local media  said.
The Antonov An-148 plane operated by the domestic Saratov  Airlines was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed  in the Ramensky district on the outskirts of Moscow.
Russian news agencies reported 65 passengers and 6 crew  were on board and all were feared dead.
News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo  saw a burning plane falling from the sky.
A source from Russia's emergency services told Interfax  that the 71 people on board "had no chance" of survival.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the  families of those on board.
"The president offers his profound condolences to those  who lost their relatives in the crash," Putin's spokesman  Dmitry Peskov said.
State television aired a video of the crash site, showing  parts of the wreckage in the snow. Russia has seen record high  ...

71 feared dead in Russian passenger plane crash

Israel issued stark warnings  today over Iran's presence in neighbouring Syria after a  confrontation threatened to open a new and unpredictable  period in the country's seven-year civil war.
Israel carried out major air raids in Syria yesterday,  including against what it described as Iranian targets in the  country -- the first time it had publicly acknowledged doing  so since the war began.
The raids came after an Israeli F16 fighter jet was shot  down by Syrian air defences. The pilots survived, but it was  Israel's first loss of a warplane in battle since 1982.
"We inflicted on Saturday a heavy blow to Iranian and  Syrian forces," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the  start of today's cabinet meeting.
"We made clear to everyone that our rules of engagement  will not change in any way. We will continue to harm anyone  who tries to harm us. This was our policy and this will remain  our policy."
Other Israeli ministers spoke of refusing to accept Iran  entrenching itself ...

Israel warns over Iran's presence in Syria after air strikes

Sri Lanka's ruling alliance was  humiliated in local elections seen as a test of its leadership  and the party of ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse was on track  for a shock landslide victory, early results showed today.
The mid-term polls further strained the uneasy coalition  between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister  Ranil Wickremesinghe as they faced a resurgent challenger in  Rajapakse's new party.
Official results showed Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Podujana  Peramuna -- SLPP or People's Front -- had won 160 of the 241  councils counted so far, out of a total of 340.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was a  distant second with 30 councils while Sirisena's Freedom  Alliance languished with just 10.
Unofficial results showed Rajapakse's party comfortably  leading in all regions bar the battled-scarred north and east  where, as president, he brutally crushed a separatist movement  to end the island's ethnic war in 2009.
His SLPP was predicted to wrest control of ...

Sri Lanka coalition suffers humiliation at local vote

France's Prime Minister Edouard  Philippe promised lower taxes and a business-friendly France  at a global summit in Dubai today, seeking investment from the  oil-rich Gulf region.
"France is undergoing great transformation", Philippe  said, addressing a thousand-strong audience at Dubai's World  Government Summit.
The prime minister pledged a "favourable framework for  business and investment" and a drop in corporate taxes in  France.
The annual summit, often dubbed the Davos of the Middle  East, brings together a cosmopolitan lineup of business and  political figures -- with Indian premier Narendra Modi as this  year's guest of honour.
Philippe sought to contrast the policies of President  Emmanuel Macron with the isolationist trends of other Western  nations, including Britain leaving the European Union and the  election of US President Donald Trump.
Yesterday, the French premier met the heads of the two  largest sovereign funds in the United Arab Emirates, as well  as Abu Dhabi ...

Touting 'transformation', French PM seeks investment in Dubai

A Russian passenger plane carrying  71 people crashed outside Moscow today after taking off from  the capital's Domodedovo airport, Russian media reported.
The Antonov An-148 plane operated by the domestic Saratov  Airlines was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed  in the Ramensky district on the outskirts of Moscow.
Russian news agencies reported 65 passengers and 6 crew  were on board.
News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo  saw a burning plane falling from the sky.
A source from Russia's emergency services told Interfax  that the 71 people on board "had no chance" of survival.
The same news agency reported that the wreckage of the  plane was spread over a wide area around the crash site.
The Russian-made plane was 7 years-old and bought by  Saratov Airlines from another Russian airline a year ago.
Russian media reported that the emergency services were  unable to reach the crash site by road and that rescue workers  walked to the scene on foot.
A source 

Russian plane carrying 71 people crashes near Moscow

Fighting in Afghanistan has escalated  with US and Afghan officials tipping 2018 to be a "game-  changer" as relentless airstrikes pummel Islamist militant  groups -- but others warn the 16-year war has simply become a  more violent stalemate.
A traditional easing in fighting during the freezing  winter months has been absent this year as the Taliban and  Islamic State group respond to intensifying US and Afghan air  assaults.
Since US President Donald Trump announced his new  strategy for Afghanistan in August, giving the US Air Force  more leeway to go after militants, American pilots have been  bombarding Taliban and IS fighters, their training camps and  drug-making laboratories.
"The gloves are off," Brigadier General Lance Bunch, who  directs future air operations in Afghanistan, told reporters  recently.
The new policy has "definitely been a game-changer and  the Taliban is definitely feeling it", he added.
The US is deploying more troops and aircraft to  Afghanistan, which has 

Afghan conflict to intensify in 2018 'game changer'

A Russian passenger plane carrying  71 people crashed in the outskirts of Moscow today after  taking off from the capital's Domodedovo airport, Russian  media reported.
The Antonov An-148 plane operated by the domestic Saratov  Airlines was flying to Orsk, a city in the Urals, and crashed  in the Ramensky district outside Moscow. Russian news agencies  reported 65 passengers and 6 crew were on board.
News agencies said witnesses in the village of Argunovo  saw a burning plane falling from the sky.
A source from Russia's emergency services told Interfax  that the 71 people on board "had no chance" of survival.
The same news agency reported that the wreckage of the  plane was spread over a wide area around the crash site.

Russian passenger plane crashes outside Moscow: media

Britain's foreign  minister Boris Johnson stopped off in Myanmar today to press  Aung San Suu Kyi on the need for an independent probe into  violence in Rakhine state, as the country faces mounting  pressure to punish troops accused of atrocities against the  Muslim Rohingya.
Johnson met with the embattled Myanmar leader, whose  reputation among the international community has crumbled over  her handling of the Rohingya crisis, in the capital Naypyidaw  while on a four-day tour in Asia.
The meeting followed Johnson's visit to a refugee camp in  Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, where nearly 700,000  Rohingya have sought sanctuary after fleeing a Myanmar army  crackdown launched in northern Rakhine last August.
The UN has accused Myanmar security forces of driving the  Muslim minority across the border in an ethnic cleansing  campaign. Doctors Without Borders estimates at least 6,700  Rohingya died in the first month of violence.
But Myanmar has staunchly denied the charges and ...

UK's Johnson urges 'independent' probe of Rohingya crisis in

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  said today that Israeli air strikes in Syria the previous day  were a "heavy blow" to Iranian and Syrian forces in the war-  torn country.
"We inflicted on Saturday a heavy blow to Iranian and  Syrian forces," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet  meeting, referring to major Israeli air raids in Syria.
"We made clear to everyone that our rules of engagement  will not change in any way. We will continue to harm anyone  who tries to harm us. This was our policy and this will remain  our policy.

AFP

AFP

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