Tonga was braced today for "very  destructive winds" as Cyclone Gita took aim at the Pacific  island nation a day after it wreaked havoc in Samoa.
The kingdom's tropical cyclone centre has been activated  and Red Cross, which is coordinating relief supplies, has  warned islanders to be prepared.
"Very destructive hurricane force winds are expected from  Monday morning," Tonga's Fua'amotu Weather Forecasting Centre  said in a bulletin, forecasting gusts of 80 knots (148 kmh, 92  mph) with heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Tonga Red Cross secretary general Sione Taumoefolau said  there was particular concern for the outer islands where  houses may not be able to withstand the brutal force of the  winds.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said  Gita forced the evacuation of some 200 people and caused  widespread flooding when it slammed into the island overnight  Friday.
Gita had since intensified from a category two to  category three storm as it took aim at Tonga and was ...

Cyclone Gita intensifies as it takes aim at Tonga

PTI Automatic

They often go by the  description of jack of all trades and have a reputation for  being thick-skinned, perseverant, experienced and willing to  take on a mission impossible.
The men and women who take on the job of UN special envoy  to the world's trouble spots seem to be drawn to the challenge  of confronting horrors in places like Syria, Libya or the  Democratic Republic of Congo.
The United Nations has about 20 special envoys, some of  whom take on short-term missions, others who plod on for  decades.
"It's a tough job and a bit of a dog's life," said a  diplomat.
"They get upbraided by one side and then the other, they  are the focus of any frustration."
Some missions may not be dangerous, such as reuniting  Cyprus, finding a name for Macedonia that will satisfy Greece  or resolving decades of disagreement over the status of  Western Sahara, but these can be just as intractable.
"They have to show so much humility and patience and know  when to jump at an opportunity to create ...

UN envoys take on mission impossible

United Nations Secretary-  General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate de-  escalation in Syria after Israel carried out raids inside the  war-torn country.
Guterres is "following closely the alarming military  escalation throughout Syria and the dangerous spillover across  its borders," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a  statement.
Israel targeted what it said were Iranian positions  inside Syria after one of its warplanes was hit by Syrian air  defences and crashed.
The Israeli raids came after it intercepted what it said  was an Iranian drone entering its airspace.
Guterres stressed that all concerned in Syria and in the  region must abide by international law.
"He calls on all to work for an immediate and  unconditional de-escalation of violence and exercise  restraint," Dujarric said.
It was the most serious confrontation between Iran and  Israel since Syria's war began in 2011 and came amid growing  alarm over Syrian government offensives against rebel-held  ...

UN chief calls for immediate de-escalation in Syria

The US and South Korea stand  united against North Korea's nuclear program, even as the two  Koreas hold talks in conjunction with the Winter Olympics, US  Vice President Mike Pence has said.
Analysts say the North's Olympic diplomatic drive seeks  to loosen international sanctions against it and undermine the  alliance between Seoul and Washington.
Pence, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force Two after  attending the opening ceremony of the Games in Pyeongchang,  South Korea, said that he and President Moon Jae-in "continue  to stand strong" and coordinate efforts against the North.
"There is no daylight between the United States, the  Republic of Korea and Japan on the need to continue to isolate  North Korea economically and diplomatically until they abandon  their nuclear and ballistic missile program," Pence said as he  flew back to the United States.
Washington calls it a campaign of "maximum pressure."
Global alarm at the rapid advance of nuclear-armed North  Korea's weapons ..

US, S Korea united as inter-Korea talks occur: Pence

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  vowed not to allow Iran to establish a military presence in  Syria, after Israel launched air raids on what it said were  Iranian targets in its Arab neighbour.
"Israel wants peace but we will continue to defend  ourselves with determination against any attack on us and  against any attempt by Iran to entrench itself militarily in  Syria or anywhere else," he said.
Netanyahu's remarks came as he convened his security  chiefs for consultations on yesterday's confrontations which  followed Israel's interception of what it said was an Iranian  drone launched from Syria.
Israel then launched air attacks on the drone's control  systems, with Syrian anti-air fire bringing down an F16  fighter in northern Israel.
The Israeli air force launched a further series of  strikes targeting what it said were Iranian and Syrian  military targets in Syria.
"Israel holds Iran and its Syrian hosts responsible for  today's aggression," Netanyahu said. "We will continue ..

Israel will not allow Iran 'entrenchment' in Syria: PM

President Donald Trump today  said that lives were being "shattered" by allegations that may  be false after two of his White House aides quit over domestic  abuse issues.
Trump's White House has been heavily criticized for its  clumsy handling of the allegations, which comes amid a  continuing national debate over sexual misconduct and how it  should be dealt with.
"Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a  mere allegation," Trump tweeted.
"Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some  are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused -  life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as  Due Process?"
The remark by the president -- himself the object of  numerous harassment claims -- came after White House  speechwriter David Sorensen resigned on Friday, even while  denying his wife's claims of abuse.
And it came after staff secretary Rob Porter on Wednesday  stepped down after abuse allegations from two former wives  became public.
Trump ..

Trump laments 'shattered' lives after aides resign

Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah  hailed Syria's air defences after they downed an Israeli  fighter jet on Saturday, saying it marked the start of a "new  strategic era".
"This is the beginning of a new strategic era which puts  an end to the violation of Syrian airspace and territory,"  Hezbollah said in a statement published by Lebanon's ANI news  agency.
Hezbollah, which is backing Syrian President Bashar al-  Assad's in his country's civil war, praised the "vigilance of  the Syrian army" and said it had "bravely blocked Israeli  warplanes and downed an F16".
Israel struck what it said were Iranian targets inside  Syria on Saturday in "large-scale" raids after an Israeli  warplane crashed under fire from Syrian air defences, its  military said.
The confrontation was the most serious between arch-foes  Israel and Iran since the civil war in Syria began in 2011.
Israel said the raids came after it intercepted what it  said was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from Syria.
Iran 

Hezbollah hails Syrian air defences for downing Israel F16

Saudi women should not have to wear  the loose-fitting abaya robe to shroud their bodies in public,  a senior cleric said, in the latest sign of a far-reaching  liberalisation drive.
"More than 90 per cent of pious Muslim women in the  Muslim world do not wear abayas," said Sheikh Abdullah al-  Mutlaq, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars -- the  kingdom's highest religious body.
"So we should not force people to wear abayas," he told a  television programme broadcast yesterday.
Saudi Arabia, which has some of the world's tightest  restrictions on women, requires them to wear the garment by  law.
The government has not said whether it will change the  law, but this is the first such comment from a senior  religious figure.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recently introduced  a series of reforms in favour of women as the kingdom prepares  for a post-oil era.
Saudi Arabia last month allowed women to enter a football  stadium for the first time to watch a game.
The move came ..

Saudi women need not wear abaya robes: senior cleric

Israel struck a dozen Syrian  and Iranian targets inside Syria today after an Israeli  fighter jet crashed under fire from Syrian air defences, the  military said.
The confrontation was the most serious between arch  foes Israel and Iran since the start of the civil war in Syria  in 2011.
Israel's raids came after it intercepted what it said  was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from Syria.
It marked the first time Israel publicly acknowledged  attacking what it identified as Iranian targets in Syria since  the war began.
The Israeli military issued a warning to Tehran,  saying it was responsible for the drone that entered Israel,  which it labelled an "attack."
It said its reprisals after the exchange were "large-  scale" raids.
"A few minutes ago, (Israeli aircraft)... targeted the  Syrian Aerial Defence System and Iranian targets in Syria," a  military statement said.
"Twelve targets, including three aerial defence  batteries and four Iranian targets that are part of Iran's  .

'Large-scale' Israeli raids hit Iranian targets in Syria

Badminton powerhouse China  stormed into the Asia Team Championship final where they will  face Indonesia after they defeated Malaysia 3-1 in the  semifinals, here today.
Since China and Malaysia qualified for the Thomas Cup  Finals after their respective victories in the quarter finals  Friday, they rested their senior players and allowed their  young shuttlers to gain some international exposure.
The Thomas Cup Finals is one the world's most prestigious  badminton events in terms of player and fan interest.
The semi-finalists in this tournament automatically  qualify for this year's Thomas Cup, to be held in Thailand's  capital Bangkok in May.
World number two Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia did not play  in the semi-finals as the team's goal in the tournament was to  book a ticket for the Thomas Cup.
The veteran Lee was replaced by Lee Zii Jia.
But he found China's Shi Yuqi too strong, resulting in  the world number seven winning 21-18, 21-9.
Malaysia drew level after 2016 Olympic silver 

China face Indonesia in Asia Team championship final

At least 27 people died and 16  others were injured when a bus carrying domestic tourists  crashed on the Indonesian island of Java, police said today.
The crash happened when the bus, which had at least 40  people on board, hit a motorbike while heading down a hill at  speed in the Subang region of West Java province, causing it  to roll over multiple times.
Most of the passengers, who were on their way to a hot  spring, were from South Tangerang in Java's Banten province.
Police are investigating the cause of the collision but  said they suspect the vehicle's brakes failed to work.
All victims have been evacuated from the bus and most  have been taken to a local hospital, officers said.
"Our morgue is now at full capacity, we cannot accept  more bodies," Subang hospital spokesman Mamat Dudirakhmat told  local broadcaster Metro TV.
Transport accidents are common in Indonesia, where buses  and trains are often old and badly maintained.
In July last year 10 people including an Austrian 

At least 27 killed as bus crashes in Indonesia

At least 27 people died when a bus  carrying domestic tourists crashed on the Indonesian island of  Java, police said today.
The crash happened when the bus, which had at least 40  people on board, hit a motorbike as it was speeding down a  hill in the Subang region of West Java province, causing it to  roll over multiple times.

At least 27 killed as bus crashes in Indonesia: police

Zimbabwean President Emmerson  Mnangagwa today said the country will not return land seized  from former white commercial farmers almost two decades ago.
"It will never happen," Mnangagwa said in a speech to his  ZANU-PF party supporters in central Zimbabwe, broadcast on  television.
His statement comes two months after white farmer Robert  Smart got his land back after being evicted in June by ex-  president Robert Mugabe's government.
Zimbabwe embarked on a violent land reform programme in  2000, taking over white-owned farms to resettle landless  blacks.
Thousands of white farmers were forced off their land by  mobs or evicted, with Mugabe saying the reforms would help  black people marginalised under British colonial rule.
Critics blame the land redistribution for the collapse in  agricultural production that saw the former regional  breadbasket become a perennial food importer.
The government has indicated it will issue 99-year  bankable leases to beneficiaries of land reform but 

Zimbabwe won't return land to white farmers: Mnangagwa

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said  two Turkish military personnel were killed when a helicopter  was downed during Ankara's military offensive against a  Kurdish militia in northern Syria.
"At this stage, we can say that one out of two  helicopters was downed. We have two martyrs," Yildirim said in  televised remarks, but added that there was: "no evidence  (yet) in our hands to prove that it was a result of outside  intervention."
On January 20, Turkey launched a military operation  against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in  its western enclave of Afrin, backing Syrian rebels with air  strikes and ground troops.
Ankara says the YPG is a "terrorist" offshoot of the  outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a  three-decade insurgency inside Turkey and is blacklisted by  Washington and the European Union.
State-run news agency Anadolu said the incident happened  in the southern border province of Hatay, with private run  Dogan news agency saying ...

2 Turkish troops killed as helicopter downed

Anti-terror officers in Istanbul and  Ankara detained 48 alleged members of the Islamic State  extremist group (IS) suspected of planning attacks, state  media reported today.
Police detained 31 foreigners who were picked up in  anti-terror raids in Istanbul, state-run news agency Anadolu  said, without specifying their nationalities, adding that they  were believed to have been preparing an attack.
Another 17 people were taken into custody in Ankara over  alleged ties to IS who were also accused of plotting an  attack, the agency reported later today without saying when  the raids took place.
Turkey suffered a series of terror attacks in 2015 and  2016 as well as one in 2017 blamed on IS and Kurdish  militants, killing hundreds.
The last attack claimed by IS was in January 2017 when a  gunman killed 39 people at the elite Istanbul nightclub Reina  during New Year's celebrations.
Police have since carried out frequent raids against IS  across the country including in the northern ...

Turkey detains 48 IS suspects 'planning attacks': report

The third-ranking official at  the US Justice Department is resigning just nine months after  taking the powerful position at the agency that President  Donald Trump has been criticising sharply.
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand would have  inherited oversight of a probe into possible Trump campaign  links to Russian interference in the 2016 election if the  president forced out the Justice Department's number two,  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Trump and Republican legislators have stepped up attacks  on the agency over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe.
"The men and women of the Department of Justice impress  me every day," said Brand, a national security law expert who  is due to take up a position in the private sector in the  coming weeks.
"I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish over  my time here."
Brand, 44, was named to the Justice Department by then  president George W Bush in 2003, and left four years later to  work in the private sector.
In 

US Justice Department's No 3 official resigns

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al  Hussein today accused Syrian forces of carrying out "no-  holds-barred" military offensives after a spike in violence  left hundreds of civilians dead.
Calling for "urgent international action" to protect  civilians, Zeid also slammed what he called an "epic failure  of global diplomacy" to end the seven-year-old war.
"The past week has been one of the bloodiest periods of  the entire conflict, with wave after wave of deadly airstrikes  leading to civilian casualties in areas of Eastern Ghouta and  Idlib," Zeid said in a statement.
According to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Office, at  least 277 civilians were killed last week including 230 in air  strikes by Syrian government and allied forces, the statement  said.
Another 812 civilians were injured, it said.
"The no-holds-barred nature of this assault is evidenced  by reports that at least nine medical facilities, six of them  in Idlib and three in Eastern Ghouta, were hit by air  strikes," ...

UN rights chief slams 'no-holds-barred' Syria violence

Tanzanian President John Magufuli  has announced his country will pull out of the UN's  "comprehensive refugee response framework", which provides  lasting solutions for refugees, including integration into  host communities.
"Tanzania has decided to withdraw for reasons of security  and lack of funds," a statement said.
President Magufuli announced the decision yesterday at a  meeting of top diplomats in Dar es Salaam, the country's  biggest city.
Tanzania informed the United Nations High Commissioner  for Refugees (UNHCR) in January that it was suspending the  granting of citizenship to some Burundian refugees and that it  would discourage new asylum applications.
Tanzania has long been considered a safe haven for  refugees, particularly from Burundi and the Democratic  Republic of Congo.
According to the Tanzanian government newspaper Daily  News, Magufuli blames the international community for failing  to release funds pledged to help Tanzania integrate refugees.
According to ...

Tanzania withdraws from UN refugee programme

North and South  Korea competed together for the first time at an Olympics  today as the first of 102 gold medals were decided against a  fast-moving backdrop of diplomatic manoeuvring.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader  Kim Jong Un, was among a high-level delegation in the stands  as the joint Korean women's ice hockey team took on  Switzerland in their opening match.
The Games have triggered rapid reconciliation between the  two Koreas, who are still technically at war. In talks on  Saturday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was invited to a  summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
There was joy for South Korea when short-track speed  skater Lim Hyo-jun won the first gold for hosts on day one,  claiming the men's 1500m in front of a near-capacity crowd.
Earlier, Sweden's Charlotte Kalla won the first title of  the Games in the women's skiathlon, followed by Germany's  Laura Dahlmeier who triumphed in the women's 7.5km sprint  biathlon.
Five gold medals ..

Joint Olympic team makes history for two Koreas

Usain Bolt may  have swept all before him in track and field -- but he  probably couldn't cut it in a bobsleigh, Jamaica said at the  Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The lanky superstar dominated sprinting for three  straight Summer Olympics, claiming a 'triple-triple' before  being stripped of 2008 relay gold when Nesta Carter failed a  drugs test.
However, Jamaica's chef de mission Leo Campbell said  Bolt, who limped out of his final race at last year's world  championships, wouldn't last long in bobsleigh.
"This is a painful sport. Right now, for someone as  accomplished as Bolt, he's quite comfortable, if you will,"  said Campbell.
"It would be really nice to have Usain on the back of a  bobsleigh, but we're not so confident he can manage more than  two races because it's a really tough and long season. And  he's retired and wants to relax now," he added.
Jamaica's men's bobsleigh team of 1988 were immortalised  in the comedy film "Cool Runnings", but the country is still  making ...

Bolt wouldn't fancy bobsleigh, say Jamaica

Scoreboard of the third Twenty20  tri-series match between Australia and England at the  Melbourne Cricket Ground, here today.
England:
J Roy
c Carey b Richardson
8
A Hales
c Finch b Stanlake
3
D Malan
run out (Warner)
10
J Vince
b Tye
21
J Buttler  c Agar b Richardson
46
S Billings c Warner b Stanlake
29
D Willey
c Warner b Richardson 10
C Jordan
not out
1
Extras: (B-2, W-7)
9
Total: (for 7 wickets in 20 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-34, 4-70, 5-113, 6-133,  7-137
Bowling: Richardson 4-0-33-3, Stanlake 4-0-28-2, Stoinis  4-0-18-0, Tye 4-0-29-1, Agar 4-0-27-0
Australia:
D Warner
c Buttler b Willey
2
D Short
not out
36
C Lynn
c Buttler b Jordan  31
G Maxwell
c Buttler b Jordan  39
A Finch
not out
20
Extras: (LB-2, W-8)
10
Total: (for 3 wickets in 14.3 overs) 138
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-51, 3-116
Bowling: Willey 3.3-0-30-1, Curran 2-0-23-0, Jordan 3-0-  26-2, Rashid 4-0-34-0, Dawson 2-0-23-0.

AFP

AFP

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