Iran's foreign minister slammed the killing on Friday of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani as a dangerous escalation and warned the United States would bear responsibility for the consequences.
"The US' act of international terrorism, targeting and assassinating General Soleimani... is extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation," Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
"The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism," he added.

Iran's Zarif says Soleimani killing dangerous escalation

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Iran's top security body called an urgent meeting Friday over the "martyrdom" of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani by the United States in Baghdad, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
"In a few hours, an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme National Security Council will be held to review the murderous attack on the vehicle of General Soleimani in Baghdad that lead to his martyrdom," ISNA quoted its secretariat spokesman Keyvan Khosravi as saying.

Top Iran security body calls urgent meeting after Soleimani 'martyrdom'

Indonesian rescuers mounted a desperate search Friday for those missing after flash floods and landslides sparked by torrential rains killed at least 43 people across the Jakarta region, leaving whole districts under water and thousands homeless.
Around a dozen people were still unaccounted for after record rains that started on New Year's Eve pounded the capital and left swathes of the megalopolis, home to some 30 million, a wasteland of overturned cars and damaged buildings.
Some 400,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters with many unable to return to their waterlogged homes, according to authorities.
"We're encouraging people whose houses are still inundated to go to a safer place," said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo.
The agency said 43 people had been confirmed dead in Greater Jakarta and neighbouring Lebak regency in the south of Java island.  Waters had receded in many areas and power, which had been shut off across many districts, ...

Indonesia flood rescuers hunt for missing after 43 killed

Fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was caught on a security camera leaving his Tokyo home by himself on the day he is thought to have fled to avoid a Japanese trial, local media reported Friday.
Ghosn was not seen returning home after leaving around noon on December 29, public broadcaster NHK said, citing people involved in the investigation.
He is thought to have taken a private jet from Kansai Airport in western Japan on that day, heading for Istanbul. It is believed Ghosn headed from there to Beirut.
The news comes a day after prosecutors raided the residence as part of an initial probe into his flight.
NHK said police were analysing other surveillance footage, believing there is a possibility he joined someone to head for the airport.
The camera placed near the entrance of his Tokyo residence showed no suspicious person around the time that Ghosn left, according to NHK and the business daily Nikkei.
Ghosn, who faced multiple charges of financial misconduct that he denies, ...

Ghosn seen on security camera leaving Tokyo home alone: media

A former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said revenge would be exacted on the United States for killing the commander of its Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad on Friday.
"Soleimani joined his martyr brothers but we will exact terrible vengeance upon America," Mohsen Rezai, who currently heads the Expediency Council, wrote on Twitter.

Iran Guards ex-head vows 'revenge' on US over Soleimani death

Tennis and cricket stars spearheaded by Nick Kyrgios and Chris Lynn on Friday pledged support for victims of bushfires raging around Australia, donating cash for every ace or six they hit.
The blazes have claimed 18 lives and forced mass evacuations, with the country bracing for a weekend heat wave expected to fan the deadly infernos.
Kyrgios, a controversial figure with a bad boy reputation, has been at the forefront of rallying support and pledged Aus$200 (US$140) for each ace he serves across the Australian summer of tennis, starting with the ATP Cup which began Friday.
"I'm kicking off the support for those affected by the fires. I'll be donating $200 per ace that I hit across all the events I play this summer," tweeted the 24-year-old, who was handed a 16-week suspended ban in September after a series of outbursts.
His Australian teammate at the inaugural ATP Cup Alex de Minaur went one better.
"I like this, I will go $250 per ace, just because I don't think I'll be hitting as ...

Tennis and cricket stars get behind Australia bushfire relief

Spanish driver Fernando Alonso is aiming to create history as the first Formula One world champion to win the Dakar Rally when the 12-day marathon gets underway in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Alonso, who won the F1 championship with Renault in 2005 and 2006, is one of 351 starters in this year's 7,500-kilometre race which has moved from South America to Saudi Arabia, both venues a long way from the original 1979 route between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Among the starters will be motorbikes, quad bikes and trucks but Alonso, who will have five-time bike champion Marc Coma navigating his Toyota, will be in the car category as he bids to become one of the greatest all-round drivers of all time.
Apart from his success in F1, the 38-year-old Spaniard has also won the Le Mans 24-hour race and has singled out the Indianapolis 500 as his priority for 2020.
He describes Dakar as "the biggest challenge of my career".
Alonso is not the first F1 driver to take part in the race.
The ...

Alonso aims to make history as Dakar Rally heads to Saudi

Holders Manchester City get their FA Cup campaign underway on Saturday with their third round home tie against fourth-tier Port Vale.
The eye-catching clash of the round, where all fixtures start a minute late to highlight a mental health campaign, is Sunday's Merseyside derby as runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool host Everton, who have shown a noticeable improvement since Carlo Ancelotti took over.
However, the dreamers who hold onto the idea of the 'romance of the cup' will be hopeful of giantkilling exploits by the underdogs and here AFP Sport picks out three matches to justify the tag:
Sheffield United (Premier League) v Fylde (National League) -- Sunday (1401GMT kick-off)
The non-league team have quite a task travelling to take on the Blades who are acquitting themselves well back in the top tier.
The 'Coasters' have beaten fellow non-league outfits Nantwich and Kingstonian in the previous rounds to reach this stage of the competition for the first time but this is a huge ..

FA Cup underdogs seek their moment in the sun

The Premier League's January sales are open for business as clubs rush to snap up new year bargains in the one-month transfer window.
Liverpool are running away with the title race and have already signed Japanese star Takumi Minamino, so the Reds are likely to sit out the frenzy while the chasing pack try to make the additions that could help them close the gap.
Here, AFP Sport looks at the key transfer issues to address for the teams hoping to hang onto Liverpool's coat-tails:
Chelsea
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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is expected to make a big splash after being unable to sign players in the summer window due to the club's transfer ban.
With that two-window suspension halved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lampard needs several new recruits to help accelerate the development of his promising young team.
Armed with a reported ?150 million transfer war-chest, Lampard will look to improve at left-back, where Emerson and Marcos Alonso have been too inconsistent.
The Blues have ..

Premier League clubs set to splash out in January sales

Nick Kyrgios has pledged Aus$200 (US$140) for each ace he serves across the Australian summer of tennis to support victims of bushfires raging around the country, with the ATP Cup Friday also promising help.
The temperamental Australian, a controversial figure in the sport with a bad boy reputation, has been at the forefront of rallying support among players to help.
"I'm kicking off the support for those affected by the fires. I'll be donating $200 per ace that I hit across all the events I play this summer," tweeted the 24-year-old, who was handed a 16-week suspended ban in September after a series of outbursts.
His Australian teammate at the inaugural ATP Cup Alex de Minaur went one better.
"I like this, I will go $250 per ace, just because I don't think I'll be hitting as many aces as you mate," he replied.
The blazes have claimed 18 lives and forced mass evacuations, with the country bracing for a weekend heatwave expected to fan the deadly infernos.
Kyrgios, who will also play ..

Kyrgios to donate $140 for each ace to help bushfire relief

Jurgen Klopp hailed "exceptional" Liverpool after they made it an entire calendar year without a Premier League defeat as the runaway leaders beat Sheffield United 2-0 on Thursday.
Klopp's side moved 13 points clear of second placed Leicester thanks to goals from Egypt forward Mohamed Salah and Senegal winger Sadio Mane at Anfield.
Liverpool's 19th win in 20 league games this season completed an incredible 12 months for a team at the peak of their powers.
The Reds haven't lost in 37 league games since a defeat at Manchester City on January 3, 2019 and it looks certain they will win the English title for the first time since 1990.
With a game in hand to further bolster their advantage, it would take an astonishing collapse to deprive Liverpool of their holy grail.
"It says a lot of positive things. I have not enough words for it, it is exceptional," Klopp said.
"I'm really happy and really proud of the boys. We should not take things like this for granted." Winners of their last 18 ...

'It's exceptional': Liverpool sink Blades to make it a year unbeaten

Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed Friday in a US strike, was one of the most popular figures in Iran and seen as a deadly adversary by America and its allies.
General Soleimani, who headed the external operations Quds Force for the Guards, had wielded his regional clout publicly since 2018 when it was revealed that he had direct involvement in top-level talks over the formation of Iraq's government.
It was no surprise at the time for a man who has been at the centre of power-broking in the region for two decades.
Soleimani has been in and out of Baghdad ever since, most recently last month as parties sought to form a new government.
Where once he kept to the shadows, Soleimani has in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran -- replete with a huge following on Instagram.
His profile rose suddenly when he was pushed forward as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries -- ..

General Qasem Soleimani: Iran's regional pointman

Australian organisers for the new tennis team championship were left red-faced on Friday by playing the wrong national anthem for a player from Moldova, a small landlocked country in eastern Europe.
The embarrassing gaffe occurred ahead of the opening singles tie in Sydney of the ATP Cup between Moldova's Alexander Cozbinov and Belgium's Steve Darcis.
"At the start of the Moldova v Belgium match we mistakenly played the wrong national anthem for Moldova," the ATP admitted.
"We are sincerely sorry and have apologised personally to Team Moldova." Tournament officials told AFP the Romanian anthem was played instead.
Moldova, bordered by Romania and Ukraine, was one of the last countries to qualify for the inaugural team event being played in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
They are spearheaded by world number 46 Radu Albot, who broke new ground in 2019 by becoming his country's first ATP Tour title winner at Delray Beach.
He is joined by Cozbinov, ranked 818, Egor Matvievici and Dmitrii ...

Moldova anthem gaffe kicks off ATP Cup in Australia

England opening batsman Rory Burns will miss the rest of the Test series in South Africa after suffering ligament damage on Thursday while playing football.
It was yet another blow to a squad hit hard by illness, while fast bowler Jofra Archer is a doubt to start at Newlands because of an elbow injury.
The game was part of tourists' warm-up training before the team's final practice ahead of the first Test, starting on Friday.
A statement from the England team said Burns would return home for further treatment and assessment as soon as possible.
Burns made 84 in the second innings of the first Test in Centurion, England's highest score in a match which they lost by 107 runs, while Archer's six wickets were the most in the match for the away side.
Zak Crawley is expected to replace Burns as Dom Sibley's opening partner on Friday.

Football injury rules England's Burns out of South Africa tour

Australia made a solid start to the third Test against a virus-hit New Zealand with David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne in ominous touch on Friday.
At lunch, the home side was 95 for one in Sydney with Warner unbeaten on 45 and Labuschagne on 28.
The pair were threatening a substantial partnership and at the interval they had put on an unbroken stand of 56 after the loss of Joe Burns in the first hour.
Burns fell in the 15th over, squared up by Colin de Grandhomme and caught by Ross Taylor at first slip for 18.
De Grandhomme opened the bowling with Matt Henry after senior paceman Tim Southee was surprisingly left out of the attack.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat against the visitors, who made five changes to the team that lost the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne by 247 runs.
The Black Caps went into the Sydney Test without skipper and star batsman Kane Williamson, who has been ill in the lead-up.
Batsman Henry Nicholls and spinner Mitchell Santner were other illness withdrawals .

Australia 95-1 at lunch after winning toss against Kiwis

US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in Baghdad "in a decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad," the Pentagon said.
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more," the Department of Defence said.
Following Soleimani's death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation.
The strike, which occurred at Baghdad's international airport on Friday in Iraq, also killed the deputy chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.  A pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction.
The US had called the strikes in response to a rocket attack days earlier that .

Pentagon confirms Trump ordered killing of Iran Guards commander

US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in Baghdad "in a decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad," the Pentagon said Thursday.
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more," the Department of Defense said.
Following Soleimani's death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation.

Trump ordered killing of Iran Guards commander: Pentagon

Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed in a statement read out on state television that the commander of its Quds unit Qasem Soleimani was killed by US forces in Baghdad on Friday.
"The Revolutionary Guards announces that the glorious commander of Islam, haj Qasem Soleimani, following a life of servitude, was martyred in an attack by America on Baghdad airport this morning," said the report.

Iran Guards confirm commander Qasem Soleimani 'martyred' in Baghdad

Oil prices soared more than four per cent Friday following claims that the US had killed a top Iranian general, ratcheting up tensions between the foes and fuelling fears of a conflict in the crude-rich region.
The head of Iran's Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, was hit in an attack on Baghdad international airport early Friday, according to Hased, a powerful Iraqi paramilitary force linked to Tehran.
Brent surged 4.4 per cent to USD 69.16 and WTI jumped 4.3 per cent to 63.84.

Oil prices soar more than 4% after Iranian general killed

The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Friday to discuss an uptick in violence in the embattled Syrian opposition stronghold of Idlib, diplomats told AFP.
The meeting -- which will begin at 10:00 am (2030 IST) -- comes at the request of Britain and France, with the backing of the United States, the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Thursday.
Some diplomats hope the session will provide an occasion to discuss the reauthorisation of cross-border UN humanitarian aid deliveries to millions of Syrians.
Humanitarian aid currently flows into Syria through UN-designated checkpoints in Turkey and Iraq without the formal permission of the regime in Damascus, but that arrangement expires on January 10.
Last month, Russia and China vetoed a resolution that would have extended those deliveries for a year. Moscow says it will only approve a six-month extension using two checkpoints.
Three million people in the Idlib area benefit from that aid, according to the ..

UN Council to meet Friday on Syria's Idlib

A US strike killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and the deputy head of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military force at Baghdad's airport early Friday, the Hashed announced.
"The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road," the group said in a statement.
The international airport was hit in a volley of missiles just after midnight, Iraq's military said.
Security sources said the rockets targeted a Hashed convoy and left eight people dead, including "important figures."
The Hashed is a network of mostly-Shiite armed units, many of whom have very close ties to Tehran, who have been officially incorporated into Iraq's state security forces.
Muhandis is the Hashed's deputy chief but is widely recognised as the real shot-caller within the group.
He has been blacklisted by the US.
Soleimani heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force .

AFP

AFP

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