Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is joining Belgian students who are skipping classes for the seventh Thursday in a row to march through Brussels to draw more attention to fighting climate change.
The 16-year-old Thunberg first addressed a European Union conference, chiding adults for their inaction in the face of such climatic global dangers.
She said youngsters are being forced to skip school and protest because adults are not addressing climate issues quickly enough.
She told the European Economic and Social Committee plenary session that "we are school striking because we have done our homework" on the dangers facing the Earth.
Thunberg has become her generation's voice on climate change after inspiring students around the world to go on strike to express their anger and angst over global warming.

Swedish teen leads Belgian students on 7th climate march

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US-backed Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria handed over more than 150 Iraqi members of the group to Iraq, the first batch of several to come, an Iraqi security official said Thursday.
The official said the IS militants were handed over to the Iraqi side late Wednesday, and that they were now in a "safe place" and being investigated.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the Kurdish-led Syrian fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, are holding more than 20,000 Iraqis suspected of IS membership in prisons in northern Syria.
The handover comes as the US-backed Syrian force is involved in a standoff over the final IS-held sliver of land in southeastern Syria, close to the Iraqi border.
Dozens of people, many of them women and children, were evacuated Wednesday from the group's tiny tent camp on the banks of the Euphrates River, signaling an imminent end to the territorial rule of the militants self-declared ...

More than 150 IS militants handed over to Iraq from Syria

German media report that two men have died after a shooting in Munich.
Police in the Bavarian capital said Thursday that the situation is "under control" and there is currently no danger to the public.
The Munich daily tz reported the shooting happened on a building site. It quoted an unnamed police spokesperson as saying authorities are working on the assumption that one man shot dead another and then killed himself.

2 killed in Munich shooting, police say no danger to public

Iran's navy says it will hold an annual drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz as pressure mounts on the country months after the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran, targeting its vital oil sector.
The strait is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a third of all oil traded at sea passing through it.
Iranian Adm. Hossein Khanzadi told state TV on Thursday the 3-day maneuvers will start on Friday and extend as far as the Sea of Oman and the fringes of the Indian Ocean.
He said submarines, warships, helicopters and surveillance planes will participate in the drill, dubbed as "Velayat-97."
The exercise will include missile launches from the vessels.
Iran regularly holds maneuvers in the strait.

Iran announces another navy drill in key Strait of Hormuz

A Japanese spacecraft is approaching the surface of an asteroid about 280 million kilometres from Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Thursday that Hayabusa2 began its approach at 1:15 p.m.
The start was delayed for about five hours for a safety check, but the unmanned craft is still is due to touch down as scheduled on Friday morning.
It will attempt to collect material from the asteroid that could provide clues about the origin of the solar system and life on Earth.
The landing will require precision. Hayabusa2 is aiming for a 6-metre-wide strip to avoid obstacles on the asteroid's surface.
The asteroid is about 900 metres in diameter. It is named Ryugu after an undersea palace in a Japanese folktale.

Japanese spacecraft to attempt landing on distant asteroid

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in China on Thursday on the latest stop of a sweep through Asia that aims to expand the kingdom's influence on the continent.
Prince Mohammed touched down in the morning following earlier visits to India and Pakistan.
He's due to meet officials including the Chinese president and ruling Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, on Friday, highlighting Saudi Arabia's importance as one of China's top oil suppliers and a market for its exports, including military drones.
Prince Mohammed's visit to Beijing follows one earlier this week by a high-powered delegation from Saudi Arabia's chief strategic rival Iran. At a meeting Wednesday, Xi told Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani that "China's resolve to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged," regardless of the evolving international situation, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
The trip comes five months after the crown prince came under ...

Saudi crown prince in China on latest stop of Asian tour

An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria won't be allowed to return to the United States with her toddler son because she is not an American citizen, the US said Wednesday.
Her lawyer is challenging that claim.
In a brief statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no details as to how the administration made their determination.
"Ms. Hoda Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be admitted into the United States," he said. "She does not have any legal basis, no valid U.S. passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States."
But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.
"She's an American. Americans break the law," said Shibly, a lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on ...

US: Alabama woman who joined Islamic State is not a citizen

The UN Mideast envoy says the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians "is fading by the day as the specter of violence and radicalism grows" and "the risk of war continues to loom large".
Nikolay Mladenov also told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that a negotiated two-state solution is drifting further away.
In his words: "What is needed, first and foremost, is the necessary leadership and political will for change. Until that will can be found, Palestinians and Israelis will continue to slide into increasingly hazardous territory."
Mladenov stressed that leaders must believe peace is possible through negotiations.
He also said leaders and the international community must be committed to support Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace deal based on U.N. resolutions and bilateral agreements.

UN envoy says risk of Israeli-Palestinian war looms large

A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina.
An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted Sunday by a joint expedition of the Galapagos National Park and the U.S.-based Galapagos Conservancy, Ecuador's Environment Ministry said in a statement.
Investigators think there may be more members of the species on the island because of tracks and scat they found. The team took the tortoise, likely more than 100 years old, to a breeding center for giant tortoises on Santa Cruz Island where it will stay in a specially designed pen.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has the Fernandina Giant Tortoise listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct.
The only other living member of the species was found in 1906, the group said. Since then, expeditions have encountered tortoise scat and bite marks on ...

Tortoise feared extinct found on remote Galapagos island

The French government will adopt an international organization's definition of anti-Semitism and propose a law to reduce hate speech from being circulated online, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday.
Macron, speaking at the annual dinner of a Jewish organization, said France and other parts of Europe have seen in recent years "a resurgence of anti-Semitism that is probably unprecedented since World War II."
Macron said applying the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their daily work.
Since the intergovernmental organization approved the wording in 2016, some critics of Israel have said it could be used suppress Palestinian rights activists. The definition states anti-Semitism can take the form of "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour."
Macron said he .

France to adopt international definition of anti-Semitism

British government oversight of Huawei has proven it can flag up security problems, the head of its cybersecurity agency said Wednesday, suggesting he doesn't think the Chinese company needs to be banned from supplying mobile networks.
Ciaran Martin, the CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, said one of the conditions for maintaining good cybersecurity is having "sustainable diversity" in the telecommunications equipment supplier market.
Huawei, the world's biggest maker of switching gear for phone and internet companies, has faced rising scrutiny in Europe over cybersecurity concerns as countries roll out new high speed fifth generation, or 5G, mobile networks.
US officials have been pressuring European allies to shun the company over worries that Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for electronic espionage.
The British government is due to complete a review of its policies on the safety of 5G in March or April.
"Everything is on the table," Martin said, adding that no ...

UK cybersecurity chief: Oversight of Huawei is working

Egypt on Wednesday executed nine suspected Muslim Brotherhood members convicted of involvement in the 2015 assassination of the country's top prosecutor, security officials said.
The nine were found guilty of taking part in the bombing that killed Hisham Barakat, the first assassination of a senior official in Egypt in a quarter century.
Barakat was also the most senior official killed since the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said the families of the men were told to pick up their bodies from a Cairo morgue.
A total of 15 people have been executed in Egypt since the start of the year. Three were hanged earlier this month for their involvement in the 2014 killing of a judge's son in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura.
Authorities executed another three for killing a police officer in Cairo in September 2013. Rights groups decried the executions, ...

Egypt executes 9 over 2015 assassination of top prosecutor

British regulators say the proposed supermarkets merger between Sainsbury's and Walmart's Asda unit would push up prices and reduce quality for shoppers, casting doubt on a deal that would create the country's biggest grocery chain.
It also serves as yet another regulatory blow to Walmart at a time when it's trying to overhaul its international business and focus on big growth opportunities overseas. Walmart, which last year bought a $16 billion controlling stake in India's online retailer Flipkart, is now facing tighter rules by the Indian government as it curbs how foreign e-commerce companies operate.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority, in a preliminary report, said Wednesday it would be "difficult for the companies to address the concerns it has identified" and that a significant number of stores would probably need to be sold before it gains approval.
Stuart McIntosh, chairman of the independent inquiry, says "shoppers could face higher prices, reduced quality and ...

UK regulator casts doubt on Sainsbury's-Asda merger

The no-fly zone for drones around British airports is being extended to five kilometres in an attempt to avert disruptions like the December groundings of flights at Gatwick Airport, officials said Wednesday.
The Department for Transport said the zone will widen on March 13 from the current one kilometre.
Officials are also working on new legislation to give police more powers to stop and search people suspected of using drones maliciously.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said people who fly drones near airports "are not only acting irresponsibly, but criminally, and could face imprisonment."
More than 100,000 travellers were stranded or delayed before Christmas after drone sightings near Gatwick, which is Britain's second-busiest airport.
UK aviation authorities say 125 near-misses between drones and aircraft were reported in 2018, up from 93 in 2017.

UK expands no-fly zone for drones around airports

If Pope Francis needed a concrete example to justify summoning church leaders from around the globe to Rome for a tutorial on clergy sex abuse, Sister Bernardine Pemii has it.
The nun, who recently completed a course on child protection policies at Rome's Jesuit university, has been advising her bishop in Ghana on an abuse case, instructing him to invite the victim to his office to hear her story before opening an investigation.
If Pemii hadn't stepped in? "It would have been covered. There would have been complete silence," Pemii told The Associated Press recently.
"And nothing would have happened. Nobody would have listened to the victim." Francis is convening this week's summit at the Vatican to prevent cover-ups by Catholic superiors everywhere, as many around the world continue to protect the church's reputation at all costs, denying that priests rape children and by discrediting victims even as new cases keep coming to light.
History's first Latin American pope has made many of .

Ending the silence on sex abuse: Vatican holds summit

A convoy of trucks carrying civilians has left the last enclave held by Islamic State militants in eastern Syria.
An Associated Press team says at least eight trucks emerged Wednesday from the tip of a humanitarian corridor used in past weeks to evacuate people from the militants' last patch of territory along the Euphrates River.
Women, children and men could be seen aboard the trucks.
Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S.-backed militia spearheading the fight against IS in Syria, confirmed the trucks were carrying civilians from the enclave.
It was not immediately clear if militants were also on board the trucks.
Around 300 militants are believed to be holed up in the enclave, along with several hundred civilians.

Civilians evacuated from last Islamic State holdout in Syria

China is keeping foreign travellers out of Tibet during sensitive political anniversaries.
Travel agencies contacted Wednesday said foreign tourists would not be allowed into the Himalayan region until April 1.
It's not clear when the ban started, although some monitoring groups said it started this month.
March 10 is the 60th anniversary of an abortive 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, while anti-government riots occurred March 14, 2008, in the regional capital Lhasa.
While the foreigner travel ban is an annual occurrence, the occasion of the 60th anniversary is drawing special attention from the authorities.
Amid heavy security on the ground, Tibet is almost entirely closed to foreign journalists and diplomats and information about actual conditions there is hard to obtain.

China closes Tibet to foreigners for sensitive anniversaries

FIFA will still decide the host of the Women's World Cup in secret, unlike the new open vote held last year for host of the 2026 men's tournament.
The 2023 Women's World Cup bidding process was launched Tuesday, and FIFA adopted many of the rigorous checks and scrutiny prospective men's hosts now have to go through.
But the final decision is a very different process.
Following corruption investigations into the vote for men's hosts in 2018 and 2022, FIFA removed the decision from its ruling committee and gave it to all member associations.
When it came to deciding the 2026 men's hosts last year, the votes were made public after the FIFA Congress chose the joint bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada over Morocco's entry.
But in March 2020 it will be the FIFA Council, a group of 37 people which meets in private, deciding where the women's top players will compete in 2023.
"FIFA's statutes explicitly stipulate that the selection of venues for the final competitions of all ...

Unlike men's World Cup, no open vote on women's event host

Catholic religious orders around the world apologized Tuesday for having failed to respond when their priests raped children, acknowledging that their family-like communities blinded them to sexual abuse and led to misplaced loyalties, denial and cover-ups.
The two umbrella organisations representing the world's religious orders issued a joint statement ahead of Pope Francis' sex abuse prevention summit, which opens Thursday. They vowed to implement accountability measures to ensure that cover-ups by religious superiors end and that children are always safe in the presence of clergy.
With a few exceptions, religious orders have largely flown under the radar in the decades-long scandal, since the focus has been on how diocesan bishops protected their priests and moved them from parish to parish where they were free to abuse again.
Yet congregations such as the Jesuits, Salesians and Christian Brothers have some of the worst records, since they too moved abusers around and had easy ...

Religious orders apologize for sex abuse inaction, cover-ups

Human rights advocates met Tuesday in Paris to discuss potential strategies leading industrial nations could employ to reduce violence and discrimination against women.
French President Emmanuel Macron named 35 advocates to give the Group of Seven recommendations, France took over the G-7's presidency on January 1, and Macron has said he wants gender equality to be a main focus.
The advocates are addressing three main topics: combating violence against women, promoting girls' education and women's entrepreneurship.  Participants include three Nobel Peace Prize winners: Tunisian businesswoman Wided Bouchamaoui, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad.
Actress Emma Watson, a United Nations goodwill ambassador on gender equality issues, also is part of the group.
During their meeting with Macron at the Elysee Palace, group members left an empty chair for human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is imprisoned in Iran.
Sotoudeh has fought against laws that ...

Nobel laureates, advocates to advise G-7 on women's rights

The European Union on Tuesday warned British Prime Minister Theresa May that her trip to EU headquarters to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations stands no chance of success when it comes to her central demand for the divorce deal to be reopened.
Reinforcing the message, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made it clear that he had little hope that something fruitful would emerge during his evening talks with May Wednesday, and that the stalemate between Britain and the 27 other EU nations would likely continue.
"There is not enough movement for me to able to assume that it will be a productive discussion," Juncker told reporters in Stuttgart, Germany.
"I don't know what Mrs. May will tell me tomorrow." He added that, even after almost two years of talks, "I don't know what our British friends actually want to have.
In the British Parliament, there is always only a majority against something, there is never a majority for something."
Earlier, Juncker's spokesman, 

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