A French yellow vest protester's hand was ripped apart Saturday during violent clashes in Paris as demonstrators tried to storm the French National Assembly in a 13th consecutive week of unrest.
Police said the injured protester lost four fingers as police swooped in to stop protesters from breaching the parliament's exterior. Police could not confirm French media reports that the demonstrator's hand was blown up by a grenade used to disperse unruly crowds.
As scuffles broke out in front of the National Assembly and French police responded with tear gas, paramedics huddled around the injured protester at the National Assembly gates, providing emergency treatment and stopping bystanders from getting too close.
Police used batons and fired tear gas in Paris to disperse demonstrators, some of whom threw debris at riot police hunkered down.
Fire department spokesman Gildas Lecoeur told The Associated Press that the injured man was taken to a hospital, but he couldn't confirm his current ..

French yellow vest anti-govt protests turn violent in Paris

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Syrian opposition activists say Islamic State militants have attacked US-backed fighters near an oil field in the country's east, triggering airstrikes by the US-led coalition.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 12 IS gunmen attacked the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and clashed with them for several hours until most of the attackers were killed early Saturday.
Other activist collectives, including the Step news agency, reported the attack, saying some of the attackers used motorcycles rigged with explosives.
The fighting was concentrated near al-Omar field, Syria's largest.
The SDF, backed by US air power, has driven IS from large swaths of territory it once controlled in northern and eastern Syria, confining the extremists to a small pocket of land near the border with Iraq.

Islamic State attacks US-backed force near Syrian oil field

Ukraine's president says the nation needs to join the European Union and NATO to protect itself from Russia's expansionist actions.
President Petro Poroshenko, who is seeking a second five-year term in the March 31 vote, accused Russia on Saturday of planning to meddle in the election. He described the election as a "general battle for Ukraine." Opinion polls show Poroshenko trailing behind comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Ukraine has struggled with economic woes following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, leading to a sharp decline in living standards. The government's failure to combat corruption has also fueled public dismay.
Poroshenko has sought to shore up his sagging support by spearheading the creation of a new Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent from Moscow Patriarchy.

Ukrainian president vows to push for EU, NATO membership

Pope Francis will meet with migrants in Morocco and visit a training institute for imams that seeks to be a bulwark against Islamic extremism during his March 30-31 visit to the North African country.
The Vatican on Saturday released the schedule for the pope's trip to Rabat.
It comes on the heels of Francis' recent visit to the United Arab Emirates, where he signed a landmark "fraternity" document with a leading Sunni imam and sought to encourage moderate Islam and interfaith ties.
Francis will also meet with Morocco's king, the country's priests and religious sisters and celebrate Mass for the Catholic community.
Morocco has long considered itself a key ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, and King Mohammed VI routinely criticizes jihadism and the discourses of radical Islam.

Pope to visit Moroccan imam school to boost moderate Islam

Turkey's president was among hundreds of mourners who attended the funeral Saturday for nine members of a family killed in the apartment building collapse in Istanbul as the overall death toll increased to 17.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials joined the funeral prayers for the Alemdar family following the president's first visit to the site of Wednesday's tragedy. Five other members of the Alemdar family, including two children, remain hospitalised.
The cause of Wednesday's collapse is under investigation but officials have said the top three floors of the eight-story building in the Kartal district were built illegally.
"In this area, we have faced a very serious problem with illegal businesses like this done to make more money," Erdogan told reporters outside a hospital.
Thirteen people remain hospitalized with seven of them in serious condition.
Erdogan said there were "many lessons to learn," and the government would take "steps in a determined way" after investigators ...

Turkey leader attends funeral, visits building collapse site

Blizzards in Tibetan areas of western China have left thousands of head of livestock dead and roads covered in up to 45 centimeters (18 inches) of snow.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday that local authorities had sent veterinarians, medicine and animal feed to the hard-hit areas in Qinghai Province's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Villages in the area are above 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) and workers were seeking to clear roads to ensure the delivery of supplies, a task made more difficult by high winds and drifting snow.
Mainly ethnic Tibetan villagers in the area depend heavily on livestock, mainly Yaks, goats and sheep, for their livelihoods and to feed their families.
Harsh winters are routine in the Himalayan region that long fell within Tibet's traditional borders.

West China blizzards kill thousands of herd animals

Turkey's interior minister has said the death toll in the collapse of an eight-story apartment building in Istanbul has risen to 16.
Suleyman Soylu said early Saturday that another body had been found in the rubble.  The building in Istanbul's mostly-residential Kartal district collapsed on Wednesday.
The cause is under investigation but officials have said its top three floors were illegally built.
Soylu was speaking to reporters at the site as emergency services continued their work.
Thirteen out of 14 people who were rescued alive remain hospitalized with seven of them in serious condition.

Death toll rises to 16 In Istanbul building collapse

Phil Mickelson survived a wild finish to his round of 4-under 68. Jordan Spieth endured the worst of the rain and hung on to join him atop the leaderboard until it was too wet to finish the second round Friday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Mickelson made a 12-foot birdie on the fifth hole at Spyglass Hill, then got wild off the tee and made three straight bogeys.
He birdied his last hole to reach 10-under par, joining Lucas Glover (66 at Pebble Beach) and Scott Langley (69 at Spyglass Hill).
The rain was slow to arrive, but Spieth caught the brunt of it. He made three tough pars to stay at 10 under through 16 holes until puddles formed on greens and the round was suspended.

Wild finish for Mickelson, wet one for Spieth at Pebble

Villarreal remained winless in 10 consecutive Spanish league matches after a 0-0 draw at 14th-place Valladolid on Friday.
The visitors, who are used to finishing much higher in the standings, stayed second from bottom with three victories from 23 games.
It was Villarreal's second straight draw since re-hiring coach Javi Calleja in place of Luis Garcia Plaza, less than two months after he was fired.
"We have to keep trying," goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo said. "I think we played a disciplined match and there are positive things we can take from it." Villarreal faces two tough matches next: at home against Sevilla and away to Atletico Madrid.

Villarreal victory drought goes on after draw at Valladolid

Midfielder Julian Brandt scored twice and laid on two goals as Bayer Leverkusen shrugged off its German Cup exit by winning 5-1 at Mainz in the Bundesliga on Friday.
Leverkusen, knocked out 2-1 by second division Heidenheim on Tuesday, racked up a third successive league victory and is firmly in the hunt for European qualification.
The team is in fifth spot, four points behind fourth-place Leipzig, which hosts Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Fifth and sixth in the Bundesliga qualifies for the Europa League while the top four advance to the Champions League. It was Leverkusen's third league win from four since Dutch coach Peter Bosz took over from the fired Heiko Herrlich.

Brilliant Brandt fires Leverkusen to 5-1 rout of Mainz

Mario Balotelli's second goal in three games helped Marseille to a 2-1 win at Dijon in the French league on Friday.
The Italy striker, who joined last month from Nice, turned the ball in from close range in the 57th minute after winger Florian Thauvin headed on a corner from the right.
Marseille's second straight victory moved the side up to fifth ahead of this weekend's matches, and also took some pressure off coach Rudi Garcia following a poor run of results.
While Balotelli was the team's most dangerous player, a handling error from veteran goalkeeper Steve Mandanda led to Dijon's 18th-minute opener.
Although Mandanda covered his near post to smother defender Fouad Chafik's long-range shot, he did not push the ball away far enough and midfielder Jordan Marie followed up to drive it home.
Balotelli leveled before Argentine forward Lucas Ocampos produced a well-taken goal in the 73rd, cleverly cutting inside a defender on the edge of the area and curling the ball into the top corner. 

Balotelli scores again in Marseille's 2-1 victory at Dijon

Edin Dzeko is hitting top form at the right time for Roma. The Bosnia-Herzegovina forward scored one goal and set up another on Friday as his side won 3-0 at bottom club Chievo Verona.
Dzeko, who also hit the crossbar, has now netted twice in three league matches, having failed to find the net in his previous nine.
Stephan El Shaarawy opened the scoring in the ninth minute and Dzeko doubled Roma's lead in the 18th with a delightful goal, feinting past one defender on the byline before nutmegging another and firing an angled drive into the corner.
The two scorers then combined for Roma's third goal six minutes into the second half. El Shaarawy raced down the left on the counter and picked out Dzeko, who set up Aleksandar Kolarov.
El Shaarawy also hit the woodwork after being set up by Dzeko. Roma is fourth in Serie A, the final Champions League qualifying berth. AC Milan can move back above the capital side, though, with a win over Cagliari on Sunday. On Tuesday, Roma meets Porto in a .

Dzeko helps Roma win 3-0 at Chievo to go 4th in Serie A

China has reported a new outbreak of African swine fever that is threatening the country's vital pork industry.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reported Friday the disease had been detected on a farm in Yongzhou in the central province of Hunan, where 4,600 pigs were being raised.
Although just 171 of the pigs had died and 270 were found sick, ministry regulations require all pigs on an affected farm must be culled and disposed of and the area quarantined and decontaminated.
First detected in August, the disease has killed more than 1 million pigs in China, prompting restrictions on shipments of most of China's 700 million swine, even healthy ones.
That has disrupted supplies of pork, China's staple meat, to big cities while prices collapsed in areas with an oversupply of pigs that farmers are barred from shipping to other provinces.
It also resulted in additional stress on pig farmers already beset by rising feed costs from Beijing's tariff fight with President Donald ..

China reports new outbreak of African swine fever

China says peaceful dialogue and political means are the "only way" toward enduring peace in Venezuela and says it backs multinational efforts toward that end.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying's statement comes in response to a question about a meeting Thursday of an "International Contact Group" led by Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and attended by leaders of 14 countries, including Spain, Italy, Portugal and Sweden.
China is a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, to whom it has lent billions to help shore up his embattled regime.
Hua said China "believes that Venezuela's affairs should be resolved by the Venezuelan people under the framework of its constitution and laws and through peaceful dialogue and political means. This is the only way toward enduring peace in the country.

China calls for peaceful dialogue on Venezuela crisis

Michael Jackson's estate is calling HBO's decision to air a documentary that includes allegations from two men that the superstar molested them "disgraceful" and is urging the cable network to further investigate their backgrounds.
The 10-page letter released Friday offers a meeting with HBO executives to try to discredit the stories of the two men featured in the documentary "Leaving Neverland," Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
The estate contends the men are lying and court filings and story inconsistencies prove that.
The first installment of the four-hour documentary will first air on HBO on March 3, with the second half airing the following night.
Robson testified in Jackson's defense at a 2005 molestation trial that ended with the singer's acquittal.
An email seeking comment from HBO was not immediately returned.

Michael Jackson's estate assails HBO plans for documentary

An international rights group says Egypt executed three Muslim Brotherhood members who were sentenced to death following torture and beatings to extract confessions.
Friday's statement from Human Rights Watch says families of the men were notified of their hanging on Thursday and asked to come to the morgue to pick up the bodies.
The three were convicted last year for the 2014 killing of a judge's son in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura.
HRW says a letter from one of the men was reportedly smuggled out of prison, describing torture and beatings.
Michael Page, deputy director at the New York-based group, says Egypt "committed a glaring injustice by executing three men who apparently gave 'confessions' extracted through electric shock and other torture."
There was no immediate comment from authorities.

Rights group: Egypt executes 3 Islamists tortured to confess

The British and Irish leaders are meeting to discuss the Irish border  and mend fences  amid a tense UK-EU standoff over Brexit.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May will dine with Irish premier Leo Varadkar in Dublin to press her case for changes to Britain's divorce deal with the EU.
Britain's Parliament rejected the agreement last month, largely over concerns about a provision designed to ensure an open border between the UK's Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29.
The bid for last-minute changes has exasperated EU leaders.
But the parties have at least agreed to keep talking.
The British and Irish attorneys general are holding talks Friday to see if there is any common ground on the border.

British, Irish leaders to meet amid Brexit tensions

A Maryland woman faces charges that she assaulted White House counselor Kellyanne Conway in front of her teenage daughter during a confrontation last year at a restaurant in a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Mary Elizabeth Inabinett, 63, of Chevy Chase, was charged in November with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct and has a trial tentatively scheduled to start on March 29, court records show.
Conway told police she was attending a birthday party on Oct. 14 at a Mexican restaurant in Bethesda when she felt somebody grab her shoulders from behind and shake her, according to a charging document prepared by Montgomery County police. The woman who confronted Conway yelled, "Shame on you," and "other comments believed to about Conway's political views," the document says.
Inabinett's attorney, William Alden McDaniel, Jr., said in a statement that his client exercised her First Amendment right "to express her personal opinions" about a public figure in a public place. McDaniel said ...

Trump's counselor claims woman assaulted her at restaurant

A 6-year-old Houston-area girl with cancer had a dream come true when she was sworn in as an honorary police officer.
Police in Freeport, Texas, tweeted details of Thursday's ceremony for Abigail Arias (AR'-ee-ahs). Chief Ray Garivey (gar-ee-VAY') had learned of Abigail's interest in law enforcement and swore her in.
Abigail has Wilms' tumor, a type of childhood cancer that starts in the kidneys.
Abigail wore a custom-made police uniform and stood on a stepladder as she raised her right hand while the police chief administered the oath. Freeport is a city of about 12,000 located 50 miles (80.46 kilometers) south of Houston.
Uniformed officers from a number of agencies were on hand for the ceremony.

6-year-old with cancer sworn in as honorary police officer

For ten days, the London Zoo kept its newly arrived male Sumatran tiger Asim in a separate enclosure from Melati, the female tiger who was supposed to become his mate.
Zoologists gave them time to get used to each other's presence and smells, and waited for what they felt would be the right time to let them get together. On Friday, they put the two tigers into the same enclosure  and Asim killed Melati as shocked handlers tried in vain to intervene.
It was a tragic end to hopes that the two would eventually breed as part of a Europe-wide tiger conservation program for the endangered Sumatran subspecies.
"Everyone here at ZSL London Zoo is devastated by the loss of Melati and we are heartbroken by this turn of events," the zoo said in a statement.
It said the focus now is "caring for Asim as we get through this difficult event." The zoo said its experts had been carefully monitoring the tigers' reactions to each other since Asim arrived ten days ago and had seen "positive signs" that ..

Rare tiger kills prospective mate in London at first meeting

A former Miss Costa Rica has become the latest woman to accuse Oscar Arias, an ex-president and Nobel Peace laureate, of sexual misconduct.
The woman is alleging that Arias grabbed her, groped her and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015.
The case was first made public late Thursday by Escri-Viendo, a Facebook page dedicated to entertainment news.
Prosecutors confirmed Friday that a criminal complaint for sexual abuse was filed against Arias, the second this week.
At least five women have now accused him of actions ranging from unwanted fondling or innuendo to sexual assault.
Arias denied wrongdoing after the initial complaint surfaced. Since then he and his lawyer have declined to comment further citing the pending legal case.

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