European Union authorities warned Facebook, Google and Twitter on Tuesday that they need to work harder to combat fake news ahead of upcoming bloc-wide parliamentary elections.
The EU's executive commissioners said that while the US internet giants have made some progress, they need to pick up the pace of their work fighting disinformation and if their efforts are unsatisfactory, they could face regulation.
The Commission has been turning up the heat on tech giants ahead of the elections scheduled for May, in which millions of people in 27 EU member countries will vote for 705 lawmakers in the bloc's parliament.
EU officials want to prevent the misuse of social media platforms by foreign groups trying to meddle in elections, and have singled out Russia as a main source of disinformation in Europe.
Google, Facebook, Twitter and browser maker Mozilla are companies that so far have signed up to a voluntary EU code of conduct on fighting disinformation. The Commission said they've made ...

EU urges internet giants to work harder fighting fake news

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The European Union has approved U.S. soybean exports to be used in the production of biofuels in an effort to boost such imports following last summer's trans-Atlantic meeting between President Donald Trump and his EU Commission counterpart Jean-Claude Juncker.
The summit meeting was able to stave off a tariffs war on industrial goods like cars but Juncker made a commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans.
Sales have doubled since, but mostly because of market forces.
Tuesday's approval that US soybeans can be used for biofuel is bound to boost sales even more.
EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas says "today's decision is new proof that the EU is delivering ... this means that as of today it will be easier for US soybeans to enter the EU market.

EU approves US soybeans for biofuel production

Iran's senior security official says his country has no plans to increase range of its missile systems.
Tuesday's report on state TV quotes the secretary of Iran's top security body, Ali Shamkhani, as saying that Iran "has no intention of increasing the range of our missiles."
In 2017, Iran's Revolutionary Guard chief, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the country's supreme leader had limited the range of its ballistic missiles to 2,000 kilometres.
The West is suspicious that Iran's missile program is capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday his country is ready to impose further sanctions on Iran if no progress is made in talks to limit its ballistic missile programme.

Iranian security chief says country won't up missile range

Thailand's military government on Monday suspended the licensing of commercial marijuana-based products for medical use amid concern that foreign pharmaceutical companies might try to monopolise the market.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's decree orders the director of the Department of Intellectual Property to invalidate all patent applications for medical marijuana products, declaring that for the time being commercial products from marijuana or having the same molecular structure as the plant are not supported under intellectual property laws.
The decree says it will remain in effect until legislation on medical marijuana comes into force. Parliament last month legalized the regulated use of medical marijuana but the legislation must be signed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn to become law. At that point, new applications are expected to be allowed that meet conditions specified under the law.
The order was issued under special powers the military government that seized power in 2014 .

Thailand suspends patent applications for medical marijuana

Canada's foreign minister said Monday the country's ambassador to China was fired because he expressed views that were contrary to the federal government's position on the detention of a Chinese tech executive.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the central job of an ambassador is to represent accurately the government's position. She said John McCallum didn't do that and that is why his position was untenable.
Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have stressed that Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is the subject of a legal proceeding that is not politically motivated. The US wants Meng extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.
But McCallum told the Toronto Star Friday it would be "great" if the US dropped its extradition request. That came a day after he issued a statement saying he misspoke about the case earlier in the week and regretted saying Meng has a strong case against extradition.  Canada's ...

Canada's foreign minister says why China envoy fired

China on Tuesday questioned the appropriateness of an email sent by a Duke University medical school administrator warning Chinese students to speak in English.
Asked about the controversy, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang compared it to a Chinese university demanding that English-speaking students talk only in Chinese.
"If a Chinese university required that American students not use English to communicate, I think this would not be normal," Geng said at a daily briefing.
Duke University in North Carolina moved quickly to offer apologies, launch an investigation and reassure a core group of graduate scholars after the email raised an outcry at home and abroad.
The story drew thousands of comments in China on social media. Some called it racial discrimination and said Chinese universities should ban speaking English, while a few said it was not a big deal.
The administrator's message came at a time when elite US universities are trying to remain attractive to top international ...

China questions warning to Duke students to use English

The UN human rights office says security forces in Venezuela detained nearly 700 people in one day last week amid anti-government protests  the highest such tally in a single day in the country in at least 20 years.
Rights office spokesman Rupert Colville said Tuesday that 696 people were detained on Wednesday alone. Overall, some 850 were detained between Monday and Saturday, including 77 children.
Colville said "more than 40 people" are now believed to have been in killed "in different manners" amid the recent protests, including 11 people reportedly killed by "unidentified individuals" linked to incidents of looting.
He said one member of the Bolivarian Guard was reportedly killed in the state of Monagas.0
He told reporters in Geneva that officials were investigating reports of ill-treatment of detainees.

UN: Nearly 700 Venezuela arrests in a day mark 20-year high

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Thailand to stop the extradition to Bahrain of a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia, his office said Tuesday.
In a letter to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Morrison emphasised that Hakeem al-Araibi's case was an important matter to him personally, as well as to the Australian government and Australian people, his office said. The letter was reported earlier by The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Al-Araibi, 25, a former Bahraini national team player, says he fled his home country due to political repression. Bahrain wants him returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence he received in absentia in 2014 for vandalising a police station, which he denies.
Human rights groups, soccer governing bodies and activists have pushed for Thailand to release al-Araibi, who plays for the semi-professional soccer club Pascoe Vale FC in Melbourne. They believe he risks being tortured if he is sent back to ...

Australian PM asks Thailand to free detained soccer player

Retired Israeli military chief Benny Gantz is launching his long-awaited political campaign, seeking to position himself as the first serious challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decade-long rule.
Gantz is flaunting a tough military pedigree and emerging in the polls as Netanyahu's top rival. This highlights how security rules supreme in the minds of most Israeli voters.
The tall, telegenic ex-general with salty hair is still untarnished by partisan politics and has been riding a wave of popularity, even while saying little and presenting a vague ideological platform.
But the shine could quickly wear off following his speech later on Tuesday, when he is expected to finally lay out his agenda. Netanyahu's allies are sure to brand Gantz as a "leftist" should he show any signs of moderation.

Ex-Israeli army chief launches campaign to replace Netanyahu

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says that a multi-billion-dollar rail link project backed by China would "impoverish" the country, saddling the government with excess debt for the next 30 years.
Since winning a historic vote last May, Mahathir's government has axed or reviewed large-scale infrastructure projects to rein in surging national debt that it blames mostly on corruption in the previous government.
But there is confusion over the status of the USD 20 billion East Coast Rail Link. Mahathir's comments Tuesday suggested it might be cancelled.
Mahathir said the government "just cannot pay" as the project cost could exceed 100 billion ringgit (USD 24.3 billion). He said paying compensation would cost less.
A Chinese government spokesman in Beijing said the project was agreed to "on the basis of mutual respect and equality.

Malaysian leader says China-backed rail project too costly

Simon Wallfisch grew up in London as the grandson of an Auschwitz survivor who swore to never return to the country that murdered her parents and 6 million other Jews.
But more than 70 years after the Holocaust, Brexit has prompted Wallfisch and thousands of other Jews in Britain to apply for German citizenship, which was stripped from their ancestors by the Nazis during the Third Reich.
"This disaster that we call Brexit has led to me just finding a way to secure my future and my children's future," said Wallfisch, 36, a well-known classical singer and cellist who received his German passport in October.
"In order to remain European I've taken the European citizenship."
Britons holding dual citizenship from an EU country like Germany will retain the privilege of free movement and work across the soon-to-be 27-nation bloc.
Many Britons whose ancestors came from other parts of Europe have been claiming citizenship in other EU member states so they can keep ties to the continent.
But ...

British Jews apply for German nationality as Brexit looms

The Palestinians are asking the United Nations to deploy a permanent international force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Tuesday's request comes a day after Israel said it was suspending operations of an observer force in the city of Hebron, after 20 years.
Palestinian official Saeb Erekat says the UN should "guarantee the safety and protection of the people of Palestine" until "the end of Israel's belligerent occupation."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it would not extend the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying "we will not allow the continuation of an international force that acts against us."
TIPH has deployed unarmed civilian observers since 1997. Hundreds of hard-line Jewish settlers guarded by soldiers live in the heart of Hebron, which has over 200,000 Palestinians.

Palestinians ask UN to deploy observer force in West Bank

Thailand officially received a request from Bahrain to extradite a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia.
Bahrain's request for the extradition of Hakeem al-Araibi was received Monday and forwarded to prosecutors for deliberation, foreign ministry spokeswoman Busadee Santipitaks said Tuesday.
The Bahraini national team player says he fled his home country due to political repression. Bahrain wants him returned to serve a prison sentence for a charge he denies.
Al-Araibi was detained upon his arrival in Bangkok in November while on a holiday, and a court ruled in December he could be held for 60 days pending the completion of an extradition request by Bahrain.
The attorney general is expected to decide al-Araibi's case within a week, said Chatchom Akapin, director general for the attorney general's international affairs department.
Chatchom said Thailand would not extradite al-Araibi "if the sought extradition is political." He said "if it is, then the request must 

Thailand receives Bahrain request for detained soccer player

After a publicity-filled weekend spent asserting his innocence and slamming investigators, Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone will appear before a federal judge who may look to muzzle him as the case moves forward.
Stone faces a Tuesday morning arraignment in Washington and is expected to plead not guilty to charges that he lied to lawmakers, engaged in witness tampering and obstructed a congressional investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Though most defendants facing charges tend to stay quiet for fear of inflaming prosecutors or a judge, Stone has opted for a different tack since his pre-dawn arrest Friday in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
Stone staged an impromptu news conference outside a Florida courthouse, made the rounds on weekend television and repeatedly mocked the probe on an Instagram account, including with a cartoonish-image of Mueller as a bowtie-wearing butler holding a tray with a hamburger roll  but no 

Trump confidant Roger Stone to face federal judge in DC

Negotiators for the United States and the Taliban insurgents have reached "agreements in principle" on key issues for a peace deal that would end 17 years of war in Afghanistan, the top US envoy has said.
The statement by US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad followed six days of talks last week with the Taliban in Qatar, where he urged the insurgents to enter into direct negotiations with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Ghani on Monday assured Afghans that their rights will not be compromised in the name of peace with the Taliban, who have been staging near-daily attacks against Afghan forces, causing scores of casualties every week. Their offensive has not let up despite the severe Afghan winter and the insurgents now hold sway over nearly half of the country.
Khalilzad said in an interview with The New York Times that an agreement in principle was reached with the Taliban on the framework of a peace deal "which still has to be fleshed out" that will see the insurgents commit ..

In Kabul, US reports 'agreements in principle' with Taliban

Officials say at least three Houston police officers have been wounded in a shooting.
In a tweet, Houston police say the officers were "struck with gunfire following an encounter with a suspect" Monday afternoon in a neighbourhood in southeast Houston.
Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted that the suspect "is down" and at least three officers have been injured.
Police say the officers are being transported to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Joe Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, says one of the injured officers was taken to a hospital by helicopter.

Officials: Several officers injured in Houston shooting

Public health officials scrambling to contain a measles outbreak in the US Northwest warned people to vaccinate their children Monday and worried that it could take months to contain the highly contagious viral illness due to a lower-than-normal vaccination rate at the epicenter of the crisis.
The outbreak near Portland has sickened 35 people in Oregon and Washington since January 1, with 11 more cases suspected. Most of the patients are children under 10, and one child has been hospitalized.
Health officials say the outbreak is a textbook example of why it's critical to vaccinate against measles, which was eradicated in the US after the vaccine was introduced in 1963.
In recent years, however, the viral illness has popped up again from New York to California and sickened hundreds.
Clark County, Washington, has a vaccination rate of 78 per cent, well below the level necessary to protect those with compromised immune systems or who can't get vaccinated because of medical issues or ...

Officials urge vaccinations amid Northwest measles outbreak

The author of a new tell-all book about the White House under President Donald Trump says one of Trump's top policy advisers spoke dismissively about refugees.
Stephen Miller, who has pushed Trump to adopt stricter immigration policies, is quoted as saying, "I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil," according to Cliff Sims, a former White House communications aide and author of "Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House," due in stores Tuesday.
The Associated Press obtained a copy Monday.
Miller did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said during a rare televised briefing Monday, "I'm not aware of any statement like that that Stephen Miller has ever made."
The White House has reviewed Sims' book but has tried to avoid being drawn into public discussion to avoid bringing more attention to Sims' accounts.
Sims writes that, any time a refugee or immigrant committed a ...

Book says Trump adviser spoke dismissively about refugees

The US Justice Department is filing charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei.
A 13-count indictment was unsealed Monday in New York charging Huawei, two of its affiliates and a top executive at the company.
The charges include bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
A separate case filed in Washington state charges Huawei with stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile.
Meng Wanzhou, the company's chief financial officer, was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1. Prosecutors allege she committed fraud by misleading American banks about Huawei's business deals in Iran.
Prosecutors charge Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Huawei is the world's biggest supplier of network gear used by phone and internet companies.

US charges Chinese tech giant Huawei, top executive

The Trump administration imposed sanctions Monday on the state-owned oil company of Venezuela, a potentially critical economic move aimed at increasing pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to cede power to the opposition.
National security adviser John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the measures against the company.
They are also aimed at boosting Maduro's rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the administration recognized last week as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
The sanctions will include a freeze on any assets the firm may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with it.
"The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela's tragic decline, and will continue to use the full suite of its diplomatic and economic tools to support Interim President Juan Guaido, the National Assembly, and the Venezuelan people's efforts to restore their democracy," Mnuchin said.
"Today's designation of PDVSA will help prevent ...

US hits Venezuela state-owned oil company with sanctions

Gunmen have killed at least 14 people in Burkina Faso's volatile Sahel region in the past two days, attacking a marketplace and military base, officials said Monday.
Nearly a dozen gunmen opened fire on civilians at a Sunday market in the Soum province, killing at least 10 people and injuring two others, said security minister Ousseni Compaore.
The attack on Sikire in the northern Sahel region took place in the middle of the day while the market was full, he said, adding that investigations into the attack are ongoing.
Early Monday, gunmen attacked a base of anti-terrorist forces further west in the Soum province in Nassoumbou, burning tents and equipment and killing four people, said the director of the local national television, Bouma Nebie.
The same base was attacked in December 2016, when 12 military forces were killed.
Islamic extremists have increased attacks in the Sahel region, forcing Burkina Faso to declare a state of emergency there.
The extremist threat has also shifted ...

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