The United States ramped up its criticism of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on Saturday with an explicit call for the formation of a new government in the country.
The State Department said in a statement that it stood behind the head of Venezuela's opposition-run congress, Juan Guaido, who said on Friday he is prepared to step into the nation's presidency temporarily to replace Maduro.
The statement was the latest in a barrage of Trump administration attacks on Maduro, whose inauguration to a new term as president on Thursday has been widely denounced as illegitimate.
"The people of Venezuela deserve to live in freedom in a democratic society governed by the rule of law," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.
"It is time to begin the orderly transition to a new government.
We support the National Assembly's call for all Venezuelans to work together, peacefully, to restore constitutional government and build a better future."
"The United States government will continue ..

US says time for new government in Venezuela

PTI Automatic

A doctors' strike in Zimbabwe has crippled a health system that was already in intensive care from neglect. It mirrors the state of affairs in a country that was full of promise a year ago with the departure of longtime leader Robert Mugabe but now faces economic collapse.
Doctors describe grim conditions: Bare-handed surgeries. Plastic bread bags used to collect patients' urine. Broken-down machines. Zimbabwe's health sector, once considered one of the best in Africa, is on its knees.
"It's so sad. The hospitals are empty, the patients are being turned away to die somewhere else," said Prince Butau, treasurer of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, which represents about 1,000 doctors who anchor government hospitals.
A new president's promises of change have turned out to be empty.
"Affordable quality health care guaranteed," read campaign billboards for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe protege, ahead of the July 2018 election. Six months after he narrowly won the .

Bare-handed surgeries as Zimbabwe's health system collapses

Police and witnesses say many people are dead in Nigeria after an oil tanker overturned and exploded while people were scooping up leaking fuel.
Police spokeswoman Irene Ugbo tells The Associated Press that 12 people are dead and 22 badly burned in the blast Friday evening in Odukpani in Cross River state.
But some residents put the death toll closer to 60.
Witness Richard Johnson says many people were burnt to ashes, leaving little to recover.
He says dozens of people had been scooping up fuel and it was unlikely any survived the blast.
Johnson suggests the blast was caused by an electrical generator brought to the scene to help pump the fuel.
Hundreds of people have died in similar accidents in recent years in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer.

Dozens feared dead in Nigeria as leaking oil tanker explodes

Turkish media says two people were injured after a train hit a construction vehicle on an Istanbul suburban route.
The official Anadolu news agency said the crash on Saturday happened on a test run on the route near Istanbul's international airport.
The train crashed into a vehicle laying out the power line.
Photographs from the scene showed the front of the electricity construction car destroyed.
The agency said that two people stuck on the train were rescued. There was no information on their conditions.
In December, a high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others.

Train crash on test run on Istanbul suburban route injures 2

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, no US ambassador was there to welcome him.
The post has been empty for nine months. The Republican donor President Donald Trump chose for the job, John Rakolta Jr., hasn't been approved by the Senate.
Trump has accused Senate Democrats of using the chamber's web of rules to sabotage his nominees. But Rakolta's selection illustrates the challenges of filling a high-level government position with a candidate from the corporate world who has no prior diplomatic experience.
The ambassador's office in the UAE has been vacant since March when Barbara Leaf retired from the State Department after a long diplomatic career. By comparison, Leaf was confirmed as ambassador in November 2014, four months after she was nominated.

With Trump's nominee in limbo, envoy post in UAE stays empty

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Chinese officials are not respecting the diplomatic immunity of one of the Canadians detained in China last month as he ramped up efforts to get them released.
China arrested former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor on vague national security allegations.
The arrests came after a top Chinese executive was arrested in Canada on December 1 at the request of Washington, which wants Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou extradited to face charges that she misled banks about the company's business dealings in Iran. She is out on bail in Canada and awaiting a bail extradition proceeding next month.
Kovrig is an analyst on northeast Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank who took a leave of absence from the Canadian government.
Canadian authorities haven't previously said he was protected by diplomatic immunity. But Trudeau asserted that Friday.
"It is unfortunate that China has arbitrarily and ...

Trudeau says China not respecting diplomatic immunity

An 18-year-old Saudi woman who said she was abused by her family and feared for her life if deported back home left Thailand on Friday night for Canada, which has granted her asylum, officials said.
The fast-moving developments capped an eventful week for Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun. She fled her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in an airport hotel to avoid deportation and grabbed global attention by mounting a social media campaign for asylum.
Her case highlighted the cause of women's rights in Saudi Arabia, where several women fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases go unreported.
Alqunun is flying to Toronto via Seoul, South Korea, according to Thai immigration Police Chief Surachate Hakparn. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed his country had granted her asylum.
"That is something that we are pleased to do ...

Saudi woman fleeing alleged abuse heads for asylum in Canada

A double-deck city bus smashed into a transit shelter during Friday's rush hour, and Ottawa authorities said three people were killed and 23 injured.
Police Chief Charles Bordeleau said the bus driver was arrested after the crash, but he declined to provide details on why she has been detained. He said police were still investigating the cause of the crash.
Mayor Jim Watson said two of those who died were on the bus and the other was in the shelter.
Ottawa Hospital's trauma centre said it had received nine patients "in critical condition" from the crash.
The accident happened at the Westboro station in a neighbourhood west of downtown Ottawa.
Photos posted on Twitter shows extensive damage to the front of the bus, with the roof of a shelter pushed well into the bus' second deck.
The bus has a capacity of 90 people, both sitting and standing.
The crash snarled afternoon traffic as emergency crews descended on the scene.
In 2013, an Ottawa bus collided with a Via Rail train in suburban .

3 dead, 23 injured in Ottawa bus crash

Missiles fired by Israeli warplanes struck a warehouse at Damascus International Airport late Friday, causing damage but no casualties, a Syrian military official said.
The unidentified official was quoted by Syrian state media as saying Israeli aircraft coming from the south fired several missiles at areas near Damascus about 45 minutes before midnight.
He said Syrian air defense units shot down most of the missiles, but gave no details on other sites targeted.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the attack was broader than usual, targeting areas ranging from the eastern Damascus suburb of Dmeir to Kiswa south of capital all the way to the village of Dimas in the west near the Lebanon border.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes targeted an area near the airport while others hit the area of Kiswa, which is home to positions and storage sites for Iranian and Hezbollah forces allied with Syria's government.
There was no immediate word from Israel, which rarely 

Syria says Israeli warplanes hit Damascus airport warehouse

Heavy snow paralysed much of Europe for yet another day, cutting off mountain villages, sparking avalanches like one that crashed into a Swiss hotel and killing at least four more people Friday.
Workers at the Hotel Saentis in eastern Switzerland spent Friday shovelling out hip-deep snow after a 300-metre wide avalanche smashed through the hotel's windows Thursday afternoon and piled up in rooms and the dining hall.
Police said three people were hurt by avalanche in Schwaegalp.
In all, at least 21 weather-related deaths have been reported in Europe in the last 10 days.
The Bulgarian Red Cross said two snowboarders were killed died in an avalanche in southwest Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains.
A snowplow driver died Friday in Germany after his vehicle toppled into an icy river, while an electrical worker in Albania suffered a fatal heart attack while repairing damaged power lines.
Austrian military helicopters on Friday flew 66 German teenagers out of a mountain guest house where they had ...

Avalanches, accidents bring Europe's winter death toll to 21

A Pennsylvania woman who's dying of cancer is trying to find a home for her beloved 15-foot-long plant.
LNP reports Gabrellen Pfarr has a few months to live after deciding not to pursue further treatment for cancer.
Now, the 83-year-old wants to find a caring home for the sprawling plant she's been nurturing for 10 years in her Lancaster apartment.
She says her husband will move in with family members after she dies, and they don't have enough room or natural light to take on the plant.
Pfarr is a retired art teacher who says she doesn't have a green thumb but the plant she describes as a philodendron has thrived nonetheless.
She says "it's a beautiful plant" and wants it "to go to someone who can continue to take care of it.

Dying woman seeks caregiver for beloved 15-foot-long plant

A Saudi asylum seeker who fled alleged abuse by her family is leaving Bangkok on Friday and will fly to Canada, Thailand's immigration police chief said.
Police Chief Surachate Hakparn said the 18-year-old woman, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, would leave late Friday evening. He gave no other details.
He earlier said several countries including Canada and Australia were in talks with the UN refugee agency on accepting Alqunun.
A spokesman for Canada's foreign minister said he could not confirm she was coming to Canada.
Alqunun's case has highlighted the cause of women's rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many similar cases have gone unreported.
Alqunun was stopped last Saturday at a Bangkok airport by immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport.
She barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and launched a social media ...

Thai police: Saudi asylum seeker is flying to Canada

Mexican authorities say the death toll in a drug cartel shootout in the northern border state of Tamaulipas has risen to 24 with the discovery of the bodies of three more men.
Experts originally counted 21 bodies, many found in twisted piles of charred corpses in a field near burned-out vehicles. But a Tamaulipas state official who was not authorised to be quoted by name said Thursday that continued investigations located three more bodies.
The killings occurred Wednesday in the township of Miguel Aleman. The town is about 80 kilometers west of McAllen, Texas, where US President Donald Trump visited Thursday to push for a border wall.
The killings in Miguel Aleman apparently arose from a dispute between the Gulf cartel and a faction of the Zetas cartel.

Death toll in Mexico border shootings rises to 24

More than 1,000 Chinese fugitives who fled abroad were returned to the country last year and more than USD 519 million in ill-gotten gains was recovered, the ruling Communist Party said Friday, in what it is seen as a further victory in President Xi Jinping's years-long drive against corruption.
The party's anti-corruption watchdog said among the 1,335 returned were 307 party members or government employees, including five on a list of 100 most-wanted Chinese corruption suspects handed over to Interpol.
They include: Xu Chaofan, the former manager of a branch of the Bank of China in the southern province of Guangdong suspected of embezzling USD 485 million who fled to the US 17 years ago; and Yao Jinqi, a former deputy county chief who was extradited from Bulgaria, becoming the first fugitive sent home from a European Union country.
China says its four-year-old campaign to return white collar criminals and recover assets has captured more than 5,000 fugitives in all.
The operation ...

China claims wins in returning fugitives, funds from abroad

After days of back and forth over US President Donald Trump's decision to pullout American troops from Syria, a US military official said Friday the process of withdrawal has begun, declining to comment on specific timetables or movements.
Col Sean Ryan, spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, said "the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria" has started.
"Out of concern for operational security, we will not discuss specific timelines, locations or troops movements," the Baghdad-based official said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
There were no other details, and it was not immediately clear how many vehicles or whether any troop units had withdrawn.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said the withdrawal began Thursday night. It said a convoy of about 10 armored vehicles, in addition to some trucks, pulled out from Syria's ...

US official says troop withdrawal from Syria has started

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the Trump administration's anti-Iran message to Gulf Arab states on Friday, arriving in Bahrain to continue a nine-nation tour of the Middle East aimed at reassuring America's partners that withdrawing troops from Syria does not mean Washington is abandoning the region.
Pompeo was travelling to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates where he will call for increasing pressure on Iran and push for unity among Gulf neighbors still embroiled in a festering dispute with Qatar. He'll also be promoting a U.S.-backed initiative to form what some have termed an "Arab NATO" that would bring the region together in a military alliance to counter threats from Iran.
In Bahrain, the UAE and later Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, Pompeo will also be making the case as he did on previous stops in Jordan, Iraq and Egypt that President Donald Trump's decision to pull US troops from Syria is not a sign Washington is retreating from the fight against the ...

Pompeo takes US anti-Iran message to Gulf Arab states

Several countries including Canada and Australia are in talks with the UN refugee agency to accept a Saudi asylum seeker who fled alleged abuse from her family, Thai police said Friday.
Thailand's immigration police chief, Surachate Hakparn, told reporters the U.N. was accelerating the case, though he gave no indication of when the process would be complete.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun was stopped at a Bangkok airport on Saturday by Thai immigration police who denied her entry and seized her passport.
While barricading herself in an airport hotel room, the 18-year-old launched a social media campaign via her Twitter account that drew global attention to her case. It garnered enough public and diplomatic support to convince Thai officials to admit her temporarily under the protection of UN officials.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees eventually granted her refugee status on Wednesday.
Alqunun's case has highlighted the cause of women's rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis ...

Thai police: Canada, Australia willing to accept Saudi woman

Nissan's ex-chairman Carlos Ghosn was charged Friday with breach of trust in the latest blow for the star executive, according to the Tokyo District Court.
Ghosn was detained on Nov. 19. Earlier, he was charged with falsifying financial reports in underreporting his income by about 5 billion yen ($44 million) over five years through 2015.
Ghosn; Greg Kelly, another Nissan executive; and Nissan as a legal entity were charged Friday with additional underreporting of income, from 2015 through fiscal 2017.
Ghosn's lawyer said he would request Ghosn be granted release on bail. His detention period for the breach of trust allegations was due to expire Friday.
Kelly and Nissan were not charged with breach of trust. Those allegations center on Ghosn's handling of investment losses and payments made to a Saudi businessman.
Ghosn, 64, says he's innocent.
Suspects in Japan are routinely held for months until trials start.  Tokyo prosecutors say Ghosn, a Brazilian-born Frenchman of Lebanese ...

Ex-Nissan chair Ghosn indicted for alleged breach of trust

A court in Myanmar has rejected the appeal of two Reuters journalists convicted of violating the country's Official Secrets Act, and maintained the seven-year prison terms they were sentenced to last year.
Judge Aung Naing said Friday that lawyers for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo failed to submit enough evidence to prove their innocence.
The men were convicted for having government documents in their possession. They were arrested on December 12, 2017, in the country's main city, Yangon, immediately after having a meal to which police officers had invited them.
They and their supporters say they were framed by police because of official displeasure over their reporting on the brutal crackdown by security forces on minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Myanmar court rejects appeal of jailed Reuters reporters

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen appointed a close political ally Friday as premier during a Cabinet reshuffle following the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's heavy losses in local elections.
Su Tseng-chang took charge of the Cabinet amid tense relations with China, which threatens to use force to take control of the island it claims as its own.
Beijing responded to Tsai's 2016 victory by cutting all contacts with her government and has ratcheted up economic and diplomatic pressure on the self-governing democracy.
The opposition Nationalist Party, which favours closer ties with Beijing, won 15 of 22 major seats in the November 24 elections, including in the DPP's southern stronghold of Kaohsiung.
Soon after, Tsai resigned as chair of the DPP, which rejects China's demands for unification with the mainland.
Analysts attributed the DPP's election losses to disappointment with the performance of Tsai's government, which had won a broad mandate, including seizing a majority in the ...

Taiwan leader appoints new premier following election loss

A landslide engulfed children playing near a cliff in central Indonesia, killing one and injuring several, the country's disaster agency said Friday.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho posted a video online that showed frantic villagers pulling a limp child out of sodden earth on Thursday afternoon.
He said that three children out of a group of six were injured and two were safe.
They were playing by rail tracks in a hilly area when the landslide suddenly hit in Java's Sukabumi district, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta.
Deadly landslides and floods occur regularly during seasonal rains in Indonesia.
A landslide in Sukabumi on the main island of Java earlier this month killed 32 people.

AP

AP

Page 1577 - Ap/pti Reuters