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.

Landslide engulfs children in central Indonesia, killing 1

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President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will testify publicly before a House committee next month in a hearing that could serve as the opening salvo of a promised Democratic effort to scrutinize Trump, his conflicts of interest and his ties to Russia.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced Thursday that Cohen will appear before that panel February 7, a little more than a month after the Democrats took the House majority.
The hearing marks the latest step in Cohen's transformation from a trusted legal adviser to the president to a public antagonist who has cooperated extensively against him.
Although Democrats say the questioning will be limited to avoid interfering with open investigations, the hearing is still likely to pull back the curtain on key episodes involving Trump's personal life and business dealings, including hush-money payments to women and a proposed Moscow real estate deal, that federal prosecutors have been dissecting for months.
Cohen is a .

Cohen, ex-Trump lawyer, to testify publicly before Congress

Germany and Greece put years of tension over the painful Greek bailout program behind them with Chancellor Angela praising the improvement of the country's finances during a heavily policed visit to Athens.
Many Greeks blame Merkel for the austerity they suffered for much of the past decade, which led to a sharp and prolonged recession and a bad deterioration in living standards.
But very few turned out on the streets to protest the visit, more out of lack of engagement than because of a police ban on demonstrations in the city centre.
Out of the two protest marches called by fringe groups against Merkel's visit, one by the Nazi-inspired far-right Golden Dawn party was cancelled.
The second, by left-wing groups, had a turnout of only 400  a few dozen of whom peeled off from the march and briefly broke a police cordon before being driven back with tear gas.
During talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Thursday, Merkel highlighted how strong initial differences with his left-led ...

Greece, Germany put tension behind them in Merkel visit

Israel has inaugurated a new highway in the occupied West Bank that features a large concrete wall segregating Israeli and Palestinian traffic.
One side of Route 4370  located northeast of Jerusalem  will be open to Israeli vehicles only, while the other half will only be open to Palestinian traffic.
Critics have branded it an "apartheid" highway, saying it is part of a segregated road system that benefits Jewish settlers.
The highway was built as part of a planned ring road east of Jerusalem that would connect the northern and southern West Bank. Construction began in 2005, but the five-kilometer road lay unfinished for years until 2017.
Israeli officials inaugurating the new road on Wednesday touted it as a means of better connecting West Bank settlements north of Jerusalem to the city.
Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan called the highway "an example of the ability to create coexistence between Israelis and Palestinian while guarding (against) the existing security ...

Israelis, Palestinians segregated on new West Bank highway

The association that represents thousands of FBI agents says the partial federal government shutdown is affecting the bureau's operations.
The FBI Agents Association sent a petition Thursday to the White House and congressional leaders encouraging them to fund the FBI immediately.
The association's president, Tom O'Connor, told reporters in a conference call that Friday will be the first day that FBI personnel will not receive a paycheck.
He said the problems caused by the shutdown could make it harder to recruit and retain agents, cause delays at the FBI lab and in getting or renewing security clearances.
O'Connor said the FBI's petition is not about politics, but that financial security for agents is important for national security.

FBI agents say shutdown affecting operations

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis, but with some long-time friends in attendance both from abroad and at home.
A dozen Latin American governments and Canada in a coalition have rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's next term, and Washington has sanctioned top officials in his government.
But Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Bolivian President Evo Morales and President Anatoli Bibilov of a breakaway province of Georgia were among the foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the country's Supreme Court.
Maduro said 94 countries had sent representatives to the inauguration. And while Maduro's popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back the man who took over for the late Hugo Chavez.
"It's not the president's ...

Venezuela's Maduro celebrates 2nd term as crisis deepens

Maryland's ban on contracting with businesses that boycott Israel tramples on the First Amendment rights of a software engineer who advocates for Palestinians, a Muslim civil rights group claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations' federal lawsuit seeks to block the state from enforcing an executive order that Maryland Gov Larry Hogan signed in October 2017.
The order requires contractors to certify in writing that they don't boycott Israel. The group's suit claims the order has an unconstitutional chilling effect on First Amendment-protected political advocacy supporting the Palestinians.
CAIR says 25 other states have enacted measures similar to Maryland's, through legislation or executive orders. CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas said other federal lawsuits have challenged measures in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas.
CAIR sued Hogan and state Attorney General Brian Frosh on behalf of software engineer Syed Saqib Ali, a former state legislator.
Ali's 

Muslim group sues to block 'No Boycott of Israel' measure

A group funded by the food industry undermined China's efforts to keep obesity rates in check by overemphasizing the importance of physical activity rather than dietary habits, according to new research.
The International Life Sciences Institute, created in 1978 by a former Coke executive, is funded by companies including McDonald's, PepsiCo and Red Bull. It sponsors scientific research and conferences on food through its 17 international branches.
Its small, but influential, China branch organized obesity conferences focusing on physical activity, with speakers including Coke-funded researchers and a Coke executive.
The group enjoyed close ties to government health agencies because of the stature of its long-time leader, according to papers published in The BMJ and The Journal of Public Health Policy.
A national exercise program for school children called "Happy 10 Minutes" was modelled after a pet project of the former Coke executive who founded ILSI.
Susan Greenhalgh, the papers' ..

Coke-funded group swayed China's obesity efforts, papers say

Police in Greece say nine people have been received medical attention as a precaution after letters containing white powder were sent to five university campuses around the country.
Officials added that at least three of the letters appeared to have been sent from India.
Authorities say that none of the people examined - four postal workers and five university staff members - displayed any symptoms typically caused by harmful chemicals.
All the letters, delivered or intercepted Wednesday and Thursday, have been taken to a state lab for examination.
The targeted administrative offices were at campuses on the island of Crete, Lesbos, and Corfu and well as in Athens and the central mainland city of Volos. Police said that all the universities were operating normally Thursday.

Greece: 9 checked over powder-filled campus letters

Mexico's president says an undetermined number of bodies have been found in the northern Mexico border state of Tamaulipas in what appears to have been a mass killing involving drug gangs.
Local media report that between 19 and 20 burned bodies were found near the remains of burned-out pickup trucks near the border town of Miguel Aleman.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday the killings appear to have been part of a dispute between gangs.
He said details would be released once all the information was gathered.
The area around Miguel Aleman in the Rio Grande Valley had long been dominated by the Zetas drug cartel, but that cartel has since splintered.

Pile of dead bodies found in north Mexico after gang clash

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration's Mideast policies on Thursday as he denounced the former president for "misguided" and "wishful" thinking that diminished America's role in the region, harmed its longtime friends and emboldened its main foe: Iran.
In a speech to the American University in Cairo, Pompeo unloaded on President Donald Trump's predecessor for being naive and timid when confronted with challenges posed by the revolts that convulsed the Middle East, including Egypt, beginning in 2011.
Pompeo laid the blame notably on a vision outlined by President Barack Obama in a speech he gave in Cairo in 2009 in which he spoke of "a new beginning" for US relations with countries in the Arab and Muslim world.
"Remember: It was here, here in this very city, another American stood before you," Pompeo told an invited audience of Egyptian officials, foreign diplomats and students. "He told you that radical Islamist terrorism does not ..

Pompeo repudiates Obama Mideast policy, takes aim at Iran

Afghanistan's national security adviser is visiting Beijing as his beleaguered nation seeks help in ending its 17-year-old war with the Taliban.
Hamdullah Mohib met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday night, telling him Afghanistan is seeking to "bring some long-term stability to our region." China and Afghanistan share a narrow border and have cooperated on frontier security.
Wang emphasised the "mutual understanding and mutual support" the countries have offered each other and China's backing of efforts to promote peace and political reconciliation in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, the Afghan president's special peace envoy, Mohammad Omer Daudzai, expressed hope that the war that has cost the US about USD 1 trillion will end in 2019.
Washington's special peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, is also visiting India, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghan adviser in China amid push for 'long-term stability'

The head of the leading association for airlines around the world has warned of possible disruptions to air travel if Britain crashes out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal.
Though Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of International Air Transport Association, said the risk to traffic flow is partly under control after recent guidelines, he voiced concerns about the possibility of some disruption in the months after a so-called "no-deal" Brexit.
De Juniac told reporters Thursday in Dubai that current guidelines relating to air travel between Britain and the EU reflect 2018 traffic levels. Passenger traffic is projected to grow 5.5 per cent in Europe this year.
With less than three months to Brexit, Britain has yet to agree terms for its withdrawal from the EU.

Global airlines association warns of potential Brexit impact

A German court won't take up a civil case against a discount textile company whose clothes were produced in a factory in Pakistan that burned to the ground in 2012, killing more than 250 people.
The Dortmund regional court ruled Thursday that the statute of limitations had expired on the suit brought by four Pakistani plaintiffs  a survivor and three relatives.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, which supported the plaintiffs, said it is considering appealing the decision.
The plaintiffs had sought 30,000 euros ($34,000) each in damages from the KiK clothing company, arguing that as one of its main buyers the German firm was partially responsible for conditions at the Karachi factory.
KiK has rejected the accusations.

German court rejects case of deadly Pakistan factory fire

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is taking an increasingly visible role in the British royal family as she becomes the patron of four organisations including the prestigious National Theatre.
Kensington Palace said Thursday that Meghan will take over two roles as patron that have for decades been held by Queen Elizabeth II and is taking two other roles as well.
The palace says the queen "has passed on" the role of patron of the National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
In addition, Meghan will become patron of two additional charities: Smart Works, which helps vulnerable women find the skills needed to work, and Mayhew, a grassroots organisation active in London and internationally.
Meghan and her husband Prince Harry are expecting their first child this spring.

Meghan moves into more visible roles in UK royal family

An adviser to Europe's top court says Google doesn't have to extend "right to be forgotten" rules to its search engines globally.
The European Court of Justice's advocate general released a preliminary opinion Thursday in the case involving the U.S. tech company and France's data privacy regulator.
The case stems from the court's 2014 ruling that people have the right to control what appears when their name is searched online. That decision forced Google to delete links to outdated or embarrassing personal information that popped up in searches.
The two sides had sought clarification on a 2015 French decision ordering Google to remove results for all its search engines on request, and not just European country sites like www.google.fr .
Advocate General Maciej Szpunar's opinion said the court "should limit the scope of the de-referencing that search engine operators are required to carry out," and that it shouldn't have to do it for all domain names, according to a statement.
Opinions 

EU top court adviser: Google can limit right to be forgotten

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly told the leader of his only major ally, China, that he is committed to setting up a second summit with President Donald Trump to "achieve results" on the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.
The comments, contained in reports Thursday from Chinese and North Korean state media, came after Kim left Beijing on his special armored train for Pyongyang after a two-day visit to the Chinese capital.
Kim's trip to China - his fourth in the past 10 months - is believed to be an effort to coordinate with Beijing ahead of a possible second summit with Trump. It comes after US and North Korean officials are thought to have met in Vietnam to discuss the site of the summit.
Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Chinese and North Korea state media reported Thursday. It wasn't clear from the reports if Kim was in back in the North, but his train presumably would arrive sometime Thursday.
Xi was quoted as saying that China ...

NKorean leader reportedly committed to 2nd summit with Trump

A US supplier of T-shirts and other team apparel to college bookstores cut its ties Wednesday with a Chinese company that drew workers from an internment camp holding targeted members of ethnic minority groups.
In recent years, authorities in the far west Chinese region of Xinjiang have detained an estimated 1 million Uighurs and Kazakhs in heavily-secured facilities where detainees say they are ordered to renounce their language and religion while pledging loyalty to the China's ruling Communist Party.
Last month an Associated Press investigation found the Chinese government had also started forcing some detainees to work in manufacturing and food industries. The investigation tracked recent shipments from one such factory, the privately-owned Hetian Taida Apparel, located inside an internment camp, to Badger Sportswear, a leading supplier in Statesville, North Carolina.
In a statement posted to its website, Badger said Wednesday it will no longer do business with Hetian Taida, nor ..

US apparel firm cuts off Chinese factory in internment camp

A bomb-laden drone flown by Yemen's Houthi rebels flew into a military parade on Thursday outside of the southern port city of Aden, killing at least six troops from a Saudi-led coalition and their allies in a brazen attack threatening UN-brokered peace efforts to end the years-long war tearing at the Arab world's poorest nation.
The attack at the Al-Anad Air Base, where American special forces once led their fight against Yemen's al-Qaida branch, targeted high-ranking military officials in Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The attack also raised new questions about Iran's alleged role in arming the Houthis with drone and ballistic missile technology, something long denied by Tehran despite researchers and UN experts linking the weapons to the Islamic Republic.
"Once again this proves that the Houthi criminal militias are not ready for peace and that they are exploiting truces in order for deployment and reinforcements," said Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani, who ...

Rebel drone bombs Yemen military parade, kills at least 6

Iran's president says the country will soon send two new satellites into orbit using Iran-made rockets.
Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday the launch will happen "soon, in the coming weeks."
Iran typically displays achievements in its space program in February, during the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit over the past decade, and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.
The US and its allies worry the same satellite-launching technology could be used to develop long-range missiles.
The US has said Iran's plans for sending satellites into orbit demonstrate its defiance of a UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Iran insists the launches do not violate the resolution.

Rouhani: Iran-made rockets to carry satellites into orbit Rouhani

Officials say a wave of Taliban attacks in western and northern Afghanistan the previous day has killed 21 members of the country's security forces.
Jamshed Shahabi, spokesman for the governor in western Badghis province, says the insurgents overran outposts there, killing six policemen.
Council member Shamsul Haq Baeakzai in northern Baghlan province says seven members of the local police force were killed there, also on Wednesday.
And in northern Takhar province, council member Ruhollah Raufi says eight policemen were gunned down.
The attacks left another 23 members of the security forces wounded. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for all the attacks.
The insurgents carry out near-daily attacks on Afghan troops, inflicting heavy loses. In response, the government in Kabul no longer releases official casualty figures.

AP

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