Egypt says security forces have killed  eight suspected militants in a shootout in the northern Sinai  Peninsula.
The Interior Ministry said today the firefight broke out  when the forces raided a suspected hideout in el-Arish city.  It said the militants were planning attacks targeting security  forces, and were in possession of explosives, rifles and  ammunition.
Egypt has been battling militants in the northern part of  Sinai Peninsula for years, but the insurgency became far more  deadly after the 2013 military ouster of Mohammed Morsi, an  elected but divisive Islamist president.
An Islamic State affiliate based in the Sinai has carried  out a number of high-profile attacks in recent years, mainly  targeting security forces and Egypt's Christian minority.

Egypt says its forces kill 8 suspected militants in Sinai

PTI Automatic

French President Emmanuel Macron  urged Chinese leaders today to open their markets wider and  warned lack of action might prompt other countries to close  their own markets.
Macron's comments in a speech to Chinese and French  entrepreneurs were a rare sobering note during a visit in  which both governments appeared eager to promote closer  relations.
The trip comes at a time when Britain's impending  departure from the European Union and US President Donald  Trump's more inward-looking policies have opened up the  prospect of a realignment of global influence.
Macron pointed to France's 30 billion euro ($36 billion)  trade deficit with China last year and warned it was  politically unsustainable. Such warnings are common among  economists and political analysts, but it is unusual for a  visiting leader in Beijing to address a potentially divisive  issue so directly.
"If we don't deal with this responsibly, the natural  reaction, the one we've had for too long, will be to close up  ..

Macron urges China to open market wider

Chinese state media say a former  chief of the People's Liberation Army's joint staff department  has been referred to military prosecutors on suspicion of  bribery.
The official Xinhua News Agency says Fang Fenghui's case  was transferred Tuesday to the PLA's criminal prosecution  body, a move that virtual ensures his conviction at court  martial. Xinhua says he's suspected of both giving and taking  bribes, formerly a common route to winning promotion and  potentially enormous riches.
Fang dropped out of public view last fall, leading to  speculation that he was the latest top military official to  fall prey to President Xi Jinping's wide-ranging crackdown on  corruption.
Three former top generals have already been ensnared in  corruption probes, including one who died of cancer before  trial and another who committed suicide.

Former leading Chinese general Fang suspected of bribery

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi  says the country is constructing its largest water  purification plant to better face future threats of shortages.
The announcement comes as tensions with Ethiopia over the  African country's building of a massive dam remain unresolved.  According to Egyptian state-run dailies, el-Sissi was widely  quoted today as saying "the state won't permit a water  crisis."
Al-Ahram quoted el-Sissi as describing the plant, being  built near Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea as the "largest project  in history" of water distillation and sewage treatment.
Last month, Egypt urged the World Bank to help resolve  Cairo's tensions with Addis Ababa as Ethiopia finalizes  Africa's biggest hydro-electric plant on the Blue Nile.
Egypt says the dam will endanger its water share of the  Nile, a claim Ethiopia denies.

Egypt building water purification plant in face of shortages

The rival Koreas took steps toward  reducing their bitter animosity during rare talks today, as  North Korea agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter  Olympics in South Korea and reopen a military hotline.
The meeting, the first of its kind in about two years,  was arranged after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made an  abrupt push for improved ties with South Korea following a  year of elevated tensions with the outside world over his  expanding nuclear and missile programmes.
Critics say Kim may be trying to divide Seoul and  Washington in a bid to weaken international pressure and  sanctions on the North.
During the talks, the North Korean delegation said it  would send an Olympic delegation, including officials,  athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and others, South Korean  Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told reporters,  according to media footage from the border village of  Panmunjom, the venue of the talks.
North Korea is weak in winter sports and a pair of ...

North Korea to join Olympics in South Korea as tensions ease

Thailand's foreign minister said  Tuesday that former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who  fled the country last year to evade a prison sentence, is in  Britain, after photos surfaced online apparently showing  Yingluck in London.
Yingluck, whose government was ousted in a 2014 coup, was  sentenced in absentia to five years in prison on September 27  for negligence in instituting a money-losing rice subsidy  program. She fled Thailand before the verdict and has called  the case against her politically motivated.
She has not been seen in public since fleeing, but it had  been generally assumed that Yingluck was in Dubai or London.  Her brother, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,  maintains residences in both cities.
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters today  that a visiting British government minister informed Thai  officials that Yingluck has been in London since September.
The confirmation of Yingluck's whereabouts came after  several photographs of her .

Thailand confirms that ex-leader Yingluck is in Britain

A South African emergency  response group says around 200 people have been injured in a  train crash on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
A statement from ER24 says there are no fatalities in the  crash Tuesday morning at a commuter train station in  Germiston.
The statement says one train carriage derailed. It says  the details around the crash are not clear but authorities are  on the scene and investigating.
A passenger train crash last week south of Johannesburg  killed at least 18 people and injured about 260.

200 injured in commuter train crash outside Johannesburg

French prosecutors have opened an  investigation into Apple over revelations it secretly slowed  down older versions of its handsets.
The Paris prosecutor's office said today a probe was  opened last week and is led by the French body in charge of  fraud control, which is part of the finance ministry.
It follows a legal complaint filed in December by a  French consumer rights group that aims to stop intentional  obsolescence of goods by companies.
In France it is illegal to intentionally shorten the  lifespan of a product in order to encourage customers replace  it.
Apple apologized in December for secretly slowing down  older iPhones, a move it said was necessary to avoid  unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue.
Lawsuits against the company have been filed in the US  and Israel.

France investigates Apple for slowing down old iPhones

The Trump administration's  decision to end special protections for about 200,0000  Salvadoran immigrants filled many Salvadoran families with  dread Monday, raising the possibility that they will be forced  to abandon their roots in the US and return to a violent  homeland they have not known for years, even decades.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen gave  Salvadorans with temporary protected status until Sept. 9,  2019, to leave the United States or face deportation.
El Salvador becomes the fourth country since President  Donald Trump took office to lose protection under the program,  which provides humanitarian relief for people whose countries  are hit with natural disasters or other strife.
The decision, while not surprising, was a severe blow to  Salvadorans in New York, Houston, San Francisco and other  major cities that have welcomed them since at least the 1980s.
Guillermo Mendoza, who came to the United States in 2000  when he was 19 years old, was anguished about 

US ends protections for Salvadoran immigrants, sparking fear

Oprah Winfrey's impassioned call  for "a brighter morning even in our darkest nights" at the  Golden Globes has Democratic Party activists buzzing about the  media superstar and the 2020 presidential race even if it's  only a fantasy.
Even so, for Democrats in early voting states, and  perhaps for a public that largely disapproves of President  Donald Trump's job performance, the notion of a popular media  figure as a presidential candidate is not as strange as it  once seemed, given the New York real estate mogul and reality  TV star now in the White House.
"Look, it's ridiculous and I get that," said Brad  Anderson, Barack Obama's 2012 Iowa campaign director. While he  supports the idea of Winfrey running, it would also punctuate  how Trump's candidacy has altered political norms. "At the  same time, politics is ridiculous right now."
Winfrey's speech as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille  lifetime achievement award on Sunday touched on her humble  upbringing and childhood wonder in .

Winfrey's Golden Globes speech sparks talk of 2020 campaign

A Google engineer fired for  writing a memo questioning Google's commitment to diversity  has filed a lawsuit alleging his ouster was driven by a  corporate culture that discriminates against white men and  people with conservative views, including supporters of  President Donald Trump.
The 161-page complaint filed yesterday on behalf of James  Damore and another former Google engineer depicts Google as an  elitist company that shuns employees who dare to deviate from  a liberal agenda embraced by its management and most of its  workforce.
The lawsuit was filed in Santa Clara County Superior  Court and comes five months after Google fired Damore for  writing a 10-page memo entitled "Google's Ideological Echo  Chamber."
In that missive, Damore criticized Google for pushing  mentoring and diversity programs and for "alienating  conservatives." He also blamed biological differences for the  paucity of women in tech.
Damore, 28, says he submitted early versions of his memo  to Google's ...

Fired Google engineer's suit alleges reverse discrimination

Samsung Electronics said its October-  December operating profit jumped 64 per cent to a record high,  capping off 2017 with the biggest annual operating income and  sales in its history thanks to the blockbuster semiconductor  business.
In its earnings preview today, the South Korean company  put its operating profit at 15.1 trillion won (USD 14.1  billion) for the final three months of last year, compared  with 9.2 trillion won a year earlier.
The result, however, missed expectations. Analysts polled  by financial data firm FactSet expected 16.2 trillion won in  operating profit. Analysts lowered their views on Samsung last  month, citing the one-time bonuses to employees and the  appreciation of the local currency against the US dollar.
Nomura estimates that Samsung spent 700 billion won ($655  million) as bonuses to employees.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 24 per cent to 66 trillion won  (USD 61.8 billion), also at a record high.
For the entire year, Samsung's operating income stood ..

Samsung's profit jumps 64 per cent to record high on chips

Egyptian officials say a  sightseeing balloon carrying foreign tourists over the  southern city of Luxor has crash landed, killing one tourist  and injuring seven.
The officials say today's incident was caused by strong  winds that forced the balloon off its course above the city's  pharaonic temples and tombs.
There were no details immediately on the nationalities of  the victims. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity  under regulations.
Hot air balloon incidents have occurred in the past over  ancient Luxor.
In 2013, 19 foreign tourists were killed when their  balloon caught fire. In 2016, Egypt temporarily halted balloon  flights after 22 Chinese tourists suffered minor injuries in a  crash landing of their hot air balloon.
Since then, balloon rides are monitored by cameras and  banned from flying above 2,000 metres.

Egypt: Hot air balloon crashes in Luxor, 1 tourist killed

Afghan police say the death toll from  the previous night's suicide attack in Kabul has jumped to 20,  with another 27 policemen wounded.
The attack took place on Thursday night in the eastern  part of the Afghan capital where dozens of security officers  had congregated to protect a demonstration of shopkeepers that  had been held earlier in the day.
First reports immediately after the blast put the death  toll at six officers but police official Jan Agha said that by  Friday morning, the number of those killed had significantly  increased.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing  but both Taliban insurgents and the Islamic State group's  affiliate in Afghanistan have targeted the country's security  forces in the past.

Afghan police: Kabul suicide attack death toll soars to 20

A 26-year-old transgender Chicago  woman serving a 10-year sentence for burglary is seeking a  transfer from a male to a female prison where she says she'll  be less vulnerable to abuse.
A federal judge will hear testimony Friday on Deon  "Strawberry" Hampton's transfer request. She says guards  single her out for regular sexual abuse, taunting and beatings  at the high-security men's prison she's at now in southern  Illinois.
Prison officials can assign such male-to-female  transgender inmates to women's prisons, but it happens  infrequently. Federal data from 2016 indicates there were no  transgender prisoners in Illinois' two female prisons. There  were 28 in the state's 24 male prisons.
Testimony in Benton will include experts describing how  Hampton has identified as female since she was 5.

Transgender inmate seeks rare transfer to female prison

Former Peruvian President Alberto  Fujimori left the clinic yesterday where he has been receiving  treatment since his controversial pardon from a 25-year jail  sentence.
The 79-year-old former strongman departed in a wheelchair  alongside his youngest son less than two weeks after President  Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced his release.
Dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt, Fujimori waved to  a crowd of supporters gathered outside the clinic before  entering a black SUV.
"We are very happy to welcome our father in this new  chapter of life!" daughter Keiko Fujimori posted on Twitter  along with a photo featuring the family.
The pardon sent thousands of Peruvians into the streets  in protest and drew international condemnation. United Nations  human rights experts called Fujimori's pardon an appalling  "slap in the face" to the victims of human rights abuses that  undermined the work of Peru's judiciary.
The pardon came three days after Kuczynski narrowly  escaped impeachment ...

Former Peruvian strongman released from clinic after pardon

Saudi Arabia's lawyers say a judge  should reject a New York lawsuit by victims of the September  11 attacks trying to hold the kingdom to blame.
The lawyers said in a Manhattan federal court filing  yesterday the plaintiffs lack evidence despite a new law by  Congress enabling claims against Saudi Arabia. Other lawsuits  against Saudi Arabia were rejected before Congress passed a  2016 law allowing the litigation.
The lawyers wrote that Congress "did not license  plaintiffs to proceed against Saudi Arabia without plausible  allegations and competent evidence to support their case." The  plaintiffs seek unspecified damages.
Fifteen of 19 men who hijacked four planes in the 2001  attacks were Saudis.
The 9/11 Commission report found "no evidence that the  Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials  individually funded" the attacks al-Qaida masterminded.

Saudi Arabia: No evidence shows it had a hand in 9/11 attack

A passenger train carrying  people home after the holidays slammed into a truck in rural  South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 18 people and  injuring about 260 others, authorities said.
Officials said the truck driver allegedly tried to cross  the tracks just ahead of the oncoming train, part of which  burst into flames after the collision, trapping some  passengers in carriages.
Those who were able to escape with their luggage  hurriedly dragged bags from the smoking wreck to a nearby  road.
"The truck driver was taking chances. He thought that he  was going to pass through," Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi  told journalists. "Little did he know that the train was going  to hit him. That has cost a lot of lives."
Some of the dead were badly burned, said Mthuthuzeli  Swartz, acting CEO of the state-owned passenger rail agency.
The train with 429 passengers aboard had been traveling  from Port Elizabeth to the country's commercial hub,  Johannesburg.
Video showed part of the .

18 killed, about 260 injured in South Africa train crash

Immigration is the focus for  President Donald Trump's meeting with some Republican senators  as he pushes his overhaul plan.
Trump wants to shift from a family-based immigration  system to one based on merit, as part of any deal to extend  legal status for young immigrants who were brought to the US  illegally as children.
Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals  program last year. He set a March deadline for Congress to  act.
A White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, says an updated  approach to immigration should "serve the needs of American  workers, families and taxpayers."
The senators expected at Thursday's meeting are John  Cornyn of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Lindsey Graham of  South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, James Lankford of  Oklahoma and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Trump to push immigration plan in meeting with Republican

Philippine police say  eight people have been killed when a rusty mortar round they  thought was an iron canister with gold inside exploded as they  tried to pry it open with a hammer.
Police Senior Superintendent Raul Tacaca said today that  other people were wounded by the powerful blast in a far-flung  village of Sirawai town in Zamboanga del Norte province. The  explosion happened yesterday inside a bunkhouse for workers of  a plywood company.
Tacaca says one of the workers found the mortar round in  a river bank and brought it to the bunkhouse, where other  workers and their relatives stayed, and started to try to open  it with a hammer.

8 people killed by mortar they tried to open in Philippines

An Afghan official says the Taliban  have shot and killed three people in western Farah province.  Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the provincial governor,  says the attack unfolded when a group of Taliban fighters  stopped a bus travelling in the Bala Buluk district today.
The Taliban searched the bus and spotted three members of  the Afghan security forces. The insurgents then seized the  three, took them of the bus and killed them, leaving their  bodies by the road.
Mheri says the authorities have deployed security forces  to patrol the highway around the clock for the safety of  travelers.
The Taliban have so far not claimed responsibility for  the attack or made any statements about it.

AP

AP

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