Britain's finance minister told the  Chinese premier there are "many opportunities" for closer  commercial ties as he started a visit today aimed at  developing trade as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the  European Union.
British leaders are looking to China for trade and  investment as they try to fashion a new global role and offset  reduced access to the European common market.
Chinese officials believe a post-Brexit Britain needs  China more than ever but its companies are uneasy about the  future of a market they see as one of Europe's most welcoming.
Philip Hammond was in Beijing for an annual "economic  dialogue" that has taken on added significance this year. He  was accompanied by an unusually large delegation of  businesspeople and British economic officials for such an  event.
Premier Li Keqiang, China's top economic official,  expressed confidence in "steady and sound growth" of Chinese-  British relations regardless of what happens between London  and the EU.
"We ...

Britain's finance minister in China to promote trade

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A group of United Nations human  rights experts says Sri Lanka has yet to respect individual  rights, with people kept in custody for excessive periods  pending investigations, and reliance on confessions that are  often extracted under torture or duress.
A three-member delegation of the UN Working Group on  Arbitrary Detention concluded a 10-day visit to the island  nation today.
They told reporters that individuals are being deprived  of their rights in a range of facilities such as police  stations, prisons, open work camps, centers for juveniles,  mental health institutions and rehabilitation camps for former  combatants and drug addicts.
They said detainees in general do not enjoy basic  guarantees of due process such as immediate access to legal  counsel.

UN experts say Sri Lankan detainees denied basic rights

Russia is to resume flights between  Moscow and the Egyptian capital of Cairo in February after  more than a two-year hiatus, Russian transportation minister  said today.
Moscow suspended flights to Egypt after an Islamic State  bomb brought down a Russian airliner over Sinai in October  2015, killing all 224 people on board.
The attack decimated Egypt's vital tourism industry.  Egyptian authorities have since spent millions of dollars to  upgrade security at its airports, hoping to get Moscow to  change its mind.
In comments on Russian state television, Transportation  Minister Maxim Sokolov said today that Egypt and Russia have  yet to sign a security protocol but that direct flights should  resume in early February.
Russia, however, is not yet talking about resuming  charter flights to Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea, once a  popular destination for Russian tourists, Sokolov said, adding  that this would be "the next stage" of negotiations.
President Vladimir Putin on a visit to ...

Russia to resume flights to Egypt, halted after 2015 bombing

NATO today said that it is  concerned about a Russian missile system that could carry  nuclear warheads, and which it says could violate a landmark  Cold War arms treaty.
The US-led military alliance said in a statement that  "allies have identified a Russian missile system that raises  serious concerns."
It urged Russia "to address these concerns in a  substantial and transparent way, and actively engage in a  technical dialogue with the United States."
NATO fears the system contravenes the 1987 Intermediate-  range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The Cold War-era pact bans an  entire class of weapons all land-based cruise missiles with a  range between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.
The statement said a situation whereby the US and other  parties abided by the treaty but Russia did not "would be a  grave and urgent concern."
The concern centers on Russia's 9M729 missiles.
Washington has given evidence that Russia is developing  the ground-fired cruise missile and said the system could give  ...

NATO concerned Russian missile system breaks Cold War pact

Israeli police are questioning  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again as part of an  investigation into two corruption allegations surrounding the  long-ruling Israeli leader.
An Associated Press cameraman filmed police entering  Netanyahu's residence today. Media reported it was the seventh  round of questioning.
One probe reportedly concerns allegations Netanyahu  improperly received lavish gifts from Hollywood and business  figures.
Another is over secret talks with the publisher of a  major Israeli newspaper in which Netanyahu allegedly requested  positive coverage in exchange for reining in a free pro-  Netanyahu daily.
Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing and dismissed the  accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media.
The scandals have yet to threaten Netanyahu's rule but  have affected his public approval ratings.

Israeli police question Netanyahu again in corruption probe

Most Americans think Donald Trump  did something illegal or at least unethical regarding ties  between his presidential campaign and Russia and they think he  is trying to obstruct the investigation looking into those  possible connections.
The deeply divided country is more concerned about health  care and the economy than any collusion with the Kremlin,  according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center  for Public Affairs Research.
But the survey also shows that Americans are unhappy with  the way Trump is dealing with the investigations led by  Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller.
Most people believe Trump is trying to obstruct the  investigations, which have resulted in charges against four of  his campaign advisers and increasingly appear focused on the  president's inner circle.
Four in 10 Americans think the president has done  something illegal when it comes to Russia, while an additional  3 in 10 say he's at least done something unethical. And 68 per  cent .

Most believe Trump trying to obstruct Russia probe: Poll

Prosecutors say two Austrians and a  German have been killed in a crash of a small plane in  southwestern Germany.
The Cessna 510 crashed late yesterday in a wooded area  near the city of Ravensburg. The plane had taken off in  Frankfurt and was heading to Friedrichshafen, about 20  kilometers (12 miles) from the crash site.
Konstanz chief prosecutor Wolfgang Angster said today  that two of the dead were the plane's Austrian pilots, a 45-  year-old from the Voralberg region and a 49-year-old from  Vienna. Also killed was a 79-year-old German passenger living  in the Lake Constance region.
Emergency responders were able to recover the bodies  despite heavy snowfall but the investigation into the cause of  the accident had to be put on hold due to adverse weather.

3 die in small plane crash in southwestern Germany

Global inequality has stabilised at  high levels in recent years, a report said today, despite  gains among the poor in China and India and much milder  disparities in incomes and wealth in Western Europe.
The World Inequality Report 2018 is based on a massive,  interactive collection of data compiled by an international  team of researchers that includes renowned economists Thomas  Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.
It shows inequality has soared since 1980 although the  global top "1 per cent" saw their share of global income slip  slightly after the 2008 financial crisis, to just above 20 per  cent.
At the same time, the share of global income going to the  bottom 50 per cent rose slightly, to just under 10 per cent,  thanks to gains in populous, fast-growing China and India.
The United States and Western Europe had similar levels  of inequality in 1980, with the top 1 per cent holding about  10 per cent of income.
But by 2016, the top 1 per cent in Europe held a 12 per  cent income share, 

Rich to get still richer as world inequality grows: report

Russia's presidential election will  take place on March 18 following a vote in the upper chamber  of the country's parliament.
Though the vote today from the Federation Council is  largely a formality, it formally kick-starts the campaign.
President Vladimir Putin last week ended weeks of  speculation, saying he will run for the fourth term.
Putin's 80 per cent approval ratings make his victory all  but certain.
His most visible adversary, anti-corruption crusader  Alexei Navalny, has declared his intention to run but a  criminal conviction bars his from running for president.
Navalny has been convicted on two separate sets of  charges largely viewed as politically motivated.
Despite the implicit ban he has mounted a grassroots  campaign which reached the most remote corners of Russia.

Russia's presidential election to take place on March 18

A firefighter has died  while working a colossal wildfire burning in coastal mountains  northwest of Los Angeles that has become the fourth largest in  California history.
Cory Iverson was an engineer with a state fire engine  strike team based in San Diego. Iverson, 32, is survived by  his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old daughter, Fire Chief Ken  Pimlott of the California Department of Forestry and Fire  Protection said yesterday.
Iverson had been with the state since 2009.
Pimlott did not provide any details about the death but  said it was under investigation by an accident review team.
Pimlott said he was "deeply saddened" by Iverson's death  but added that fire crews were continuing to focus on their  mission.
"The firefight in front of us continues to go on. The  communities we are protecting are depending on us and we will  not fail," he said at an afternoon news conference.
Last afternoon, dozens of police and fire vehicles  escorted a hearse carrying Iverson's flag-draped body 

Firefighter fatality reported at huge California wildfire

The US special envoy for North Korea  has expressed hope that Pyongyang would accept Secretary of  State Rex Tillerson's diplomatic offer of unconditional talks,  although the overture has already been contradicted by the  White House.
Joseph Yun told reporters in Bangkok today that the talks  could take place without preconditions and would serve  Washington's dual approach of pressure and engagement on  Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.
Yun says it's unclear whether North Korea is willing to  talk following a period of accelerated nuclear activity,  saying "it's very hard to discern what their intent is without  having real dialogue."
The White House has contradicted Tillerson's offer of  talks without preconditions, saying North Korea must first  take "sincere and meaningful actions toward denuclearisation.

US special envoy backs unconditional talks with N Korea

An activist says an Indonesian court  has sentenced eight men involved in running a gay club and  sauna to two years in prison.
They were among more than 140 men detained after a raid  in May on what police said was a sex party at the Atlantis spa  in Jakarta.
Most were released as homosexuality is not illegal in  Indonesia, but 10 men were charged under anti-pornography  laws.
Imam Shofwan from Pantau Foundation, which has been  monitoring the trial, says the sentencing occurred yesterday.  A North Jakarta District Court spokesman did not answer calls  today.
Those sentenced included a director and several employees  including strippers, a gym trainer, a receptionist and a  security guard.
Shofwan says verdicts for two defendants who allegedly  performed oral sex were adjourned until next week.

Indonesia sentences gay club workers to 2 years in prison

Two people were killed and three  injured today in two stabbing incidents in the southern Dutch  city of Maastricht, authorities said.
Police said in a tweet that one suspect had been detained  on suspicion of involvement in the incidents. They released no  details on the suspect or the victims.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was not a terror  attack, echoing comments from the police.
"It is terrible what happened there. People were killed  and others were injured," Rutte said at an EU summit in  Brussels.
The incidents happened in a residential neighborhood in  the north of Maastricht, a city 215 kilometers south of the  capital, Amsterdam, and close to the Netherlands' borders with  Belgium and Germany.
Police said a man was stabbed to death during a fight  around 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) and a suspect fled the scene. Ten  minutes later a woman was fatally stabbed and two men injured  about a kilometer (about a half mile) away from the first  incident. A third wounded person was later ..

Dutch police: 2 dead, 3 hurt in stabbings in southern city

Police in the southern Dutch city  of Maastricht say two people have died and a number of people  have been wounded in two stabbing incidents.
In a tweet, police in the southern province of Limburg  say investigations are underway into the two incidents today.
Local media report that the incidents happened in a  residential neighborhood in the north of Maastricht, a city  215 kilometers south of the capital, Amsterdam.
Further details were not immediately available.

Dutch police: 2 dead in stabbings in southern city

United Nations Secretary-General  Antonio Guterres called today for urgent efforts to create  conditions for talks on North Korea's growing missile and  nuclear threat, saying it's important to avoid miscalculations  and misperceptions that "make us sleepwalk into a war."
Guterres, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe  in Tokyo, said the UN's objective is to avoid a conflict.
"I think we all want to avoid that things get out of  control, and that misperceptions and mishandling of situations  make us sleepwalk into a war that will have devastating  consequences," he told journalists in Tokyo.
Guterres, who was in Japan to attend an international  conference on universal health coverage, said it's important  that all parties understand the urgency of finding a peaceful  solution.
He said UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman visited  Pyongyang last week and conveyed "a very strong message" to  the foreign minister and other officials that not only that  all Security Council ...

UN chief: It's key to avoid miscalculations on North Korea

The UN envoy for Syria said the  latest round of Geneva talks ended without progress today  after two fruitless weeks -- a "golden opportunity missed" --  and acknowledged that he needs to come up with new ideas to  make headway toward ending Syria's nearly seven-year war.
Staffan de Mistura's dire assessment -- and a rare  admission of failure -- came at the end of the eighth round of  the largely ineffective, UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland.
The UN envoy said he was "disappointed," after going in  with ambitions to get the two sides to talk to each other.
De Mistura also offered some of his harshest criticism  yet of the Syrian government delegation, accusing it of  setting preconditions that he had warned against, and said its  team refused to discuss anything other than "terrorism" -- a  term the government uses to refer to all armed opposition  against President Bashar Assad.
The Damascus delegation also insisted the opposition team  fell short of being an adequate ...

UN envoy says 'opportunity missed' as Syria talks wrap up

German police searched nine  properties on Thursday in Berlin and the eastern state of  Saxony-Anhalt linked to suspected supporters of the Islamic  State group, prosecutors said.
The raids involving 130 officers including members of a  tactical response team were part of an investigation against  four people on suspicion of membership in IS or preparing an  attack.
Berlin prosecutors said two of the suspects are believed  to have left Berlin in November 2016 to join IS, which was  mainly active in Syria and Iraq at the time.
A third is suspected to have undergone military training  with the group. All three are still believed to be in IS-held  territory, prosecutors said.
A fourth person is suspected of aiding the others by  driving them to the airport. None of the suspects, aged 18 to  21, was identified by prosecutors.
They declined to comment immediately on a report by  Berlin daily BZ that the suspects have been linked to Anis  Amri, the Tunisian who killed 12 people in a truck ..

Germany: Arrests, raids against suspected IS supporters

Thousands of Romanians today paid  their respects to the late King Michael I whose coffin is  lying in state at the Royal Palace before his funeral this  weekend.
Michael, who ruled Romania twice and was forced to  abdicate by the communists in 1947, died December 5 in  Switzerland at age 96.
Mourners arrived late Wednesday and stayed until today to  pay their respects to the king whose coffin stood on a rostrum  in a grand room, not far from where he ordered the arrest of  pro-Nazi leader Marshal Ion Antonescu on August 23, 1944,  which took Romania into the war on the side of the Allies.
Outside the palace, there were thousands of candles and  flowers, as mourners, many in tears, said farewell to  Romania's last king.
Retired medical secretary Gabriela Dumitrache called  Michael "a model of morality, dignity and kindness," calling  his death "a great loss, it was like losing a parent, my heart  and body ached."
Michael, who spent decades in exile working as a chicken  farmer and ...

Thousands of mourners say farewell to Romania's King Michael

The number of Americans applying  for unemployment benefits fell by 11,000 last week to 225,000,  the lowest in nearly two months and another sign that US  workers are enjoying job security.
The Labour Department said today that the less volatile  four-week average also fell by 6,750 to 234,750.
Overall, 1.89 million Americans are collecting  unemployment checks, down more than 7 per cent from a year  earlier and close to a four-decade low reached in November.
Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. They've been  below 300,000 a week for nearly three years, the longest  stretch in more than four decades.
The low levels reflect the strength of the job market and  the overall economy. The unemployment rate has fallen to a 17  -year low of 4.1 per cent.
Employers, who added 228,000 jobs last month, are holding  onto workers and often struggling to find new ones.
The economy grew at a sprightly 3.3 per cent annual pace  from July through September, fastest in three years.

Applications for US jobless aid drop by 11,000 to 225,000

Vice President Mike Pence plans  to delay his weekend departure for the Middle East as Congress  nears completion of a tax overhaul, White House officials said  today.
White House officials said Pence now plans to leave for  Egypt on Tuesday so he can preside over the Senate during a  vote on the tax package.
Pence had been scheduled to leave Saturday for Israel,  following President Donald Trump's decision to recognize  Jerusalem as Israel's capital. White House officials said  Pence will travel first to Egypt and then to Israel.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because  they weren't authorized to publicly describe scheduling  details.
The officials said Pence's trip will be abbreviated after  Palestinian officials and leading Muslim and Christian clerics  in Egypt refused to meet with him during his trip to the  region.
Trump and Republican lawmakers are hoping for a vote  early next week on the delivery of a package of steep tax cuts  for corporations and more modest ..

Pence to delay trip to Mideast over tax bill

Egyptian lawyers say a prominent  activist and opposition figure has been sentenced to three  years over his criticism of the government's decision to  transfer control over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
Defence lawyers Zyad el-Elaimy and Ahmed Fawzy said in  Facebook posts yesterday that Islam Marei had been held in  pre-trial detention since his June arrest. Charges against him  included "funding terrorism" and inciting violence.
They say the sentence was passed on Tuesday. It wasn't  immediately clear if Marei, who is a member of the small  opposition Social Democratic Party, will appeal his three-year  sentence.
The 2016 Egyptian-Saudi accord to hand the Red Sea  islands to Saudi Arabia has drawn wide public criticism and  triggered rare protests in Egypt.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ratified the accord in  June.

AP

AP

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