Russia and China on Monday launched a giant gas pipeline linking the countries for the first time, one of three major projects aimed at cementing Moscow's role as the world's top gas exporter.
Presiding by video link-up over an elaborate televised ceremony, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping hailed the "Power of Siberia" pipeline as a symbol of cooperation.
"Today is remarkable, a truly historic event not only for the global energy market, but first of all for us and for you, for Russia and China," Putin said.
Xi said the project served as a model of cooperation.
"China-Russia relations are entering a new era," Xi said. "Everyone worked hard." The ceremony featured hard-hatted gas workers and videos showing the pipeline's difficult path from remote areas of eastern Siberia to Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border.
Workers burst into applause and celebratory music played as the CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, speaking from the Amur region, 

Putin, Xi launch 'historic' Russian gas pipeline to China

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Malaysian officials on Monday slammed a tattoo exhibition held in the country as "porn" unsuitable for a Muslim-majority country, after images of half-naked men and women went viral.
The "Tattoo Malaysia Expo" in the capital Kuala Lumpur attracted people from all over the world, and photos circulating online showed many heavily-inked participants wearing few clothes in order to display their designs.
The tourism minister had initially supported the three-day show which ended Sunday but after seeing the pictures said it did not reflect the Southeast Asian nation's "polite and decent" culture.
"It is impossible for the ministry to approve of any programme that contains porn such as this," Tourism Minister Mohammadin Ketapi said in a statement.
"This is not Malaysian culture, the majority of the population are Muslims." He ordered a probe and warned the government could take legal action against the organisers.
Authorities added they had not given approval for "half-naked parades" and ...

Malaysia slams tattoo expo as 'porn' over half-naked pics

Southeast Asian Games venues and officials in the Manila region are "ready", competition organisers said Monday, as powerful Typhoon Kammuri churned toward the Philippines.
There was no talk of cancelling the Games as the storm headed for a swathe of the nation's north that includes key competition hubs as well as thousands of athletes, and had already impacted scheduling.
Forecasters predict the typhoon will make landfall late Monday or early Tuesday hundreds of kilometres southeast of the capital, with intense rains and potent wind gusts of up to 185 kilometres (115 miles) per hour.
"Everything is set," Ramon Suzara, COO of organising committee PHISGOC, told journalists on Monday.
"For contingency, all venues, all competition managers, technical delegates are ready."
Kammuri caused problems for the competition's plans before landfall. Windsurfing was halted as a precaution and triathlon events were held earlier than scheduled, an official said at the weekend.
Officials told ...

SEA Games organisers say 'ready' for Typhoon Kammuri

"Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds has seen a lot of Bollywood films and the actor said he loves the way Hindi cinema celebrates life and music.
The actor, who is currently promoting his Netflix movie "6 Underground" here at a fan event, called Indian film industry one of the biggest in the world.
"India is really one of the greatest film industries in the world... I've seen a lot of Bollywood stuff... I just love the celebration of life and I love how they approach everything with music," Reynolds, 43, said at the red carpet.
Reynolds is looking forward to his next collaboration with Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who wrote "Deadpool 2" along with the actor. The writer duo has also penned "6 Underground", directed by Michael Bay.
"I didn't write on this one, but we were working on 'Deadpool 3' right now. And they've been friends of mine for 10 years. So I love them. I'll do anything with those guys. I wish I could do every movie with those guys," he told PTI.
Reynolds enjoys a great fan ...

Love the celebration of life in Bollywood movies: Ryan Reynolds

An Indian-origin man sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for handling 19 stolen vehicles worth over 700,000 pounds last year has been ordered to pay back 1,369,661.90 pounds.
Chirag Patel was subject to a confiscation order under the UK's Proceeds of Crime Act at Croydon Crown Court on Friday and the confiscation of the money, which the 40-year-old car thief did not contest, follows a lengthy police investigation into the large-scale handling of high value stolen cars.
Patel has also been handed down a 10-year default prison sentence, which will be imposed if he fails to pay back the money.
"The Met is committed to ensuring that individuals who commit criminality are identified, prosecuted and their criminal assets are seized," said Metropolitan Police Acting Detective Sergeant Billy Clough, who led the investigation.
"The significant financial investigation undertaken by Detective Constable Nick Portman should also be recognised, without which substantial criminal assets would not 

UK court orders Indian-origin car thief to pay back over 1 mln pounds

The former governor of China's restive northwestern region of Xinjiang has been sentenced to life in prison on charges of taking bribes.
Nur Bekri had been one of China's highest-profile politicians from the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, more than 1 million of whom have in recent years been detained in political re-education camps.
State media reports said Bekri was sentenced Monday and showed pictures of him standing in the dock but gave no details about his alleged crimes.
Bekri has also served as head of the National Energy Administration.
President and head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping has waged a years-long campaign against corruption in the party and government. Critics say it has allowed him to eliminate political rivals as well as root out near-endemic graft.

Former governor of China's Xinjiang sentenced in bribery

China's foreign ministry on Monday urged Canada to free an executive of telecom equipment giant Huawei Technologies held for more than a year as she awaits an extradition trial.
Canada arrested Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on December 1 at Vancouver's airport at the request of the US, which is seeking her extradition on fraud charges.
Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the US and China were abusing their extradition treaty and violating Meng's rights.
"We once again strongly urge Canada to take seriously China's solemn stance and concerns, take practical measures to correct its mistakes, release Ms. Meng Wanzhou as soon as possible, and ensure that she returns home safely," Hua said in a routine briefing.
Meng's arrest has further soured relations between Beijing and Washington as President Donald Trump pressures China on trade and seeks to limit business with Huawei on national security grounds. It also has embroiled Canada in the friction over Huawei: Chinese .

China urges rollback of US tariffs, Huawei exec's release

London Bridge reopened to cars and pedestrians on Monday, three days after a man previously convicted of terrorism offenses stabbed two people to death and injured three others before being shot dead by police.
Senior politicians  who have traded blame for the security failure that allowed the attack  were due to attend a vigil at Guildhall Yard in the heart of London for the victims and to honor bystanders who fought the attacker with fists, fire extinguishers and even a narwhal tusk.
Former University of Cambridge students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, were fatally stabbed by 28-year-old convicted terrorist Usman Khan during an event designed to connect graduate students with prisoners.
Both victims worked for the Cambridge-based prisoner rehabilitation program Learning Together.
Two of the three injured people remained in hospital on Monday. The third was discharged.
Khan was attending the event at Fishmongers' Hall, beside the bridge, and had returned for the afternoon ..

Vigil planned to pay tribute to victims of London attack

Facebook says it has removed a Conservative Party ad that used BBC news footage on the grounds that it infringed on intellectual property rights.
The BBC had complained about the ad last week, arguing material involving some of its well-known presenters was taken out of context and could damage its impartiality.
Facebook said Monday that whenever it receives "valid IP claims against content on the platform, in advertising or elsewhere," it will "act in accordance with our policies and take action as required."
Britain's election laws were written for a time when campaigns pushed mass-produced leaflets through mail slots, rather than flooding Facebook and Twitter accounts with individually targeted messages. As a consequence, political parties are pushing the boundaries of the internet campaigning in the upcoming general election.

Facebook removes Conservative Party ad with BBC presenters

UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres urged countries Monday not to give up in the fight against climate change, as representatives from nearly 200 countries gathered in Madrid for a two-week meeting on tackling global warming.
In his opening speech to delegates, Guterres cited recent scientific data showing that levels of heat-trapping gases have hit a record high, reaching levels not seen for at least 3 million years when sea levels were 10-20 meters (33-66 feet) higher than today.
Unless emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are sharply cut, temperatures could rise to twice the threshold set in the 2015 Paris accord by the end of the century, he warned.
Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned? Guterres asked.
His appeal came after Chile's environment minister, Carolina Schmidt, said the Dec. 2-13 meeting needs to lay the groundwork for moving toward carbon-neutral economies while ...

UN chief urges countries not to surrender on climate fight

Lawmakers in Mauritius on Monday picked former arts and culture minister Pritivirajsing Roopun as president of the island nation, a largely ceremonial post.
His predecessor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned in March 2018 after being embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items. She denied wrongdoing.
In Mauritius, the prime minister is head of the government and holds most political power while the president is head of state but has no executive role and is considered the guardian of the constitution.
Roopun, 61, is a lawyer who was first elected to the National Assembly in 2000 and has been minister of regional administration, social integration, and arts and culture.
In November, Mauritius held elections which saw incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth win a new five-year term.
Since attaining independence from Britain in 1968, Mauritius has become one of the most stable democracies in Africa.
It developed from a poor, agriculture-based economy ...

Mauritius installs ex-culture minister as president

In a moving message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated the Israeli boy who survived the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, in which both his parents lost their lives, by describing his story as a "miracle" which continues to "inspire" everyone.
Moshe Tzvi Holtzberg was a two-year-old toddler when his parents were killed in the terror attacks at Nariman House (also known as Chabad House) by Pakistani terrorists.
The boy, standing and crying between his dead parents' bodies, was saved in a daring move by his nanny, Sandra Samuels, who was hiding in a room downstairs when the attack happened. Pictures of Sandra holding the little boy close to her chest after escaping from the place touched the hearts of millions of people all over the world.
As you make this important transition and cross a significant landmark in the journey of your life, the courage of [nanny] Sandra [Samuel] and prayers of the people of India will continue to bless you for a long, healthy and successful life, Modi ...

Israeli survivor of 26/11 receives moving message from PM Modi on Bar Mitzvah

US Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi told a UN climate conference Monday that the world could still count on the United States in the fight against global warming despite Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement.
Pelosi and 14 other members of the US Congress were in Madrid to make the point that larges swathes of the United States are committed to the targets set by the 2015 agreement, as are most Democratic candidates for president.
"We're here to say to all of you, on behalf of the House of Representatives and the Congress of the United States, we're still in it, we're still in it," Pelosi said to applause at a forum of heads of state from climate-vulnerable nations.
"We see this as an existential threat," she said. "We have not lived up to the challenge." Leading the 15-strong delegation, which included one senator, Pelosi came to the UN climate meet even as her colleagues in the House consider articles of impeachment against the US president.
Trump has dismissed 

'We're still in it' US House leader tells UN climate meet

Another five years of fighting in Yemen would cost as much as $29 billion just to sustain the current level of humanitarian aid  more than the entire annual humanitarian budget globally  an international relief group said Monday.
The war in Yemen has killed over 100,000 people and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical care shortages.
The International Rescue Committee said in a report that 24 million Yemenis, or 80% of the population, need humanitarian aid and 16 million are living on the verge of famine.
The war also caused the Yemeni economy to shrink by 50%, it said.
The group warned that with the current rate of aid, it would take 20 years to return Yemen to pre-conflict levels of child hunger.
Today's grim predictions are an insight into the colossal cost of the Age of Impunity: where wars are fought with a complete disregard for civilian life and neglected by diplomats charged with ending the violence and holding ...

Group says 5 more years of war in Yemen will cost $29B aid

French President Emmanuel Macron was to lead a national tribute Monday for 13 soldiers killed while battling jihadist insurgents in Mali, a disaster which has forced the nation to confront the costs of a years-long effort in West Africa that appears to have no end in sight.
The soldiers died when two helicopters collided last Monday while chasing jihadists in northern Mali where militant violence has soared in recent months.
Their coffins, draped in the red, white and blue of the French flag, were brought home from the French military base at Gao, near the restive border with Burkina Faso and Niger, on Saturday.
The ceremony will be held at the Invalides military hospital and museum in Paris, beginning at 3:00 pm (local time), when Macron will bestow the Legion d'Honneur on the fallen soldiers.
Parisians will also be able to pay their respects as the coffins are brought across the Alexandre III bridge and the ceremony will be broadcast on a giant screen set up outside the ...

France honours 13 killed in army helicopter crash in Mali

People disclose information that they are usually cautious about concealing when they are increasingly awake and alert, according to a study.
The research, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, suggests that the degree to which someone is awake and alert causes people to say things automatically rather than think things through before speaking.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia said automatic responses are usually things that people would try to conceal from others, and may cause regret.
"Ironically, the times when we're most awake and alert are also the times when we have to be very careful about what we say -- like job interviews, media engagements, important work meetings, or even romantic encounters," said Brent Coker, coauthor of the study.
The first study asked participants to write a dating profile and found that alert people disclosed more embarrassing, emotional, intimate, and incriminating information about themselves than those .

Why people say things they later regret decoded

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell feels Steve Smith undermined current skipper Tim Paine by trying to set the field in the second Test against Pakistan, which the home team won by an innings and 48 runs here on Monday.
Smith captained the team before losing the position in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal last year. Chappell said the batting mainstay should not be as involved in field placements as he seemed to be on Monday when Australia wrapped the 2-0 series triumph.
"I tell you what I don't like to see, Steve Smith is moving a few fieldsmen around, Chappell told 'Macquarie Sports Radio'.
"He did have a chat with Tim Paine, trying to talk Tim Paine into moving a fielder on the off-side, but I'm not sure Tim Paine moved him as far as Steve Smith wanted. Steve Smith started moving him, I hate to see that," he added.
David Warner's 335 was the highlight of Australia's victory here.
Chappell said Smith's conduct amounted to "white-anting" Paine. White-anting is an ...

Chappell says hate to see Smith "white-anting" captain Tim Paine

Nissan's new boss pledged Monday to regain customer trust and harness the firm's three-way alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, as the crisis-hit firm seeks to turn the page from the arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn.
In his first comments since taking the reins at the auto giant, Makoto Uchida acknowledged the firm had made mistakes in its internal corporate culture and faced a "difficult" financial environment.
"There are three words that guide me -- respect, transparency and trust," said Uchida, new boss of a company battered first by a falsified data scandal and then the alleged financial misconduct of Ghosn, who denies all charges.
"I want our employees to feel proud that they work for Nissan. If we can do this, we will regain the trust of our customers," said the 53-year-old.
But the new CEO has a mountain to climb to restore Nissan to health in an industry in turmoil and undergoing once-in-a-generation restructuring.
Only last month, the firm was forced to slash its ...

New Nissan boss vows to rebuild trust after Ghosn

Pep Guardiola says he is satisfied with the state of mind of his Manchester City players even though they twice lost the lead to draw 2-2 with Newcastle and slip further behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Guardiola, whose defending champions are 11 points adrift of Jurgen Klopp's team with more than a third of the season gone, is adamant the City players have not been affected by a poor run of just one victory in five games in all competitions.
"You have to see how the players run and how they fight and how they try to do it, the body language -- we never give up, so the team is always there, that's my feeling," he said.
"The game is what it is. In my opinion, it was good. We played well with the ball, we were solid, we conceded few counter-attacks, but football is how many goals you score and how you don't concede.
"You accept that. Sometimes it happens."
City have the Manchester derby on Saturday but Guardiola is focused on Tuesday's away trip to Burnley beforehand.
"I'm not ..

Man City are in the right frame of mind: Guardiola

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said Monday that adapting to conditions more quickly and building partnerships were both crucial if his team hoped to snap a miserable Test record in Australia.
The visitors crashed to an innings and 48 runs defeat in the second Test at Adelaide, following an innings and five run loss in Brisbane.
It added to an already poor record Down Under, with Pakistan now beaten in 14 consecutive Tests on Australian shores.
Azhar said it was crucial for more A team tours to give young hopefuls experience of what to expect in local conditions.
"They will get a lot of benefit from that," he said, adding that Test teams arriving in Australia earlier would also help.
"These are the best batting conditions anywhere in the world. If you can get used to the bounce and pace you can make runs. But it needs to be a team effort, partnerships are important," Azhar said.
"To win Test matches we also have to take 20 wickets and we have to work out how we can do that in Australia. ...

Pakistan rue not being better prepared for Australia conditions

"Star Trek" actor George Takei is set to voice a panda in BBC's animated kids series "Love Monster".
According to Deadline, Takei will voice Elder Panda in the preschool series.
The show is co-produced by British public broacaster's kids' channel CBeebies, Boat Rocker Studios, and China's UYoung.
The 54-part series is based on Rachel Bright's "Love Monster" books.
It will air in January 2020.
The story follows lightly hairy Love Monster who is trying to be a part of the  Fluffytown -- a world of cute baby animals. But for a googly-eyed monster like him, it becomes hard to fit in the world of cuddly animals.
"Love Monster celebrates inclusive behaviour and collaboration and that's also very much my philosophy  we find strength, joy and vitality in diversity coming together.
"I never imagined myself being a panda but I've always enjoyed seeing them, especially the young cubs because they're so cute! Elder Panda is just an older version of them and is still whimsical, fun-loving and life 

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