India suffered a heartbreak as they conceded an injury time goal through a penalty to lose 0-1 to Bahrain and crash out of the showpiece Asian Cup under dramatic circumstances here Monday.
India were on the verge of booking their maiden knock-out round berth in the continent's biggest stage as the scoreline remained 0-0 till the 90th minute when captain Pranoy Halder brought down a Bahrain attacker for the referee to point to the dreaded spot.
Jamal Rashed stepped up and cooly sent the ball past goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the net to the dismay of the Indians who had surprised everyone with their impressive performance in the tournament.
A draw would have been enough for India to go through to the Round of 16 at second place in Group A while Bahrain would have been knocked out of the tournament. But it was not to be as India succumbed to incessant pressure in the last few minutes after waves of attack from their opponents.
India ended at the bottom of four-team Group A on ...

India suffer 0-1 loss against Bahrain, crash out of Asian Cup

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India crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup with a heartbreaking 0-1 defeat at the hands of Bahrain, who scored in the injury time, in their final Group A match here Monday.
Bahrain converted a penalty in the 91st minute through Jamal Rashed, who made no mistake after India captain Pronay Halder committed a careless tackle inside the box.
India finished outside the top two after the the group's other game between UAE and Thailand ended in a 1-1 draw.
Entering their final group game following a 4-1 win over Thailand and a 0-2 loss to hosts United Arab Emirates, a determined India held on for 90 minutes before conceding.
This was India's fourth appearance in the continental showpiece, beginning with the 1964 edition, in which only four teams participated.
In their next Asian Cup in 1984, India were knocked out in the first round and they suffered a similar fate in 2011, when they lost heavily to Australia, South Korea and Bahrain.
However, the team under coach Stephen Constantine started the 

India crash out of AFC Asian Cup with 0-1 defeat to Bahrain

US President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed reports that he ever "worked" for Russia and said that any such report is just a "hoax".
"I never worked for Russia and you know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for Russia," Trump said.
"Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it's a disgrace that you even ask that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. It's just a hoax," he said amid news reports that the FBI had opened an investigation over whether Trump acted on Russia's behalf after he sacked the agency's then director James Comey in 2017.
Another report alleged that Trump does not share the details of his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The White House has described those reports as ridiculous.
Earlier on Twitter, Trump attacked such reports as fake.
"The Fake News gets crazier and more dishonest every single day. Amazing to watch as certain people covering me, and the tremendous success of this administration, have truly gone MAD! Their Fake ...

Never worked for Russia, says Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday said it's good to have relationship with countries like Russia, China, Japan and India as he expressed hope to reach a trade deal with Beijing.
Trump, addressing reporters at the White House before leaving for Louisiana for a farmers event, said the US is doing very well with China, which is having a hard time with its economy because of the tariffs he has imposed on the import of their items.
"I have a great relationship with President Xi Jinping because it's good to have relationships with Russia, China, Japan and India and I have relationships with almost everybody. That's a good thing, not a bad thing, Trump said.
"I think that we are going to be able to do a deal with China. We are, I can tell you, we are getting things that, before I became president, you would've had no chance at getting. They would have laughed at your president's face, he said.
The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import ...

It's good to have ties with China, Russia, Japan and India: Trump

Russia's Alrosa, the world's leading producer of diamonds, announced Monday it plans to launch in Zimbabwe on the eve of talks in Moscow between the country's president and Vladimir Putin.
"With support of the government of Zimbabwe, the company will develop new mining operations in the country," Alrosa said in a statement.
"This company will implement projects for exploration and mining operations with a view to establish joint diamond and other ore mining enterprises," it said in the English-language release.
"Within the next month ALROSA's experts, including geologists and mining engineers will arrive in the country to start the operations." Zimbabwean leader Emmerson Mnangagwa meanwhile told journalists he believed the country could make a "significant" participation to the diamond industry.
"We know we have opened a small window to foreign countries to participate in our industry," he said ahead of talks with his Russian counterpart on Tuesday.
In March, Russian Foreign Minister .

Russia's Alrosa diamond company to launch in Zimbabwe

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he is not looking to call a national emergency on the issue of border security, even as he acknowledged that he and the opposition Democrats are not close to a deal on the ongoing government shutdown.
"I'm not looking to call a national emergency. This is so simple you shouldn't have to. Now, I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I'm not looking to do that because this is too simple," Trump said.
At the same time he acknowledged that he is not close to a deal with the Democrats on border security, the absence of which has resulted in a partial government shutdown for a record 24 days now with no end in sight.
More than 800,000 federal workers have been put out of work and have not received their salaries.
Functioning of several key wings of the federal government including the State Department have been badly hit due to the shutdown.
"The Democrats should say we want border security, we have to build a wall, otherwise you can't have ..

Trump says not looking to call national emergency, nowhere close to deal on border security

Iran's president said Monday the Islamic republic plans to launch two domestically made satellites into orbit in the "coming days" to gather information on the country's environment, state TV reported.
"In the coming days we will launch two satellites into space," President Hassan Rouhani said during a trip to the northeastern Golestan province.
"Both the Payam satellite and its carrier rocket are made in our own country and by the youth of this nation," he added.
Payam would orbit the earth at about 600 kilometres above its surface, according to state TV.
Rouhani did not name the second satellite, but said both were manufactured at Tehran's Amirkabir University of Technology.
Iran's telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said Wednesday that Payam and a second satellite called Doosti had been successfully tested and that there would be "good news" soon, the conservative Tasnim news agency reported.
Doosti would be tasked with the same purpose as Payam, with a focus ..

Iran to launch two satellites in 'coming days'

President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to be able to reach a trade deal with China, which is feeling the impact of US tariffs.
"We are doing very well with China. They're having a hard with their economy because of the tariffs," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"I think that we are going to be able to do a deal with China." US officials were in Beijing last week for talks aimed at ending the bruising trade confrontation that has subjected more than USD 350 billion in two-way trade to steep tariffs.
Chinese officials said the next round of negotiations would be held in Washington between January 30 and 31.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on December 1 to a three-month truce in the escalating spat.
"I can tell you we are getting things that before I became president you would have had no chance at getting," Trump said.
"They would have laughed in your president's face." As Trump has pressed Beijing to increase imports of US goods, China's trade surplus with the 

Trump says trade deal with China likely

Uruguay's Edinson Cavani admitted Monday that Qatar's inclusion among teams in this year's Copa America was a "surprise" but backed the Gulf state's first ever tournament appearance.
The 31-year-old, who plays for Qatari-owned French champions Paris Saint-Germain, said allowing the World Cup 2022 host in to South America's biggest international competition could prove "special".
"To have Qatar is a surprise and I think it is going to be something very nice," the Uruguay striker said to reporters at PSG's winter training camp in Doha.
"To have a team from this continent at the Copa America, it's something very special to bring a new culture and to mix with the South Americans."
The 2019 tournament will take place in Brazil in June and July this year.  It was announced in May that Qatar would be one of the 12 teams taking part. Japan have also been invited.
The same month it was also announced that Qatar's state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, would be the shirt sponsor of arguably South .

Cavani 'surprised' at Qatar's Copa America inclusion

A car bomb exploded near a heavily fortified foreign compound in Kabul on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding 44, officials said, in the latest attack to rock the Afghan capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the huge blast, which shook the city, but it comes as diplomatic efforts to end the 17-year war with the Taliban gather pace.
Militants targeted Green Village, located near a busy road in the east of the city and where some foreign workers are based, said interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish.
At least 10 children were among the wounded, he added.
Until recently some United Nations' staff had lived and worked at the highly secure compound, but Danish said the area was now largely empty and "only a number of guards" were left.
"Residential houses nearby have sustained heavy damage," Danish said.
"Special police forces' units have been deployed to the site to check if there are more attackers." The explosion happened in the early evening when ..

4 killed, 44 wounded in Kabul car bomb attack: officials

Former communist militant Cesare Battisti, wanted in Italy for four murders in the 1970s, arrived in Rome on Monday after an international police squad tracked him down and arrested him in Bolivia.
Jailed in 1979 for belonging to an armed revolutionary group outlawed in Italy, Battisti escaped from prison two years later, and has spent nearly four decades on the run.
An Italian-flagged Falcon 900 plane carrying Battisti landed at Rome's Ciampino airport on Monday morning.  Battisti, who was not wearing handcuffs, smiled grimly as he was escorted off the plane by a dozen policemen.
"I know that I'm going to prison," an apparently resigned Battisti said, according to police.
He mostly slept during the flight, as well as speaking about his life and escape from Brazil to Bolivia.
Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede said that for security reasons Battisti would be taken to Oristano prison on the island of Sardinia instead of Rome's Rebibbia jail.
He will begin his life sentence with six ...

Italian ex-militant extradited and jailed after decades on run

Defiant Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said Monday that ongoing protests will not lead to a change in government, as crowds of supporters cheered him at a rally in war-torn Darfur.
Deadly protests have rocked Sudan since December 19 when angry demonstrators took to the streets in towns and villages against a government decision to raise the price of bread.
At least 24 people have died in the protests, which swiftly turned into nationwide anti-government rallies, with protesters calling on Bashir to step down.
"Demonstrations will not change the government," Bashir told crowds of supporters gathered in Niyala, the capital of South Darfur state, where a day earlier police broke up an anti-government demonstration, state television reported.
"There's only one road to power and that is through the ballot box. The Sudanese people will decide in 2020 who will govern them," said Bashir, who is planning to run for the presidency for the third time in elections to be held next year.
In the .

Sudan's Bashir says protests will fail to change government

Prince Harry's wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex told well-wishers on Monday she was six months pregnant and was expecting her baby at the end of April or beginning of May.
Clutching her growing baby bump on a visit in northwestern England, the glamorous former US television actress also said she does not know if she is expecting a boy or a girl.
"She said she is six months pregnant and due at the end of April, beginning of May," Kim Thompson, who was among the people the royal couple met with, told British media.
Harry and Meghan also spoke to a group of children from St Anne's Catholic Primary School in Birkenhead and were asked about the sex of their unborn child.
Kitty Dudley, 9, said: "I asked her if she was having a girl or a boy and she said she didn't know".
Harry and Meghan married in a fairytale wedding that broke with royal traditions at Windsor Castle in May last year and announced in October that they were expecting a baby.
Kensington Palace, their official residence in ...

Duchess Meghan expecting baby by beginning of May

A New York woman with a rare blood type is donating two units to help save a 2-year-old South Florida girl who is battling cancer.
News outlets report the woman had donated her own blood while pregnant in case she needed a transfusion during her delivery.
Luckily, she didn't need it, and has agreed to give it to Zainab Mughal, who has neuroblastoma.
Susan Forbes of Florida-based OneBlood says that transfer still needs approval from the FDA, and the woman isn't eligible to donate yet after giving birth.
OneBlood is asking for donors for the girl, whose blood lacks an antigen most people carry. The donor must be Pakistani, Indian or Iranian, and even within these groups, fewer than 4 percent have the genetic variation.

Some help, more needed for Florida girl with rare blood type

US online retailer Amazon faced new French government pressure Monday after a TV report over the weekend showed it destroying thousands of new diapers, toys and other unsold or returned items in perfect condition.
Brune Poirson, a secretary of state for France's ecological transition, said after the broadcast late Sunday that she was "shocked" by the allegations and would render businesses "responsible" for such practices.
"In the coming months a law will be passed in parliament that will outlaw this type of activity. Companies like Amazon will no longer be able to throw away products that can still be used," Poirson said.
The "Capital" programme on M6 television showed footage from a journalist who got himself hired recently at Amazon's distribution centre in Saran, outside Orleans in central France.
He was able to film workers throwing dozens of coffee makers, unopened Lego boxes and brand-name packs of diapers into huge garbage containers, instead of recycling or donating them to ..

Amazon France under fire for destroying unsold goods

Andy Murray said he would make a decision on further surgery that could end his career "within a week" after battling to a gutsy, epic five-set defeat in the Australian Open on Monday.
The Scot fought to the very end before losing his Melbourne first-round match 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 to Roberto Bautista Agut.
Murray, who has said he will retire this season because of chronic hip pain, seemed finished at two sets and a break down to the 22nd seeded Spaniard in the first round but somehow battled back to force a fifth set.
"Amazing. That was incredible, thank you so, so much to everyone that came out tonight," the three-time Grand Slam champion said after being swept along on a wave of vociferous support.
"Honestly I've loved playing here over the years. If this was my last match, an amazing way to end. I gave everything I had and it wasn't enough tonight." Murray announced at an emotional press conference on Friday that he would retire at
Wimbledon this year, but conceded 

Murray to make career decision 'in next week' after Open exit

Eastern Mediterranean countries including Egypt and Israel agreed on Monday to boost energy ties through the creation of a body to strengthen the gas market.
The decision came during a meeting bringing together seven energy ministers including those from Cyprus, Greece, Jordan, Italy and the Palestinian territories.
The "East Mediterranean Gas Forum" is to be based in Cairo, Egypt's energy ministry said, as it seeks to become a regional energy hub.
The forum will help in "the creation of a regional gas market that benefits the members through security of supply and demand," said a post-meeting statement from the ministry.
It also aims to "ensure competitive pricing, and promote improved commercial relationships".
A further meeting in April is due to determine the body's structure, with plans in the pipeline for other countries or international organisations to join as "observers".
On Sunday, Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz arrived in Cairo to attend the meeting in a rare visit 

Eastern Mediterranean countries to boost energy ties

British Prime Minister Theresa May offered both a promise on workers' rights and a reassuring letter from European Union leaders on Monday as she implored British lawmakers to support her floundering Brexit deal.
But the British leader had few concrete measures up her sleeve a day before a vote in Parliament which looks likely to see her Brexit deal rejected. A defeat on Tuesday would throw Brexit plans into disarray just weeks before the UK is due to leave the bloc on March 29.
May warned that the only alternatives to her agreement were an economically damaging, chaotic "no-deal" exit from the EU or a halt to Britain's departure that would defy British voters' decision in 2016 to leave the bloc.
In a speech Monday at a ceramics factory in the pro-Brexit central England city of Stoke-on-Trent, May said "people's faith in the democratic process and their politicians would suffer catastrophic harm" if her deal is rejected and Brexit was abandoned.
The other option, leaving the EU ...

UK leader mounts last-ditch bid to win Brexit deal backing

Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, known for his judicial activism, said on Monday that the judiciary did not interfere with the functioning of any institutions in the country and delivered within its remits.
The 64-year-old top judge, who will retire on January 17, was addressing a ceremony here, where he said that during his tenure he gave directions within the legal framework.
"There is a lot to be done for the justice system... Public don't want corruption and bribery culture, they want supremacy of the law," he was quoted as saying by Geo News.
Last week, the top judge said he laid foundation of judicial activism for the betterment of humanity in Pakistan.
Nisar said people were not being served the justice, which they used to be served previously.
"Since the time I started holding open courts, I saw many oppressed individuals. These individuals included the ones who did not even have money to purchase medicines," he said.
"I laid the foundation of judicial activism with ...

Did not interfere with any institution's functions: Pak SC Chief Justice

Qatar's foreign minister ruled out on Monday the possibility of re-opening an embassy in Damascus, in line with some other Gulf countries, calling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.
"Normalisation (of relations) with the Syrian regime at this stage is the normalisation of a person involved in war crimes, and this should not be acceptable," said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at a Doha press conference.
Al-Thani said the reasons why Assad -- who was elected unopposed in 2000 and has stayed in power during nearly eight years of civil war -- was excluded from the international community are still in place.
He added that Damascus under Assad should not be allowed back into the Arab League -- its membership was suspended in 2011 -- as "the Syrian people are still under bombardment... by the Syrian regime".
His comments come after Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced late last month they reopened their Damascus embassies.
The UAE's foreign minister 

Qatar rejects normalising ties with 'criminal' Assad

The world's chemical weapons agency on Monday agreed to add Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, used in last year's Salisbury attack against a former Russian agent, to its list of banned substances, diplomats said Monday.
A joint proposal by Canada, the Netherlands and the United States was adopted by the 41-member executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, they said.
London blamed Moscow for the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the city of Salisbury, and said Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, was used.
The OPCW executive council agreed to add two families of highly toxic chemicals, including the agent used in Salisbury, to the Chemical Weapons Convention, tweeted Sabine Nolke, Canada's envoy to the OPCW.
"Russia dissociated itself from consensus but did not break. Thanks to all states who supported!" she said.
Member states now have 90 days to object ...

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