The foreign ministers of Russia and Japan met in Moscow on Monday pushing ahead with efforts to strike a peace deal and end a decades-old dispute over four strategic islands.
Meeting his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resources for cooperation were "truly inexhaustible" and should be used to work towards a peace agreement.
Japan and Russia have never signed a treaty ending World War II. The USSR invaded the far-eastern Kuril chain in the final days of the war and Japan refuses to give up its claim to them although the United Nations formally recognises them as Russian territory.
"It's a difficult issue, we have to deal with the legacy of World War II, whose outcomes have been codified in the UN charter and Allied documents," Lavrov said.
In November, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to accelerate talks on a peace agreement which would build on a 1956 Japan-USSR declaration which restored ...

Russia, Japan meet on WWII dispute in Moscow

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau notched himself a political win ahead of Canadian legislative elections by granting asylum to the teenage Saudi girl fleeing her parents, experts here say.
Trudeau sent Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to greet 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun as the young woman landed in Toronto on Saturday.
As Freeland clutched Qunun's arm in the presence of reporters from across the globe she reminded everyone that human rights were Canada's priorities under Trudeau - especially the rights of women in countries like Saudi Arabia.
By granting Qunun asylum, Canada was "standing up for human rights around the world, and we believe very strongly that women's rights are human rights," Freeland said.
Accepting the Saudi teen was "very good on a humanitarian level," said Ferry de Kerckhove, a Canadian former diplomat and current professor at the University of Ottawa, "but it's also a very good move for the prime minister and for Canada." "You had to see Ms. Freeland's ...

Trudeau notches a win as Canada accepts Saudi refugee

The fifth and last season of "Jane the Virgin" is set to premiere on March 27.
Last May, the CW officially confirmed that the show's next installment would be its last.
The series stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva, a working, religious young Latina virgin, who becomes pregnant after accidentally being artificially inseminated.
She is also attached as executive producer of the CW series.
According to Cosmopolitan, Rodriguez, who directed her first episode of the series in season four, plans to direct again before the show ends.
A spin-off of the critically acclaimed series is also in the works.
Original series writer and co-executive producer Valentina Garza is on board to write and executive produce the new project.
Plot details for the spin-off are being kept under wraps, but it is known that it will not be based on any characters currently appearing on "Jane the Virgin".
Rodriguez is potentially attached to narrate the new show.

'Jane the Virgin' last season to air on March 27

A Palestinian teenager succumbed to his wounds on Monday three days after being shot by Israeli forces during clashes on the Gaza border, the health ministry in the coastal enclave said.
In a statement, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Abdul Raouf Salha, 14, "died as a result of his injuries from (Israeli) occupation fire last Friday east of Jabalia" in the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians have been taking part in often violent protests at least weekly since March along the Gaza-Israel border.
The demonstrators are calling to be allowed to return to the homes their families fled or were expelled from in territory that is now inside Israel.
Israel accuses the strip's Islamist rulers Hamas of orchestrating the protests and using them as cover for violence.
The Israeli army said Friday around 13,000 Palestinians had taken part in violent "riots" in multiple sites along the border.
It had not responded to a request for comment on the teenager's death on Monday.
At least 243 

Palestinian dies after Israel border clashes: Gaza ministry

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is attacking the country's current leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, for breaking with Israel's ambiguity over its strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.
Barak's comments on Monday came a day after Netanyahu's abrupt confession that Israel had struck hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria in recent years, including a weapons facility over the weekend.
Israel has generally refrained from commenting about its covert activities for fear of triggering a reaction and being drawn into the deadly fighting in neighboring Syria's civil war.
Barak, a former military chief, told Israel's Army Radio that "exposing it was completely unnecessary" and increased the chances of a deterioration.
He insinuated that Netanyahu's considerations in doing so may have been political ahead of Israel's upcoming April election.

Barak slams Netanyahu for breaking Israel ambiguity on Syria

When we remember a past event, the human brain reconstructs that experience in reverse order, according to a study which could help assess the reliability of eye witness accounts of crime scenes.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, reconstructed the memory retrieval process, using brain decoding techniques.
These techniques make it possible to track when in time a unique memory is being reactivated in the brain, said researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Understanding more precisely how the brain retrieves information could help better assess the reliability of eye witness accounts, for example of crime scenes, where people often are able to recall the overall 'gist' of an event, but recall specific visual details less reliably.
The researchers found that, when retrieving information about a visual object, the brain focuses first on the core meaning -- recovering the 'gist' -- and only afterwards recalls more specific details.
This is in sharp 

Human brain works backwards to retrieve memories: Study

Singapore's foreign minister says there will be "consequences" if neighbouring Malaysia continues to escalate a dispute over waters that are claimed by Singapore.
In a speech to Parliament on Monday, Vivian Balakrishnan reported "daily intrusions" by Malaysian government vessels which have been in the waters off western Singapore since November. He also raised a widely publicized visit by a Malaysian chief minister, who boarded one of the vessels last week.
The visit came a day after Balakrishnan and his Malaysian counterpart met in Singapore. They announced a working group for tensions in the waters, which are less than 24 nautical miles, or around 44 kilometers, wide.
The two countries, which were briefly merged in 1963, have agreed to peacefully resolve disputes over territorial waters and airspace.

Singapore: Malaysia to bear 'consequences' of actions at sea

The cockpit voice recorder from an Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October has been recovered, officials said Monday, a discovery that could be critical to explaining why a brand new plane fell out of the sky just after take-off.
The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after departing Jakarta, slamming into the Java Sea moments after pilots had asked to return to the capital and killing all 189 people onboard.
The bright orange voice recorder was discovered early Monday about 10 metres from a flight data recorder that was pinpointed back in November, authorities said.
"But it's broken into two pieces so hopefully it's still useful" to investigators, Haryo Satmiko, deputy head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), told AFP.
More human remains were also found near the voice recorder, he added, without giving details.
"This will really help the investigation process... and could give some more answers on the cause" of the crash, said ...

Indonesia recovers second black box from Lion Air crash

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will cut short his Middle East tour and head home early to attend a family funeral, an official said on Monday.
"Secretary Pompeo will return to the United States after his meetings in Muscat, Oman," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.
"This curtailment of travel is required so that the Pompeo family may attend a family funeral." Pompeo is currently in Saudi Arabia as part of an extensive eight-day trip to the Middle East, which included stops in Amman, Cairo, Manama, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
The curtailment means that Pompeo will not visit Kuwait after he visits Muscat later Monday.
The top US diplomat looks forward to visiting the country "at an agreeable time in the near future", Palladino added.
Pompeo held talks on Monday with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, during his second politically sensitive visit to the kingdom since Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder .

Pompeo to cut short Middle East tour to attend funeral

Australia vice-captain Alex Carey on Monday said that an ODI series win against a top team like India "will mean a lot" considering the hosts' struggles over the last 12 months.
The home took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with a 34-run win in Sydney, and the second ODI will be played in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Pakistan were the last side to lose an ODI series to Australia, 4-1 in January 2017, and thereafter after a tumultuous 2018, wherein they won only 2 out of 18 ODIs, the hosts have started 2019 on a winning note.
"It would mean a lot, it has been a while. I want to see Australia win and being part of it means so much to us every game we play. But to continue to get better every game is probably our biggest process at the moment leading into that World Cup," said Carey.
"Against India, they're a really good side so they're going to look to bounce back pretty quickly, so it's going to be a great opportunity to stand up tomorrow night, to puff our chests out again and hopefully .

Series win against India would mean a lot for us: Carey

Scientists have developed a new miniature, portable gene sequencing technology that can diagnose infection from viruses such as Ebola or Zika almost instantly in the field.
Diagnosis is both quick and early, which avoids the need to transfer contaminated samples, researchers said.
"The technology is characterised by the production of long nucleotide sequences, which makes it possible to sequence the entire viral genome," said Philippe Roumagnac, a virologist at The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD).
CIRAD was one of the first laboratories in the world to test and validate its use in plant virology, researchers said.
"Using a diseased yam plant, it took us just a few hours to sequence the entire genome of two single-strand RNA viruses, a macluravirus and a potyvirus," said Denis Filloux from CIRAD.
As with human virology, the fact that the technology has now been validated in a plant virology laboratory paves the way for real-time, mobile ...

New mobile, instant technology to help diagnose viral infections

One person was killed and four were missing after a gas explosion tore through a multi-storey residential building in southern Russia early on Monday, authorities said.
The blast, in the town of Shakhty in the southern Rostov region, destroyed several apartments on the top two floors of the nine-storey building, the emergencies ministry said.
"The fate of four people remains unknown," emergencies ministry spokeswoman Marina Chernyavskaya told AFP, adding that a rescue operation involving more than 200 workers was under way.
The blast came two weeks after a gas explosion tore through a Russian apartment block in the Urals city of Magnitogorsk on New Year's Eve, leaving 39 people dead.  Chernyavskaya said the building in Shakhty, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Moscow, was in danger of collapse and officials planned to prop it up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been notified of the gas explosion, with the Rostov governor reporting to him on the rescue operation, the Kremlin .

One dead, four missing in Russia gas blast

Thailand is set to deploy rainmaking planes to seed clouds in an effort to tackle the pall of pollution that has shrouded the capital in recent weeks.
The weather modification technique involves dispersing chemicals into the air to aid cloud condensation, which should in theory result in rain.
"The Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation... expects the rainmaking to be done tomorrow (Tuesday) but it depends on wind and humidity levels," Pralong Dumrongthai, director-general of Thailand's Pollution Control Department, told reporters.
As Thais woke up Monday morning to another day of murky air blanketing its bustling construction-filled capital, environment group Greenpeace said Bangkok was currently the 10th most polluted in the world, rivalling some cities in China.
Reasons for the persistent smog include combustion exhaust from Bangkok's traffic-strewn roads, the burning of fields from farmers outside the city, and pollutants from factories.
Public discontent has ...

Thailand to make it rain as pollution chokes Bangkok

A giant panda born in a Malaysian zoo celebrated her first birthday Monday with a cake made of ice in front of adoring visitors.
The youngster looked around shyly as a zookeeper carried her to a platform in her enclosure where the cake, which had a large number "one" on top, was waiting.  After nibbling at some carrots used to decorate the creation, the panda - who has not yet been named -- seemed to tire of the celebrations, and fell asleep.
Currently weighing 34 kilos (75 pounds), she is the second cub born to Liang Liang and Xing Xing since they were sent from China to Malaysia in 2014, on a 10-year loan.
The first, Nuan Nuan, was born in August 2015 and sent back to China in 2017. Beijing and Kuala Lumpur have agreed that cubs born in captivity must go back to China at the age of two.
The pandas are kept at the national zoo's panda centre outside Kuala Lumpur.
It's estimated there are some 1,800 giant pandas left in the wild, living mainly in bamboo forest in the mountains of ...

Panda celebrates first birthday in Malaysian zoo with ice cake

Vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of potentially fatal lung attacks in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, a study has found.
The findings, led by Queen Mary University of London in the UK, add to a growing list of health benefits for the 'sunshine vitamin'.
While vitamin D is best known for its effects on bone health, previous studies have revealed its role in protecting against colds, flu and asthma attacks, and even helping with weight gain and brain development in malnourished children.
The research, published in the journal Thorax, found that the use of vitamin D supplements led to a 45 per cent reduction in lung attacks among COPD patients who were deficient in vitamin D.
No benefit was seen for patients with higher vitamin D levels.
COPD describes a number of lung conditions, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, where a person's airways become inflamed, making it harder to breathe.
Almost all COPD deaths are due to lung attacks (termed ...

Vitamin D pills may help prevent deadly lung attacks

Those who wish to buy fireworks in China's capital  Beijing during the upcoming Spring Festival will have to present their identity document so that they can be punished in case of any accident, according to a media report.
Chinese New Year celebrations, also known as the Spring Festival is an annual event held in China and in Chinese communities around the world. This massive event takes place on different dates each year, but it typically begins during the beginning of February and continues until the middle of the same month.
Tang Mingming, an official from the Beijing Emergency Management Bureau, said that the city will cut the retail outlets of fireworks from around 80 to 30 and sales will only take place from January 30 to February 9.
Each outlet will be equipped with special devices to identify buyers with their ID cards, and if safety problems occur, the buyers will be punished, Tang said, China Daily reported.
Beijing has already banned fireworks within the fifth Ring Road in 

Chinese buying firecrackers for New Year will have to show ID: Report

Actors Allen Leech and Jessica Blair Herman have revealed that they got married on January 5.
According to Hello! magazine, the couple exchanged vows at a ceremony which took place at Alisal Ranch and Resort in California's Santa Ynez Valley.
The "Downton Abbey" star said their D-day had the best of both Ireland, his home, and California.
"It ended up being something quite different. When you get married in California you expect sunshine, but a little bit of Ireland blew over on the day and we had some heavy rain," Leech, 37, said.
While the bride wore a Monique Lhuillier gown with Yves Saint Laurent heels, the groom sported a deep navy Armani suit with burgundy bowtie.
Blair Herman, 32, talked about her love for her husband.
"As soon as I met him there was a sense of ease and comfort, that I knew marriage would be uncomplicated and beautiful with him," the "The People v OJ: American Crime Story" actor said.
The wedding was attended by Leech's "Downton Abbey" co-stars Michelle Dockery 

Allen Leech, Jessica Blair Herman tie the knot

An Iranian Boeing 707 cargo plane coming from Kyrgyzstan crashed on Monday while trying to land west of Iran's capital, state media reported, with an emergency official saying only one person of the 16 on board was known to have survived.
Fire immediately engulfed the aircraft after it skidded off a runway and crashed into a wall separating the Fath Airport from a residential neighborhood. Images carried by Iran's state-run media showed the burned-out tail of the plane sticking out, surrounded by charred homes.
The plane crashed at Fath Airport, which belongs to Iran's powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, when it was meant to land at the nearby Payam International Airport, about 40 kilometers west of Tehran, the Iranian capital.
Authorities did not immediately offer a reason for the crew's decision to land there, though they said the crew had declared an emergency prior to land.
Pirhossein Koulivand, the head of the country's emergency medical services, said of the 16 people on .

Cargo plane crashes in Iran; 1 survivor from 16 on board

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faces a tough balancing act on Monday as he presses Saudi Arabia's crown prince over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder while shoring up strategic ties with Riyadh.
The top US diplomat, on an extensive Middle East tour, is set to hold talks with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who faces international opprobrium over the journalist's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Pompeo walks a diplomatic tightrope on his second politically sensitive visit to Saudi Arabia since the killing, amid pressure from American lawmakers for a tough response.
"We will continue to have a conversation with the crown prince and the Saudis about ensuring the accountability is full and complete with respect to the unacceptable murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Pompeo told reporters ahead of his arrival in the Saudi capital.
After landing in Riyadh on Sunday evening, Pompeo pushed for Saudi Arabia to continue its investigation into the murder, in talks with Adel al-Jubeir, ...

Pompeo on diplomatic tightrope in Saudi talks over Khashoggi

Scientists say they have developed a novel mathematical model that may help prevent extinction of endangered species such as blue whale, Bengal tiger and the green turtle.
There are multiple reasons for species to die out, and climate change is among the main reasons, said researchers from the University of Southern Denmark.
The risk of extinction varies from species to species depending on how individuals in its populations reproduce and how long each animal survives, according to the research published in the journal Ecology Letters.
Understanding the dynamics of survival and reproduction can support management actions to improve a species' chances of surviving.
Mathematical and statistical models have become powerful tools to help explain these dynamics.
However, the quality of the information we use to construct such models is crucial to improve our chances of accurately predicting the fate of populations in nature.
"A model that over-simplifies survival and reproduction can give .

New mathematical model may help save endangered species

The US' demand for maintaining long-term military bases in Afghanistan has emerged as a sticking point in talks with the Taliban to end the 17-year-long war in the country, according to a media report here.
The report came as the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, stepped up efforts to bring the Taliban to negotiations, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Russia and Iran involved in discussions with the Taliban over the past few months.
The Express Tribune reported quoting officials that the US in return of its demand would provide substantial financial assistance for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan in the post-peace deal.
Although the Taliban have repeatedly demanded complete withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan, they showed an inclination to discuss the suggestion of the US maintaining certain bases in the recent negotiations held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The US also wants guarantee from the Taliban that .

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