British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday she was seeking further EU Brexit assurances in a bid to persuade MPs to back her unpopular deal in a crucial vote next week, while the bloc repeated it would not renegotiate.
Parliament returned from its Christmas break ready to resume debating the withdrawal deal struck in November, before a vote in the House of Commons next week, possibly on January 15.
May postponed the vote last month because of intense opposition to the agreement from MPs, but there is little sign yet of the clarifications she promised to secure from EU leaders.
The stakes could hardly be higher as the clock ticks down to Brexit on March 29, when Britain, the world's fifth-biggest economy, splits from its main trading partner.
"We are continuing to work on further assurances, on further undertakings from the European Union," May said after talks with the Dutch, French, German, Spanish and EU leaders over the holidays.
A government source said these assurances may ...

Britain's battle over Brexit resumes ahead of big vote

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Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May Monday said she is working on getting further assurances from the European Union so she can win the Commons vote on her controversial Brexit deal.
May, who has survived attempts by some of her Conservative Party members to topple her, said that after delaying the vote last month, there was "some further movement from the EU" at December's European Council.
The 62-year-old leader said further measures would be set out ahead of the vote, now set for January 15, the BBC reported.
However, the EU Commission has said there will be no renegotiation.
A spokesman said "everything on the table has been approved and... the priority now is to await events" in the UK, the report said.
Meanwhile, more than 200 MPs have signed a letter to  May, urging her to rule out a no-deal Brexit - which is one where the UK leaves the EU but without any agreed arrangements covering things like how trade or travel will work in the future.
It comes as a major exercise .

Brexit: UK PM May says 'working to get further EU assurances'

Denmark plans to build nine artificial islands in southern Copenhagen in a bid to attract businesses, the government announced on Monday, amid a housing and office space shortage.
"We're targetting high-tech companies but there's always a need for the production of products we use in our daily lives too," Industry and Business Minister Rasmus Jarlov told Danish news agency Ritzau.
Construction on the nine islands is scheduled to begin in 2022, covering an area of three million square metres (32.3 million square feet).
The first plots of land will be sold in 2028 and the project, the financial details of which have not been disclosed, should be completed by 2040.
The aim is to attract some 380 companies to the area, located near Copenhagen airport.
"I think this could become a sort of European Silicon Valley," the head of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Brian Mikkelsen, told TV2 television.
The mammoth project follows another major infrastructure initiative announced last autumn, ...

Denmark plans man-made islands to draw business

Major (retd.) Geoffrey Douglas Langlands, a former British officer and one of the country's most famous educators whose students include Prime Minister Imran Khan, was laid to rest here on Monday.
He died on January 2 at the age of 101.
Langlands, who arrived in Pakistan during the World War II and stayed in the country after the end of the colonial rule, has been honoured with Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Order of St. Michael and St. George, and Order of British Empire by the Queen of England for his contribution to humanity and education.
Among his students were Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
A large number of people from different walks of life attended his cremation at the Aitchison College where he served most of his life.
He was laid to rest at a cemetery in Gulberg, as per his will.
Major (retd) Langlands was buried in Lahore according to his will, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi told reporters after his funeral.
"Pakistan is ..

Pak PM's teacher Geoffrey Langlands laid to rest in Lahore

US electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday laid the foundation of a USD seven billion plant in Shanghai, becoming the first company to benefit from a new Chinese policy of allowing foreign vehicle manufacturers to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Asian nation.
Till now, foreign automakers in China were required to forge joint ventures with domestic firms for establishing manufacturing plants, which means sharing profits and technology with local partners.
The plant, which is Tesla's first outside the US, is located at Lingang, a high-end manufacturing park in the southeast harbour of Shanghai.
It has an annual production capacity of 500,000 electric cars.
Tesla signed an agreement with the Shanghai municipal government in July 2018 to build the factory. In October, the company got the approval to use an 864,885 sq mt tract of land in Lingang for its Shanghai plant.
Musk and Shanghai government officials attended the ground-breaking ceremony.
"This will be the most ...

Musk lays foundation of USD 7 billion Tesla plant in China

Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali on Monday said the country's foreign policy is "independent and balanced" focusing on national prosperity with no external interference.
Reviewing his 10-month tenure at the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu, Gyawali underlined the need for initiating national dialogues to build the country's foreign policy on the basis of mass consensus.
The minister said Nepal is moving ahead adopting healthy and balanced foreign policies.
"Development of foreign relations as per the interests of the nation is taking place," Gyawali claimed.
During a discussion programme with senior journalists, the foreign minister made it clear that Nepal is not entertaining external interference in domestic affairs and is developing international relations focusing on national prosperity.
"The interest of the nation is the major basis of Nepal's foreign policy," he pointed out.
He said that diplomatic code of conduct will be revised in the context of newly-adopted ...

Nepal's foreign policy is 'independent and balanced': Gyawali

The Saudi woman who made a desperate plea for asylum after landing at Bangkok airport has been placed "under the care" of the United Nations refugee agency, a Thai official said late Monday.
Rahaf Mohammed Motlaq al-Qunun told AFP she ran away from her family while travelling in Kuwait because they subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.  The 18-year-old said she had planned to seek asylum in Australia and feared she would be killed if repatriated by Thai immigration officials who stopped her during transit on Sunday.
The incident comes as Saudi Arabia faces intense scrutiny over the shocking murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, which has renewed criticism of the kingdom's rights record.
Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn had said Sunday that Qunun was denied entry because of her lack of documents.
But he made an abrupt about-face the next day, following a global media frenzy as the young woman pleaded on Twitter for different countries to help her.
After ..

Saudi woman 'under the care' of UN agency: Thai official

Nepal's anti-graft body on Monday filed a case, what it said to be one of the biggest corruption case, against the former Managing Director of the country's oil distribution company for allegedly possessing property worth Rs 18.66 crore beyond the known sources of income, according to media reports.
The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case at the special court against former Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Managing Director Gopal Khadka on charge of amassing illegal property, the Kathmandu Post reported.
It is one of the largest corruption case ever filed by the anti-graft body related to possessing property, worth Rs 18.66 crore, beyond the know sources of income in the country, CIAA spokesperson Rameshwor Dangal was quoted as saying in the Post.
The CIAA has also been conducting a separate probe into Khadka's involvement in alleged corruption in purchase of land by the NOC, he said.
Earlier, probes by previous parliamentary committees had found ...

Nepal's anti-graft body files graft case against ex-MD of oil PSU

Latvia's president on Monday named US-born EU parliament member Krisjanis Karins as his candidate for prime minister, in a third attempt to solve the country's political deadlock after two previous nominees failed to form a government.
The NATO and EU member state has been gripped by political turmoil since October, when a general election saw seven political parties enter the 100-seat parliament but produced no clear winner.
"I met with several parties in parliament that stated their intention to support Mr Karins as the next prime minister," President Raimonds Vejonis told reporters.
Lawyers Janis Bordans and Aldis Gobzems -- of the New Conservatives and populist KPV LV party respectively -- were the president's first two nominees for premier.
After they each failed to muster a majority in the fractured parliament, Vejonis chose a different approach.
Instead of nominating a new candidate before Christmas, he left party leaders to meet among themselves and find a mutually acceptable .

Latvian president nominates US-born MEP Karins for PM

Thousands of white-robed devotees of the Shembe Church in South Africa greeted the New Year last week by climbing the mountain of Nhlangakazi, sacred to them for more than a century.
Every New Year, people mostly from Inanda township, near the coastal city of Durban, trek barefoot about 80 kilometres (50 miles) and set up camp at the foot of the peak. They believe that on its heights, itinerant preacher Isaiah Shembe received divine instructions to found the church.
Created in 1913 and also known as the Nazareth Baptist Church, the institution is one of the largest African traditionalist churches, combining Christianity with the Zulu culture. Followers revere Shembe, who died in 1935, as their prophet.
After arriving at the base of the mountain, worshippers clamber up and down twice a day, led by women followed by men carrying sticks and then children.
They also tend wayside graves, laying flowers. It takes about an hour to reach the top, where they listen to sermons dedicated to ...

S Africa worshippers make annual pilgrimage to holy mountain

The numerous critics attacking the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over Russia's failure to meet a deadline to hand over data from its drug-tainted Moscow laboratory are acting like a "lynch mob", said former president Dick Pound.
The 76-year-old Canadian lawyer -- who was WADA's inaugural president from 1999-2007 and sits on its Foundation Board -- wrote in his blog for influential sports politics website InsideTheGames that those demanding WADA be overhauled had their own personal agendas.
The end-of-year deadline was set in September, when WADA lifted a ban on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), paving the way for Russian athletes to return to competition across all sports after a report which uncovered a state-sponsored doping programme in Russia.
However, when WADA personnel travelled to Russia in December they were unable to extract all of the promised data.
WADA said at the time its team could not complete its mission "due to an issue raised by the Russian authorities that 

Pound blasts WADA critics for acting like a lynch mob

A spectacular goalkeeping blunder helped Marcello Lippi's China avoid a humiliating defeat as they came from behind to narrowly beat minnows Kyrgyzstan 2-1 at the Asian Cup on Monday.
The Central Asians, ranked 91st in the world and playing their first major tournament, bossed the first half and deservedly led 1-0 at the break of their Group C clash after Akhlidin Israilov's rasping strike.
But panicky Kyrgyz goalkeeper Pavel Matiash committed the howler of the Asian Cup so far when he palmed the ball into his own net shortly after half-time, before Beijing Guoan forward Yu Dabao grabbed the winner 12 minutes before the end.
It spared China's blushes against a team of players who ply their trade in leagues as diverse as Bangladesh and the Turkish amateur ranks, while both Matiash and Israilov are clubless.
Kyrgyzstan were far from overawed by their Asian Cup debut as they attacked from the outset at Al Ain's sun-drenched Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium.
In an open first half, China's Wu Lei 

China saved by goalie howler in narrow win over Kyrgyzstan

Six crew members were killed after a Panama-flagged cargo ship sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Monday, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Osman Kaymak, governor of the northern Turkish province of Samsun, told Anadolu that seven others were rescued after the Volgo Balt 214 vessel encountered trouble 80 nautical miles from Samsun and had sent a distress call at 8:10 am (0510 GMT).
The crew members found alive were taken to hospital.
The governor's office had initially said there were a total of 13 crew members, including nine Ukrainians, two Azerbaijanis and two Russians.
But the Russian embassy in Ankara said on Twitter that there were no Russians on board and Kiev's envoy to Ankara, Andriy Sybiha, said there were 11 Ukrainian crew members.
He also said four Ukrainian citizens were among the dead.
The cause of the incident was not given by Turkish authorities but Sybiha said on Twitter that the ship "sank off the coast of Samsun due to weather conditions".

Six dead after ship sinks off Turkey's coast: State media

More than 800 protesters have been arrested from hundreds of anti-government demonstrations held across Sudan since last month, the interior minister said Monday.
"The total number of protesters arrested until now is 816," Ahmed Bilal Osman told parliament.
The figure was the first given by officials for those detained since deadly rallies erupted on December 19 after the government hiked bread prices.
Authorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been killed in clashes during the demonstrations, but rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37.
Osman told lawmakers there had been a total of 381 protests reported since December 19.
He said 118 buildings were destroyed in the protests, including 18 that belonged to police, while 194 vehicles were set on fire including 15 that belonged to international organisations.
"The demonstrations began peacefully, but some thugs with a hidden agenda used them to indulge in looting and stealing," the ..

Over 800 protesters arrested in Sudan demos: Minister

An 18-year-old Saudi woman seeking asylum has left Bangkok airport "under the care" of the UN refugee agency, a Thai official said Monday, following her desperate plea against deportation.
"She is allowed to stay... she is under the care of the UNHCR now," said immigration chief Surachate Hakparn. "She left the airport with the UNHCR.

Saudi woman has left Bangkok airport 'under care of' UN agency: Thai official

A 28-year-old self-styled spiritual leader in Nepal, popular as "Buddha Boy", is under investigation after four devotees, including three nuns, disappeared from his ashrams, according to a media report.
A joint team of Central Bureau of Investigation and police raided Ram Bahadur Bomjan's ashram in Sindhupalchowk district last week after four persons went missing, the Kathmandu Post reported.
Police suspected that one of his devotees, Sanchalal Waiba, who went missing from Bomjan's ashram in Sindhupalchowk, might have been murdered.
Police searching for Waiba found nine covers of salt packets buried some 300 metres away from the ashram on Saturday.
Police said they found the covers of salt packets buried under the soil but did not find any mortal remains.
The body might have been burnt elsewhere, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bimalraj Kandel said.
On December 28, families of the missing devotees had demanded that the government conduct a thorough investigation to find their ...

Nepal's 'Buddha boy' under investigation over disappearance of devotees

Taliban fighters attacked two checkpoints in western Afghanistan, killing at least 10 members of the security forces and pro-government militia, officials said Monday, in a bloody 24 hours in the war-torn country.
At least 15 militants were killed in the fighting in Qadis and Ab Kamari districts of Badghis province that began late Sunday, provincial governor spokesman Jamshid Shahabi told AFP.
Provincial council chief Abdul Aziz Bek gave a higher death toll of 21 - 14 police and seven militia members - but that figure could not be immediately confirmed by AFP.  "The Taliban captured both checkpoints and took all the military equipment and ammunition with them," Bek said.
The Taliban, who have been slaughtering Afghan security forces in record numbers, claimed responsibility for both attacks.
On the other side of the country in the southeastern province of Paktika, eight civilians were killed and 12 wounded on Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near a market in Janikhail ...

Taliban kill at least 10 Afghan forces in bloody 24 hours

Gabon's government has retained control of the West African country after an attempted military coup early Monday, the government said.
Five army officers who took over state radio in the coup attempt have been arrested, government spokesman Guy-Betrand Mapangou, told Radio France International.
Authorities have regained control of the state broadcasting offices and a major thoroughfare in the capital, Libreville, which were the only areas taken over by the officers, according to the spokesman.
Earlier Monday a soldier who identified himself as Lt. Obiang Ondo Kelly, commander of the Republican Guard, read out a statement saying the military had seized control of the government of this West African country.
He was flanked by two other soldiers holding weapons and all were dressed in camouflage uniforms and green berets. He had said they were taking over to "restore democracy."
Those soldiers have been taken into custody and President Ali Bongo's government remains in control, said the 

Gabon's government puts down coup attempt, arrests plotters

National Champion and Asia number one Anahat Singh has won the U-11 British Junior Open squash event.
The 10-year-old toppled Whitney Wilson of Malaysia in four close games to grab the title here on Sunday.
Anahat, seeded 3/4 in the Girls' U11 event, triumphed 13-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9 over the top seeded Wilson, who had dropped only one game on her way to the final.
The British Junior Open (BJO) is the most prestigious event on the Junior  squash calendar, attracting the best talent from around the world. This year, 50 nations were represented by 680 players.
Anahat hails from Delhi and studies in the British School.

10-year-old Anahat wins British Junior Open

New UK car sales slid in 2018 on weak demand for diesel vehicles, and will fall further this year on poor consumer confidence and Brexit, an industry body said Monday.
Sales sank 6.8 per cent to 2.367 million vehicles after a 5.7-per cent drop in 2017, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said in a statement.
Consumers continued to ditch diesel cars for automobiles seen as more environmentally-friendly.
With Brexit on the horizon in March, the SMMT forecast that the market faces another 2.0-per cent decline this year.
"The challenges before us are something of a perfect storm," said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
"It's causing considerable worry and agitation across boardrooms both in the UK and abroad." He added it would be "unfair" to attribute the entire sales drop to Brexit fears but cautioned that falling consumer confidence had curbed people's desire to make a "big ticket purchase".
Some diesel vehicle owners are switching to petrol or alternatively fuelled ...

UK car sales slide in 2018 before Brexit: data

A Catholic cardinal and five other people went on trial Monday accused of covering up for a pedophile priest who abused Boy Scouts  France's most important church sex abuse case to date.
The case poses a new challenge to the Vatican, amid growing demands in overwhelmingly Catholic France for a reckoning with decades of sexual abuse by the clergy.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 68, appeared in a Lyon court Monday along with other senior church officials accused of failing to protect children from alleged abuse by the Rev. Bernard Preynat.
The top Vatican official in charge of sex abuse cases, Cardinal Luis Ladaria, is among the accused  but won't appear in court because the Vatican invoked his diplomatic immunity.
After taking his seat in the front row, Barbarin held his hands together and closed his eyes, as if in prayer.
The judge then read out the lengthy accusations against the defendants, and the defense used procedural arguments to try to get the case thrown out.
Nine people who ...

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