Clashes between jihadists and rebels in northwestern Syria have killed almost 50 people over two days, a war monitor said Wednesday.
Clashes flared Tuesday between Al-Qaeda-linked coalition Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and an alliance of rebel groups in western Aleppo province.
On Wednesday the fighting spread to the neighbouring province of Idlib, the country's last opposition bastion, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"The fighting intensified and spread to the north and southeast of Idlib province," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Observatory.
He said that 48 people have been killed, updating Tuesday's toll of 19. HTS had on Monday accused rebel group Nureddine al-Zinki of killing five of its fighters, and launched an offensive against rebel positions.
Nureddine al-Zinki is a major player in the National Liberation Front (NLF), a Turkish-backed rebel alliance.
Abdel Rahman said Wednesday that other NLF factions had now joined the fighting, while the ...

Syria rebel-jihadist clashes intensify, 50 dead

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Brazil's stock market closed at a record high on Wednesday, one day after new President Jair Bolsonaro took office and in anticipation of economic reforms his government is expected to implement.
The Ibovespa index in Sao Paulo's stock market finished 3.56 per cent up at 91,012 points. Markets were closed on Tuesday for the January 1 holiday.
Hopes of a turnaround for Latin America's biggest economy, which has been limping ever since exiting its worst-ever recession two years ago, were spurred by promises that Bolsonaro's team will cut spending and debt.
New Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said Wednesday that reforming the country's unsustainable pension system was the government's "biggest challenge" as it made good on those pledges.
Guedes said Brazil had to be re-made after suffering years of expanding public spending and statist decision-making.
Brazil "was corrupted by excessive spending and stopped growing because of excessive spending," he said.
"Reforming pensions is the key to .

Brazil stocks hit record as Bolsonaro takes charge

Seven people were arrested in central Mali Wednesday, the day after 37 civilians were killed when armed men attacked a village in the region in the latest clash between warring communities, the government said.
Following the New Year's Day massacre in the village of Koulogon, in the central Mopti region, "Mali army forces were rushed to the scene", the civil protection ministry said in a statement, adding they "arrested seven suspects" without giving details on those detained.
Tuesday's attackers were believed to be traditional Dogon hunters who targeted the village of Fulani herders.
The same Mali army mission also went into Bobosso village, near the Burkina Faso border, following arson attacks, killing one suspect and detaining 24 others, the ministry said.
France helped Malian forces stave off a jihadist insurgency that took control of large parts of the troubled north in 2012, but since the death in November of Fulani jihadist figure Amadou Koufa, inter-group conflict has ...

Seven arrested after 37 killed in central Mali: government

Bob Einstein, the veteran comedy writer and performer known for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," ''Curb Your Enthusiasm" and his spoof daredevil character Super Dave Osborne, has died, according to his brother, filmmaker Albert Brooks. Einstein was 76.
Einstein will be "missed forever," Brooks said in a post Wednesday on his verified Twitter account.
"R.I.P. My dear brother Bob Einstein. A great brother, father and husband. A brilliantly funny man," tweeted Brooks, 71.
Details of Einstein's death were not immediately available.
Representatives for him and Brooks did not immediately respond to calls or emails.
Einstein was scheduled to be part of the 10th season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" but his health barred him from filming, HBO said.
On the comedy, Einstein played annoying pal Marty Funkhouser to Larry David's equally off-putting character. In a statement, David said he'd never seen an actor enjoy a role more than Einstein did playing Marty.
"It was an amazing, unforgettable ...

Bob Einstein of Super Dave and "Curb" fame dies at 76

The US ambassador to Russia on Wednesday met an American ex-Marine accused of espionage whose detention has sparked the latest rift between the countries.
Ambassador Jon Huntsman met Paul Whelan at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow and afterwards spoke to his family by telephone, the US State Department said.
"Ambassador Huntsman expressed his support for Mr Whelan and offered the embassy's assistance," a State Department spokesperson said.
The United States has been cautious in its public comments on the case, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying earlier Wednesday that Washington was trying to learn more about the situation.
"If the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return," Pompeo told reporters while on a visit to Brazil.
The consular visit took place five days after the 48-year-old Whelan was detained in Moscow. The Russian foreign ministry also confirmed that the United States was granted consular access.
Whelan faces up to 20 years in prison if found .

US envoy meets American accused by Russia of spying

US authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the early hours of the new year to repel about 150 migrants who tried to breach the border fence in Tijuana.
US Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that about 45 migrants got through the first layer of fencing but turned back when they saw the border patrol's presence early Tuesday.
CBP said migrants began to throw rocks at agents from the Mexican side while others tried to cross the concertina wire, including passing "toddler-sized children" over the wire.
Border patrol officers responded by firing smoke, pepper spray and tear gas at the rock throwers in Mexico, distinguishing them from those who were trying to cross the fence line, CBP said.
"No agents witnessed any of the migrants at the fence line, including children, experiencing effects of the chemical agents, which were targeted at the rock throwers further away," the statement said.
However, an Associated Press photographer saw at least three volleys of gas ...

US fired tear gas into Mexico early on New Year's Day

Spanish coastguards rescued 401 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean over the first two days of the new year, they said Wednesday.
The news comes just days after a charity rescue vessel carrying 311 mainly African migrants plucked off the coast of Libya docked in Spain, ending a traumatic journey which saw them spend Christmas at sea.
A spokeswoman for Spain's coastguards told AFP they had rescued 111 migrants on Tuesday in the Strait of Gibraltar and Alboran Sea.
She added 290 more were rescued on Wednesday.
Spain has become Europe's main entry point for migrants, overtaking Greece and Italy.
According to the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) latest figures, more than 56,000 migrants arrived in Spain by sea from January 1 to December 19, 2018, and 769 died attempting to do so.
The Spanish Committee for Refugee Aid says the number of victims is the highest since 2006.
This sea route to Europe is not the deadliest -- at least 1,278 migrants died in 2018 trying to ..

Spain rescues 400 migrants over start of new year

A cargo ship caught in rough North Sea weather lost at least 270 containers, including four holding potentially dangerous substances, the Dutch and German coastguards said Wednesday.
The Panama-registered MSC Zoe shed the containers containing mostly toys, furniture and auto spare parts while battling a storm off the Frisian Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern Dutch coast also known as the Wadden Islands.
The Dutch coastguard tweeted that three of the containers contained, in powder form,  highly flammable, potentially dangerous organic peroxides used in making plastics which can cause irritation if breathed in.
German coastguard sources said they had located one container holding organic peroxide among six containers that reached the country's coastline.
They also warned the public not to touch the containers if found, but to call police or the fire brigade.
The Dutch coastguard, which said the containers went overboard not far from the German island of Borkum, added they ...

Ship loses potentially dangerous cargo in North Sea: Coastguard

Taiwan's leader has rejected the Chinese president's call for unification under a "one country, two systems" approach.
President Tsai Ing-wen said that China must face the fact of the existence of the Republic of Taiwan.
She made the statement to news media hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a policy speech on Taiwan that no one can stop the trend toward unification.
One country, two systems refers to a framework similar to Hong Kong in which the territory became part of China but retained a degree of autonomy.
Taiwan and China split in a civil war that brought the Communist Party to power in China in 1949. The rival Nationalists set up their own government on Taiwan, an island 160 kilometers off the Chinese mainland.

Taiwan's leader rejects Chinese president's call for unification

At least two people died and another 30 are missing after a boat carrying New Year's revellers capsized off the coast of Guinea's capital Conakry, local authorities said on Wednesday.
Maritime officials said at least 40 people were onboard the boat which was meant for fishing trips and not for transporting multiple passengers, some of whom were drunk.
Nine people were rescued, but at least 30 were still missing, one maritime police source said.
Local maritime agency Anam said that after the New Year's eve festivities the boat illegally made the trip to a group of islands near Conakry, a favoured destination for tourists and residents of the capital.
The Anam agency cited witnesses saying some of the passengers were drunk and their movements on the boat may have caused it to capsize.

Two dead, 30 missing after boat capsizes near Guinea capital

The Syrian regime said Wednesday hundreds of Kurdish fighters had withdrawn from Manbij near the border with Turkey, days after the Kurds appealed to Damascus for support against a threatened Turkish offensive.
"A convoy of units of Kurdish fighters comprised of more than 30 vehicles left the region of Manbij, heading towards the eastern bank of the Euphrates River," the defence ministry said online.
"The information (we have) indicates that nearly 400 Kurdish fighters have left Manbij so far."
The People's Protection Units (YPG), the main Kurdish militia in Syria, last week invited regime forces to deploy to the key city following a shock announcement that American troops would leave the country.
The YPG seized Manbij from the Islamic State group in 2016 and US forces have continued to support the Kurdish fighters in their battle against the jihadists.
President Donald Trump's surprise announcement last month of a swift US withdrawal has left Kurdish fighters exposed to a planned ...

Syria regime says Kurdish fighters withdraw from Manbij

Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has stripped an agency of the responsibility to demarcate indigenous lands in a move that has unsettled native rights groups and even some farm businesses that will benefit.
The decree published late Tuesday marked Bolsonaro's first order since taking office earlier that same day.
It stipulates that the FUNAI agency in charge of indigenous affairs will no longer have a say over creating and defining the boundaries of lands occupied by indigenous people in Brazil. Instead, the agriculture ministry will take over those functions.
Bolsonaro has said he intends to loosen regulations holding back farming and mining interests in Brazil, including those relating to nature preservation and indigenous land.
Part of his proposed reform is to bring FUNAI under the ministry in charge of human rights, instead of the justice ministry where it is currently placed.
He had planned to merge to merge the agriculture and environment ministries but backtracked when .

Bolsonaro strips agency of right to decide native land in Brazil

Turkish authorities detained 12 suspects over alleged links to the Islamic State group including two French women sought by Interpol, state media reported on Wednesday.
The suspects, including French, Syrian and Algerian citizens, were taken into custody after anti-terror raids in the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa, state news agency Anadolu said.
Among those caught were three women including the two French women who had red and blue Interpol notices issued against them, Anadolu and the private DHA news agency reported.
Some of the suspects had been in Syria with the extremist group before moving to Bursa, the agency said, without giving further detail.
Another suspect was believed to have been a guard for an IS commander.
Five of the suspects have been sent to deportation centres, Anadolu said.
Bursa is Turkey's fourth most populous province with more two million residents.
There have been a series of raids against IS suspects in Turkey in the past two weeks, especially ahead 

Turkey detains two French IS suspects wanted by Interpol: state media

A Republican Senator wants the US to offer Pakistan a free trade agreement as an incentive for Islamabad to push the Taliban to the peace table to end the Afghan war.
South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham, who is considered close to President Donald Trump, told CNN in an interview that if Pakistan helped the US in bringing the Taliban to the table for negotiations, then the US would focus on counterterrorism and the IS.
The Senator, who was recently in Afghanistan, said that the IS was on the rise in Afghanistan.
"Right now, after having been back from Afghanistan, I can tell you that IS is on the rise in Afghanistan. But if Pakistan would help us, we could get Taliban to the table and end the war in Afghanistan. Our presence then would be focused on counterterrorism, ISIS," Graham told the CNN on Sunday.
"If we can go to Pakistan and put a free trade agreement on the table to get the Pakistanis to push the Taliban to the peace table, and you can end the Afghan war," he added.
The ...

US Senator for FTA with Pakistan for pushing Taliban for peace talks to end Afghan war

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, has slammed US President Donald Trump, saying his conduct over the past two years, particularly his recent actions, is "evidence that he has not risen to the mantle of the office."
Romney, 71, who was elected as a Republican Senator from Utah in November, will be sworn in on Thursday.
"The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December...on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office," Romney said in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Tuesday.
His strong-hitting op-ed gains significance that he is unlikely to follow White House position on critical issues given that the ruling party has 53 seats in a 100-member Senate. On some critical issues Trump would require 60 votes to get his legislative agenda passed.
Trump, however, sounded conciliatory, calling for Romney to be a "team player".
"Here we go with ...

Romney says Trump hasn't 'risen to the mantle' of presidency

A 25-year-old knife-wielding man arrested during a New Year's Eve terror attack in Manchester is being detained under the Mental Health Act after an assessment by medical experts, police said on Wednesday.
The man stabbed three people - including a police officer - at Manchester Victoria station before being arrested on Monday night.
Greater Manchester Police said the counter-terrorism investigation launched in the wake of the attack on Monday night remains ongoing, including a search of a property associated with the suspect in north Manchester.
"The 25-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and detained last night (Tuesday night) under the Mental Health Act is now in a secure mental facility," it said in an update statement on Wednesday.
"The investigation has moved at a very fast pace and detectives are increasingly confident that the man acted alone in the final stages of the attack. The investigation will continue and will examine is anybody may have encouraged or 

UK knife attack suspect held under mental health law

Major (retd.) Geoffrey Langlands, a former British officer who stayed on in Pakistan after the end of the colonial rule and became one of the country's most famous educators, with students including Prime Minister Imran Khan, died in Lahore on Wednesday. He was 101.
Langlands 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 Langlands' students were Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
"Saddened to learn of the passing of my teacher. Apart from being our teacher, he instilled the love for trekking and our northern areas in me - before the KKH was built," Khan tweeted along with pictures of him with Langlands.
"I was 12 years old in the school (Aitchison College Lahore) picture," he said.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew said Pakistan has "lost a great friend and teacher of generations of its students."
Born .

Pak PM Imran Khan's teacher Geoffrey Langlands dies

Patrick Shanahan, the acting US defense secretary, started his first full day at the Pentagon's helm Wednesday by telling colleagues he sees China as a key priority.
Shanahan, who took the top spot January 1 after Jim Mattis resigned amid disagreements with President Donald Trump, told key Defense Department staff to focus on the National Defense Strategy, a broad review that highlights a new era of "Great Power competition" with Russia and China.
"While we are focused on ongoing operations, Acting Secretary Shanahan told the team to remember China, China, China," a defense official said.
The US accuses Beijing of an ongoing pattern of military and economic espionage, and has criticized China's ambitious "Belt and Road" trade and infrastructure initiative as being a form of economic coercion.
"In 2019, the National Defense Strategy remains our guide. America's military strength remains our focus," Shanahan said in a New Year's message on Twitter.
The defense official said Shanahan ...

'China, China, China': New Pentagon chief sets priority

Qatar Airways said on Wednesday that it had acquired a five percent stake in China Southern Airlines, as it seeks to establish itself in the Asian aviation market.
The state-owned airline said in a statement the deal was part of its "strategy to invest in the strongest airlines around the world", but did not specify the cost of the transaction.
China Southern Airlines is one of China's "big three" carriers.
Qatar Airways also owns a 20 per cent stake in International Airlines Group -- which holds British Airways under its umbrella -- as well as shares in LATAM Airlines Group, Italy's Meridiana and Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific.
The latest deal comes as Qatar seeks new partners and routes for the national airline due to an ongoing diplomatic dispute in the Gulf.
Since June 2017, Qatar has been politically and economically isolated regionally by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
These Gulf peers continue to impose a blockade, after accusing Doha of supporting ...

Qatar Airways buys 5pc stake in China Southern Airlines

US consular officials were given access on Wednesday to an American ex-Marine arrested in Moscow accused of espionage, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The consular visit took place five days after 48-year-old Paul Whelan was detained in the Russian capital last Friday.
"Russia has given America consular access to US citizen Paul Whelan," the foreign ministry said, according to news agency RIA Novosti.
Whelan faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, according to the ministry.
He was arrested "while carrying out an act of espionage", Russia's FSB domestic security service said.
His family has denied he is a spy, saying he was visiting Moscow to attend a wedding.
Born in Canada, Whelan is director of international security for BorgWarner, a car parts manufacturer headquartered near Detroit, his brother David Whelan has told several US media outlets.
His arrest came after President Vladimir Putin accused Western nations of using espionage cases to try to undermine an ...

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