The Syrian army has not entered Manbij, the US military said Friday, after Syrian forces claimed they had gone into the key northern city and raised the national flag.
"Despite incorrect information about changes to the military forces in Manbij city, (the US-led coalition) has seen no indication of these claims being true," US Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown said.
Manbij is a strategic city close to the Turkish border where Kurdish forces have been deployed since 2016.
US and French special operations troops are also stationed there, assisting the Kurds, but the Americans will be withdrawing under a surprise pull-out announced by President Donald Trump last week.
Brown called on all parties to respect the "integrity of Manbij and the safety of its citizens."
"Our mission has not changed. We will continue to support our coalition partners, while also conducting a deliberate and controlled withdrawal of forces, while taking all measures possible to ensure our ...

Syrian army not in Manbij city: US military

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Renowned Israeli writer Amos Oz, a passionate peace advocate whose stirring memoir "A Tale of Love and Darkness" became a worldwide bestseller, died on Friday aged 79, his daughter said.
Fania Oz-Salzberger said on Twitter that her father had died of cancer and offered thanks to "those who loved him".
Tributes began to pour in for Oz, including from Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon, who called his death "a loss for us all and for the world".
While Oz's writing is widely acclaimed, he is perhaps equally known as one of the earliest and most forceful critics of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.
In recent years, Oz spoke out against the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shunning official Israeli functions abroad in protest at what he called the "growing extremism" of his country's government.

Revered Israeli writer Amos Oz dies at 79: daughter

Tesla named two more independent directors on Friday and said it completed the requirements of a US settlement of fraud charges involving Chief Executive Elon Musk.
The electric car company tapped Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Walgreens Boots Alliance Executive Vice President Kathleen Wilson-Thompson for its board of directors, an element of the September agreement between Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission that resolved charges that Musk defrauded investors by claiming on Twitter that he had secured funding to take Tesla private.
"Tesla intends to certify to the Commission that it and Elon have timely completed each of their respective actions required pursuant to the Settlement," the company said in a securities filing.
The appointments come at the end of a rollercoaster year for Tesla and its flamboyant leader, whose head-turning conduct included appearing to smoke marijuana in a media appearance and a public battle with a rescuer who helped save a group of ...

Tesla names two directors as part of Musk US fraud settlement

Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday directed the foreign office and envoys posted abroad to promote the soft image of Pakistan globally through proactive economic diplomacy.
Khan was addressing the concluding session of the two-day Envoys Conference on Economic Diplomacy here.
He said the nation needs to change its mindset of depending on others and make coordinated national efforts to convert current challenges at different fronts into opportunities, Radio Pakistan reported.
"Our elites have ditched the country at international level for their own vested interests," he said adding that past rulers projected themselves as progressive and painted the rest of the nation as extremist, causing "enormous damage to the national image".
Highlighting the importance of expatriates, the prime minister said "overseas Pakistanis are our great asset, which needs to be better utilised".
He said Pakistani embassies abroad should extend every possible assistance and cooperation to Pakistani workers and .

PM Khan directs foreign office, envoys to promote Pakistan's image abroad

Police on Friday captured an armed man who held eight people hostage at a bank in the central Czech town of Pribram, police said, adding that nobody was injured.
"A special police unit entered the bank and detained the man," Pribram police spokeswoman Monika Schindlova told public broadcaster Czech Television.
"All hostages are OK," she said, adding the hostage-taker was born in 1990 but refusing to disclose further details about his identity.
The gun-toting suspect was detained about two-and-a-half hours after the hold-up began.
Schindlova told AFP earlier the man had released one hostage before the special operations unit arrived in Pribram, a town some 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of the capital Prague.
"Before the negotiator arrived, the man had said he didn't want to hurt anyone and that this was no bank robbery," said Schindlova.
"He wanted to negotiate and to file some criminal complaint," she added.

Czech police nab suspect in bank hostage-taking

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday set up an advisory council under the chairmanship of Foreign Minster Shah Mahmood Qureshi to guide the foreign ministry on issues of national interest.
"The Advisory Council, through its deliberations and recommendations, will help take stock of Pakistan's foreign policy and make recommendations for achievement of our foreign policy goals," the Foreign Office said.
The Advisory Council constituted comprises of highly experienced former diplomats and ambassadors alongside academicians.
It said "in order to emphasis on these issues, Dr Adil Najam, a world-renowned expert has been included in the Advisory Council. In order to dispel the impression of our foreign policy being mostly security-centric and less directed towards economic issues, experts having relevant experience in international economics have been made part of the advisory council".
The council will have representation from the Foreign Service Academy, the institution where ...

Pak PM Khan sets up advisory council on foreign affairs

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was on Friday given an official warning and fined one demerit point for showing dissent at a controversial decision by television umpire Joel Wilson on the third day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the sanction in a statement issued after the match, which South Africa won by six wickets.
The statement said: "The incident happened in the ninth over of South Africa's second innings when Arthur, after TV umpire Joel Wilson had decided in favour of Dean Elgar, entered the TV umpire's room and showed dissent at Mr Wilson's decision by first questioning him and then storming out of the room.
"After the match, the Pakistan coach admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee David Boon. As such, there was no need for a formal hearing."
The charge was laid by Wilson.
The incident came at a crucial stage of South Africa's successful chase of a target of 149 when ..

Arthur punished for dissent after controversial decision

An armed man was holding eight people hostage at a bank in the central Czech town of Pribram on Friday, insisting he wanted to file a criminal complaint rather than rob the bank, a police spokeswoman said.
"We still have eight hostages. A police negotiator is here, he is talking to the armed man," Pribram police spokeswoman Monika Schindlova told AFP, adding that the man was carrying a gun.
She said the man had released one hostage before the special operations unit arrived and that none of the hostages had been injured.
"Before the negotiator arrived, the man had said he didn't want to hurt anyone and that this was no bank robbery," said Schindlova.
"He wanted to negotiate and to file some criminal complaint," she added.
The hold-up, in the town about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of the capital Prague, took place around 1330 GMT.

Eight hostages in Czech bank hold-up

Seven members of a UK-based Indian-origin family were involved in a freak accident in Iceland when their SUV crashed off a bridge on Thursday, killing two women and a child.
Four others, including two British Indian brothers and two young children, remain in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Iceland's capital Reykjavik.
The family was reportedly on holiday in the Nordic island country when their hired Toyota Land Cruiser slammed through a railing while crossing a high single-lane bridge at Skeidararsandur, a vast sand plain in the southern part of the country.
Icelandic Police have only identified the victims as British, with their names to be released on formal identification.
Local media reports have named the deceased women as sisters-in-law Rajshree and Khushboo Laturia and an infant girl.
Rajshree's husband, Shreeraj, and his brother Supreme remain in hospital with two young children.
The Indian Ambassador to Iceland, T Armstrong Changsan, visited the ...

British Indian family in freak Iceland crash, 3 dead

Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed death sentences handed down to 22 "hardcore terrorists" by military courts, a report said on Friday.
The terrorists were convicted by military courts which were set up after the 2014 Peshawar school attack that killed 150 people, mostly schoolchildren, Radio Pakistan reported.
Their terrorist acts resulted in the deaths of 176 people, including 19 armed forces personnel, 41 police and levies officials and 116 civilians and injured 217 others, it said.
Besides those given death sentences, 15 convicts were imprisoned while two were acquitted.

Pak army chief confirms death penalty for 22 'hardcore terrorists'

US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to "entirely close" the Southern border with Mexico and change the immigration laws if the opposition Democrats did not agree to his demand of funding for a border wall.
As part of the partial government shutdown headed to enter the new year, Trump also threatened to end all US aid to three Latin American countries--Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras-- arguing that these nations have done nothing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the US.
"We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve," Trump said in a series of four tweets.
Trump is asking more than USD 5 billion to build a border wall which he argues is essential to end the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.
"The United ...

Trump threatens to close US-Mexico border unless wall demands met

As Facebook tries to control the "bonfires of hate and misinformation it has helped fuel across the world", its moderators are often "mistakenly" told to take down comments critical of religion in India, with certain guidelines making an incorrect reading of Indian laws, a US media report has said.
"Every other Tuesday morning, several dozen Facebook employees gather over breakfast to come up with the rules, hashing out what the site's two billion users should be allowed to say. The guidelines that emerge from these meetings are sent out to 7,500-plus moderators around the world," the New York Times report said.
NYT was provided with more than 1,400 pages from the rulebooks by a Facebook employee who said he feared the company was exercising too much power, with too little oversight and making too many mistakes.
The report said an examination of the files revealed numerous gaps, biases and outright errors.
In India, moderators were mistakenly told to take down comments critical of ...

Facebook moderators acting on wrong interpretation of Indian laws: NYT report

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke was effusive in his praise of Jasprit Bumrah, saying that the India pacer "will soon become the best bowler in the world" across three formats.
Bumrah returned with figures of 6-33 to help India bundle out Australia for 151 in their first innings in the third Test.
"He must be a great guy to play with and to captain. He doesn't mind the pressure or the expectations. He wants to learn and is a workhorse  not too long before he will become the best bowler in the world," Clarke said on Sony Network.
"In the next few months, Bumrah will be the number one bowler in all three formats."
Bumrah's efforts on the third day of the Boxing day Test also made him the first bowler from the subcontinent to take a five-for or more in South Africa, England and Australia in the same year.
He has so far picked up 45 wickets in nine Tests this year.

Bumrah will become best bowler in the world: Clarke

Six Indian nationals have been arrested from Nepal's Bhojpur district for allegedly duping local villagers on the pretext of forging new ornaments and exchanging them with gold coated ones, said a media report on Friday.
The accused, all hailing from Mothari district in Bihar, lured the innocent locals and promised them to shape their ornaments and polish the gold jewelries. However, they exchanged it with fake gold, the Himalayan Times reported.
The accused were in possession of Aqua Regia, a chemical composition of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid which was used by them to dissolve real gold, a duty officer at Bhojpur district police office was quoted as saying by the paper.
The police intercepted them while they were about to flee the district. They have been taken into custody and an investigation has been initiated, police said.

Six Indians arrested in Nepal for duping villagers with fake gold

An Egyptian court has sentenced a 25-year-old woman to three years in prison for "sexually harassing" a monkey in the country's north, state daily Al-Ahram reported Friday.
A court in Mansoura city charged Basma Ahmed with "inciting debauchery" and "committing an obscene act in public", a judicial source told the newspaper.
She was arrested in October after a 90-second video of the incident went viral, Al-Ahram said.
The video shows Ahmed laughing while touching the genitals of a monkey at a pet shop in the Nile Delta city and making sexual innuendos as people around her chuckle.
At court she "confessed... to the incident but said she did not mean to commit an indecent act and that she had been tickling the monkey".
The video sparked a fierce backlash online.

Egypt jails woman for 3 years for 'harassing' monkey

A Vietnam court Friday ordered ride-hailing app Grab to pay a cab company more than USD 200,000 for losses incurred due to competition -- a judgement blasted by the firm as "a giant step backwards" for the country's tech community.
The Singapore-based app, which launched in Vietnam in 2013, has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Vinasun, a major taxi provider in the south of the country, since May 2017.
Vinasun blamed profit losses amounting to USD 1.8 million on its rival's entry into the market.
A court in Ho Chi Minh City ruled Friday that Grab must compensate Vinasun USD 206,000 in damages for "having seriously violated the law on transport business", a court clerk told AFP.
A local news outlet, which serves as a mouthpiece for the city's department of justice, said Grab's "activities caused losses to Vinasun".
But since there was a lack of concrete evidence to prove that Grab was the sole reason for the Vietnamese company's losses, the judge said there were no grounds to demand the 

Vietnam court orders ride-hailing app to compensate taxi firm

Afghanistan's attorney general slapped a travel ban on five top football officials Friday, hours after graphic details emerged of alleged sexual and physical abuse against members of the women's national team.
One player told Britain's Guardian newspaper that Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) president Keramuddin Karim had lured her into a secret bedroom near his office where he allegedly pointed a gun at her after hitting her in the face and raping her.
"When I woke up, all my clothes were gone and there was blood everywhere," the player told the newspaper on the condition of anonymity.
"The bed was covered in blood, blood was coming from my mouth, nose and vagina."
Another player alleged Karim threatened to cut out her tongue after she managed to escape his unwanted sexual advances.
AFP's calls to AFF spokesman Shafi Shadab on Friday went unanswered.
The attorney general has placed five officials, including Karim, on a "no-flying list and banned them from travelling out ...

Afghanistan slaps travel ban on football chiefs over sex abuse claims

If Emmanuel Macron is hoping for some holiday respite from the anti-government protests which have rocked France, he might want to avoid the presidential retreat along the Mediterranean coast.
Around 40 "yellow vest" demonstrators on Thursday tried to storm the medieval fort of Bregancon that serves as Macron's summer retreat before being turned back by police, the mayor of nearby Bormes-les-Mimosas, Francois Arizzi, told AFP on Friday.
"It's madness. For people who want more democracy, they should start by respecting other people's property," Arizzi said, saying many of the protesters had tried to infiltrate the fort by crossing private land.
He added that some of the protesters had indicated they would try again on Friday.
The yellow vest movement has morphed from anger over fuel taxes to a broad rebuke of Macron, whom critics accuse of neglecting the rising costs of living for many in rural and small-town France.
Bregancon generated some unwanted headlines last summer when it ...

'Yellow vest' protesters target Macron's vacation hideaway

Tighter measures to fight crime and terrorism in the European Union took effect on Friday as the 28-nation bloc seeks to improve security by sharing information more efficiently.
New rules that strengthen the Schengen Information System (SIS) should help border guards and law enforcement agencies, and provide more protection for missing children and disabled adults, the European Commission said in a statement.
Member states are now "obliged to create a SIS alert for all cases related to terrorist offences," decreasing the chances that suspects fall through the cracks.
By the end of next year, Europol will also be informed of all SIS terrorism alerts, casting a net across Europe as a whole.
"We are closing a critical security gap today in the EU," migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said in the statement.
"Member states will have an obligation to introduce terrorism alerts into the reinforced Schengen Information System. Anyone posing a threat should not go unnoticed anymore," 

Tighter EU terrorism tracking measures take effect

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he said would be a "new era" in ties with "great power" Brazil ahead of meeting Friday with the Latin America's country's incoming far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
Netanyahu also stressed that he would press Bolsonaro on an announcement -- since walked back -- that Brazil would follow the United States in moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
"The president-elect (Bolsonaro) announced he would (transfer the embassy). You can be certain I will speak with him about that in our first meeting," Netanyahu, speaking Hebrew, told reporters on his flight before it landed in Rio de Janeiro.
Netanyahu was to meet Bolsonaro for lunch in Rio on Friday on what was the first-ever visit to Brazil by an Israeli prime minister.  He will be one of the most prominent leaders attending Bolsonaro's swearing-in on Tuesday in the capital Brasilia.
Other VIPs who will be there include Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, Hungary's Prime Minister ...

Netanyahu hails 'new era' with Brazil

Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister struck a note of defiance Friday in the face of international outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder, saying the kingdom was not in crisis.
"The issue of Jamal Khashoggi... really saddened us, all of us," Ibrahim al-Assaf told AFP, a day after he was appointed foreign minister in a government reshuffle.
"But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transformation.

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