Russia's security service on Wednesday said it had detained two teenagers on suspicion of plotting a deadly attack on a school with weapons and homemade explosives.
The pair -- both born in 2005 and Russian citizens -- had been active on websites where they propagated an ideology of mass murder and suicide, the FSB security service said in a statement.
It said they had been planning an attack on an "educational institution" in the Volga River city of Saratov.
They were arrested in a hideout where they were keeping a sawn-off shotgun and had also planned to use homemade explosives, the instructions for which they had found on the internet, it said.
Investigators have opened a criminal probe against them into belonging to a group planning to cause multiple fatalities.
According to Russian news agencies, since 2018 the FSB has uncovered 150 extremist internet groups of young people and averted 50 armed attacks on schools.
The TASS news agency said that one of the young men had told ...

Russia detains two teens over school attack plot

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More than 200,000 members of a shadowy religious sect were being checked for coronavirus symptoms by South Korean authorities on Wednesday, as US commanders reported the first case among American forces in the country.
Most of South Korea's novel coronavirus are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an entity often accused of being a cult.
After days of mounting public anger Shincheonji -- a secretive group which pursues converts surreptitiously -- handed over a list of 212,000 members, the government said.
Local authorities across the country -- which has more coronavirus cases than anywhere else outside China -- will check if they have symptoms of fever or respiratory disease and put them in quarantine at home if so, said vice health minister Kim Gang-lip.
Shincheonji claims its founder Lee Man-hee has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgement.
A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on February 10, but ...

South Korea starts virus checks on 200,000-plus sect members

Asian markets fell on Wednesday, with the coronavirus spreading rapidly around the world and health chiefs warning that governments were not prepared for the outbreak.
The heavy selling, after a day of relative calm caused by bargain-buying, followed another rout on Wall Street where all three main indexes lost around three percent after officials said COVID-19 would likely take hold in the United States.
With cases being reported in new countries -- and lockdowns in nations including Austria, Italy and Spain --  traders are growing increasingly fearful about the impact on the global economy.
The death toll is now at more than 2,700 while those infected are approaching 80,000, although new cases in China, the epicentre, are falling.
At the World Health Organisation headquarters in Geneva, Bruce Aylward, who headed an international expert mission to China, hailed the drastic quarantine and containment measures taken by the country.
But he told reporters that other nations were "simply .

Asian markets take another hit as virus sweeps globe

South Korea has reported 115 more cases of the new virus, raising its total to 1,261.
The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday said 82 of the new cases are in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas.
Most of the country's cases have been in that region over the past eight days.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US confirmed its first case among American soldiers based in the Asian country.

South Korea reports 115 more cases of new virus

Authorities in western Germany said Wednesday that a man who contracted COVID-19 is in critical condition and has been taken to a specialist hospital in Duesseldorf.
The health ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state said the man was first hospitalized Monday with serious pneumonia in the town of Erkelenz near the Dutch border.
He was then diagnosed with the new virus and isolated in an intensive care unit before being transported to Duesseldorf's University Hospital.
The man's wife was also isolated on suspicion of contracting the virus after showing symptoms.
German news agency reported that the man was in his 40s and had a pre-existing condition.
Dutch health officials were Wednesday tracing the movements of a German man who tested positive for the new virus after learning that he visited the southern province of Limburg last week.
The national public heath institute tweeted that the local health authority is seeking to trace anybody who came into contact with the man.
"If these ..

German authorities say man with virus in critical condition

Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been declared an "absconder" by the government for violating the bail requirements by not presenting his medical report from his doctors in London, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Sharif, 70, left for London in November last for treatment after the Lahore High Court allowed him to go abroad on medical grounds for four weeks.
According to Sharif's physician, the three-time prime minister is suffering from complex multi-vessel coronary artery disease and substantial ischemic and threatened myocardium for which he is due to undergo surgery.
The government on Tuesday decided not to extend the bail of Sharif and declared him an absconder for violating the bail requirements by not presenting his medical report before a board formed on the order of the Islamabad High Court, Dawn Newspaper reported.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the federal cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
"After Nawaz Sharif failed to ..

Sharif declared absconder' by govt for violating bail terms: Report

Scientists can't tell yet how deadly the new virus that's spreading around the globe really is  and deepening the mystery, the fatality rate differs even within China.
As infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 surge in other countries, even a low fatality rate can add up to lots of victims, and understanding why one place fares better than another becomes critical to unravel.
"You could have bad outcomes with this initially until you really get the hang of how to manage" it, Dr Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organisation envoy who led a team of scientists just back from China, warned on Tuesday.
In the central China city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus first exploded, 2 per cent to 4 per cent of patients have died, according to WHO. But in the rest of hard-hit China, the death rate was strikingly lower, 0.7 per cent.
There's nothing different about the virus from one place to another. Instead, the never-before-seen strain of coronavirus struck Wuhan fast  before anyone knew 

How deadly is new coronavirus? It's still too early to tell

"Guardians of the Galaxy" star Michael Rooker has joined the cast of Showtime's thriller "The President Is Missing".
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rooker will play the government agent tasked with protecting the vice president (David Oyelowo).
The series is an adaptation of James Patterson and Bill Clinton's novel of the same name.
The cast also includes Janet McTeer, Medina Senghore, Paul Adelstein and Gina Gallego.
The series is executive produced by Christopher McQuarrie and Heather McQuarrie, Peckham, Clinton, Patterson, Bill Robinson, Leopoldo Gout and Oyelowo.
Rooker has recently wrapped the production on "The Suicide Squad" and "Fast and Furious 9".

Michael Rooker boards Showtime's thriller 'The President Is Missing'

Zach Baylin, the writer of upcoming Will Smith tennis-drama "King Richard", has been roped in to pen the third installment in the Michael B. Jordan-fronted "Creed" franchise.
According to Deadline, the movie will continue the story of Adonis Creed, played by Jordan, but exact plot details are not yet known.
A director has yet to be confirmed.
Ryan Coogler had penned and directed the first movie, while the second film was helmed by Steven Caple Jr from a screenplay by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone.

'King Richard' writer Zach Baylin to pen 'Creed 3'

Japan's home Davis Cup tie against Ecuador next week will be played behind closed doors, organisers said Wednesday, the latest sporting event in the country to be affected by coronavirus fears, five months before the Tokyo Olympics.
And Japan's sumo governing body announced Wednesday it would hold an emergency meeting to decide whether to go ahead with a major tournament in Osaka scheduled to begin on March 8.
The Davis Cup decision comes a day after football's top-flight J-League postponed all matches until March 15.
"The International Tennis Federation made the decision to play the tie behind closed doors in consultation with the Japan Tennis Association, following advice from Japan Sports Agency and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare," a statement said.
Japan number one Kei Nishikori is due to play for the first time since last year's US Open at the tie in Miki on March 6-7 having recovered from injury, but spectators will be barred and have their tickets refunded.
The ...

Virus forces Japan Davis Cup tie behind closed doors

Captain Heather Knight's maiden T20 International century helped England notch up a record-breaking 98-run victory over debutants Thailand in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Knight blasted a majestic 108 not out from 66 balls to become the fourth batter to make a hundred at the event and send records tumbling.
England's total of 176 for two, after being sent in to bat, was their highest T20 International total and Knight's unbeaten third-wicket stand of 169 with Nat Sciver (59 not out) was the highest partnership for any wicket in Women's T20 World Cup history.
Thailand managed 78 for seven from their 20 overs, with England's victory by 98 runs the largest winning margin at the tournament.
All this was scarcely conceivable after a remarkable start to the game when the 2009 winners were reduced to seven for two. Bot England openers were dismissed for ducks for just the second time in T20 Internationals.
Nattaya Boochatham, leading T20I wicket-taker in the world in ...

Captain Knight smashes unbeaten 108 to lead England to massive win over Thailand

A strong 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit a remote part of eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning.
The undersea quake struck at a depth of some 61 kilometres (38 miles), about 280 kilometres southwest of the city of Tual in the archipelago's Maluku province.
The Southeast Asian country is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth.
In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.

Strong quake hits eastern Indonesia

Mindy Kaling says with her upcoming Netflix show "Never Have I Ever" she aims to break notions that all Indians are like "Princess Jasmine" and nerds are just "stuttering kids on the spectrum".
Kaling, who is helming the series, said she felt she was the right person to direct a show about a teenage Indian nerd growing up in America as she could relate to the story.
"Nerds are not only the wallflowers and the quiet ones. We're ambitious, we have obnoxious personalities sometimes, we want to have sex and dreams like all the other kids," she said during a Netflix TV brunch discussion of young adult programming.
The series revolves around Devi, an overachieving high school student whose short temper gets her into tough situations, and follows her life as a modern-day first generation Indian-American teenage girl.
Canadian newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is playing the lead role in the series and Kaling said it was important to get the casting right.
She said Netflix vice president of ...

'Never Have I Ever' will see Indian characters who are not like Princess Jasmine: Mindy Kaling

Five people were killed, three more are missing and thousands are unable to return to their waterlogged homes after floods submerged parts of Indonesia's capital, officials said on Wednesday.
The muddy deluge inundated the presidential palace, a major hospital and entire neighbourhoods across Jakarta on Tuesday, only weeks after 70 residents of the low-lying megacity died in some of the deadliest flooding in memory.
Two teenagers were among the five people drowned or electrocuted in hard-hit parts of the city, Indonesia's national disaster agency said.
"The joint rescue team is still searching" for three other possible victims, agency spokesman Agus Wibowo told AFP, adding that nearly 20,000 people were staying in emergency shelters.
Floodwaters reached more than a metre (three feet) in some parts of the capital but were receding by Wednesday, a day after rescuers combed drenched districts in pontoon boats to locate vulnerable residents.
Parts of the city had ground to a halt as ...

Five dead, three missing after Jakarta floods

"The Leftover" star Amanda Warren has joined actor Patrick Dempsey in CBS political drama pilot "Ways and Means".
Mike Murphy and Ed Redlich have written and will executive produce the series, which hails from CBS Television Studios, reported Variety.
Dempsey will portray a powerful congressional leader who has lost faith in politics and finds himself working secretly with an idealistic young congresswoman from the opposing party to subvert the hopelessly grid-locked system he helped create.
Together, they will attempt to save American politics, if they don't get caught, the official plotline read.
Warren will star as Jerlene Brooks, a former community organiser and progressive activist.
The actor is best known for starring in shows such as "Madam Secretary", "NCIS: New Orleans" and "The Leftovers". Her feature film credits include movies like "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", "Seven Psychopaths" and "Roman J. Israel, Esq".
"Ways and Means" will be executive produced by ...

Amanda Warren boards Patrick Dempsey's CBS pilot 'Ways and Means'

Actor-comedian Kevin Hart is set to star in an action-comedy based on the original idea by writer duo Lucia Aniello and Paul W Downs.
The yet-untitled Universal Pictures project will be directed by Malcolm D Lee, reported Variety.
Will Packer and James Lopez are producing through their Will Packer Productions.
Hart, Packer and Lee have previously teamed for the 2018 hit comedy "Night School".

Kevin Hart to lead Lucia Aniello, Paul W Downs' action-comedy

Russia on Wednesday warned against travel to Italy, South Korea and Iran so as to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Noting the spike in cases in the three countries, consumer safety regulator Rospotrebnadzor urged Russians to avoid travel there "until the epidemiological situation stabilised".
More than 1,100 people have been infected in South Korea -- the hardest-hit area outside of China -- and 11 people died.
Iran has emerged as another hotspot, with 15 deaths out of nearly 100 reported infections. Italy has recorded 11 deaths and more than 300 coronavirus cases.
The disease has now reached dozens of countries, with Austria, Croatia and Switzerland the latest to declare cases.
The virus has killed more than 2,700 people and infected over 78,000 in China where it originated.
Russia repatriated eight passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, three of whom were infected. Two Chinese citizens in Russia were also infected and treated in Siberia.
Moscow has ...

Russia warns against travel to Italy, Iran, SKorea over virus

Scientists have used technology employed in the defense and aerospace industries to create an adaptable, wearable and stretchable fabric that may make MRI, and other medical imaging tests easier on patients.
One reason medical imaging tests such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are uncomfortable is that they often use rigid radio-frequency (RF) coils to detect signals, or sound, from the body, the researchers said.
"Imagine going for an imaging session and they strap on a comfortable fabric with the coils embedded inside," said Joseph Rispoli, an assistant professor at Purdue University in the US.
"We created an adaptable, wearable and stretchable fabric embroidered with conductive threads that provides excellent signal-to-noise ratio for enhanced MRI scanning," Rispoli said.
Current approaches to enhancing signal-to-noise ratio, known as SNR, include shaping receive coil arrays to encompass a generalised form of the body part of interest.
However, these are often rigid and require 

New tech to make MRI, other medical tests comfortable

MGM Studios has roped in writer Zach Baylin to pen the script for the third installment of Michael B Jordan-led "Creed" series.
Baylin most recently wrote the script for Will Smith's "King Richard", which tells the story to tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams' father Richard Williams.
The film, being directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, is currently in production.
"Creed 3" will take forward the story of boxer Adonis Creed, played by Jordan. The franchise is a spin-off that spawned from Sylvestor Stallone's highly-acclaimed "Rocky" series.
The first "Creed" film, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, released in 2015 to universal acclaim. The film raked in USD 173 million at the global box office.
The second chapter, titled "Creed II" and directed by Steven Caple Jr, released in 2018. The film, which marked Stallone's last outing as Rocky Balboa, earned more than USD 214 million worldwide.

Zach Baylin to write script for 'Creed 3'

South Korea's birth rate hit a new low Wednesday as authorities announced barely 300,000 babies were born last year in the nation of 51 million people.
The country has one of the world's longest life expectancies and one of its lowest birthrates, a combination that presents a looming demographic disaster.
A total of 303,100 babies were born in 2019, Statistics Korea said, down 7.3 percent from the previous year.
The country's fertility rate -- the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime -- dropped to 0.92, the second consecutive year it was under one, and far below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable.
South Korean women have increasingly rejected motherhood in the face of heavy childcare burdens and associated career setbacks in a country where a thick glass ceiling still endures, along with traditional social values.
The government has spent more than 180 trillion won ($148 billion) since 2006 to boost birth rates but the population is projected to fall .

South Korea's birth rate falls to all-time low

The "expansive use of race" in the admission process of the prestigious Harvard University violates the civil rights law, the Trump administration has told the US Supreme Court as the justice department continues its probe into the allegations that the Ivy League college discriminated against Asian-Americans.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017 launched an investigation into Harvard's admission process after a complaint of discrimination was filed by more than 60 Asian-American organisations.
Indian-Americans feel that they get discriminated by the Massachusetts-based university under its current admission policy. The investigation remains underway.
Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division said that race discrimination hurts people and is never benign after the DOJ on Monday filed an amicus brief in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. versus President and Fellows of Harvard College.
In its amicus brief, the US explains that Harvard's expansive use ..

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