Denmark's intelligence service arrested and charged three members of an Iranian separatist group with spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia in Denmark, it said Monday.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said it arrested three leading members of the ASMLA, Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz.
The three "have carried out espionage activities on behalf of a Saudi intelligence service from 2012 to 2018," Finn Borch Andersen, head of the intelligence agency, told a Copenhagen press conference.
PET said it launched an investigation into the trio, who live in Denmark, in November 2018 to determine whether they "had publicly condoned acts of terrorism or committed other criminal offences."
The members were arrested in 2018 and accused of praising the five commandos who attacked a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on September 22, spraying the crowd with gunfire and killing 24 people.
Danish authorities said at the time they believed the three were the ...

Three Iranians charged with spying for Saudi Arabia in Denmark

PTI Automatic

At least 13 people died in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, in overnight heavy rains and others were injured, government officials said Monday.
The East African nation has seen dozens of deaths caused by torrential rains in recent weeks.
The latest downpour began Sunday evening, causing flooding and mudslides that swept away 15 houses in the capital and left some roads inaccessible.
"We can confirm that the provisional number of those dead has reached 13. Some people who we thought were missing have been found dead and the search continues," Claude Tuyishime, spokesman of the ministry of disaster management, told The Associated Press.
On January 28, heavy rain in Rwanda killed at least three people while destroying farms and sweeping away homes.
In December, 12 people were killed in Kigali while officials said more than 100 homes were destroyed.
The government has started relocating thousands of households located in wetlands and other at-risk areas.
The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has said ...

Officials say heavy rains kill 13 in Rwanda's capital

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for closer ties with Poland in shaping the European Union without Britain, in European security and relations with Russia.
Following talks in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Macron also called for a revival of trilateral ties with Germany, urging a summit meeting in coming weeks following years of hiatus.
He said the three countries bear responsibility for Europe's future and should resume that role, especially after Britain's departure last week.
Macron has previously been critical of Poland's right-wing government and its policies of refusing to accept migrants, continuing reliance on coal and trying to bring the judiciary under political control.
His predecessor, Francois Hollande, canceled a visit in 2016 after Warsaw scrapped a planned purchase of French helicopters.
Macron said he would like his visit to be a turning point in bilateral relations and for any misunderstandings to be cleared up.
Relations with Russia have 

France's Macron wants closer ties with Poland on EU

Months into the Democratic nomination marathon, after seven debates, countless rallies, bitter candidate clashes and an impeachment effort to remove the US president, Iowa on Monday holds the first-in-the-nation vote to see who challenges Donald Trump in November.
More than two dozen White House hopefuls began the journey, some as early as a year ago. Eleven now remain, exactly nine months from Election Day.
Despite the historically diverse field consisting of men and women of color and young candidates with little Washington exposure, the two frontrunners are septuagenarian white men -- Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden -- with more than 80 years of political experience between them.
In a typical election year, Iowa absorbs the country's full political attention. But this presidential cycle has been anything but normal.
Looming over the process is Trump's impeachment saga, which is coming to a climax on Wednesday with acquittal almost certain in the Republican-led Senate.
Three senators ..

White House candidates, and a nation, brace for Iowa vote

Cyprus authorities brought 87 irregular Syrian migrants safely to shore after their wooden boat was picked up by radar sailing southeast of the island, police said Monday.
A Cyprus police spokesman said they located the Syrians 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) off the island's coast and escorted the boat to shore at Larnaca on the Mediterranean island's southern coast.
The 13 metre (42 foot) craft was crowded with migrants -- including 16 children and 10 women -- who will be processed before being taken to a reception centre outside the capital Nicosia, said police.
Police suspect the boat set off from Mersin in Turkey, a route often used by people smugglers bound for Cyprus.
In August, Cyprus requested fellow EU member states to take in 5,000 of its migrants to alleviate the "disproportionate pressures" it faced.
The small member state says it is on the frontline of the Mediterranean migration route with the highest number of first-time asylum seekers per capita of ...

Cyprus escorts boat with 87 Syrian migrants to shore

Pakistan's government on Monday postponed its decision on whether to lift a ban on a movie that had offended hard-line Islamists in this Muslim-majority country, after asking a high council of clerics to weigh in on the film.
The Islamists had raised allegations of blasphemy over the film, "Zindagi Tamasha, or Circus of Life," by Pakistani director Sarmad Khosat, which was to be released in late January. Its debut was scrapped by the Punjab provincial government's information office, following objections from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party and its followers.
Their claims drew attention again to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law, which carries an automatic death sentence for a conviction of insulting Islam. There have been widespread complaints that the law is used to settle scores and intimidate religious minorities.
The party's supporters argued the movie contains blasphemous content and could spread hatred against people of faith. Party leader Khadim Rizvi threatened to hold ...

Pakistan delays decision on movie that offended Islamists

Hundreds of stranded Pakistani students in the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city have made desperate pleas to the Imran Khan government to evacuate them from China's worst-affected Hubei province, urging his administration to take a leaf out of India's book.
India airlifted 654 people, including seven Maldivians, on Saturday and Sunday from Wuhan. The evacuated Indians would be monitored for any signs of infection for two weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members. India also temporarily suspended e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in China in view of the rapid spread of the virus.
Pakistan's Ambassador to China Naghmana Hashmi on Sunday said that the Pakistani students should not be evacuated from Wuhan as medical facilities back home did not meet the standards required to treat a patient diagnosed with coronavirus.
Hashmi's remarks came a day after Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza said the government will not bring its ...

Frantic Pak students in virus-hit Wuhan ask their govt to follow India's example to evacuate them

Atletico Madrid confirmed on Monday that Alvaro Morata has suffered a muscle injury, with the striker in doubt to face Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League last 16.
Atletico play Liverpool at the Wanda Metropolitano on February 18 and will be desperate to have Morata fit, given their lack of options up front. Diego Costa and Joao Felix are both currently out injured.
"Alvaro Morata has suffered a muscular injury in his right leg," a club statement read.
"His return will depend on his recovery." Morata had to come off in the second half of Atletico's 1-0 defeat by Real Madrid in the city derby in La Liga on Saturday.

Morata out injured, faces race to be fit for Liverpool test

A Pakistani court on Monday accepted the plea of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's brother-in-law Hafiz Abdur Rehman Makki and allowed transfer of two terror financing cases against him to Lahore from other parts of Punjab province after the prosecution raised no objection.
"Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh allowed the application of suspect Makki after Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad Khan said the prosecution has no objection in transferring his (Makki) cases from Sargodha to Lahore," a court official told PTI.
Sargodha is located nearly 200 kilometres northwest of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
Makki told the court that two cases have been pending against him before the anti-terrorism court of Sargodha while some other identical cases were also being heard by a Lahore's trial court.
He asked the court to order consolidation of all cases against him at Lahore "because of similar charges" against him.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) ..

Pak court accepts plea of Saeed's brother-in-law to transfer terror financing cases to Lahore

China's top leadership body on Monday admitted "shortcomings and difficulties" in its response to a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 360 and infected more than 17,000, state media reported.
The comments came after China reported 57 new deaths Monday -- the single-biggest daily increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan, where it is believed to have jumped from animals at a market to humans.
The elite Politburo Standing Committee called for improvements to the "national emergency management system" following "shortcoming and difficulties exposed in the response to the epidemic," according to Xinhua news agency.
"It is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade," it added.
Officials in Wuhan have been criticised for withholding information about the outbreak until the end of last year, despite knowing about the new illness weeks earlier.
China's death toll ..

China leadership admits 'shortcomings' in virus response

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appeared to hint on Monday that security ties with the United States and Israel were still intact, despite earlier announcing their severance in response to President Donald Trump's peace plan.
On Saturday, Abbas had said he was cutting security ties with Israel and the US over the initiative, which was released last week and has been angrily rejected by Palestinians.
A cut in security ties could jeopardise the relative calm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But on Monday, Abbas appeared to step back from that statement, implying he had not yet severed ties but still could.
"If the Americans continue with this project, the boycott is there (as an option), a full boycott," he told a cabinet meeting.
Israeli-Palestinian security coordination ranges from information sharing about militant cells in the West Bank to coordination between police forces. Palestinian forces have also received training from the United States and other Western countries.
Abbas 

Abbas suggests security ties with US, Israel still intact

A concrete producer took the Norwegian state to court on Monday claiming the  intelligence agencies' clumsy approach to recruiting informants had caused the company financial loss.
At Oslo district court, concrete manufacturer Olen Betong accused the Norwegian internal (PST) and external (E-tjeneste) intelligence services of contacting two employees working in the Murmansk region in order to turn them into informants.
The company, with business in Russia's north-west, said the intelligence services had made repeated indiscrete contact over the last decade, which was spotted by Russian government agencies.
Olen Betong claimed this led to the loss of an important contract in Russia and legal trouble for company founder Atle Berge and employee Kurt Sto.
The pair were arrested and interrogated in Murmansk before being declared persona non grata in Russia for ten years.
The company's lawyer Per Ristvedt said the case was unique in Norwegian judicial history.
"Norway has and should have an .

Norway sued over 'risky' spy recruitment

Russia's economic growth slowed to 1.3 per cent last year, the state statistics agency said Monday, with the lethargic pace presenting a major headache for the Kremlin.
Russia's economy, long battered by Western sanctions and highly dependent on high prices for its energy exports, slowed considerably from the 2.5 per cent growth registered in 2018 and failed to meet even the government's forecast of an increase of 1.4 per cent.
Sluggish economic growth and five years of falling real incomes present a major challenge to the government as President Vladimir Putin has said the country should see a higher pace of economic growth than the rest of the world in 2021.
The Rosstat statistics agency said that GDP last year was 109.3 trillion rubles (USD 1.7 trillion).
At the beginning of his fourth presidential term in 2018, Putin set a goal of reaching four percent economic growth with the help of an ambitious "national projects" programme.
Russia's economy had only just returned to growth in .

Russia growth slowed to 1.3% in 2019

Pakistan police on Monday claimed to have thwarted a terror attack on a building of an intelligence agency in Punjab province and arrested three Taliban terrorists.
According to a statement by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), an intelligence-based operation was carried out in Gat Wala Bridge in Faisalabad city, 150-km from Lahore, after receiving information that three terrorists were hiding there and planning to target the intelligence office.
It said the CTD along with police raided their hideout and arrested three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan terrorists - identified as Abdul Salam, Maodood Chisiti and Ali Muhammad Khan.
Explosive material including fuse, detonators, two pistols and bullets have been recovered from them, the CTD said.
The arrested terrorists have made important disclosures regarding activities of their outfit in the region, it added.
A case has been registered against them.

Pak police foils terror plot, arrests three Taliban terrorists

The health ministers of the Group of Seven countries will on Monday discuss a joint response to the coronavirus epidemic, France's health ministry told AFP.
They will hold talks via a telephone conference at 1400 GMT, it said.
Germany's Health Minister Jens Spahn said Sunday he had talked on the phone with his US counterpart and "we agreed that there should be a conference call, a discussion by G7 health ministers about this question with the aim of dealing with it together".
Spahn added: "There is no point in each country deciding on measures alone".
The G7 comprises rich nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
An outbreak of coronavirus, detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has since spread to more than 24 countries.
By Monday, the death toll had hit 362, with the first fatality outside of China reported in the Philippines at the weekend.
More than 17,000 people across China have been infected, with scores of .

G7 ministers to discuss coronavirus Monday: France

China leadership admits 'shortcomings in virus response

One of Africa's best-known mercenaries who fought in the Democratic Republic of Congo and led a failed coup in the Seychelles, Mike Hoare, has died aged 100, the family said on Monday.
Nicknamed "Mad Mike", Hoare died on Sunday in South Africa where he had retired.
Born 1919 in India to Irish parents, he was educated in England where he qualified as a chartered accountant.
He attended a small-arms and an officer training course during the British army during WWII and went on to serve in India and in Burma.
The fervent anti-communist then emigrated to South Africa in 1948.
"The well known adventurer and soldier of fortune, Lt Col 'Mad Mike' Hoare, died in his sleep and with dignity aged 100 years at a care facility in Durban on 2 February 2020," the family said in a statement.
His son Chris, said Hoare "lived by the philosophy that you get more out of life by living dangerously, so it is all the more remarkable that he lived more than 100 years".
Hoare shot to fame in the 1960s when he 

Mercenary 'Mad Mike' Hoare dies aged 100 in South Africa

Sofia Kenin's rise to a career-high seventh in the world after her surprise Australian Open triumph was confirmed Monday with the publication of the latest WTA rankings.
The unheralded American jumped eight places into a top 10 headed by Ashleigh Barty following Saturday's stunning 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Garbine Muguruza in Melbourne.
Australian Barty, who fell to 21-year-old Kenin in the semi-finals, retained her position as world number one ahead of Simona Halep, who replaced Karolina Pliskova, ousted in the third round.
Latest WTA rankings published on Monday:  1. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 8367 pts  2. Simona Halep (ROU) 6101 (+1)  3. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5290 (-1)  4. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4775 (+1)  5. Belinda Bencic (SUI) 4675 (+2)  6. Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 4665  7. Sofia Kenin (USA) 4495 (+8)  8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 3965 (+2)  9. Serena Williams (USA) 3915  10. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 3626 (-6)  11. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 3466 (-3)  12. Madison Keys (USA) 2962 (-1)  13. Aryna Sabalenka ...

Melbourne winner Kenin breaks into top 10

China on Monday opened a 1,000-bed hospital built in record nine days in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the coronavirus, and started clinical trials for a drug to treat the virulent virus as the death toll in the outbreak soared to 361, with 17,238 confirmed cases.
A noted Chinese health expert Zhong Nanshan said that based on the fresh evidence, the novel coronavirus which is spreading rapidly in China and the world may reach its peak in the next 10 to 14 days, contrary to earlier estimates of climaxing sooner.
This means that the cases would drastically increase in the next two weeks before slowing down.
The death toll in China's coronavirus epidemic soared to 361 with 57 deaths on Sunday while the number of confirmed cases climbed to 17,238, Chinese health officials announced on Monday.
Among Sunday's deaths, 56 were reported from Hubei Province, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, and one from southwest China's Chongqing, the commission said.
The Philippines already reported the ...

China opens 1,000-bed hospital, begins trials for new drug as coronavirus death toll jumps to 361

Bangladesh begin a to-and-fro commute to Pakistan Wednesday for a Test and one-day international series sandwiched between home fixtures -- a quirky fixture list prompted by security fears.
They play a first Test in Rawalpindi starting Friday, but head home immediately afterwards for a series against Zimbabwe.
They then return to Pakistan for the second Test beginning April 5, after an ODI on April 3.
"It is not ideal. You always want to go there at least seven or eight days before a Test match," coach Russell Domingo told reporters in Dhaka on Monday.
Bangladesh wanted to play the series in phases because they want to spend as little time in the country as possible due to safety concerns.
Until late last year, Pakistan had not hosted an international cricket match for nearly a decade after a visiting Sri Lanka side was ambushed by Islamist gunmen in Lahore on their way to play a game.
Domingo said he was happy with the form shown by some of the Bangladesh batsmen in domestic ...

Bangladesh coach Domingo rues Pakistan fixture list

Britain and the EU laid down Monday their red lines for post-Brexit trade talks, offering contrasting visions for their future relationship that raise the prospect of clashes to come.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson envisioned his country as a global champion of free trade, emphatically rejecting EU insistence on full alignment with Brussels.
But he still pledged not to "undermine EU standards", after the UK finally went its own way on Friday after nearly half a century in the bloc and an 11-month transition period began.
Worries over trade negotiations sent the pound sinking more than 1.1 per cent against the dollar in London midday deals on Monday.
"I see no need to bind ourselves to an agreement with the EU," Johnson said in a speech at the Old Royal Naval College, which chronicles Britain's past as a maritime superpower.
"We will restore full sovereign controls over our borders, immigration, competition, subsidy rules, procurement (and) data protection."
He added: "We will ...

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