The Philippines will lodge a  diplomatic protest with China after Manila questioned if  Beijing had reneged on a pledge not to militarise a disputed  South China Sea reef.
Beijing claims nearly all of the sea and has been turning  reefs in the Spratly and Paracel chains into islands,  installing military facilities and equipment on them.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana today said Manila was  investigating reports of recent Chinese activity on Fiery  Cross Reef, an outcrop that Beijing turned into an artificial  island and which now appears to house a military base.
Lorenzana spoke out despite recent moves by President  Rodrigo Duterte to ease tensions with China.
"According to them they are not militarising (the reefs)  and it was for peaceful purposes only like tourism," Lorenzana  said.
"But if it is true and we can prove that they have been  putting soldiers and any weapons, defensive (or) otherwise,  that would be a violation of what they said".
Lorenzana said he had also ...

Philippines to protest over China activity on reclaimed reef

PTI Automatic

Thais were left bemused by the  latest antics of Thai junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha after he  told reporters to direct any serious questions to a cardboard  cut-out of himself.
Talking to reporters outside Government House yesterday,  Prayut turned the media's attention to the life-size likeness  after an aide dutifully placed the cut-out in front of a  microphone.
"Whoever wants to take a picture, ask political  questions... about conflict... ask this guy," Prayut joked  before saying "bye bye" and flashing sign language for 'I love  you' before swaggering away.
His humorous approach to the media did not go unnoticed  by Thai social media users.
Many were left befuddled by Prayut's casual attitude to  media scrutiny.
Others said it was in character for an authoritarian  former general who has stamped out dissent since seizing power  four years ago.
"If you don't have the ability to answer people's  questions, how can you solve people's problems?" Phanuphong  Thongfueang posted on ...

Not cut out for the job: Thai PM's stunt bemuses public

North Korea's decision to take part  in the Winter Olympics in the South was a "great step  forward", IOC chief Thomas Bach said today.
North Korea, which boycotted the 1988 Summer Games in  Seoul, will send its athletes to the Winter Games in the  South, the rivals announced today after their first formal  talks in more than two years following high tensions over  Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
"These proposals mark a great step forward in the Olympic  spirit," said Bach.
The IOC will now wait for the "official reports and the  official proposals from the Tuesday meeting", an IOC  spokesperson said.
"The IOC will then discuss these proposals in particular  as far as the participation, the number and names of athletes  from the NOC of DPRK, and the format of their participation  (flag, anthem, ceremonies, etc.) are concerned.
"We will continue to have these discussions in a positive  and constructive way. Following this consultation, the IOC EB  (executive board) will take the 

NKorea Pyeongchang participation 'great step forward' for

US President Donald Trump  received a mixed reception from football fans in America's  conservative south today, a partial rebuke on his political  home turf.
Tens of thousands of fans at a college championship  game in Atlanta between the University of Georgia and the  University of Alabama booed and cheered has he took to the  field for the national anthem.
A camera near the locker room where the Alabama  players were exiting meanwhile appeared to catch one shout an  expletive as he made his way to the field.
Some fans had been stuck outside for an hour during an  unusually frigid and wet evening as the area around the  stadium locked down for the arrival of the president's  motorcade.
Trump, who has made respectful observation of the  national anthem at sporting events a fiercely divisive  political issue, stood at midfield and sang some of the  "Star-Spangled Banner," while remaining silent at other times.
The mixed reception could be a worry for the White  House, coming deep in ..

Trump gets sporting boos and cheers in US south

Ankara today renamed the street in  the Turkish capital where the United Arab Emirates' embassy is  located after an Ottoman governor, in a symbolic riposte to  Abu Dhabi following weeks of tensions.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan  retweeted a post on Twitter last month which accused Turkish  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "ancestors of kidnapping  people of Medina in the early 20th century."
The post by a user called "Ali al-Iraqi" also claimed  that Fahreddin Pasha -- the Ottoman governor of Medina from  1916 to 1919 -- stole from the people of the sacred Islamic  pilgrimage city.
Medina, home to the Prophet's Mosque which as the burial  place of the prophet Mohammed is the second holiest site in  Islam, was then part of the Ottoman Empire and now a major  city in modern Saudi Arabia.
Erdogan hit back at the Emirati minister, telling him to  "know your place" and that the claims were "slanderous" to the  memory of Turkey's Ottoman predecessors.
He later ..

Ankara changes embassy street name after UAE spat

Eighty people have been killed in  Nigeria's central state of Benue since December 31 following  clashes between cattle herders and farmers, said an emergency  official today.
"80 is the number we can say for now, the attacks have  not stopped," Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA)  executive secretary Emmanuel Shior told AFP.

Death toll from Nigeria communal violence reaches 80

Britain's Brexit Minister David Davis  has criticised the EU for preparing for a no-deal scenario  once the UK leaves the bloc, according to a letter published  today by the Financial Times.
Writing to British Prime Minister Theresa May last month,  Davis criticised the European Union for adopting measures in  the event a deal is not reached before the UK's exit in March  2019.
He also took aim at EU agencies for issuing guidance to  businesses on the post-Brexit landscape, covering everything  from company law to transport, without mentioning the  possibility of a transition period.
The EU's approach "is frequently damaging to UK  interests", the Brexit minister wrote, according to extracts  published by the Financial Times.
May's spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Davis told the prime minister he would appeal to the  European Commission to change its guidance and warned the EU's  current stance amounted to "potential breaches of the UK's  rights as a member state".
A legal 

UK Brexit Minister slams EU 'no deal' guidance: report

The start of Zambia's school year has  been postponed and all public gatherings banned to contain a  cholera outbreak that has killed 61 people, officials said  today.
Church services were cancelled on Sunday and a night-time  curfew has been imposed to limit movement in Lusaka's  densely-populated slum district of Kanyama, one of the worst  affected areas.
Street vending has also been outlawed and nightclub hours  reduced, while the army has been patrolling the streets for  the last 10 days to ensure compliance with the tightening  restrictions.
"The country has recorded 114 new cases in the last 24  hours bringing the total to 2,672 since the disease broke out.  The cumulative death toll is 61," Health Minister Chitalu  Chilufya told journalists today.
The current outbreak began in late September.
The school year was due to start on Monday and no date  has been set for term to begin.
Cholera is a water-borne diarrhoeal disease that can kill  within hours if left untreated, but is ...

Schools closed in Zambia as cholera toll rises to 61

A casino complex billed as the  largest of its kind in Europe is scheduled to begin operations  in Cyprus by 2021, giving a major boost to the economy,  officials said today.
Macau's Melco International and its Cypriot partner  Cyprus Phassouri Ltd presented their plans in Nicosia for the  first casino resort in the internationally recognised south of  the Mediterranean holiday island.
Estimated to cost 600 million euros, the complex would be  the largest integrated casino in Europe, with 500 hotel rooms  and other facilities spanning more than 6,000 square metres  (64,580 square feet).
It will accommodate 136 gaming tables, 1,200 gaming  machines and 11 restaurants.
The project "is expected to have a significant impact on  the country's GDP," said Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades  at the presentation.
The casino's "broader contribution to the economy from  the second year of operation is estimated to be around 700  million euros or four percent of GDP," he added.
Melco's chairman .

Europe's 'largest casino complex' to open in Cyprus by 2021

A Chinese court has jailed two  people for life for their roles in a 15.6 billion yuan ($2.4  billion) pyramid scheme which swindled some 200,000 investors,  state media said today.
A court in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Monday  convicted Huang Dingfang and Cai Keyi of fraud, Xinhua news  agency said.
Hang set up Longyan E-commerce Co. Ltd. in January 2015  and worked with another company owned by Cai to cheat the  investors out of 15.6 billion yuan, the court said.
They promised annual returns of more than 250 percent if  investors became members by paying 4,000 yuan each and then  bought shares.
The pair also set up a third firm to sell shares and  promised that the company would go public in the United  States, Xinhua said.
Ding Wenping, chief financial officer of Longyan E-  commerce, and Sun Shijia, its president, were jailed for 12  and 10 years respectively.
Seventeen others were given sentences of up to nine  years.
The court also ordered the 21 defendants to return 5.7  ..

China jails two for life for $2.4 bn pyramid scam

A former chief of staff of China's  military is under investigation on "suspicion of bribery",  state media said today, as Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-graft  crackdown claimed another top general.
Fang Fenghui was appointed to the PLA's top post in 2012.  But he was abruptly replaced in late August amid a stand-off  with India over a territorial dispute and just days after he  had met US top brass to discuss North Korea.
The general has been "transferred to the military  prosecution authority on suspicion of bribery" said  Xinhua  news agency without providing further details.
Fang was one of two senior generals who did not appear on  a list of delegates to the Communist Party's twice-a-decade  congress last October, sparking speculation he had run afoul  of Xi's anti-corruption campaign.
The other, Zhang Yang, committed suicide in Beijing in  November after being investigated over connections to two  graft-tainted former senior military officers.
Xinhua said the state military ...

Former Chinese military chief of staff under investigation

Heavy snowfall has trapped some  13,000 tourists at Zermatt, one of Switzerland's most popular  ski stations, the Alpine resort said today.
The snow has blocked all roads and the train leading to  the resort in the southern Swiss canton of Valais, which was  also hit by some power outages, head of the station Janine  Imesch told AFP.
There are currently "around 13,000 tourists at Zermatt,"  she said, while the station website warned that "arrivals and  departures are not possible at the moment."
The main access road has been closed since yesterday,  while the train was halted late last night, she said.
Zermatt is home to some 5,500 inhabitants and has the  capacity to accommodate 13,400 tourists spread across hotels  and rental apartments.
But the stranded tourists will not be able to take  advantage of the abundant snow for the time being, due to the  high risk of avalanches in the area.
"It is not possible to do downhill or cross country, but  that's ok. It's a bit romantic," Imesch 

Snow traps 13,000 tourists at Swiss Alpine resort Zermatt

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin  Netanyahu's son has been caught on tape seemingly drunk  outside a strip club talking about a key natural gas deal,  leading to political fallout today.
The audio recording of Yair Netanyahu, who has been the  subject of controversy in the past, led to further criticism  of his father's handling of Israel's natural gas industry at a  time when he already faces two unrelated graft investigations.
Netanyahu's family denounced the broadcast of the  recording by Israel's Channel 2 television late Monday as part  of a witch-hunt, while Yair Netanyahu said he was obviously  joking in the audio said to be from 2015.
Yair Netanyahu, now 26, can be heard speaking with the  son of Kobi Maimon, a stakeholder in a company that owns a  share in Israel's offshore Tamar gas field.
Their conversation includes talk of strippers and  prostitutes.
"My dad arranged $20 billion for your dad -- you can give  me 400 shekels ($116/97 euros)," he says.
Yair Netanyahu issued a .

Netanyahu's son under fire after 'strip club' tape

North Korean athletes and officials  will attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, the  two sides said today after their first official talks in more  than two years.
"The North Korean side will dispatch a National Olympic  Committee delegation, athletes, cheerleaders, art performers'  squad, spectators, a Taekwondo demonstration team and a press  corps and the South will provide necessary amenities and  facilities," they said in a joint statement.

'North Korea will send athletes to South's Winter Olympics'

A senior  figure in Palestinian Islamist group Hamas was hospitalised in  critical condition today with a gunshot wound to the head,  after what officials said was an accident.
Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoum said in a statement Imad  al-Alami, a former member of Hamas's highest political body,  was wounded while "inspecting his personal weapon in his home  and is in critical condition".
A medical source said he had been rushed to a hospital in  Gaza City.
There was no independent confirmation of details of the  incident.
Alami has for decades been a senior member of Hamas,  which runs the Gaza Strip.
Israel has accused him of planning multiple attacks.
He lived in exile for more than 20 years but returned to  Gaza in 2012.
His home in Gaza was bombed by Israel during the most  recent war between the two sides in 2014.

Senior Hamas figure critically wounded in Gaza accident:

Five Sahel countries that have  pledged to pool military efforts to fight terrorism have set  up a fiduciary fund to oversee donations for their campaign.
The decision was made by the defence and foreign  ministers of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger,  Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said late  yesterday.
Their countries form the so-called G5 Sahel, a French-  supported group that last year launched a joint military force  to combat jihadism plaguing the region.
Pledges last month brought total funding over the 250  million euros (USD 298 million) needed to get the force up and  running following a maiden mission in the volatile border zone  between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in November.
A summit of donor nations is scheduled to take place in  Brussels on February 23 to top up funds.
Coulibaly said the fund would include an oversight  committee to ensure "good management of the funds earmarked by  partners."
Management of the fund would be ...

Sahel countries set up fund for anti-terror campaign

A suspected arson attack on  a French kosher grocery store has revived fears over anti-  Semitism, three years to the day since an assault on a Jewish  supermarket by an Islamist gunman.
Prosecutors said the store in the southern Paris suburb  of Creteil had caught fire overnight, days after it was hit by  anti-Semitic graffiti.
"The damage is believed to be very severe," Creteil  prosecutor Laure Beccuau told AFP, adding that investigators  do not believe the fire was accidental.
The Promo & Destock store was one of two neighbouring  kosher shops in Creteil that were daubed with swastikas last  Wednesday.
The fire comes on the third anniversary of the attack on  January 9, 2015, at a kosher supermarket in northern Paris by  jihadist gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who killed three customers  and a Jewish employee.
That attack came two days after Said and Cherif Kouachi -  close friends of Coulibaly's - gunned down 11 people at the  offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the first ...

French kosher store burns down on attack anniversary

A United Nations  special envoy has assured oil-rich Equatorial Guinea it will  be supported in its "stabilisation efforts" following a "coup  attempt" against President Teodoro Obiang, Africa's longest-  serving leader.
Francois Lounceny Fall, a former prime minister of  Guinea, arrived in Equatorial Guinea over the weekend to meet  Obiang and to "gather more information" on the putsch that  Malabo said was mounted by foreign mercenaries on December 24.
"We are leaving here comforted by the assurances we have  received from the President of the Republic, and I can say  that the United Nations will continue to support Equatorial  Guinea in its stabilisation efforts," Fall said yesterday in a  speech broadcast on state television at the end of his visit.
"The United Nations has made a clear statement against  the use of force against states. The unconstitutional seizure  of power is condemned by both the African Union (AU) and the  Nations," added Fall, the head of the UN's central ...

UN vows to support Eq. Guinea after 'coup' plot

A controversial columnist whose  appointment to Britain's universities regulator sparked  widespread protest announced his resignation today, a day  after a shambolic cabinet reshuffle.
Toby Young said his position had "become a distraction"  for the work of the Office for Students after his appointment  to the watchdog's board sparked criticism in parliament.
Critics of the appointment have highlighted multiple  derogatory comments made by Young on social media in the past  about women, gay people, and the disabled.
Writing in The Spectator, Young said the "caricature"  drawn of him over the past week was "unrecognisable", while  acknowledging his earlier comments were wrong.
"Some of the things I said before I got involved in  education, when I was a journalistic provocateur, were either  ill-judged or just plain wrong -- and I unreservedly  apologise," he wrote.
An online petition calling for his sacking gathered  nearly 220,000 signatures before Young announced his  ...

Controversial columnist quits UK universities regulator

China raced to contain oil leaking  from an Iranian tanker stricken off its eastern coast today  amid warnings the burning ship could spark an environmental  disaster.
The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil  when it collided with a cargo ship on Saturday and erupted  into flames 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai.
If all the cargo from the Panamanian-flagged 274-metre  tanker spills, it would be the biggest oil slick from a ship  in decades and could kill marine life across a vast area,  analysts have said.
The transport ministry said the vessel was still burning  on Tuesday. It released a photo of the Sanchi enveloped in  smoke and flames.
"With the ship on fire, it is expected that much of this  condensate oil will burn off rather than enter the water,"  Greenpeace East Asia said in a statement to AFP.
"However, if the ship sinks before the oil burns off, the  cleanup procedure would be extremely difficult. What is  important now is to understand how much of that 

China races to prevent environmental disaster from stricken

Drone users who fail to register  their devices in Thailand by today could face up to five years  in jail or a $3,000 fine, officials said, tough new rules that  may hit tourists and media alike.
The regulations, which were announced in October but take  effect this week, cover nearly all forms of drone use from  commercial and recreational to scientific.
Anyone using an unregistered drone after Tuesday risks a  100,000 baht ($3,100) fine or a maximum of five years'  imprisonment, according to the National Broadcasting and  Telecommunication Office.
"All type of drones except toy drones must be  registered," an NBTC official told AFP, exempting unmanned  aerial vehicles under 250 grams (eight ounces) -- which  tallies with new US rules.
Thailand says it has registered almost 8,000 unmanned  aerial vehicles so far, a process that requires users to  obtain a licence from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The rule comes as Thailand enters its peak tourism  season, with the number of visitors 

AFP

AFP

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