Israeli airstrikes target Gaza amid tensions after Trump's Jerusalem move

Two Palestinians were killed Saturday in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, as tensions soared in the region after US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli aircraft had targeted what it identified as four facilities belonging to Hamas -- the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza -- early Saturday in response to rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza.

The aircraft targeted two weapons manufacturing sites, a weapons warehouse and a military compound, according to an IDF news release.

The bodies of two Palestinian men aged 28 and 30 were found under rubble after the strikes, WAFA said, quoting the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

A 54-year-old Palestinian man also died late Friday from injuries sustained during an earlier Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The IDF said Israeli aircraft had struck a Hamas training compound and ammunition warehouse in Gaza.

A 30-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed earlier Friday during clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces over Trump's controversial move. Both Palestinians and Israelis claim Jerusalem as their capital.

More than 300 people were injured Friday across the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, 50 of whom needed hospital treatment, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health said.

An Israeli army statement said what it called violent riots had broken out in about 30 locations across the West Bank and Gaza. The main disturbances in the West Bank were in Hebron, Al-Arroub, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Qalqilya and Nablus.

At least 49 people were also injured Thursday during protests over Trump's decision, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Trump's decision Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and commit to moving the US Embassy to the holy city has prompted international condemnation and sparked protests in countries around the globe, from Indonesia and Malaysia to Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt.

US envoy to UN defends Trump move

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley defended Trump's decision and criticized member countries for their treatment of Israel during an emergency UN Security Council meeting Friday.

She also said the US has credibility with both the Israelis and the Palestinians and that any peace agreement would likely be "signed on the White House lawn."

"The United States is not predetermining final status issues," Haley said.

"We remain committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement. We support a two-state solution if agreed to by the parties."

Several countries voiced their opposition to the US decision before Haley's comments, including France and Egypt.

Tillerson: Embassy move not imminent

Speaking Friday in Paris, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "is not something that will happen this year, probably not next year."

He also said that Trump's decision did not "indicate any final status for Jerusalem," adding that the "final status would be left to the parties to negotiate and decide."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cast doubt on whether he will receive US VicePresident Mike Pence during a planned visit to the region later this month.

Speaking to broadcaster Al Jazeera, spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said: "Jerusalem is more important than Mike Pence -- we will not abandon Jerusalem just to receive Mike Pence."

‘Fukrey Returns’ Is Fun, but No Match for the First

Our beloved Fukrey boys – Honey, Lali, Choocha and Zafar – return with this latest instalment. Fukrey, the surprise hit of 2013 about "chaar Dilli ke laundey" and their much loved shenanigans, would warrant a sequel no doubt. The writing then was the hero – sharp and witty, propped up by some great performances.

While Fukrey Returns is no match to its predecessor, it is fairly enjoyable in parts.

It starts with an elaborate introductory song that takes us back to the familiar universe and gives us the much-needed context to the ensuing madness. Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadha) who has been in jail for the past year, we are told, and is desperate for her release. She buys her freedom after getting into a shoddy deal with a corrupt politician (Rajiv Gupta).

She then hunts down the fabulous four and the fun starts immediately. Choocha now doesn't just dream but also has premonitions. The rest – Honey (Pulkit Samrat), Lalli (Manjot Singh), and Zafar (Ali Fazal) – try and understand his weird visions and weave plans around it, hoping to make some quick dough.

What made the original work was how Vipul Vig's writing made the implausible seem believable and charming. That level of precision in the script, sadly, is never achieved here. Some jokes fall flat, major chunks have an exasperating lull, but Varun Sharma singlehandedly saves the day for us.
His maverick Choocha, with all the endearing crankiness, is most fun to watch. Which is not to say that the others disappoint, but they were strangely sidelined and have precious little to do.

Apart from Richa Chadha and Rajiv Gupta, both solid performers who not only had significant screen time but also made the most of it, everyone else was ignored.

One would have loved to see more of Ali Fazal and Manjot Singh, but that was not to be. Sigh! Pankaj Tripathi, however, even in a bit role is supremely impressive with his comic timing.
Fukrey Returns isn't in the same league as Fukrey but two hours 15 mins of relatively harmless fun doesn't seem such a bad idea after all.

How JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM Will Fix THE LOST WORLD

After a seemingly endless week of teasing, the first trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has arrived…and it looks awfully familiar. The sequel to Jurassic World appears to have more than just a few passing similarities to The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the second film in the franchise.

Join host and paleontology-adjacent adventurer, Jessica Chobot, as she looks back at The Lost World and compares clips from the new trailer to several scenes from the original. While there wasn’t an exploding volcano in The Lost World, both films seem to share a plot about a rescue team heading to the island to save the dinosaurs. In fact, there’s even a potential explanation for the volcanic activity in Michael Crichton‘s books. The theme park was supposedly powered by tapping into the volcano flows beneath the island, which may be why it’s so suddenly active in the present.

It’s fitting that Jeff Goldblum‘s Ian Malcolm is back for this film, since he hasn’t been a part of the franchise since The Lost World. It’s also easy to see the parallels between John Hammond’s attempt to recruit Ian for the rescue mission with Owen Grady convincing Claire Dearing to return. It even appears that a rival team is attempting to poach dinosaurs from the island, which was pretty much the whole plot of The Lost World.

We have to wonder whether The Lost World is even still in continuity with this film, since Jurassic World really only seemed to acknowledge the first Jurassic Park. If Fallen Kingdom is simply improving upon that sequel’s ideas then we’re all for it. Especially if it means setting a T-Rex lose in San Diego or any other major U.S. city.

Google Doodle pays tribute to Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist

On what would have been her 104th birthday, Google pays tribute to yet another trailblazer – Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first female photojournalist – with a doodle. Other women who have made it to the Google Doodle list this year include Begum Akhtar, Cornelia Sorabji, and Anasuya Sarabhai.
Codenamed Dalda 13 in the photo archives, she also went by that pseudonym. Her pseudonym comes from the year of her birth – 1913 – and the Dalda from her car’s number plate DLD 13.

The Padma Vibhushan awardee was born in a Parsi family in Gujarat, and much of her childhood was spent travelling with her father’s travelling theatre company. She later moved to Bombay, now Mumbai, and studied at Bombay University and Sir J J School of Art. A friend taught her photography, and she started exploring life in Bombay through her camera lens early on, starting to work as a photographer professionally in her late teens.

Her career took off after her marriage to Manekshaw Vyarawalla, who worked as an accountant and a photographer for Times of India. Her photos were initially published under his name, or her pseudonym.

Her work soon started gaining national attention, and in 1942 she had moved to Delhi with her family to work at the British Information Services. Here she photographed world leaders such as Ho Chi Minh, and American Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, and the first ladies, Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy.

She also photographed Queen Elizabeth II’s State visit, and the Dalai Lama who had just escaped Tibet.

Some of her best work, however, came during Independence. Her key works include photographs of Mahatma Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the latter being her favourite subject. Some of her notable pictures that resonated with the masses were of Nehru addressing jubilant crowds in Delhi, Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy departing from India, and Gandhi being prepared for the funeral.
Soon after her husband’s death, in 1970, she gave up photography disappointed with the change the profession had undergone. In 1982, she moved to Vadodara with her son Farooq who she lost to cancer in 1989.

Later on, she handed her collection of photographs to the Delhi-based Alkazi Foundation for the Arts. In 2011, she was awarded the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.
She died in Vadodara on January 15, at the age of 98 due to a lung disease.

In 1998, Sabeena Gadihoke from Jamia Milia Islamia University made a documentary on Homai and two other photographers titled ‘Three Women and a Camera’. Sabeen also wrote Homai’s biography – Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla – which was published in 20o6. The biography celebrates her work and her contribution to photojournalism especially as a lone woman in a field that continues to be male-dominated even today.

Homai’s Google Doodle today is a reminder of her contribution, her will to succeed despite the odds, and an inspiration who shows nothing is impossible.

BBL 2017-18: Mohammad Nabi to debut for Melbourne Renegades

Afghanistan cricket had reached the pinnacle of success much before it attained the Test status. Players like Asghar Stanikzai, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad helped the side scale. Two men who caught the world’s attention were Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan.

 They were richly awarded in the T20 leagues. Rashid and Nabi are household names now with their performance making the most noise. Rashid has 68 wickets in 31 ODIs. It includes the fourth best figures in one-day history of 7 for 18 (against West Indies in June 2017). He then became the first bowler in the history of CPL to claim a hat-trick for Guyana Amazon Warriors. He also became the youngest to 100 T20 wickets in August 2017.

Prior to all this, Rashid enjoyed his success in IPL. He earned accolades from experienced international cricketers like David Warner, Tom Moody, VVS Laxman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He ended IPL with 17 wickets off 14 matches at 21.05. He went on to be signed by Adelaide Strikers for the seventh edition of BBL.

The story has been equally fascinating for Mohammad Nabi. The all-rounder began his career at the age of 15, as a refugee in Pakistan. From playing cricket for local clubs in Pakistan and Kabul, Nabi went on to represent Afghanistan at international level in 2009. He holds 172 wickets from 151 T20 matches at 20.76. As for ODIs, Nabi has taken 88 wickets off 85 matches. In IPL, Nabi took 3 wickets from 2 matches at 29 while in CPL he holds tally of 9 wickets from 12 matches at 24.77.
Nabi can be equally effective with the bat in crisis situation. He can whack the ball and has done so on several occasions. He has 1,971 runs from 85 ODIs at 28.98 and 2,018 runs from 151 T20s at 21.02.

Nabi and Rashid played together in IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

Afghan Jalebi in BBL

Melbourne Renegades captain Aaron Finch is excited to have the Nabi in his side for this season of BBL. “Everyone speaks very highly of his game. (He) can smack them with the bat, so good all-round package,” he told cricket.com.au.

The touch of Caribbean flavour

Before getting all excited, Nabi will be playing just 7 games for the Renegades before leaving for national assignments. What after Nabi? Renegades have found a cover in advance. Kieron Pollard will take over the role for the remaining three matches.

Pollard will be playing his fifth edition of BBL. Pollard had played the first 4 seasons for Strikers. Dwayne Bravo, too, is expected to return to Renegades this season. These players would be playing alongside veteran Brad Hodge.

Former state Sen. Brian Joyce arrested, accused of accepting bribes

Massachusetts state Sen. Brian Joyce was arrested on Friday, federal prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorney's office for Massachusetts said Friday that Joyce, a Democrat from Milton, had been charged in a 104-page federal indictment. That document accuses Joyce of accepting "a stream of concealed bribes and kickbacks" in exchange for his influence or actions.

"Joyce's objective in conducting and participating in the affairs of the Senate Office enterprise was to secretly profit from his position as State Senator," the indictment said.

The U.S. Attorney's office said the payments Joyce accepted included a Jeep and "hundreds of pounds of free coffee."

The indictment also said that Joyce utilized a shell company to launder the money from his schemes.
Joyce's law office in Canton was raided by the FBI in February 2016 in what was then described as "court-authorized activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation." His lawyer at the time, Howard Cooper, said Joyce was cooperating and believed he had done nothing wrong.
It was not clear if the charges were related to the raid or past calls for an ethics probe on Beacon Hill.
The lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The U.S. Attorney's office scheduled a news conference for approximately 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Joyce, who had served as assistant majority leader, said shortly after the investigation was announced last year that he would not seek re-election to the Senate. He had represented his district since 1998.

In 2015, then-Senate President Stan Rosenberg asked the state Ethics Commission to review Joyce's conduct after The Boston Globe reported on potential conflicts of interest focusing on whether he used his position to boost his law practice.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker also called for an ethics probe into a reported arrangement that let Joyce receive free dry cleaning from a local shop for more than a decade. The Globe said Joyce took his suits, his family's clothes and sometimes his aides' clothes to Woodlawn Cleaners after owner Jerry Richman offered to clean his clothes for free in 1997.

Joyce's attorneys said at the time he received the service in exchange for free or reduced-price legal services he provided to Richman.

In an unrelated case last year, Joyce agreed to pay nearly $5,000 to resolve issues raised by state campaign finance regulators, including using campaign funds for his son's 2014 high school graduation party. Joyce said there had been no finding of wrongdoing on his part.

The arrest is the second blow to the state Senate in the past week. Rosenberg announced Monday he was stepping aside as president of the chamber during a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into the circumstances surrounding reported sexual misconduct allegations by several men against his husband, Bryon Hefner.

U.N.: "Large number" of peacekeepers wounded and killed in Democratic Republic of Congo attack

A "large number" of United Nations peacekeepers have been killed and wounded in an attack in eastern Congo, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Friday.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix said he was "outraged" by the attack, in which at least 14 were killed and 40 injured Thursday evening in North Kivu province. He said on Twitter that medical evacuations were ongoing from the scene. He did not identify the attackers.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo is the largest and most expensive in the world and is aimed at calming a number of armed groups in the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation.

Radio Okapi, which is linked to the peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, reported that peacekeepers on Thursday repelled an attack by fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group on a U.N. base in the Beni area. The base is home to the peacekeeping mission's rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive.

The radio station, citing military sources, said fighting lasted four hours. It reported that Congolese forces did not intervene because the closest ones were several miles away.

Richie movie review: Nivin Pauly like we’ve never seen him before

One of the three big stars of the younger generation of Malayalam film industry, Nivin Pauly will make his Tamil debut with Richie and understandably there is lot of excitement. Richie is the remake of the hit Kannada film, Ulidavaru Kandanthe directed by Rakshit Shetty. The Tamil remake has been directed by Gautham Ramachandran. A taut suspense drama, there couldn’t have been a better launchpad for Nivin.

Richie makes Nivin’s first straight Tamil entry, who already enjoys a big fan base in the state, thanks to the success of Premam and his other Malayalam hits.

Nivin plays a gangster and a glimpse of his character from the teaser released earlier has already created quite a sensation. Nivin has also dubbed for the first time in his own voice in the film, which also stars cinematographer-actor Natty, Shraddha Srinath, Lakshmi Priyaa and Prakash Raj.

The Kannada original Ulidavaru Kandanthe is a crime thriller, which unfolds in a coastal Karnataka town close to Udipi, when Krisha Janmasthami is in full swing. A murder takes place in the midst of all the festivity and the story unfolds as the crime is narrated from five different perspectives. The film involves an anthology of five stories, all connected to the murder. Starring Rakshit Shetty, the film was a major hit in Karnataka.

Nivin’s role in Richie is unlike anything audiences have seen so far. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle earlier this year, Gautham said: “The character of Richie will be a stark contrast from what the audiences, even in Kerala, have seen Nivin do so far. If they had categorised him in any way, Richie will be diagonally opposite to that, I’m sure.”

Nvidia announces $2,999 Titan V, 'the most powerful PC GPU ever created'

It seems like Nvidia announces the fastest GPU in history multiple times a year, and that’s exactly what’s happened again today; the Titan V is “the most powerful PC GPU ever created,” in Nvidia's words. It represents a more significant leap than most products that have made that claim, however, as it's the first consumer-grade GPU based around Nvidia’s new Volta architecture.

That said, a liberal definition of the word “consumer” is in order here — the Titan V sells for $2,999 and is focused around AI and scientific simulation processing. Nvidia claims up to 110 teraflops of performance from its 21.1 billion transistors, with 12GB of HBM2 memory, 5120 CUDA cores, and 640 “tensor cores” that are said to offer up to 9 times the deep-learning performance of its predecessor.

Also it comes in gold and black, which looks pretty cool.

“Our vision for Volta was to push the outer limits of high performance computing and AI. We broke new ground with its new processor architecture, instructions, numerical formats, memory architecture and processor links,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang says in a statement. “With Titan V, we are putting Volta into the hands of researchers and scientists all over the world. I can’t wait to see their breakthrough discoveries.”

There’s no word on when Volta might make its way into more attainable gaming-focused GPUs. Nvidia’s current Pascal architecture was introduced over a year and a half ago with the GTX 1080, which still remains one of the best gaming GPUs available — only really topped in performance by its turbocharged successor, the GTX 1080 Ti. Volta GPUs will be a lot more expensive for Nvidia to produce, so the company may want to ride out the Pascal wave as long as it can.

The Titan V is available today and is limited to two per customer.

North Korea says U.S. threats make war unavoidable, China urges calm

Two U.S. B-1B heavy bombers joined large-scale combat drills over South Korea on Thursday amid warnings from North Korea that the exercises and U.S. threats have made the outbreak of war “an established fact.”

The annual U.S.-South Korean “Vigilant Ace” exercises feature 230 aircraft, including some of the most advanced U.S. stealth warplanes, and come a week after North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, which it says can reach all of the United States.

North Korea’s foreign ministry blamed the drills and “confrontational warmongering” by U.S. officials for making war inevitable.

“The remaining question now is: when will the war break out?” it said in a statement. “We do not wish for a war but shall not hide from it.”

China, North Korea’s neighbor and lone major ally, again urged calm and said war was not the answer, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said North Korea wanted direct talks with the United States to seek guarantees on its security, something Moscow was ready to facilitate.

“We hope all relevant parties can maintain calm and restraint and take steps to alleviate tensions and not provoke each other,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

“The outbreak of war is not in any side’s interest. The ones that will suffer the most are ordinary people.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the sidelines of a conference in Vienna that U.S. military exercises and aggressive rhetoric were causing an unacceptable escalation in tension.

Lavrov said he had passed on to Tillerson Pyongyang’s desire for direct talks.

“We know that North Korea wants above all to talk to the United States about guarantees for its security. We are ready to support that, we are ready to take part in facilitating such negotiations,” Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.

 

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said direct talks with North Korea were “not on the table until they are willing to denuclearize.”

“It is something that Russia says it agrees with; it is something China has said it agrees with, and many other nations around the world as well,” she told a regular briefing.

Nauert said North Korea was “not showing any interest in sitting down and having any kind of serious conversations when they continue to fire off ballistic missiles.”

Another State Department spokesperson, Justin Higgins, said it was not enough for North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, and it “must be prepared to come to the table ready to chart a course to ‘cease and roll back’” that program.   

China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zheng Zeguang was to meet Matt Pottinger, the head of Asian affairs at the White House’s National Security Council, on Thursday to discuss North Korea and trade, a senior U.S. official said.

Tensions have risen markedly in recent months over North Korea’s development, in defiance of repeated rounds of U.N. sanctions, of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Last week’s missile test prompted a U.S. warning that North Korea’s leadership would be “utterly destroyed” if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests.

STRATEGIC BOMBERS

In September, after North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test, B-1Bs flew further north along North Korea’s coast than at any time in the past 17 years. The sortie prompted Pyongyang’s foreign minister to warn that U.S. bombers could be shot down even if they did not enter North Korean airspace.

Yang Uk, a senior fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum, said B-1Bs would be key to any strike targeting major North Korean facilities.

“B-1B bombers have been regularly dispatched to the Korean peninsula over the past years; however, it seems that the U.S. Air Force might have enhanced its training to better prepare for actual warfare,” he said.

Both sides insist they don’t want war, while saying they will act to defend themselves.

U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster said at the weekend the possibility of war was “increasing every day.” He said Trump was prepared to take action against North Korea but was working to convince China, Russia and others to do more to press Pyongyang to get it to give up its weapons programs.

U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham urged the Pentagon on Sunday to start moving U.S. military dependants out of South Korea, saying conflict with North Korea was getting close.

The Pentagon said it has “no intent” to move out any dependants. 

On Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, raised doubts about U.S. participation in the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea in February, telling Fox News that Washington was concerned about its citizens.

However, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday the United States looked forward to participating in the games and was engaged with South Korea and other nations to secure the venues.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States and says its weapons programs are necessary to counter U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The rising tensions coincide with a rare visit to North Korea by United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level U.N. official to visit North Korea since 2012.

Some analysts and diplomats hope his visit could spark a U.N.-led effort to defuse tensions. Feltman met North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Thursday, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said.

German center-left opts to open talks with Merkel

Martin Schulz

Germany’s main center-left party on Thursday offered Chancellor Angela Merkel a way out of the country’s months-long political stalemate while signaling that its price may be a radically different vision of Europe. 

The Social Democrats (SPD) had repeatedly insisted they would not join Merkel’s conservatives in another grand coalition following an inconclusive September election. But on Thursday, delegates to a party conference in Berlin voted to allow talks to go ahead despite deep internal misgivings.

The reversal came weeks after Merkel’s first attempt at forging a coalition collapsed, and a rerun of the alliance between Germany’s two largest parties emerged as the only viable path to avoid another election.

Chancellor Angela Merkel

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a former SPD foreign minister, has been busy trying to bring the parties around on the idea of a renewed partnership ever since.

With Thursday’s vote, SPD delegates cleared the way for party leader Martin Schulz to begin negotiations with Merkel as soon as next week. Her party’s general secretary, Klaus Schüler, welcomed the decision as a step toward “a reliable and stable government.”

But the talks are not expected to yield agreement any time soon, with analysts suggesting that Germany may not have a new government until March. And the negotiations could still fail, given the array of issues on which the SPD and Merkel’s conservatives disagree, including asylum policy, climate goals and pension reform.

Schulz on Thursday appeared to widen the gap between himself and Merkel in one critical area, Europe, by proposing a far more integrated club that mirrors another union across the Atlantic.
“I want a new constitutional treaty to establish the United States of Europe,” Schulz said.

The treaty, he said, would go into effect by 2025. European Union members that don’t accept the new agreement would be forced to leave the bloc, which currently stands at 28 members and is due to shrink to 27 with Britain’s scheduled exit in 2019.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany

The proposal by the former speaker of the European parliament represents a far more dramatic vision of European integration than any he had pitched during the German election campaign.
It is also sharply at odds with the cautious approach Merkel has taken toward reform at a time when skepticism about the European project is rampant across the continent and voters show little appetite for a vastly more powerful Brussels.

But Schulz’s push could add impetus to reform efforts being advanced by French President Emmanuel Macron. While he has not gone nearly as far as Schulz, Macron has detailed a far-reaching plan to more tightly bind users of the euro currency through a common finance minister and budget.
Macron had been expected to work with Germany on the proposal. But the uncharacteristic political uncertainty in Berlin has left the French president, at least temporarily, without a partner.

Schulz, who guided his party to its worst result of the postwar era in the September vote, on Thursday took responsibility for what he described as “a bitter defeat.”

India, 192 Nations Pledge To Fight Pollution As Cities Struggle To Breathe

India along with 192 countries released a joint ministerial-level declaration at the United Nations Environment Assembly against pollution on Wednesday. With this, the United Nations hopes to give the much required political intent to combat pollution.

The declaration vows to prevent, mitigate and manage various forms of pollution. It begins by warning citizens across the world: "Every day, 9 out of 10 of us breathe air that exceeds WHO guidelines for air quality and more than 17,000 people will die prematurely because of it."

At a time when many Indian cities have hazardous levels of air pollution, India remained one of the focus countries at the UN Environment Assembly held in Kenya's Nairobi.

"UN can only inspire and motivate nations. Final decision on action has to come from the respective government. A lot of focus has been on air pollution in India off late," UNEP Executive Director Eric Solheim told reporters.

"Agricultural waste is being burned instead of treating it in the proper manner in Punjab, Haryana. But Harsh Vardhan (Union Environment Minister) has shown a keen interest in the declaration proceedings," Mr Solheim said.

India has also signed a resolution against air pollution, which kills one in nine people globally, and has committed to taking stringent action against the killer air.

"Just a few days back a cricket match had to be stopped in India. What can possibly signify worse levels of pollution, that you can't even play a sport?" said Rob De Jong, Air Quality Coordinator at UNEP.

"The pollution levels in several cities in India and China are several levels higher than the permissible levels," Mr Jong said.

Dia Mirza, the newly appointed United Nation's Goodwill Ambassador for India, hit out strongly at India's alleged inaction in dealing with air pollution.

"Since the time air indices were showing the air quality levels crossing 300, I have been saying that we must curtail exposure. Holding rallies, marathons and public meetings only compound the situation," she said.

"Why are we refusing to acknowledge this as a real issue? It's unfortunate. But right now we should not be entertaining large gatherings, exposing them to this bad air," Ms Mirza said.

Xiaomi opens its second Mi store in Dubai with over Dh3m investment

Chinese technology company, Xiaomi, is focusing on brick and mortar stores to boost its sales after suffering setbacks at the hands of local competitors over the past two years.

The firm was the top seller in China in 2014 and 2015 but lost ground to Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Apple last year.

This year, the company has moved back into the top five ranking worldwide in the third quarter shipments with the strongest gain, doubling its sales to 27.6 million units, driven mainly by success in India, according to research firm International Data Corporation.

The Chinese smartphone maker, that was once the most valuable start-up in the world, is making a major push into old-fashioned retail by opening its second Mi (the abbreviation and the logo of Xiaomi Inc.) Home store in Dubai at Deira City Centre in partnership with its regional distributor, Task.

The company opened the first Middle East outlet at BurJuman Centre, Dubai, in August this year with an investment of more than Dh2 million

Ravi Matthew, deputy CEO and General Manager of Task, told Gulf News that they will be opening three more stores next year — one at Sharjah City Centre by February, one at Dubai Mall by April and one in Abu Dhabi.

He said the company has invested more than Dh3 million for the 350-square metre outlet at Deira City Centre.

“The store is not meant to generate sales from the store. It is part of the brand-building exercise. Many connect Xiaomi with only mobile phones so we are showcasing the entire line-up of Xiaomi products,” he said.

He said that sales have increased 60 per cent year on year in the UAE as the brand is being recognised by the young and tech-savvy people.

“The market is looking high technology products at an affordable price point and there is where Xiaomi comes in,” he said.

The Chinese company plans to build 1,000 “Mi Home” stores globally by 2019 and aims to ship 100 million smartphones next year. Right now, it has more than 200 stores.

While the company is best known for phones, it has invested in 77 start-ups and now offers air purifiers, drones, TVs, speakers, TV set-top boxes, electric cycles, robots and robot vacuum cleaners.
Matthew said that offline sales will be quite significant for the company.

Xiaomi has been crowding the budget smartphone market with multiple models and variants at overlapping price points, all with impressive specifications that the competition has struggled to match. At the lowest end, the Redmi 4A (Review) has been a compelling phone ever since its launch in India eight months ago, and we have recommended it to anyone on a water-tight budget. Now, Xiaomi is replacing its entry-level Redmi 4A with the Redmi 5A and making a really big deal about this launch even though there's very little difference between the two models.
I
n a sea of patriotically named phones such as Micromax's Bharat line and the Karbonn A40 Indian (Review), Xiaomi is positioning the Redmi 5A as a desh ka smartphone. What exactly qualifies it for that title is unclear - it might be its low price, the fact that it's made in India, or its promise of exceptional battery life. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this launch is Xiaomi's limited-time Rs. 1,000 discount on the lower-end model, which brings the price down to a very tempting Rs. 4,999.

We're curious to see what exactly has changed, and what buyers stand to gain. Here's our full review.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A Review

There isn't much to say about the Redmi 5A's looks if you've used any entry-level Android smartphone over the past year or two. It's all plastic, though the rear has a slightly metallic finish.

Xiaomi says it will be sold in Dark Grey, Gold, and Rose Gold, though only the first two are listed as options for the first sale. Our Gold unit had a white front face, and we feel that the Dark Grey option with a black front would be more to our tastes.

The Redmi 5A has a 5-inch screen and there's quite a lot of plastic above and below it. Still, it's well suited to one-handed use. Grip is pretty good despite the 8.35mm thickness, and weight is quite manageable at 137g. When compared to the Redmi 4A, the differences are purely cosmetic. The two models vary by less than 1mm in terms of height and width.

There are capacitive navigation buttons below the screen which aren't backlit, but that's only to be expected at this price level. In a familiar Xiaomi touch, there's a status indicator right below the Home button which is completely invisible until it lights up when you're charging the phone.
The power and volume buttons are on the right, and there are two trays on the left - one for a single Nano-SIM, and another for a microSD card as well as another SIM. The camera at the back has a single-LED flash next to it, and the phone's speaker grille runs along the entire lower back. There's a Micro-USB port on the bottom and a 3.5mm audio socket on the top. One interesting touch is the presence of an IR emitter on the top, which you can use to control household appliances.
You get a charger and a Micro-USB cable in the box, but as usual, no headset. Interestingly, the company seems to be moving towards using Redmi as more than just a name for one product line - the box screams "Redmi 5A" on the front, sides and back, while the Xiaomi name and logo are much smaller and are almost tucked away out of sight.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A specifications and software

It's a bit surprising that the Redmi 5A's specifications are pretty much identical to those of the Redmi 4A, which it replaces. You get the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, with four cores clocked at 1.4GHz. The screen measures 5 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 720x1280. There's a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, FM radio, and GPS are supported. You can choose between a base variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, and a more expensive one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The changes, if you can even spot them, are extremely subtle. The Redmi 5A actually has a slightly smaller battery, at 3000mAh down from 3120mAh. It also has a dedicated microSD card slot rather than the Redmi 4A's hybrid dual-SIM arrangement. It uses Nano-SIMs rather than Micro-SIMS, and the maximum supported microSD capacity has gone up from 128GB to 256GB. That's pretty much it - one feature that's slightly worse, and one that's a bit better.

Unsurprisingly, with the exception of the IR emitter, the Redmi 5A has no extras compared to its predecessor. Rather than spotlighting one particular feature such as a fingerprint reader, a front flash, a huge battery, secondary rear camera or an 18:9 screen, Xiaomi has chosen to stick with pushing out a workhorse all-rounder at this price level.

At least things are a bit fresher on the software side. Xiaomi ships the Redmi 5A with Android 7.1.2, and version 9 of its custom MIUI skin running on top. This is single-layered UI with no way to enable an app drawer, which might not be a bad thing for first-time Android users. We noticed a few unnecessary animations on the home screen icons and when scrolling through long lists. There are a few themes you can choose from and hundreds more that you can download through the Themes app.

You can also download individual wallpapers, fonts, and ringtones. These all appear to be free for now, but Xiaomi could start making money off downloads like this in the future.

If you dig through the Settings app, you'll find options for splitting the quick toggles out into a separate panel within the notifications shade; configuring a "Second Space" user profile for privacy; setting up gesture shortcuts; and assigning extra functions to the Android navigation keys. There's also Dual Apps functionality which lets you run a second instance of any app for use with a second account; and App Lock which lets you restrict app access - since there's no fingerprint reader, you have to use an unlock pattern to use this feature.

Xiaomi preloads a few Microsoft Office apps, Skype Lite, Amazon Shopping, WPS Office, and UC news. There's a spammy ticker of "Promoted apps" within an ordinary-looking home screen folder to encourage you to download them. Other Xiaomi features include the Mi Apps app store, Mi Store for Xiaomi products, Mi Community forum app, Mi Drop (an Apple AirDrop clone), and assorted custom apps that replace the default Android ones.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A performance, cameras, and battery life

As far as entry-level phones go, Xiaomi has done well in balancing cost and performance. The Redmi 5A is capable of handling everyday tasks such as Web browsing, social apps, and messaging. We were even able to play a few heavy games, though performance wasn’t perfectly smooth. There was usually less than 500MB of free RAM out of our review unit's 2GB. We found the phone stuttering slightly when switching apps sometimes, but only really struggling when we ran heavy tests or games. Things also definitely took a turn for the worse with the Second Space feature enabled.

Benchmark scores were decent enough. We got 36,421 in AnTuTu; 683 and 1,887 in Geekbench 4's single-core and multi-core tests respectively; 3,719 in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme; and 14fps in GFXBench. Our test phone was the variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage - it stands to reason that the more expensive variant's additional RAM will make performance smoother.

The screen is pretty sharp, and even fine text looks good. Viewing angles are great, and brightness is high enough for outdoor use. However, colours don't really pop and we found that videos and games looked a bit dull. Although the speaker grille runs across the back of the phone, there's only one spot that sound actually comes out of, and the Redmi 5A is muffled easily when lying face-up on a soft surface such as a bed. Sound is pretty weak and distorts badly at high volumes.

If you swipe to the right from the Redmi 5A's lock screen, you'll see a menu with shortcuts to the Mi Remote app and something called Mi Home. The remote app is basic and unfortunately the process of figuring out how to control your TVs and other appliances requires some trial and error. There are IR profiles for Indian TV, set-top box, and AC brands including private-label store brands. Unlike with some other low-end phones, third-party apps can use the IR emitter.


The Redmi 5A's cameras are quite mediocre, but once again we have to balance our expectations against this phone's low price. Photos don't have a lot of detail - objects often have fuzzy borders, and textures aren't reproduced very well. We found that colours were pretty dull, and not just when checking photos on the phone's own screen. We were able to take some decent close-ups but anything at a distance suffered. At night, there was a serious drop in quality, and it was hard to capture anything that didn't have artificial light falling directly on it. On the plus side, autofocus was usually quick to lock during the daytime. Video recording goes up to 1080p, but we found that clips looked
quite artificial and weren't very smooth.

The front camera applies pretty aggressive beautification by default, making faces look extremely artificial. There's a Pro beauty mode and a Smart beauty mode, the difference being that Pro mode gives you individual "Slim" and "Skin" sliders while Smart tries to guess your age and gender. When disabled, it's clear that the front camera is pretty weak.

The camera app isn't very well laid out, for example it takes two taps to get to the options menu from the default mode, but in some modes you can't get to it at all.

Xiaomi has boasted about the Redmi 5A's battery life as part of its "desh ka smartphone" pitch, and we were pleased to note that we could in fact get through a full day of casual use with up to 20 percent left over. Our HD video loop test went on for 11 hours, 9 minutes which is quite impressive.

Verdict

Xiaomi continues to impress us with its low prices, and even though the Redmi 5A doesn't give us anything new or different compared to the Redmi 4A, it still delivers excellent value. If you can grab the 2GB/16GB version at the introductory offer price of Rs. 4,999, you'll be very happy. Even at its regular retail price of Rs. 5,999, there aren't many phones that could compete with it. If you're a first-time smartphone user, or are only concerned with basic communications, the Redmi 5A would be quite a good choice. Camera quality is really the only major downside, and if that's important to you, you'll have to spend a bit more.

For the same reasons, the 3GB/32GB version of the Redmi 5A is less compelling. There are other options to consider that let you trade the additional RAM and storage for features such as a larger screen and fingerprint reader, most notably Xiaomi's own Redmi 4 (Review) and Redmi Y1 Lite. We're also not too far from the launch of the Redmi 5 with its fashionable 18:9 display, though that model is likely to cost a little more.

On treason charges, Judge Seeks Arrest of Ex-President of Argentina

BUENOS AIRES — A federal judge asked Argentina’s Senate on Thursday to allow the arrest of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the former president, on treason and other charges relating to Iran’s possible involvement in the unsolved 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

The request — made as part of a criminal case — added drama and uncertainty to the legal troubles that have engulfed Mrs. Kirchner, who was in office from 2007 to 2015 and is set to begin a term as a senator on Sunday. She also faces unrelated charges in several corruption investigations.

On Thursday, Mrs. Kirchner called the prosecution politically motivated, and her supporters rallied in Buenos Aires. In a news conference, she said her successor, President Mauricio Macri, was creating a “smoke screen” to divert voters’ attention from controversial pension and labor reforms. “We will not be silent, we will not get scared,” Mrs. Kirchner said.

The judge’s request, which includes an embargo of 50 million pesos ($2.9 million) on the former president’s assets, also deepens the mystery surrounding the 2015 death of a prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who was investigating the bombing.

Mr. Nisman’s body was found only hours before he was scheduled to provide testimony accusing Mrs. Kirchner, then the president, of collaborating with Iran in a cover-up of the attack. Thursday’s ruling means that the judge, Claudio Bonadio, found Mr. Nisman’s theory credible enough to be taken up by a court.

In September, a team of forensic experts issued a report concluding that Mr. Nisman had been murdered. The report contradicted the findings of another team of experts, convened during Mrs. Kirchner’s tenure, which concluded that Mr. Nisman had most likely killed himself.

Mrs. Kirchner has long denied any wrongdoing, including any involvement in Mr. Nisman’s death or collusion with Iran. (Mr. Nisman’s death is the subject of another investigation.)

Judge Bonadio urged the Senate to lift Mrs. Kirchner’s immunity from arrest as an elected senator, so that she could be jailed to face the charges: aggravated concealment and obstruction of justice as well as treason.

He argued that if she remained free, she could “hinder judicial actions as well as the discovery of the truth.”

Argentine senators enjoy immunity from detention, but the protection does not shield them from prosecution.

A Senate committee has 60 days to consider whether to lift her immunity, and then the full Senate would have up to 180 days to vote. The request must be approved by two-thirds of the senators present.

Approval could be an uphill battle because Mr. Macri’s governing party — where Mrs. Kirchner’s critics are concentrated — lacks a majority.

The Senate leader, Federico Pinedo, who is from Mr. Macri’s party, wrote on Twitter that when the request to strip Mrs. Kirchner of her immunity enters the Senate, “we will analyze it with seriousness and responsibility.” He added, “This is not about carrying out party politics but rather to make sure that institutions function properly.”

But Mrs. Kirchner’s allies accused the government of Mr. Macri, long her political nemesis, of working with judges to destroy her legacy.

“It is clear that we are in a scenario of political persecution of the leadership of the opposition,” Agustín Rossi, who was defense minister under Mrs. Kirchner and is now a lawmaker, told a local radio station.

Mrs. Kirchner was president in 2013, when Argentina and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that called for a commission to jointly investigate the bombing. The agreement never came into effect, and it was declared unconstitutional in 2015.

On Thursday, Judge Bonadio said there was enough evidence to charge Mrs. Kirchner and her former allies with treason, because they had sought “impunity for the Iranian nationals accused of the attack on the AMIA headquarters and to normalize relations between the two states,” referring to the community center, the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina.

The judge also approved similar charges against several associates of Mrs. Kirchner: Héctor Timerman, the former foreign minister; Carlos Zannini, who was essentially Mrs. Kirchner’s chief of staff; and a community activist, Luis D’Elía, among others.

Some Argentine Jews, who overwhelmingly believe that Mr. Nisman was murdered, expressed support for Judge Bonadio’s decision.

“Thee detentions show that Nisman’s complaint had solid elements,” said Ariel Cohen Sabban, the head of the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, a group that is close to AMIA and was critical in getting the case reopened. “It is a revindication of Nisman’s work.”

Mrs. Kirchner will not be the first member of her administration to face efforts to remove her immunity. Julio De Vido, a former planning minister, was stripped of the immunity he enjoys as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, and turned himself in to authorities on graft charges in October.

Iran has long denied any involvement in the AMIA bombing. Mr. Nisman, before his death, had filed a criminal complaint accusing Mrs. Kirchner and members of her government of trying to shield Iranian officials which includes an embargo of 50 million pesos ($2.9 million) on the former president’s assets, of playing a role in the attack as part of a deal that would supply Iranian oil to Argentina. Judge Bonadio’s indictment on Thursday is based on that complaint.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops ahead of ‘day of rage’ at Trump’s Jerusalem move

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers clashed Thursday in Jerusalem, Ramallah and other places in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with some demonstrators burning American flags and posters of President Trump a day after he sided with Israel by announcing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as its capital.

But at nightfall, after the skirmishes died down, the region was bracing for worse.

More than 100 people were injured Thursday, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, despite the deployment of several extra battalions of Israeli troops. The critical test comes Friday, when larger demonstrations are expected as crowds leave mosques after the weekly noon prayers.

In Gaza, the Islamist movement Hamas urged its followers to ignite a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel. The Palestinian Authority called for a general strike. Shops were shuttered in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and his declaration that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital reversed a decades-old U.S. policy. But the status of the city — holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews and struggled over for millennia — is a deeply charged issue that resonates beyond the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

The backlash rippled across the wider region, with hundreds of demonstrators gathering outside the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Jordan holding placards reading “Decision Rejected” and “No to U.S. arrogance.” Criticisms continued to flow in from governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond, with U.S. friends and adversaries alike voicing disapproval and alarm.

Turkey’s president predicted that the region would ignite in a “ring of fire,” while European leaders reiterated their opposition to the policy, and 86-year-old Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu declared, “God is weeping.”

In Israel, the decision has been widely welcomed by politicians, who see it as long-overdue recognition of reality and of their historic claim to the city. Palestinians say it is a dangerous breach of U.N. resolutions and international law that ignores their right to a future capital in East Jerusalem. 

On the edge of the Palestinian city of Ramallah on Thursday, Israeli forces fired dozens of rounds of tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinian protesters airing their anger over Trump’s statement, moving quickly to disperse the crowd.

“This will be bad,” said an ambulance driver in Ramallah as young men burned tires and pelted the soldiers with stones. Emergency vehicles ferried the injured away.

In some places, notably Gaza, protesters set fire to images of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and to U.S. and Israeli flags.

“Donald Trump said Jerusalem is for Israel, and I tell him, ‘No way, go to hell,’ ” said a 43-year-old woman in the crowd, a traditional Palestinian scarf wrapped around her face. “Jerusalem is for Palestine, forever,” said the woman, who declined to give her name.

“Trump made the wrong decision,” said Sarah Louay, 15, who was making her way toward the demonstration carrying a Palestinian flag. “We will raise our voices for Jerusalem.”

Clashes also erupted in East Jerusalem and at the border fence between Israel and Gaza. In Bethlehem, tear gas filled streets that were strung with festive lights for Christmas. At one of the main checkpoints between Jerusalem and Ramallah, soldiers fired sponge bullets at children throwing stones from behind metal trash containers.

The Israeli military reported that at least three projectiles were fired at its territory Thursday from Gaza but that two fell short and the third caused no damage.

In response, Israeli jets and tanks struck two Hamas military sites in Gaza, the Israeli army said in a statement. The army “holds Hamas responsible for hostile activity . . . against Israel from the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

How long the demonstrations will last remains unclear. Some Palestinians said they felt emboldened after a perceived victory last summer that followed two weeks of protests over metal detectors installed at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for a new uprising in the Palestinian territories and declared Friday a day of rage.

“Tomorrow should be a day of rage and the beginning of a broad movement for an uprising that I call the intifada of freedom of Jerusalem,” he said.

 

[Where would a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem actually go?]

He called on the Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel and “enable the resistance in the occupied West Bank to respond to this blatant aggression.”

Israel’s army said it was preparing for an increase in violence in the coming days and had increased its strength in the West Bank, reinforcing its combat intelligence and territorial defense units. Israeli police said three people were arrested in connection with “disturbances” near Damascus Gate, a main portal for Jerusalem’s Old City. 

U.S. institutions in the region were also preparing for possible violent fallout. Reuters reported that the State Department sent a note to diplomats at the embassy in Tel Aviv with talking points to convey to Israeli officials.

“While I recognize that you will publicly welcome this news, I ask that you restrain your official response,” Reuters quoted the document, dated Dec. 6, as saying. “We expect there to be resistance to this news in the Middle East and around the world. We are still judging the impact this decision will have on U.S. facilities and personnel overseas.”

The State Department restricted travel for U.S. government employees in Jerusalem and the West Bank, warning U.S. citizens to avoid crowded areas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. move would galvanize the Palestinian struggle for independence.

After Trump’s announcement, Abbas said the United States could no longer be a fair mediator in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Eight of the U.N. Security Council’s 15 member countries called for an emergency meeting Friday on the matter.

Despite the note of caution from the State Department, the mood in Israel was buoyant, with government ministers and pundits declaring a diplomatic victory for the Jewish state and for Netanyahu.

Speaking at a Foreign Ministry conference in Jerusalem on Thursday, the prime minister heralded Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as a “historic statement.”

“President Trump has always linked himself to the history of our capital,” he said. “His name will now float along with other names in the context of the glorious history of Jerusalem and our people.”
Netanyahu said he has been in contact with other countries that are also ready to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“I have no doubt that as soon as the American Embassy moves to Jerusalem, and even before that, many embassies will move to Jerusalem,” he said. “It’s about time.”