TAIPING – Taiwan on Wednesday, March 23, gave its first ever international press tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea to boost its claim, less than two months after a visit by its leader sparked protests from rival claimants.

Taiping is the largest island in the Spratlys chain and is administered by Taiwan, which sees it as part of its territory.

But the Spratlys are also claimed in part or whole by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei and have been at the center of escalating rows.

A visit to Taiping by Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou in January triggered criticism from the United States which described it as "extremely unhelpful," as well as protests from Vietnam and the Philippines.

But Taiwan remains undeterred in asserting its claim.

"We hope that the international community will understand our position in safeguarding our sovereignty in the South China Sea and our effective administration of Taiping Island," deputy foreign minister Bruce Linghu said as the group visited the island.

The Philippines is currently in the midst of an arbitration case against China at the Hague over the South China Sea. A ruling on the case is expected before May. 

As part of its case, the Philippines argues that Taiping and other islands are just "rocks," a categorization which helps its broad claims in the area.

Taiwan disagrees, saying Taiping is a fully fledged island, a categorization which entitles it to a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

After the tour, Ma insisted Wednesday it was not provocative.

"Filipino lawyers have provided wrong information misleading the world, so we feel we have to come out to rebuff their claims," he said. 

"To see is to believe," Ma added.

"We hope journalists can see for themselves that Taiping is an island, not a rock."

Taiwan Wednesday formally invited the Hague arbitration panel and representatives from the Philippines to visit Taiping.

Beefing up presence

Philippine foreign ministry spokesman Charles Jose urged caution, calling on all sides "to refrain from taking actions that will further complicate the situation in the South China Sea."

China, which claims almost all of the sea, said it too would invite foreign journalists to visit the Spratlys "when the time is ripe," according to foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. 

"The Nansha islands (Spratlys) have always been China's territory. Chinese people on both sides of the strait have the responsibility to safeguard our heritage," she said.

As part of efforts to strengthen defense capabilities on Taiping, Taiwan last year inaugurated a solar-powered lighthouse, an expanded airstrip and a pier, all stops on Wednesday's press tour. The island is 0.51 square kilometres (0.19 square miles). 

The trip aimed to highlight the island is self-sufficient, giving the press tours of a farm and a water well.

Journalists were shown other facilities including a hospital, post office, and temple, as well as visiting a monument engraved with the words "Taiping Island" during the 3-hour visit. 

Most of the island's inhabitants work for the coastguard, which has about 160 staff there. 

Rival claimants in the South China Sea have been beefing up their military presence in the disputed region, and other countries have complained China is becoming increasingly aggressive in pressing its case.

Beijing has reclaimed more than 2,900 acres of land from the South China Sea in less than two years in an intensive island-building campaign and has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island there, according to Taipei and Washington. – Rappler.com

BRUSSELS, Belgium – They came from Peru or Morocco, from North America or Europe, and their lives – as parent, eurocrat, sportsman or missionary – were just as diverse.

That is the emerging picture of the hundreds of people fated to be killed or wounded in the triple bomb attack in Brussels on Tuesday. 

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told Belgian television RTBF that there were around 40 nationalities were among the dead and wounded. (READ: Belgians observe minute of silence for Brussels attacks victims)

They included citizens of Britain, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Portugal and the United States, as well as 3 to 4 staff from the EU's executive arm, the European Commission.

The broad range of nationalities reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Brussels – home to many migrants to Belgium as well as the institutional capital of the 28-nation European Union.

Among the first fatalities to be named was a Peruvian woman, Adelma Marina Tapia Ruiz, who had been living in Belgium for 6 years and was travelling with her journalist husband and young twin daughters.

One of their daughters was wounded by flying debris in one of two blasts at Brussels' Zaventem airport.

"They took away everything she wanted to do with her life," her brother Fernando Tapia told Peruvian media, after she was identified by the foreign ministry in Lima.

A Moroccan woman was also killed in a third blast at a metro train at a station close to the European Union's institutional hub, according to the Moroccan news agency MAP.

According to an ongoing toll provided by the Belgian health ministry, 31 people were killed and 270 were injured.

It was the bloodest terror assault in Belgium's history.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday said 10 French nationals had been injured, four of them seriously.

In London, Downing Street said one British national was missing and four were injured, three of whom were being treated in hospital.

Officers from the Belgian federal police's disaster victim identification team were working at the sites of both attacks, poring over the remains in a grisly process to identify the casualties.

Missionary casualty

Mason Wells, 19, was one of three US missionaries from Utah who were seriously wounded in the blasts at the airport, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement.

US media reports said that in a dark twist of fate, Wells had a similarly close call three years ago while in Boston accompanying his mother who was running the marathon.

The event was the target of a terror attack that killed 3 and wounded scores more.

NBC News, quoting Wells' family, said he was also in Paris in November when the French capital was rocked by a series of attacks.

Wells "has burns to his hands and legs and some to his face," a family friend, Lloyd Coleman, told Utah's Deseret News daily.

The US Air Force also said one of its service members and several of his relatives were also injured.

Basketball player Sebastien Bellin, who was pictured lying on the airport floor covered in blood, has had surgery, his father, Jean Bellin, told CNN.

"He is obviously stunned. The first words out of his mouth were 'You wouldn't believe the carnage I saw around'," the father said. – Rappler.com

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The two brothers who blew themselves up in the deadly train and airport attacks in Brussels were known by police for serious crimes and are linked to November's Paris massacre.

Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui are Belgian nationals with major convictions "not linked to terrorism," federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said at a dramatic news briefing on Wednesday, March 23.

Khalid, 27, who blew himself up on Tuesday at the Maalbeek metro station, is a convicted car-jacker. 

His brother Ibrahim, 30, who was one of two suicide bombers at the airport, had been handed a nine-year sentence for firing his gun at police, local media say.

The pair entered the public eye on March 15 when police raided an apartment in the Forest district of Brussels, as part of the investigation into the Paris attacks. 

Belgian media reports said a joint squad of Belgian and French police approached the property because it was rented under a false name used by Khalid to secure a hideout months earlier for the Paris attackers.

Khalid is suspected of having rented other properties used to prepare the November tragedy in Paris, including one in the city of Charleroi from where ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud set off to lead the assault in the French capital.

The police last week fully expected to find an abandoned property as utilities in the Brussels apartment had been shut off for weeks.

Instead they came under heavy gunfire, with one assailant killed and two men fleeing – including, it is thought, Salah Abdeslam, the top Paris fugitive who would be arrested three days later.

The brothers are not believed to have been present in those events, but their connection to ISIS jihadism was established.

Botched robbery

Khalid in 2011 received a five-year sentence for car-jacking, according to daily La Derniere Heure.

Ibrahim meanwhile in 2010 was handed a nine-year sentence for firing at police with a Kalashnikov assault rifle during a botched robbery, it said.

Another possible participant in the Brussels attack is suspected ISIS jihadist Najim Laachraoui, that reports said could be the man dressed in a light jacket seen in CCTV images at the airport.

Moroccan-born Laachraoui is suspected of being the bomb-maker for the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Traces of Laachraoui's DNA were found on explosives used in the Paris bomb and gun assaults, including at the Bataclan rock venue where 80 people died.

His traces were also found in a rural Belgian hideout used on the eve of the Paris attacks as well as in a suspected bomb factory in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels.

Laachraoui grew up in the multi-cultural Schaerbeek neighbourhood and has been wanted by police in connection with the Paris attacks since December 4, though by a false identity that was only unmasked last week.

Laachraoui attended Schaerbeek's Sainte-Famille Catholic school for six years where a school official told AFP he was a "typical" student. He received his baccalaureat, the equivalent of a high-school diploma, there in 2009.

A newsletter posted on the school's website indicated that he studied electronics, but the official would not confirm this.

Laachraoui left for Syria in September 2013 in one of the first waves of jihadists to leave Belgium for Syria, where he fought under the Islamic State nom de guerre Abu Idriss, according to media reports.

In February, a Belgian court convicted Laachraoui in absentia for his involvement with ISIS.

He is known to have returned to Europe in September when he was controlled by police under a false identity in a Mercedes driven by Abdeslam, who now sits behind bars in Belgium.

Also in the car was the Algerian Mohamed Belkaid, 35, who was shot dead during the March 15 search and gun battle in Brussels that led to Abdeslam's capture. – Alex Pigman, AFP/Rappler.com

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A man claiming to have a bomb threatened to blow up a building 6 blocks from the Argentine presidency hours before US President Barack Obama visited it on Wednesday, March 23, witnesses said.

Police arrested the man and evacuated the building housing a state radio station, employees of the broadcaster told media. No one was reported hurt.

The man threatened to blow up the National Radio building in central Buenos Aires, where security forces were on high alert a day after deadly Islamist bombings in Brussels.

"There was a scuffle and yelling in the lobby. He got to the entrance of the studios and yelled, 'We are going to blow you all to hell,'" one employee of the station, identified as Enrique, told television channel CN5.

"He had what looked like a detonator in his hand, with a trigger."

Another of the company's journalists, Eduardo Anguita, said: "He came into the radio station pretending to have a bomb belt. That caused anxiety. It was to scare people after the Brussels attacks and while Obama is here."

Representatives of the radio station said the police detained a man in his 50s.

The station went off the air.

The building is located 6 blocks from the Casa Rosada presidential palace. Obama met there later with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. – Rappler.com

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Fresh from his landmark trip to Cuba, US President Barack Obama traveled on Wednesday, March 23, to Argentina, where 4 decades later resentment still simmers over Washington's backing for its former dictatorship.

After calling for freedom and democracy as he stood alongside Cuba's communist leaders on the first leg of his regional visit, Obama touched down in another Latin American nation with a history of delicate relations with the United States.

Obama, who hopes to remake the United States' image in Latin America, met Argentina's new free market-friendly President Mauricio Macri at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning.

Roads were closed as Obama's motorcade headed to the Casa Rosada, where he and Macri were scheduled to give a news conference shortly before 1600 GMT.

Tuesday's deadly bomb blasts in Brussels prompted Argentina to put its security forces on high alert as it received Obama, who is traveling with First Lady Michelle Obama, their two daughters and his mother-in-law.

There was a security alert when police arrested a man who burst into the offices of a state radio station near the presidential palace threatening to blow the building up, station employees told media. The building was evacuated and no one was reported hurt.

It is the first visit by a US president to Argentina since 2005. That year George W. Bush was met by angry protests at a summit where regional leaders blocked his plans for a free-trade deal.

Macri has reached out to Washington and other foreign powers since taking office in December after years of combative relations under his leftist predecessors.

But the delicate issue of US involvement in Latin America's violent history will rear its head during Obama's visit to Buenos Aires -- after the Havana visit touched on sensitivities over human rights in Cuba.

On Thursday morning Obama will pay homage to victims of the "dirty war" by Argentina's dictators against dissidents.

That day marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup that started the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Declassified documents have shown that top US officials backed the coup and America's wider image in Latin America was tarnished by involvement in coups and death squads.

US and the 'dirty war'

After the talks with Macri, Obama was due to lay a wreath at Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral and meet local people, before attending a state dinner.

His administration said last week it would declassify military and intelligence records linked to Argentina's "dirty war."

"We're determined to do our part as Argentina continues to heal and move forward as one nation," said Obama's National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

The sensitive date of the Argentina visit angered some victims' groups. Several organizations have called on Obama to apologize for US support of the military regime.

But 4 opinion polls showed a majority of Argentines approved of Obama's visit.

Obama "believes that part of moving forward in the Americas or any other part of the world involves a clear-eyed recognition of the past," said Ben Rhodes, one of the president's top advisors.

"He will be more than willing to speak to what took place 40 years ago, to the suffering that took place after the coup and to the complicated history between the United States and Argentina as it relates to those events."

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, 84, an Argentine human rights activist who like Obama is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, recalled that US military academies trained troops from Argentina and other Latin American regimes in torture techniques.

"It would be good to have a public recognition of United States interventionism," he said.

US 'vulture' funds

Some small leftist groups called for demonstrations against Obama's visit in Buenos Aires and in the Andean resort town of Bariloche, where the Obamas are due to head on Thursday for a few hours' leisure time.

Demonstrations are also planned Thursday in memory of the dictatorship. Some vowed also to protest in anger at the treatment of Argentina by its US creditors.

Macri's government has reached a settlement with US hedge funds that his predecessor Cristina Kirchner branded "vultures."

The Obamas are scheduled to leave Argentina on Thursday night. – Andrew Beatty, AFP/Rappler.com

HONG KONG – Terrorism will cast a continuing shadow over future generations and government electronic surveillance is a small price to pay to combat it, a leading historian said Wednesday, March 23, a day after the carnage in Brussels.

British author and journalist Sir Max Hastings gave a robust defense of electronic intelligence-gathering in what he called a new world that would never know absolute security.

"Our tolerance of electronic surveillance, subject to legal and parliamentary oversight, seems a small price to pay for some measure of security against threats that nobody – today of all days – can doubt are real," Hastings told Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club.

Twin attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists killed 31 people in the Belgian capital Tuesday.

Hastings, a former war correspondent and newspaper editor, is author of 26 books mostly on military history. 

His latest, "The Secret War", tells the story of behind-the-scenes intelligence operations in World War II.

Future wars "will almost certainly" be fought on similar turf.

"Whereas a few generations ago our forebears were defended by Spitfires and citizen armies, today intelligence services and eavesdroppers at GCHQ are at the front line against our enemies."

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters monitors vast amounts of email and other electronic traffic in search of suspicious communications.

Hastings said he found it "almost incredible" that civil libertarians objected so strongly.

"Personal liberty never has been and never can be an absolute," he said, adding a balance must be struck between individual rights and the need to protect society.

In Britain's case, electronic interception was the only major way to detect terrorists.

"It is almost impossibly difficult for agents to penetrate Muslim communities in Britain and MI5 (the domestic intelligence service) receives dismayingly little help from them." 

The detection of 20-30 major plots in Britain in the past decade came overwhelmingly from electronic interception, Hastings said.

Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor who spilt a huge trove of secrets on global surveillance programs, had done great harm, he said.

There was clear evidence since the revelations that terrorists were using much more sophisticated encryption systems.

Rather than electronic snooping, Hastings said he was far more worried about the use of drones and targeted killing by the US, Britain and Israel.

"It's a very, very dangerous business to delegate to government (the power) to act unilaterally without any judicial process at all to just kill whoever they feel like." – Rappler.com

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – US President Barack Obama urged nations on Wednesday, March 23, to unite against terrorism after the deadly jihadist attacks in Brussels and said wiping out the Islamic State (ISIS) group was his "top priority."

Bombers killed 31 people at Brussels airport and a metro station on Tuesday. ISIS, sometimes known as ISIL, claimed responsibility for the blasts.

"We will... continue to go after ISIL aggressively until it is removed from Syria and removed from Iraq and is finally destroyed," Obama said during a visit to Argentina.

"The world has to be united against terrorism and we can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security not only of our own people but of people all around the world. So that is the top priority of ours."

Obama spoke alongside his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri at the start of the US president's stop in Argentina, where he arrived following a landmark visit to Cuba. – Rappler.com

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran on Saturday, March 26, denied supporting cyber attacks against the United States after a New York court indicted 7 Iranians over hacking dozens of American banks and a major dam.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has never had dangerous cyber actions on its agenda and does not support such measures," Hossein Jaber Ansari, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The United States on Thursday, March 24, announced computer hacking charges against 7 Iranians who it said worked for firms linked to the Iranian government, accusing them of infiltrating nearly 50 banks and financial institutions, as well as a major New York dam. 

The announcement comes after a nuclear agreement last year between Iran, the United States and 5 other major powers raised hopes for better relations between Tehran and Washington.

In a standoff that lasted more than a decade, the US and the European Union imposed sanctions in a bid to stymie Tehran's disputed nuclear program and ensure a bomb was out of reach. Iran persistently denied seeking atomic weapons.

The United States and Israel allegedly attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010 with a computer a virus called Stuxnet, although neither government has acknowledged it.

The virus, which temporarily hobbled Iran's nuclear refining facilities, was believed to be the first program designed not just to steal information or hijack computers, but to damage equipment.

"The United States, which with its cyber attacks against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities put millions of innocent Iranians at the risk of a environmental disaster is in no position to accuse citizens of other countries, including those of Iran," Ansari said. – Rappler.com

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq – The village of Al-Asriya, south of Baghdad, prepared Saturday, March 26, to bury its sons, killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after a football tournament.

The attacker, who himself looks like a teenager on a photo distributed by the Islamic State group that claimed the attack, cut through the crowd when trophies were being presented.

"There are 32 dead and also 84 wounded, 12 of whom are in critical condition," an official in Babil province health directorate told AFP.

"Seventeen of those killed are boys aged between 10 and 16," the official said.

The village of Al-Asriya lies near Iskandariyah, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital.

The bomber detonated his suicide vest late afternoon on Friday, March 25 as local officials were handing trophies to the players after a local tournament.

A video posted on social media shows a local official speaking in front of a table covered with trophies and calling out the name of a player before a huge blast.

The footage cuts off with a big flash of yellow light.

"The suicide bomber cut through the crowd to approach the center of the gathering and blew himself up as the mayor was presenting awards to the players," Ali Nashmi, an 18-year-old eyewitness, told AFP.

The mayor, Ahmed Shaker, was among the dead, as was one of his bodyguards and at least 5 members of the security forces.

Pictures posted on social media of the blast site showed mangled goal posts smeared with blood.

The United States state department extended its condolences to the bereaved in a statement, as did the United Nations special envoy to Iraq.

"Pictures posted on social media of the blast site showed mangled goal posts smeared with blood," Jan Kubis said in a statement.

IS has been losing territory steadily in Iraq for almost a year. 

In the most recent operations, Iraqi forces have been gaining ground in the western province of Anbar and have just begun their reconquest of the province of Nineveh.

Observers have warned that, as their self-proclaimed "caliphate" shrinks towards extinction, IS fighters are likely to revert to their old guerrilla tactics and ramp up suicide attacks on civilian targets. – Rappler.com

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian state television has aired the final words of the pilots of the flydubai passenger jet that crashed in Rostov-on-Don last week killing 62 people, suggesting pilot error could be to blame.

Russia's Rossiya-1 channel late Friday, March 25, said it had obtained a transcript of the last words exchanged a minute before the Boeing 737 plunged to the ground from a source in the investigative commission with access to the plane's voice recorders.

The plane, which was arriving from Dubai, exploded into a fireball last Saturday, March 19, after missing the runway in the city in southern Russia while making a second attempt to land in heavy wind and rain.

The transcript suggests that the pilot lost control of the plane immediately after switching off the autopilot.

"Don't worry," the pilot says repeatedly in the transcript translated into Russian, before repeating seconds later "Don't do that!" The last words are repeated calls to "Pull up!" 

For the last 6 seconds of the plane's dive, all that can be heard are "inhuman screams," the channel's source said.

The channel suggested – citing specialists while stressing that this was not the official version – that the pilot accidentally switched on a stabilising fin at the tail as he tried to pull the plane back to a horizontal position.

With this fin activated, "the plane practically does not react to the pilot's control panel" the channel said. 

"The pilots clearly did not understand that the stabilizer was to blame for the steep dive."

The channel said the pilot could have accidentally switched on the button activating the fin due to his reported "chronic fatigue."

The only other possible explanation would be an "unprecedented glitch in the plane's automatic systems," the channel said.

Investigators have launched a criminal probe into whether poor weather, pilot error or a technical fault were behind the crash, which killed all 55 passengers and 7 crew members on board.– Rappler.com

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Women have an increased risk of miscarriage if they or their partner consume more than two caffeinated drinks a day in the weeks leading up to conception, a new US study found.

Women who drink more than two caffeinated beverages per day during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy were also more likely to have a miscarriage, according to the study published online late Thursday, March 24, in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

But rates of miscarriage are reduced for women who take a daily multivitamin before and after conception.

The study, carried out by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Ohio State University, was based on data from the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment (LIFE) Study.

That study followed 501 couples in Michigan and Texas from 2005 to 2009, examining the relationship between fertility, lifestyle and exposure to chemicals in the environment.

The current study compared cigarette use, caffeinated beverage consumption and multivitamin use among 344 couples when the woman was carrying a single offspring. Of these pregnancies, 98 – or 28% – ended in miscarriage.

The researchers' conclusions were based on a statistical concept called hazard ratio, which estimates the chances of a particular outcome occurring during the study period.

A ratio greater than one indicates increased risk for miscarriage each day following conception, while a ratio less than one indicates reduced daily risk.

The risk of miscarriage was 1.74 when the woman consumed more than two caffeinated drinks a day, the study showed.

However, the risk was almost as high – 1.73 – if the male partner drank that much caffeine or more.

"Our findings also indicate that the male partner matters, too," said lead author Germaine Buck Louis, director of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at the NIH. "Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females'."

The study also found that taking a daily multivitamin significantly reduced chances of miscarriage. 

Taking a vitamin in the weeks leading up to conception had a hazard ratio of 0.45, a 55% reduction in risk for pregnancy loss.

Women who continued to take multivitamins through the early stages of pregnancy had a hazard ratio of 0.21, a risk reduction of 79%. – Rappler.com

Woman holding coffee cup image via ShutterStock

TOKYO, Japan – A small plane with 4 people on board crashed to the ground at a western Japanese airport on Saturday, March 26, leaving all 4 dead, an official and local media said.

Television footage showed the front and back of the fuselage as severely damaged, with the wing tips broken, and the crashed aircraft near a runway at Yao airport in Osaka.

A local fire department official said that 4 people on board were found dead following the accident without involving anyone on the ground.

Jiji Press and public broadcaster NHK said the Mooney M20c took off from Kobe airport and tried to land at Yao airport. – Rappler.com

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Brussels airport will not reopen before Tuesday, March 29, as it implements new security measures and repairs the departure hall wrecked by a suicide bomb attack earlier this week, it said Saturday, March 26.

"Passenger flights at Brussels Airport will not resume before Tuesday 29 March," Zaventem airport said in a statement.

"Brussels Airport is starting preparations to partially resume passenger flights and to implement the new security measures at Belgian airports, decided by the federal government," it added.

It gave no details of what the new security measures involve but immediately after Tuesday's attacks, there was a lot of criticism that security at the airport was light, with no systematic checks on passengers entering the departure hall.

On Tuesday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up there while another attacked the Brussels metro, leaving 31 dead and more than 300 wounded in Belgium's worst ever terror attack.

The Easter weekend is normally one of the busiest of the year, with thousands of holidaymakers jetting off from Brussels to destinations worldwide.

Following the attacks, airlines moved operations to regional airports or even to neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands and Germany.

Low-cost pioneer Ryanair moved its Brussels flights to its main base at Charleroi, about an hour's drive south of the Belgian capital. – Rappler.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Baghdad Saturday, March 26, for talks with senior officials on ways of assisting war-ravaged Iraq, the world body said.

Ban, who had last visited the Iraqi capital in March 2015, was travelling with World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and Islamic Development Bank head Ahmad al-Madani.

They went straight into talks with Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Ban flew from Lebanon, where he called for an end to war in the region and visited some of the 1.2 million refugees the country hosts.

A drop in oil prices has had a devastating effect on the economy of Iraq, already strained by the cost of the fight against the Islamic State group.

As areas are gradually retaken from the jihadists in intense battles, Baghdad is left with little to spare on the reconstruction of ravaged cities.

The government has asked for support from its foreign partners.

During a visit to Baghdad on March 16, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said lenders would be urged to help.

"We will work with our partners from the G7 in order to provide direct support to the Iraqi government, and also to put pressure on the international financial institutions to give bigger and quicker loan support to Iraq," he said.– Rappler.com 

MANILA, Philippines – Candidates for local positions will tell you that 45 days are not enough to comb every barangay, shake hands with every registered voter, and explain plans for their constituents – that is, if they have any well-thought-out ones to begin with. (They even lost one campaigning day since the start of the campaign period fell on March 25, Good Friday, when electioneering was prohibited.)

Voters, however, can learn a lot about the candidates and the issues they should address in their municipalities, cities, congressional districts, and provinces in those 6 weeks. #PHvote, Rappler’s comprehensive coverage of the 2016 Philippine elections, is here to make that possible. 

Rappler has a page for each of the 1,489 municipalities, 145 cities, 81 provinces, and the special region of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. These local pages feature: 

• List of candidates for every position
• Information about incumbent governors, vice-governors, mayors, vice-mayors, board members, councilors and district representatives
• Information on who won in past local and presidential races in the locality
• Data on key electoral, economic, and social concerns in the locality
• Issues that matter to voters in the area, based on results of Rappler’s CandiDATE quiz
• News stories about the locality

PALMYRA, Syria – Syria's armed forces on Saturday, March 26, expanded their control north of the historic city of Palmyra, state television reported, capturing a nearby town from Islamic State group jihadists. 

Russian-backed Syrian troops seized the town of Al-Amiriyah on the northern outskirts of Palmyra "after fierce clashes" with IS fighters, state television said.

An AFP journalist on the western edge of Palmyra saw artillery operated by Russian and Syrian troops fired from a government-held hilltop on IS positions in the city.

"The clashes are taking place now in the Amiriyah neighbourhood, which is Daesh's gateway into the city," a Syrian military source told AFP. 

IS overran Palmyra in May 2015, causing a global outcry in fear of the UNESCO world heritage site known as the "Pearl of the Desert". 

The group has since blown up UNESCO-listed temples and looted relics that dated back thousands of years.

As they advanced last year, the jihadists executed some 67 civilians, including 14 children and 12 women, in several towns including Al-Amiriyah, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

The government's fresh advance on Saturday builds on gains made by pro-regime forces in the city's southwestern outskirts in recent days. 

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Syria's armed forces had "launched several operations at dawn this morning (Saturday) towards the Gardens District south of the city." 

It said pro-government forces were also fighting IS in Palmyra's airport, to the city's east. 

Syria's armed forces launched their offensive to retake the city earlier this month, backed by a barrage of Russian air strikes. – Rappler.com

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Dozens of Chinese flags that had been hung up in the streets of Prague ahead of a landmark visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping were defaced overnight, police said on Saturday, March 26. 

"Several dozen Chinese flags were splattered with a black substance overnight," police spokesman Jan Danek told Agence France-Presse (AFP), saying one or two unknown vandals were involved. 

The flags had been hoisted in the Czech capital in recent days, notably on the road between the airport and Prague Castle, the presidential palace. 

"An inquiry has been opened, and police are going to examine video surveillance cameras from the streets," he said. 

The Chinese leader is expected to arrive for a two-day visit on Monday following an invitation from Czech President Milos Zeman before travelling to the United States to attend a nuclear security summit which begins on March 31. 

The visit, the first by a Chinese head of state to the Czech Republic, will be focused on economic ties, and the two leaders will unveil a "strategic partnership."

But demonstrators who oppose Beijing's policy in Tibet are expected to stage several protests, including one on Tuesday evening near Prague Castle, the CTK news agency said. 

Protestors are also planning to hang up near the airport a giant photo of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans alongside one of former president Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), a former dissident and human rights activist. 

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after invading, and considers the Himalayan region an integral part of its territory.

Beijing says it has brought economic development to Tibet and has questioned the sincerity of the Dalai Lama, who fled for India after a failed uprising in 1959. Beijing accuses the Nobel Peace Prize winner of supporting separatism and violence in the region. – Rappler.com

LONDON, United Kingdom – The final print edition of The Independent newspaper went on sale on Saturday, March 26, ending its 30-year appearance on British newsstands with an exclusive on an assassination plot against a former Saudi king.

A poignant wrap-around front page carried the words "STOP PRESS" in red lettering on a white background, followed by the words "Read all about it in this, our final print edition - 1986- 2016".

The newspaper will now be available online only, with its final editorial claiming history would be the judge of its "bold transition... as an example for other newspapers around the world to follow."

In its final front-page exclusive, the "Indie" reported that British-based dissident Mohammed al-Massari was being pursued through the courts over a plot ordered by former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to assassinate Saudi king Abdullah. 

Journalists earlier posted footage online of the team "banging ourselves out" – an old tradition of banging the desks to mark the departure of a colleague.

"Today the presses have stopped, the ink is dry and the paper will soon crinkle no more," it said.

"But as one chapter closes, another opens, and the spirit of The Independent will flourish still."

Saturday's edition contained four souvenir supplements along with an interview with old adversary Alastair Campbell, the spin doctor of former prime minister Tony Blair with whom the publication clashed over its opposition to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

"I think it's really sad," said Campbell of the paper's demise. "What concerns me is that the Independent is going, and there are job cuts at the Guardian, but the wretched Daily Mail is rampant."

'Rather wonderful newspaper'

The Independent's Russian-born British owner, Evgeny Lebedev, who announced the closure of the print edition last month, wrote that journalism had "changed beyond recognition" and the newspaper "must change too".

The Independent was set up by three former journalists in 1986 and became known for its eye-catching, campaigning front pages and emphasis on photos.

At the peak of its popularity, it had a circulation of more than 420,000, but this slumped to 40,000.

In an editorial, The Guardian paid tribute to a "really rather wonderful newspaper" that had suffered from dramatic changes to the advertising market, notably the shift in revenues to sites such as Facebook.

"Great newspapers which have survived for centuries find their business models challenged as never before. So no one will celebrate the end of the Independent in print," it said.

Like The Guardian, The Independent was politically left of center, and campaigned strongly against Britain's involvement in the US-led war in Iraq in 2003. 

It becomes the first daily national to close in Britain since 1995, when Today folded.

The weekly News of the World owned by US media tycoon Rupert Murdoch closed in 2011 after a series of phone hacking scandals, but was replaced by the Sun on Sunday, which is owned by the same group.

ESI Media, which controls The Independent, is also selling off the "i" – a cut-price sister title launched in 2010 – to Scotland-based publisher Johnston Press.

The sale price is estimated at £25 million (32 million euros, $36 million), according to British media reports -- money which will be invested in the website.

Independent.co.uk currently has nearly 70 million monthly global unique users, while ESI Media has also launched a new subscription app offering a 'virtual' print edition.

Some staff will move to the "i" but ESI Media warned there would be some redundancies. 

Many reporters tried to stay upbeat on the final day.

"Vain scramble for final-edition bylines begins," regular contributor Simon Usborne tweeted earlier.

Parliamentary sketch writer Tom Peck added: "The whiskey's out. Nothing would amuse me more than a massive breaking news story right now." – Rappler.com

ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq (UPDATED) – Iraq on Saturday, March 26, buried the victims, among them many young boys, of a suicide attack that ripped through a trophy ceremony after a local football tournament and killed 32 people.

The bomber, who himself looks like a teenager on a photo distributed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group that claimed the attack, cut through a crowd gathered after the game and blew himself up.

Babil province announced 3 days of mourning following the attack, that sparked condemnation from visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon and outrage across the global footballing community.

"There are 32 dead and also 84 wounded, 12 of whom are in a critical condition," an official in Babil province health directorate told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Seventeen of those killed are boys aged between 10 and 16," the official said.

The attack took place in the Babil province village of Al-Asriya, which lies near Iskandariyah, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital.

The bomber detonated his suicide vest late afternoon on Friday as officials were handing trophies to the players after the tournament.

A video posted on social media shows one official speaking in front of a table covered with trophies and calling out the name of a player before a huge blast.

The footage cuts off with a big flash of yellow light.

Global outrage

"The suicide bomber cut through the crowd to approach the center of the gathering and blew himself up as the mayor was presenting awards to the players," Ali Nashmi, an 18-year-old witness, told AFP.

The mayor, Ahmed Shaker, was among the dead, as was one of his bodyguards and at least 5 members of the security forces.

Pictures posted on social media of the blast site showed mangled goal posts smeared with blood.

The US State Department extended its condolences to the bereaved in a statement, as did the UN secretary general who was visiting Iraq for talks.

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest condolences to the people and government of Iraq, and particularly those members of the families affected by terrorist attacks yesterday," the UN chief told reporters.

Gianni Infantino, the new head of world football's main governing body FIFA, said he was "shocked and terribly saddened".

"Around the world, football unites people. It is a very sad day, when people, going to a match together, become the victims of such violence," Infantino said in a statement.

The Asian Football Confederation also released a statement condemning the bombing.

"Football is a powerful force for good and our game has a long history of bringing people together even during conflicts around the world," it said. 

"Using football and sport stadiums as a stage for these heinous acts of violence is a cowardly, completely unjust and indiscriminate act," the AFC said.

ISIS has been losing territory steadily in Iraq for almost a year. 

In the most recent operations, Iraqi forces have been gaining ground in the western province of Anbar and have just begun their reconquest of the province of Nineveh.

Observers have warned that, as their self-proclaimed "caliphate" shrinks towards extinction, ISIS fighters are likely to revert to their old guerrilla tactics and ramp up suicide attacks on civilian targets. – Abbas al-Ani, AFP/Rappler.com

BRUSSELS, Belgium (3rd UPDATE) – Belgium on Saturday, March 26, charged a man, who is believed to be the fugitive and third Brussels airport bomber, with terrorism murder. It marked a breakthrough for security forces who have been criticized for letting suspects slip through the net.

A huge manhunt netted the suspect officially identified as Faycal C – and identified by local media as Faycal Cheffou. Investigators are now working on the theory that he could be the man in a hat and white jacket pictured with two other airport bombers, but whose device failed to go off.

Brussels airport said it will not reopen before Tuesday at the earliest, as it implements new security measures and repairs the departure hall wrecked by the bombers, believed to be from the Islamic State group.

Belgians in mourning will gather Sunday for a rally in a central Brussels square now carpeted with flowers and tributes to the 31 killed and 300 injured in the March 22 metro and airport bombs, with a national solidarity march also planned.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, also charged a man arrested in Belgium over a new plot to hit Paris, deepening the connections in what French President Francois Hollande has described as a single terror cell straddling both France and Belgium.

The Belgian government faces a torrent of criticism at home and abroad, with key ministers on the back foot saying they had done everything possible to prevent Tuesday's attacks and track a network also linked to November's Paris attacks.

Many believe it failed to stop young Belgian fighters going to Syria to join Islamic State (ISIS) – which claimed the attacks – and then returning home battle-hardened and more extremist than before.

"It is an endless nightmare for a country turned upside down," said Le Soir daily in a front-page editorial.

'Man in the hat'

Heavily armed soldiers and police remained on patrol in the capital and Zaventem airport.

In an indication the city is still on edge, a bomb disposal squad carried out a controlled detonation on a southern Brussels street to destroy a suspect backpack.

Pop diva Mariah Carey on Friday cancelled a show in Brussels, saying she was advised to do so "for the safety of my fans, my band, crew and everyone involved with the tour."

In contrast, veteran French rock star Johnny Hallyday was going ahead with two planned concerts in Brussels over the weekend.

Prosecutors said Faycal C was one of 3 people arrested outside the Belgian federal prosecutor's office in Brussels on Thursday night as part of a huge sweep of detentions across Belgium and Europe.

"He has been charged with taking part in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder," the prosecutor said.

Asked by Agence France-Presse (AFP) if Faycal C. was the suspected third bomber dubbed the "man in the hat", a source close to the inquiry told AFP: "That is a hypothesis the investigators are working on."

Local media named the suspect as Faycal Cheffou, a freelance journalist.

He is the first person charged with terror offenses over the Brussels attacks, the worst in the history of a country that is home to the European Union and the NATO military alliance.

A second suspect named as Rabah N. linked to a foiled plot in France was charged with taking part in terrorist activities.

French police said Friday they had foiled a terror strike in France by 34-year-old Reda Kriket – a man previously convicted in Belgium in a terror case alongside Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud – after arresting him and discovering explosives at his home.

A suspect shot in the leg Friday at a tram stop in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels is being held for another 24 hours as investigations into the French plot continue. 

Threat to nuclear plants

Belgium's ageing nuclear power plants have also come under scrutiny as a possible terror risk, with the EU's anti-terror chief Gilles de Kerchove telling La Libre Belgique newspaper they face the threat of a terrorist cyber-attack over the next 5 years.

According to reports, a security guard at a Belgian nuclear power plant was murdered Thursday and his access badge stolen. Prosecutors denied any terror link, Belga news agency reported, and said that in fact the man worked at a medical research facility that used radioactive isotopes.

These reports follow the discovery by investigators last year of surveillance footage of a nuclear plant official in the flat of a suspect linked to the Brussels and Paris attacks.

European authorities are under huge pressure to better coordinate the tracking of homegrown extremists and fighters returning from Syria.

The Belgian government has admitted "errors" and two ministers offered to resign after Turkey said it had arrested and deported Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport attack.

Ibrahim and his brother Khalid, the suicide bomber in the metro attack, were also on a US counter-terrorism watch list, CNN reported.

Belgian prosecutors have said that the DNA of second airport bomber Najim Laachraoui was found on a suicide vest and a piece of cloth at the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people were killed during November's Paris attacks, and on a bomb at the Stade de France stadium.

Harrowing stories continued to emerge from survivors of the attacks, in which people of around 40 nationalities were killed or wounded. (READ: Brussels victims from around the world)

Briton David Dixon, 51, who lived in Brussels, texted his aunt after the airport blasts to say he was safe, but happened to be on the metro system and died when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Maalbeek station near Brussels' EU quarter, British media said. – Bryan McManus and Joshua Melvin, AFP/Rappler.com