Battle for Mosul: Iraq PM Abadi formally declares victory


Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has formally declared victory over so-called Islamic State (IS) in Mosul.
Mr Abadi waved a national flag with troops after announcing the "collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood".
Earlier, clashes were reported in a small part of Old City where a few dozen IS militants were holding out.
The battle for Mosul has taken almost nine months, left large areas in ruins, killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than 920,000 others.
Commanders from the US-led coalition that has provided air and ground support to Iraqi forces said the urban combat had been most intense since World War Two.
Mr Abadi made the declaration of victory at the operations room of the Counter-Terrorism Service, whose elite forces were the first to enter Mosul in November.
Using a pejorative term for IS based on an Arabic acronym of its former name, he said: "I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism, which the terrorist Daesh announced from Mosul."
But Mr Abadi warned that more challenges lay ahead.
"We have another mission ahead of us - to create stability, to build and clear Daesh cells.





"And that requires an intelligence and security effort, and the unity which enabled us to fight Daesh," he added, before waving an Iraqi national flag.

The US-led coalition confirmed that while areas of the Old City still had to be cleared of explosive devices and possible IS fighters in hiding, the Iraqi security forces had Mosul "firmly under their control".
The senior American commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, congratulated the Iraqi security forces on their "historic victory against a brutal and evil enemy".



"Make no mistake; this victory alone does not eliminate [IS] and there is still a tough fight ahead. But the loss of one of its twin capitals and a jewel of their so-called caliphate is a decisive blow," he said.
Mr Abadi had to delay declaring the "liberation" of Mosul on Sunday because a pocket of resistance remained in the Old City, on the western bank of the River Tigris, that was only about 180m (200 yards) long and 45m wide.
Iraqi army officers believed only a few dozen militants were left inside along with their wives and children, who they said were being used as human shields.
Gunfire and explosions were heard coming from the area earlier on Monday.



Mosul has been devastated by the battle, with the UN estimating that more than 5,000 buildings have been damaged and 490 destroyed in the Old City alone.
"It's a relief to know that the military campaign in Mosul is ending. The fighting may be over, but the humanitarian crisis is not," said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande.
"Many of the people who have fled have lost everything. They need shelter, food, health care, water, sanitation and emergency kits. The levels of trauma we are seeing are some of the highest anywhere. What people have experienced is nearly unimaginable."
IS militants overran Mosul in June 2014, before seizing control of large parts of northern and western Iraq. The following month, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first and only public appearance as IS leader at the city's Great Mosque of al-Nuri, and gave a speech proclaiming the creation of a "caliphate".



IS blew up the mosque almost exactly three years later as Iraqi troops prepared to retake it - a move Iraq's prime minister called a "formal declaration of defeat".
The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Mosul says the jihadists may have lost militarily in the city, but this is not their end in Iraq nor the end of their twisted ideology.
IS still controls territory in three areas of Iraq - around Hawija, 130km (80 miles) south-east of Mosul; around Tal Afar, 65km west; and from Ana to Al-Qaim in the Euphrates river valley, 250km to the south-west.
It also holds a string of towns along the Euphrates in Syria, including Albu Kamal and Mayadin, but its stronghold of Raqqa is besieged by US-backed fighters.

Rio's Valongo slave wharf becomes Unesco heritage site


A wharf in Rio de Janeiro where nearly a million African slaves are estimated to have landed has been declared a World Heritage site by the UN cultural organisation, Unesco.
The Valongo wharf operated for three centuries and became the biggest entry point for African slaves in Brazil.
Its remains were discovered during renovation work for the 2016 Olympics.
Brazil was the main destination for African slaves in the Americas.
After the long journey across the Atlantic, emaciated African captives were kept in the wharf area to recover and gain weight, so they could be sold on at slave markets.
Many did not survive and were buried at a nearby cemetery.
Unesco says the Valongo wharf should have the same place in history as Hiroshima and Auschwitz "to make us remember those parts of the history of humanity that must not be forgotten".
"It is a unique memorial, containing the last remaining vestiges of the slaves' arrival," anthropologist Milton Guran told AFP news agency.

Car park mass grave

Many Brazilians were unaware of the area's importance until a few years ago.
Remains of the wharf were discovered by chance in 2011, when a couple doing refurbishment in their house come across a mass grave, with bones and skulls.
The wharf and the complex surrounding it were constructed in 1779 as part of an effort to move what was regarded as an unsightly trade to an area far from the city centre, says the BBC's Julia Carneiro.
A few blocks from the wharf is a cemetery where, between 1770 and 1830, thousands of slaves were buried.
Slave trade in Brazil was banned in 1831, after Brazil declared its independence from Portugal. But it continued illegally until slavery was abolished in 1888.
Some four million slaves arrived to work in plantations and domestic workers from the 17th to the end of the 19th century. That amounts to 40% of slaves taken to the Americas.
After Brazil was declared a republic in 1889, the Valongo site was used as a landfill and eventually a square was built over the wharf.
Until recently, it was buried underneath a square, a street and a car park.

Austria bars Turkish minister from rally marking failed coup anniversary


The Austrian authorities have barred Turkey's economy minister from entering the country to attend a rally to mark the first anniversary of the failed coup attempt.
Nihat Zeybekci's visit would represent a danger to "public order and security", an Austrian spokesman said.
The Turkish government did not comment immediately on the decision.
Relations are already tense as Austria has criticised the Turkish government's response to the failed coup.
More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 140,000 dismissed or suspended during a state of emergency in place since the attempted military takeover last 15 July.
Thomas Schnoll, a spokesman for Austria's foreign ministry, told ORF radio: "I can confirm that Foreign Minister [Sebastian] Kurz has in fact forbidden the Turkish economy minister from entering the country."
However, Mr Zeybekci, he added, was always welcome to make a bilateral visit.
Austria has favoured freezing Turkish negotiations on eventual EU membership and is among several countries to have expressed disquiet at the Turkish government's crackdown following the coup attempt.
In March, it banned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from campaigning in the country for a referendum in Turkey, saying it could deepen divisions between his backers and Turks of Kurdish origin in Austria.
Other European countries have also acted against pro-Turkish government rallies.
The Netherlands said on Friday that Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes was not welcome to visit for a ceremony among expatriates, also to mark the anniversary of the coup attempt.

Donald Trump backtracks on Russia joint cybersecurity unit


Donald Trump has backtracked on a proposal to work with Russia to create an "impenetrable" cybersecurity unit to prevent election hacking.
Hours after promoting the idea on Sunday, the US president said that he did not think it could actually happen.
The idea of a partnership with Russia was ridiculed by senior Republicans.
It comes after Mr Trump's first face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany on Friday, in which the pair discussed the issue.
Mr Trump described the outcome of the talks as positive and suggested closer co-operation between the two nations.
"Putin and I discussed forming an impenetrable cybersecurity unit so that election hacking, and many other negative things, will be guarded and safe," he said.
The initial proposal immediately prompted derision from Democrats, as well as some Republicans who questioned why the US would work with Russia after the Kremlin's alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
Mr Trump shifted his position on Sunday night.
"The fact that President Putin and I discussed a cybersecurity unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't," he tweeted.
However, he stressed that another issue discussed in his talks with Mr Putin, a ceasefire in south-western Syria, had come into effect.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had sought to defend the proposed cyber unit after Mr Trump's initial announcement.
Speaking on ABC's This Week programme, he described it as a "significant accomplishment" for Mr Trump.
"What we want to make sure is that we co-ordinate with Russia," he added.
However, Republican Senator Marco Rubio suggested that such an initiative would be like partnering with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on chemical weapons.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said: "It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard, but it's pretty close."

Media caption
Trump to Putin: "It's an honour to be with you"
A special prosecutor is investigating whether Trump associates colluded with alleged Russian efforts to influence the 2016 US election.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Putin said the allegations had been discussed.
However, the two sides described the content of the meeting differently.
Mr Trump said he "strongly pressed" the issue with Mr Putin, who had "vehemently denied" interfering in the US election.
He also said it was time to work more "constructively" with Russia.
President Putin said he believed President Trump had accepted his assurances that Moscow had not interfered in the vote.
However, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said interference in the 2016 election remained an impediment to better relations with Russia, while the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said the US "can't trust Russia" and "won't ever trust Russia".

'Comfort women': Researchers claim first known film

South Korea has released what it says is the first known footage of "comfort women" forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War Two.
Filmed by US troops in China, the clip was found by government-funded researchers at Seoul National University in US archives.
The 18-second clip shows several women lined up talking to a Chinese soldier.
South Korean activists estimate 200,000 women were forced into brothels for Japan's military.
They are believed to have been mainly from Korea, but also from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
Until now, the only records of women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War Two had been photographs and survivor testimonials.
The research team says the footage was filmed by joint US-Chinese troops in China's Yunnan province which was previously occupied by Japan.
The seven Korean women were freed in 1944 and the officer speaking with them has been identified as a Chinese captain of the China-US Combined Force, the team said.
The issue has long strained the relationship between South Korea and Japan over a perceived lack of adequate apology and compensation from Japan.
In 2015, the two countries reached a settlement whereby Tokyo formally apologised and agreed to pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) to fund victims.
The issue though continues to plague ties, most recently when Japan temporarily withdrew its ambassador to South Korea over a "comfort women" statue placed outside the Japanese consulate in Busan.
A similar statue has also been placed outside Japan's consulate in Seoul, and Tokyo wants both these statues to be removed.

Brexit: Theresa May's offer to EU citizens 'falls short'


Theresa May's offer to give EU citizens in the UK "settled status" after Brexit has been described as being "far short of what citizens are entitled to".
MEPs, including European Parliament chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt say the proposal is a "damp squib".
It offers Europeans in the UK fewer rights than Britons in the EU, they say in a joint letter to newspapers.
Cabinet Office minister Damian Green said the "basic rights" of EU citizens living in the UK would be "preserved".
He urged Mr Verhofstadt to "read our proposal", which the UK government insists would allow about three million EU citizens to stay on the same basis as now.
EU migrants who had lived in the UK for five years would be granted access to health, education and other benefits.
But the prime minister's proposals would be dependent on EU states guaranteeing Britons the same rights.
The leaders of the four political groups who have signed the joint letter account for two-thirds of the votes in the European Parliament.
Their letter points out that that they have the power to reject any Brexit deal before it can go ahead because the parliament must approve the withdrawal agreement.
The leaders said they would not endorse anything that removed rights already acquired by citizens.
They said the UK proposal "falls short" because it would take away rights citizens currently have, and create new red tape and uncertainty for millions of people.
The letter said this contradicted promises made by the Leave campaign that EU citizens would be treated no less favourably after Brexit.
By contrast, the letter said the EU's offer - already on the table - was simple, clear and fair because it promised that all citizens, including UK nationals living in Europe, would be treated equally and lose no current rights.

'Rights and values'

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Verhofstadt said EU citizens in the UK - and Britons living on the continent - should keep their current rights, rather than the government "inventing a new status".
"It creates a type of second class citizenship for European Citizens in the UK," he added. "We don't see why their rights should be diminished and that would be the case in the proposal.
"In the end, it is the European Parliament that will say yes or no, and I can tell you it not will be a yes if the rights of European citizens - and also the rights of UK citizens living on the continent - will be diminished [and] cut off, like it is at the moment."
The letter stated: "The European Parliament will reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens, regardless of their nationality, less favourably than they are at present.
"This is a question of the basic fundamental rights and values that are at the heart of the European project."

'Form-filling'

It added: "In early 2019, MEPs will have a final say on the Brexit deal. We will work closely with the EU negotiator and the 27 member states to help steer negotiations."
A spokesperson for the UK government said the letter contained a "number of inaccuracies" which could cause unnecessary and needless concern to UK and EU citizens.
Mr Green, who as first secretary of state is a close ally of Theresa May's, told BBC Radio 4's Today that it was clear that EU citizens would have to comply with "basic" immigration rules after the UK leaves the EU to establish their identity and nationality.
But he insisted: "That is not an insuperable barrier. We all fill in forms when we go on holiday and have to get visas and all that."
He suggested the UK was doing "precisely" what the EU was calling for.
"Somebody who is here now will keep the rights they already have and we hope that British citizens living in other EU countries will keep the rights they already have...The basic rights will be preserved so that should not be an obstacle to a final deal."

Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...