“As a direct follow-up to last week’s European Council decision to react to Russia within a common framework, already today 14 member states have decided to expel Russian diplomats,” Tusk told a news conference in Varna, Bulgaria.

“Additional measures including further expulsions are not to be excluded in the coming days and weeks.”

The move came after British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed fellow European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels to urge them to support Britain’s assessment that Russia was to blame.

The 28 EU states issued a statement saying they agreed it was highly likely Russia was responsible for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4, and ordered the recall of the bloc’s ambassador to Moscow.

Germany, France and Poland have so far said they will each expel four Russia diplomats, the Czech Republic and Lithuania three, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands two, and Latvia one.

The United States also announced it was expelling 60 diplomats and closing the Russian consulate in Seattle.//AFP

According to 100%’s management Top Media, Minwoo, 33, was found without a pulse at his home in the Gangnam district in Seoul. When first responders arrived at the scene, the singer was declared dead.

Top Media released a statement which read: “His family, 100% members, Top Media colleagues, artists, and staff members are all grief-stricken and mourning due to the unexpected sad news.

Because everyone who knows Minwoo is aware of his kindheartedness and faithfulness, the sadness is even greater. His funeral will be carried out quietly in respect to his family’s wishes. We express our deepest condolences for his final path.”

    The powerful photo, taken by a professor at Nasir Khusraw private university in central Afghanistan, has gone viral after striking a chord in a country where most women are illiterate and treated as second-class citizens.

The picture has sparked an outpouring of admiration and offers of financial help for the 25-year-old mother of three.

“I don’t want to be deprived of my studies,” Ahmadi, who comes from a remote farming village in Daikundi province where wheat, corn and potatoes provide a meagre income, told AFP in Kabul.

“I want to work outside the house. I want to become a doctor, someone who serves women in my community or society.”

Ahmadi passed the exam after undertaking an arduous journey to reach the provincial capital Nili — two hours on foot through mountains and nine hours in public transport on a bumpy road.

An online GoFundMe campaign launched by the Afghan Youth Association to help pay for her university fees has so far raised more than $14,000 — a fortune in a country where about 39 percent of the population lives in poverty.

Ahmadi appears a little bemused by the attention triggered by the photo of her cradling baby Khizran during the exam last month, which she only found out about later.

“My friends in the village told me ‘you have been photographed’. I said ‘how did I not know that I was being photographed and they said ‘you were concentrating on the paper,” she said, smiling shyly.

At the beginning of the test, which was held outdoors, Ahmadi sat at a desk with Khizran in her lap.

But the infant had an ear ache and would not stop crying. To keep her quiet and not disturb others, Ahmadi sat on the ground in the shade of another person — and kept writing.

“I had to concentrate on the baby and do the paper,” she said.

– University a ‘life goal’ –

Ahmadi’s story has resonated with social media users across the country, who have praised her determination to be educated.

“You are a true world champion, you have shown that a Hazara girl can do anything in any conditions or circumstances,” Nazar Hussein Akbari wrote on Facebook, referring to her ethnicity.

Another user posted: “I hope this hard-working woman reaches her goals.”

Afghan women’s rights activist Zahra Yagana was also impressed. She contacted Ahmadi and convinced her to come to Kabul to study.

The family is staying with Yagana while she helps Ahmadi get into a private university in the Afghan capital.

“If she had to study in Daikundi it would be difficult for her,” Yagana told AFP at her apartment.

“The standard of education is low. There is no student hostel in Daikundi and she would have to live in a rented house.

“We will give her a house (in Kabul). There are many friends who have promised to help her. We are trying to find a job for her husband and also raise money for her children to go to school.”

For Ahmadi, this would be the fulfilment of her dreams.

“My life goal was to get admitted into university,” said Ahmadi, who finished high school after she got married at the age of 18.

“But due to our poor economic situation and poverty I could not afford to study for three or four years.”

Afghanistan’s general literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world — just 36 percent, according to official figures. It is much lower for women.

“I don’t want to be left behind,” she said.//AFP

    A team of at least nine South Korean pop acts are set to visit North Korea next week for two concerts in Pyongyang, the first of their kind for more than a decade.

The shows — part of reconciliatory moves ahead of a planned inter-Korean summit in April — feature many top stars including K-pop girlband Red Velvet.

But Seoul is also seeking to include Psy in the lineup, South Korean media reports said, citing sources in the government and the K-pop industry.

The 40-year-old rapper/singer became an international sensation in 2012 when his wacky but catchy “Gangnam Style” music video went viral on Youtube, pushing him into global stardom.

The song satirised the lifestyle of the wealthy denizens of Gangnam in Seoul, the South’s richest district, and the video has been viewed more than 3 billion times, spawning a host of imitations.

“We have formally proposed to the North to add Psy to the lineup,” Seoul’s MBC TV station late Sunday quoted a Seoul government official as saying.

But Pyongyang opposed the idea, it said, adding the conservative North was apparently concerned about the singer’s provocative performance style.

Psy has in the past stripped topless on stage in the South and his lyrics include Korean swearwords, while spectators at shows by the North’s popular Moranbong band remain firmly seated throughout.

The K-pop gigs are part of a cross-border deal made earlier this month when Seoul envoys met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to pave the way for dialogue after months of tensions on the flashpoint peninsula.

Kim offered to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in before having a face-to-face summit with US President Donald Trump, the envoys said, and Trump agreed to the rendezvous.

North Korea has not officially confirmed or denied the proposed summits.

The South’s TV dramas and pop songs have taken Asia by storm and despite not being broadcast in the isolated North are known to enjoy growing popularity thanks to flash drives smuggled across the border with China.

The authoritarian nation harshly punishes those who possess or view outside cultural material unsanctioned by the state, with offenders facing potential jail terms.//AFP

She is seeking to be released from a non-disclosure agreement she signed 11 days before the 2016 presidential election that brought Trump to power, for which she was paid $130,000 — leading to allegations that the payment amounted to an illicit contribution to his campaign.

Trump had never asked her to keep their 2006 sexual encounter secret, but that changed when she agreed to sell her story to a magazine for $15,000 in 2011, Daniels said.

“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. Taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the back seat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out,” she said.

“And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom,'” Daniels said.

Cooper asked: “You took it as a direct threat?”

“Absolutely,” Daniels said.

“I was rattled, I remember going into the workout class and my hands were shaking so much I was afraid I was gonna drop her,” she said of her daughter.

Magazine spanking

Daniels recounted an encounter with Trump at his hotel suite in 2006 that she said was the only time they had sex.

The conversation “started off all about him, just talking about himself,” with Trump asking if Daniels had seen his picture on the cover of a magazine, she said.

“I was like, does this, does this normally work for you? And he looked very taken back.”

She told him: “Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.”

She took the magazine and told Trump to drop his pants, which he did — with underwear still on — “and I just gave him a couple swats,” said Daniels.

The real estate mogul “was a completely different person” after that, and he stopped talking about himself.

Trump told her, “‘Wow, you, you are special. You remind me of my daughter.’ You know, he’s like, ‘You’re smart, beautiful and a woman to be reckoned with,'” she said.

Daniels said she and Trump had unprotected sex, despite the fact that she was not attracted to a man who was over 30 years her senior.

But “I didn’t say no. I’m not a victim,” Daniels said.

She stayed in contact with Trump after the encounter because the tycoon said he would try to get her on “The Apprentice,” the reality TV show he hosted at the time.

“I thought of it as a business deal,” she said.

‘I’m telling the truth’

Daniels said her main motive for speaking out now was to set the record straight.

“I’m not okay with being made out to be a liar,” she insisted.

Asked what she would say to Trump if he were watching the interview, she said: “He knows I’m telling the truth.”

While Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet about the alleged fling, the White House has denied any sexual encounter between him and Daniels.

Trump arrived back at the White House shortly before the interview aired on Sunday. First Lady Melania Trump remained in Florida for spring break.

Daniels did not discuss evidence to back her encounter with Trump, the possibility of which was teased by her lawyer prior to the interview.

Michael Avenatti posted a picture on Twitter of a computer disc along with the text: “If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth????? #60minutes #pleasedenyit.”

Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — earlier this month seeking to toss out non-disclosure agreement, for which she was paid by Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Cohen claimed that Daniels is liable for at least $20 million for violating the agreement — $1 million for each time she did so, in a court filing made prior to the CBS interview.

“This is about the cover-up,” Avenatti said on “60 Minutes.”

“This is about the extent that Mr Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her.”

    Russian television showed images of thick black smoke pouring out of the Winter Cherry shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, which also houses a sauna, a bowling alley and a multiplex cinema and was packed with people on Sunday afternoon.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the roof collapsed in two theatres in the cinema in the blaze which erupted at around 4pm (0900 GMT).

Witnesses told Russian television that some did not hear alarms or did not take them seriously and that the fire took hold very quickly, leaving many children separated from their parents.

“The alarm system didn’t work, people ran out screaming and in panic”, said a teenager, Milena, who had visited the mall with her parents.

Emergency services minister Vladimir Puchkov said on Russian television: “We have recorded that unfortunately as a result of the accident 64 people died”, up from a previous toll of 56.

He said “64 is the final figure”, and included six people still buried under the rubble.

The preliminary findings of an inquiry said the fire started in one of the cinemas and destroyed more than 1,000 square metres (1,200 square yards) of the centre, news agencies reported.

The local office of Russia’s emergency services ministry said the fire broke out on the top floor of the four-storey mall, causing floors and the roof to collapse.

One witness, Anastasia Klepova, told Rossiya 24 television: “The evacuation signal only went off twice. We didn’t believe in the evacuation at first, we thought maybe rubbish had caught fire in the toilet.”

“We emerged out of darkness and smoke. We were already all black. In two or three minutes, such smoke had risen up.”

Witnesses said many children were separated from adults, after coming to enjoy facilities including a trampoline centre.

‘It was just awful’ –

“People started running around, it was just awful. There were a lot of children, children without parents,” said witness Klepova.

“There were children and adults, they ran out in T-shirts… we tried to help bring out people,” said teenager Danila Plyut.

“The smell of plastic was very strong and the smoke was acrid on the top floor, you just could not go up there by then.”

Health minister Veronika Skvortsova said at the scene that the most seriously injured person was an 11-year-old boy who jumped from the top floor to escape the fire, which killed all his family, but there were hopes for his survival.

She said an 18-year-old boy was also seriously injured from jumping from the top floor, while nine other people were suffering from smoke inhalation.

On Monday more than 500 firefighters were struggling to break down walls and clear rubble amid smoke-filled air and high temperatures, deploying drones.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal inquiry and four people, including the tenant renting the premises where the fire broke out and the head of the company that manages the mall, had been arrested.

President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences and ordered the minister of emergency services to fly to the scene, the Kremlin said.

– ‘Where to look for people?’ –

Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said on Sunday.

“This shopping centre on several floors was packed with people midday Sunday. No one knows exactly how many people there were inside when the fire broke out,” Alexander Yeremeyev, an official with the local Russian emergency services ministry, said in a statement.

“Where to look for people? How many are there? That has greatly complicated the work of the firefighters,” he said, adding that the thick smoke was also hindering their task.

Some 300 firefighters and rescue personnel were rushed to the scene and the fire was brought under control late in the night, local emergency officials said.

It was the deadliest blaze in Russia in recent years.

A shopping mall fire in March 2015 killed 11 people in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan some 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of Moscow.

In April 2013, a fire ravaged a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, killing 38 people, most of them patients who were engulfed by flames as they slept behind barred windows.

Just months later, in September 2013, 37 people were killed when a fire swept through a psychiatric hospital in the village of Luka in northwest Russia.

In 2009, 156 were killed in a nightclub fire in the city of Perm, 1,200 kilometres east of Moscow in one of the deadliest accidents in Russia’s modern history.//AFP

The quake struck deep at some 171 kilometres (106 miles) below the earth’s surface in the Banda Sea, the US Geological Survey said.

A tsunami alert was initially triggered by the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS).

However IOTWMS followed up with a second bulletin that said there was “no threat to countries in the Indian Ocean”.

The quake’s epicentre was located in a sparsely inhabited part of the Banda Sea, 380 kilometres from Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.

Local officials said there were no reports of damage or injury.

“The tremor was felt mildly for two to three seconds by the locals, there was no panic and no tsunami threat,” disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

A similar 6.1-magnitude quake hit close to Monday’s epicentre on 26 February and caused no damage.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismic activity hotspot.

It is frequently hit by quakes, most of them harmless.

However the archipelago remains acutely alert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis.

In 2004 a devastating tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Ozeki, who lives in Nagoya, has written academic reports about the clothing, called “angin,” which is believed to date back to the Jomon period (ca 10,000 B.C-ca 300 B.C.).

According to Ritsumeikan University, she is the oldest person to obtain a doctoral degree in literature (a field not limited to the study of written works) among the nation’s universities.

Ozeki is a native of Aichi Prefecture. She graduated from a school for girls. At the age of about 30, after going through a divorce, she began producing dolls to earn a living.

Some officials of the junior college noticed her skills, and Ozeki was employed there as a lecturer in handicrafts in 1964. She worked in that role until 1995.

While studying the history of clothing, she became interested in the fact that dogu — clay figures produced in the Jomon period — appear to be wearing clothing with sleeves on which decorative patterns are featured. It prompted her to begin studying angin clothing.

To figure out how people produced clothes in the Jomon period, in which there were no looms, Ozeki visited 165 ruins of the period from the north to the south of the nation, traveling to Hokkaido and 21 other prefectures, in her late 50s to 80s.

She then analyzed the net-like patterns on the bases and other parts of excavated earthenware pieces. She checked the distances between the patterns’ lines and looked at the marks left by strings used to make the patterns to see how they had been twisted.

To work out things that could not be determined only by appearances, she actually wove replicas herself.

Through her examinations of skills and tools, Ozeki discovered that there had been various techniques for weaving cloth in the Jomon period.

On Saturday, Ozeki attended a ceremony where she received a certificate for the degree at Ritsumeikan University. “I’m full of emotion over being given a doctoral degree at this age. This is the most glorious event of my life,” she said, tearfully.