NEWS BREAK FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Turkey said eight of its troops were killed Saturday in Ankara's military operation against a Syrian Kurdish militia, the deadliest day in the two-week-old offensive in the enclave of Afrin, while in another part of Syria, al-Qaida-linked militants downed a Russian fighter jet, then shot and killed the pilot. In a statement late Saturday, the Turkish military said five soldiers were killed after their tank in Syria came under attack near Afrin. The soldiers could not be saved despite all attempts, it said. Earlier in the day, three Turkish soldiers were reported killed in the Afrin offensive — one was killed in the area of the tank attack, another in northern Syria and the third on the Turkish side of the border in what Ankara said was an attack by Syrian Kurdish militiamen. The total death toll for Turkish troops since the operation, codenamed Olive Branch, started on Jan. 20 now stands at 13. Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writers Jim Heintz...

Director Zack Snyder is clearly a big fan of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Its influence is all over Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – most of all, in the thick-set, grey Batsuit worn by Ben Affleck in the movie. However, at a very early stage of the production, the plan was for Batman to look quite different. Concept artist Jerad S. Marantz has shared a design for the Dark Knight’s outfit that’s a world away from the stripped-back costume seen in the finished film. This suit is a heavily armoured model with a chrome, metallic colour scheme. Also, fans will note the comic book accurate white eyes. Marantz explained in his caption that the design was only entertained for about a week before the decision was made to go back to basics and produce a “classic Batman,” as the artist puts it.     “Believe it or not This was a very early pass on the #batmanvssuperman#batsuit . Before we got the note to do a classic #Batman I was exploring futuristic and ...

YouTube has been making efforts to improve its transparency, which is why anyone viewing news broadcasts on the platform may notice a change starting today. If a news video has received any public funding or government support, YouTube will show a notice below the video. This only applies to videos that are uploaded by news organizations. The feature starts rolling out today for US users only, and YouTube cautions that there may be bumps in the road to its implementation: "We don't expect it to be perfect," the release said. Eventually, the company plans to expand this feature. In the meantime, users can use the "send feedback" option to flag imperfect implementation. As the landscape between online news and ads becomes more muddled, increasing transparency is an important step to take. Both Twitter and Facebook have put regulations into place that require people who run political ads to disclose who is behind them. It's good that YouTube is takin...

PayPal COO Bill Ready contends eBay’s decision to ditch the company and use Adyen to process payments moving forward is actually good for PayPal.  On Wednesday, eBay announced it plans to use smaller European competitor Adyen to process payments on the back-end once its original partnership with PayPal runs out in 2020 — news that initially sent PayPal stock down as much as 8.8% in one day.   Under the original terms of the agreement, eBay uses PayPal as its primary payments provider, meaning that the majority of transactions processed on eBay were processed through PayPal. In exchange, PayPal was restricted in how it works with other marketplaces that compete with eBay. While PayPal was free to work with marketplaces that rival eBay, PayPal couldn’t offer the same degree of services to other marketplaces. But come July 2020, that will change. Under the new terms PayPal and eBay agreed upon, which will last until 2023, PayPal will be free to work with other ma...

The parents of a Kentucky teenager who was fatally shot in a mass shooting at her high school this week said their daughter called them as the violent scene unfolded in the background. Bailey Holt, 15, was one of two students killed at Marshall County High School in western Kentucky on Tuesday after a classmate allegedly opened fire, killing them both and injuring at least 18 others, authorities said. "She called me and all I could hear was voices, chaos in the background," Bailey's mother, Secret Holt, told ABC affiliate WKRN on Wednesday. "She couldn't say anything and I tried to call her name over and over and over and she never responded." "We rushed to the high school, and they wouldn't let us get through," she said. Secret Holt said she knew something was wrong when she didn't see her daughter on any of the buses that were used to transport the surviving students to a nearby school. "We waited and waited for h...

A man has been arrested after an eight-year-old girl was stabbed to death near Walsall, West Midlands police said. Officers were called to an address in Brownhills at about 9.15pm on Saturday and found the girl, named by police as Mylee Billingham, with serious injuries. She was taken to hospital and died a short time later. A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He was treated in hospital for a stab wound to his stomach. Police said on Sunday morning that he was in a stable condition and would be questioned in due course. A neighbour, Graham Greatrex, 74, told how he helped comfort Mylee’s mother after the schoolgirl was discovered badly wounded. He said: “I just offered her a warm drink because it was a bitterly cold night. “She was in shock.” On Sunday the home was being searched by forensics experts. The house is believed to belong to the local authority and is one of a row of terraced bungalows in the street. Greatrex said that a man had live...

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a late brace in Real Madrid's 7-1 demolition of Deportivo La Coruna, only to leave the field covered in blood and peering into a mobile phone. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was a picture of frustration, passing up simple chances as Gareth Bale turned the match emphatically in Madrid's favour on the back of Adrian Lopez's 23rd-minute opener for Depor. Ronaldo made it 5-1 by converting Casemiro's cross from close range and a brave header from Lucas Vazquez's centre gave him a sixth LaLiga goal of the campaign. It came at a price, as Fabian Schar's boot left the 32-year-old with a nasty cut above his left eye. Looking like a prize-fighter rather than a prize-winning forward, Ronaldo was led from the field by Madrid's doctor and borrowed a phone that seemingly belonged to the medic to inspect the damage – surely an act more concerned with surgery than selfies. After the match, head coach ZInedine Zidane confirme...