AFP - Egyptians will head to the polls on March 26-28 in the first round of a presidential election, National Elections Authority chief Lasheen Ibrahim said on Monday.

A second round would be held on April 24-26 if required, he told a news conference in Cairo.

AFP - Conjoined twin girls born in the blockaded Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip were separated in "successful" surgery in Riyadh Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.

AFP - Andy Murray announced he had hip surgery in Australia on Monday and was hoping to return to competitive tennis in time for the grasscourt season midway through the year.

The 30-year-old Scot has not played competitively since Wimbledon last year and last week withdrew from this month's Australian Open.

AFP - Regime forces upped the pressure on two of the last rebel bastions in Syria, with air strikes in Idlib province and a move to break a siege near Damascus Monday.

Syrian and Russian aircraft pounded targets in the northwestern region of Idlib, pressing a week-old operation targeting the last province in the country to escape government control.

AFP - Mercedes-Benz said Monday it had defended its top spot as the world's biggest luxury carmaker in 2017, with a surge in sales, particularly in China, enabling it to clock up another record year.

 AFP - After a rollercoaster year for the tech world, many industry leaders are looking to the cutting edge for salvation.

As tech industry players converge in Las Vegas for the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, an overriding theme is that gizmos, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and superfast internet connections hold answers to many if not all ills -- the new religion.

BBC - The new year is a time when many plan to shape up after the excesses of the festive period.

Now there is good news for those who fear it might be too late in life to improve their fitness.

AFP - Thirteen youths were killed on Saturday by "armed elements" in the Casamance region of southern Senegal, an area ravaged by armed conflict for more than three decades, a security source said.

AFP - The Los Angeles Lakers snapped a nine-game NBA losing streak on Sunday with a 132-113 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Brandon Ingram scored 20 points to lead the Lakers, who hadn't won a game since a December 20 victory over the Houston Rockets.

F24 - French President Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath in front of the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Sunday to mark three years since the massacre of its staff in an Islamist attack.