TOKYO (AP) — Tsunekazu Takeda is stepping down as the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee amid a vote-buying scandal that French investigators suspect helped Tokyo land next year’s Olympics.

Takeda announced Tuesday at the committee’s executive board meeting that he will resign when his term ends in June, and he again denied corruption allegations against him.

THE HAGUE, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The man suspected of shooting three people dead and injuring five others on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday morning has been arrested, local police said.

The arrest coincided with the conclusion of a joint press conference held by Utrecht Mayor, Jan van Zanen, the public prosecutor and the police, who were just describing the continuing hunt for the suspect.

Prior to the arrest, Utrecht police described the suspect as Turkey-born, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis.

Hyderabad, Mar 18 (PTI) AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who filed his nomination for Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency on Monday, declared assets worth more than Rs 13 crore.

His immovable assets are worth over Rs 12 crore and movable assets are over Rs 1.67 crore, according to the affidavit submitted by him while filing nomination.

He owns no motor vehicle, but has one NP Bore .22 pistol worth Rs 1 lakh and one NP Bore 30-60 rifle worth Rs 1 lakh.

Ahmedabad, Mar 18 (PTI) A teenage girl was allegedly raped by a man claiming to be an exorcist in a village in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat, police said Monday.

The parents of the 14-year-old survivor had approached the accused, a self-styled exorcist, for help as their daughter had not been keeping well, said a Kalyanpur police station official in the district.

The incident took place Sunday at Bhatvadiya village, around 400km from Ahmedabad, he said.

KANPUR: Harcourt Butler Technical University graduate students will now have a chance of obtaining admission in a PhD course. Only those B. Tech students will be admitted who passed their graduation with 75% marks or more. A change has been brought in the regulation for the PhD admission.

18 Mar 2019; AFP: New Zealand will tighten gun laws in the wake of its worst modern-day massacre, the government said Monday, as it emerged that the white supremacist accused of carrying out the killings at two mosques will represent himself in court.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her coalition was unified on the need to reduce the availability of the kind of weapons used by Brenton Tarrant as he went room to room shooting Muslims gathered for Friday prayers.

17 Mar 2019; AFP: Democrats led by an Arab-American lawmaker attacked President Donald Trump's "silence" on the rise of white supremacy Sunday as reaction to the New Zealand mosque massacre spilled into a heated US debate over religious and racial bigotry.

18 Mar 2019; AFP: Lying outside a Christchurch mosque, bleeding from a gunshot wound that tore through his chest, Abbas Tahir Endrise was unable to muster any words in what he feared was a final phone call to his pregnant wife.

Now after intensive work by Christchurch doctors, he can breathe for himself and squeeze her hand.

18 Mar 2019; AFP: China on Monday defended its controversial security crackdown in the fractious far west region of Xinjiang, saying nearly 13,000 "terrorists" have been arrested there since 2014.

Beijing has come under international criticism over its policies in the region, where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps, according to human rights groups.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military is mulling about leaving up to 1,000 troops in Syria, further drifting away from President Donald Trump's original plan of a total withdrawal, said U.S. media on Sunday.

The troops will be deployed from northern Syria to the south, continuing to work with Kurdish fighters, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous administration officials.

The U.S. officials said the number of Western troops to be left in Syria is still to be decided.

CANBERRA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Opposition Leader has backed calls for the creation of a national database of hate crimes following the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Bill Shorten, leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), told Fairfax Media that the proposal makes perfect sense, saying that hate crimes were often a stepping stone to attacks like that which rocked New Zealand on Friday.

CHICAGO, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Boeing said Sunday it is finalizing a software update and pilot training revision related to MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) in 737 Max, following two deadly air crashes in less than five months.