Sri Lanka is to set up special  courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to  billions of dollars under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa,  the government said today.
The move, designed to accelerate the process of trying  such cases, follows criticism over the slow pace of justice  under the government elected three years ago.
President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015  promising to stamp out corruption and punish members of the  former administration accused of stealing vast sums from Sri  Lanka's coffers during Rajapaksa's decade in power.
"There will be special three-judge high courts set up  exclusively to hear bribery and corruption cases which are  currently clogging the lower courts," the government said in a  statement.
Sirisena has said as many as half of all public  procurement contracts under the Rajapaksa administration were  corrupt and the new government has renegotiated several  multi-billion dollar projects.
Rajapaksa's chief aide Lalith ...

Sri Lanka sets up special courts for Rajapaksa-era graft

PTI Automatic

Yemeni ministers were holed up in  Aden's presidential palace today after separatist forces  seized effective control of the southern port city, dealing  another blow to the country's embattled government.
The UN agency for humanitarian affairs reported a  "cautious calm" in the city, but damage to aid distribution  channels and donor nation confidence had already been  inflicted.
Kuwait's deputy foreign minister Khaled al-Jarallah  said the infighting in Yemen's de facto capital had prompted  his country to halt multi-million dollar development  programmes.
In Aden, pro-separatist forces backed by the UAE known  as the "security belt" fanned out across the city after three  days of fighting that left 38 people dead.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have backed  the beleaguered government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi  since intervening against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen's civil  war in March 2015.
But the Arab allies, whose military coalition was  launched to roll ...

Separatists pin down Yemen government as aid hangs in balance

The top US public health  official resigned today due to financial conflicts of  interest, a day after US media reported she bought tobacco  stocks while heading the US Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention.
A statement from the US Department of Health and Human  Services confirmed that it had accepted the resignation of CDC  director Brenda Fitzgerald.
"Dr Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial  interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her  ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC director,"  said the statement by spokesman Matt Lloyd.
"Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr.  Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time  period."
On Tuesday, POLITICO reported that Fitzgerald bought  shares in a tobacco, drug and food companies just weeks after  taking the job.
Among the CDC's top responsibilities is reducing  smoking, which is a top killer and leading cause of lung  cancer and heart disease.
Fitzgerald, a medical doctor and ...

Top US health official resigns in conflict of interest

Formula One has ended the practice  of using scantily clad "grid girls" before races, the sport's  organisers Liberty Media said on Wednesday.
They said the practice of having the women milling  about in the grid area before races was "clearly at odds with  modern day societal norms".
Darts took a similar decision this month, banning the  women who walk on with the players before matches.
"Over the last year we have looked at a number of  areas which we felt needed updating so as to be more in tune  with our vision for this great sport," said Sean Bratches,  Managing Director, Commercial Operations at Formula 1.
"While the practice of employing grid girls has been a  staple of Formula 1 Grands Prix for decades, we feel this  custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is  at odds with modern day societal norms."
Bratches said the practice was not "appropriate or  relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the  world."
The new Formula One season begins on ...

Formula One abolishes 'grid girls'

President Vladimir Putin told  Russian Olympic athletes today that he was sorry his  government had not protected them from the fallout of a doping  scandal.
Speaking to athletes set to take part in the Pyeongchang  Games, the Kremlin leader also denounced as "strange" the  exclusion of many Russian athletes from the upcoming Winter  Olympics over doping.
"Forgive us for not having been able to shield you from  this," Putin said, adding that the scandal had contributed to  "very difficult conditions" for athletes.
The International Olympic Committee banned Russia from  the 2018 Olympics after a report on a vast, Moscow-backed  doping scheme in previous Games.
Only 169 of Russia's athletes have been allowed to take  part in the Games under a neutral flag as an "Olympic Athlete  from Russia".
"For us certain things are truly strange," Putin said in  televised remarks.
"I wish you luck," Putin said, adding he wanted them to  be "courageous".
"Hundreds of thousands, millions of fans who ..

Putin sorry for not 'shielding' athletes from doping scandal

Putin sorry for not 'shielding' Russia athletes from doping

An official in a Myanmar town hit by  deadly riots about a fortnight ago has been murdered, the  government said today, as tensions remain high in restive  Rakhine state.
Bobo Min Hteik, 37, was the administrator of Mrauk U  township, where police shot dead seven ethnic Rakhine  Buddhists on January 16 in a heavy-handed attempt to control a  mob angry at the cancellation of a ceremony.
He was found dead on the side of the road on Tuesday  evening next to a car, with stab wounds to the chest and  shoulder, according to a statement from the Ministry of Home  Affairs.
It is unclear whether the killing was linked to the  riots, which erupted after authorities blocked a local event  commemorating Mrauk U's history as the former capital of an  ancient Rakhine Buddhist kingdom.
The protesters briefly seized a government office and  hoisted the Rakhine state flag before police shot into the  crowd.
It has not been established who gave the order for police  to use live ammunition.
Three days ..

Myanmar official murdered weeks after Rakhine riots

President Vladimir Putin today  denounced as "strange" the exclusion of Russian athletes from  the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over alleged state-  sponsored doping.
"For us certain things are truly strange," Putin said in  televised remarks as he spoke to the country's team ahead of  the Games starting February 9 in South Korea.

Putin says exclusion of Russian athletes from Olympic Games

French police today detained  prominent Swiss Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, a legal source  said, months after two women filed rape charges against him.
The Oxford professor was summoned for questioning to a  Paris police station and taken into custody "as part of a  preliminary inquiry in Paris into rape and assault  allegations", the source said.
Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of Egypt's Muslim  Brotherhood Islamist movement, has furiously denied rape  allegations from two women that emerged late last year, as the  Harvey Weinstein scandal unfurled in the US.
Henda Ayari, a feminist activist, says Ramadan raped her  in a Paris hotel room in 2012, while an unnamed disabled woman  also accused the academic of raping her in a hotel room in  Lyon in 2009.
In November, Oxford University announced that 55-year-old  Ramadan was taking a leave of absence from his post as  professor of contemporary Islamic studies, "by mutual  agreement".
Popular among conservative Muslims and a ...

Rape-accused Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan held in Paris: legal

Beijing criticised the "outdated  Cold War mentality" of the United States today after President  Donald Trump named China among threats to American values in  his State of the Union address.
In recent weeks, US officials have laid the groundwork  for a strategic pivot that envisions a world of renewed great  power competition with the likes of Russia and China.
In his State of the Union address to Congress and the  nation on Tuesday, Trump described Moscow and Beijing as  challenging "our interests, our economy, and our values".
In Beijing today, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the  common interests of the US and China "far outweigh our  differences and disagreements".
A steady relationship with the United States is "also in  the interest of the whole world," Li said after meeting with  British Prime Minister Theresa May.
"China hopes that the United States will work with us and  continue to view this relationship in a positive overall  perspective," he said.
But Chinese foreign ...

China urges Trump to drop 'Cold War mentality'

President Donald Trump has told  a lawmaker he plans to release a secret Republican memo  alleging that a politically motivated Department of Justice  and the FBI flagrantly abused regulations to spy on his  campaign.
The issue of the memo has gripped Washington just as the  Russia meddling probe edges closer to the White House.
Republicans are keen to see the four-page memo -- written  by Republican lawmaker Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House  Intelligence Committee and a close defender of Trump --  released, and his committee voted to do so.
After finishing his State of the Union address Tuesday  night, Trump was caught on television cameras telling a  Republican lawmaker who urged him to release it, "Don't worry,  100 per cent."
Democrats say the memo is highly distorted and political,  and ultimately aims to discredit special prosecutor Robert  Mueller's probe of possible collusion between the Trump  campaign and Russia in the 2016 election.
According to news reports citing ...

Trump '100 percent' for releasing explosive memo

Mominul Haque hit a towering  century to help Bangladesh take opening day honours in the  first Test against Sri Lanka in Chittagong on Wednesday.
Mominul hit an unbeaten 175 as the hosts reached 374-4  at stumps after electing to bat first at the Zahur Ahmed  Chowdhury Stadium.
The left-hander shared a 236-run third-wicket stand  with former captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who fell just short of  his fifth Test hundred after scoring 92 off 192 balls.
Skipper Mahmudullah Riyad, on nine, was batting  alongside Mominul when stumps were drawn at the start of the  two-match series.
Suranga Lakmal struck with the second new ball to  claim two wickets off successive deliveries and give Sri Lanka  some respite late into the final session.
Lakmal, who returned figures of 2-43, forced Mushfiqur  to edge behind the stumps after the batsman had struck 10  fours in his relatively sedate innings.
The medium-pacer bowled Liton Das for a duck with the  next ball, which swung late to uproot the off-stump ...

Ton-up Mominul powers Bangladesh to 374-4 on day one

Five Thai teens and a 20-year-old  were sentenced to between nearly 3.5 and 11.5 years in prison  today for setting fire to royal portraits, their lawyers said.
Thailand has one of the harshest royal defamation laws in  the world and aggressively polices any perceived slight to its  ultra-rich royal family, whose portraits are plastered across  billboards and storefronts around the kingdom.
Lese majeste cases are highly sensitive and all media  based in Thailand are forced to heavily self-censor to avoid  falling foul of the law.
The six young men, five of whom are in their late teens,  were arrested in May 2017 in the northeastern province of Khon  Kaen after allegedly vandalising royal portraits.
"The charges included lese majeste, arson, criminal  association and destroying property," said a spokesperson for  Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), who represented the  defendants in a provincial court.
The 20-year-old and three others were convicted of two  cases of burning royal ...

Thai teens handed years-long sentences for burning royal

Prime Minister Theresa May touted  today a "golden era" of Sino-British relations with deeper  trade ties after Britain leaves the European Union, but her  visit to Beijing was dogged by a Brexit row at home.
As she embarked on a three-day visit to the Asian giant,  May batted away critics of her leadership on Brexit and  domestic issues, including within her Conservative party.
"First and foremost, I'm serving my country and my party.  I'm not a quitter and there's a long-term job to be done," she  told reporters travelling with her.
The House of Lords is scrutinising a key piece of  legislation on quitting the EU as a leaked government report  shows only economic downsides to leaving the bloc.
May discussed Brexit with Premier Li Keqiang when they  met at the imposing Great Hall of the People, where both  leaders boasted about their "golden era" of relations and the  potential for trade ties.
"We are determined to deepen our trading relationship  even further and we are ambitious ...

Brexit dogs May as she eyes 'golden era' with China

Haim Gouri, the Israeli poet who  fought with an elite combat unit, covered the trial of Adolf  Eichmann and became a national icon, died today aged 94, his  family said.
Gouri published more than 20 books, with his poetry  including reflections on his time as part of the elite Palmach  combat unit predating Israel's founding.
He fought in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 surrounding  Israel's creation the same year and served as a reserve  officer in the Six-Day War of 1967.
After the Holocaust, he was sent to Europe to help Jewish  refugees migrate into what was then British mandatory  Palestine.
A number of his poems were set to music and became  popular songs in Israel. His coverage of the trial of Nazi war  criminal Eichmann later became a book, "Facing the Glass  Booth."
Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, Gouri came from a politically  engaged family, with his father part of the Mapai party of  Israeli founding father and prime minister David Ben-Gurion.
Gouri was also a documentary ...

Gouri, Israeli poet-warrior and national icon, dies at 94

Brazil's fiery leftwing former  president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, retains a strong lead  ahead of presidential elections despite his conviction on  graft charges, according to an opinion poll today.
An appeals court last week upheld a money laundering and  corruption conviction against Lula and imposed a more than 12  year prison sentence. The sentence means that the Workers'  Party founder and icon of the Latin American left has few  avenues left to being allowed to run in October's election.
Despite the scandal, Lula remains a clear frontrunner,  the respected Datafolha pollsters found in the first survey  since the appeals court decision.
In the poll, published by Folha de S. Paulo newspaper,  Lula would get between 34 and 37 percent of votes in a first  round on October 7.
This is far ahead of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro,  who polls with 16 to 18 percent, according to Datafolha.
A crowded field is currently disputing third place in the  poll, including environmentalist .

Lula leads Brazil polls despite graft conviction

Hillary Clinton says she should  have sacked a male staffer accused of sexual misconduct while  working on her 2008 presidential campaign.
Clinton made the remarks in a lengthy Facebook post  Tuesday night just minutes before President Donald Trump began  his State of the Union address.
"I very much understand the question I'm being asked as  to why I let an employee on my 2008 campaign keep his job  despite his inappropriate workplace behavior," Clinton wrote.  "The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I  wouldn't."
The aide, Burns Strider, was accused by a younger female  subordinate of repeated sexual harassment in late 2007.
Two advisers looked into the complaints and recommended  that Strider be fired, according to the New York Times, which  first broke the story. Clinton overruled them, although she  did punish Strider.
Clinton said she demoted him, docked his pay, separated  him from the woman, assigned her to work under another  campaign official and required Strider 

Clinton says she should have fired aide accused of sexual

The Vatican has chastised a Hong  Kong cardinal who accused the Holy See of "selling out" to  Beijing for reportedly promoting bishops endorsed by the  Chinese government.
Although Beijing and the Vatican have improved relations  in recent years as China's Catholic population has grown, they  remain at odds over which side has the authority to ordain  bishops.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of semi-autonomous  Hong Kong, confirmed an AsiaNews website report that a Vatican  diplomat asked two underground Chinese bishops recognised by  the Vatican to resign in favour of state-sanctioned prelates.
China's roughly 12 million Catholics are divided between  a government-run association, whose clergy are chosen by the  Communist Party, and an unofficial church which swears  allegiance to the Vatican.
China and the Vatican severed diplomatic relations in  1951, but Pope Francis has sought to improve ties since  becoming head of the Holy See in 2013.
"Do I think that the Vatican is ...

Vatican rebukes Hong Kong cardinal over China bishops

A 17-year-old girl was killed in a  Turkish border town today by rockets launched from Syria,  officials said, as Turkey presses its offensive against a  Syrian Kurdish militia.
Ankara began a cross-border operation dubbed "Olive  Branch" supporting Syrian rebels with air strikes and ground  troops in northern Syria against the People's Protection Units  (YPG) militia and its western enclave of Afrin on January 20.
Another individual was also hurt after two rockets hit  Reyhanli in Hatay province from northern Syria, the district  mayor Huseyin Sanverdi said in a statement.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a press  conference in Ankara that 17-year-old Fatma Avlar was killed  in a rocket attack.
According to state-run news agency Anadolu she died after  she was taken to hospital.
The agency added that the rockets were launched by the  YPG and hit two different houses.
A few hours later, at least one new rocket hit a street  in the centre of Reyhanli, not far from where the .

Teen killed in Turkey by rockets from Syria: official

Japan will be without talisman Kei  Nishikori when they host Italy this week for a place in the  Davis Cup quarter-finals.
With Nishikori only just returning from a wrist injury  that had sidelined him for five months, Japan's challenge in  Morioka will be spearheaded by Yuichi Sugita, who won his  first ATP tour singles title in Turkey last summer.
Former champions Italy, making their first visit to  Japan, have named world number 22 Fabio Fognini and 46th-  ranked Paolo Lorenzi with Andreas Seppi, Thomas Fabbiano and  Simone Bolelli also among Corrado Barazzutti's team.
Japan captain Satoshi Iwabuchi has called up world number  100 Taro Daniel alongside the 41st-ranked Sugita in singles,  with Go Soeda offering experience alongside Yasutaka Uchiyama  and Kiwi-born Ben Mclachlan, who recently reached the  Australian Open doubles semi-finals.
Japan are looking to reach the quarter-finals of the  Davis Cup for only the second time after Nishikori helped them  reach the last eight in ...

Nishikori-less Japan face Italian job in Davis Cup

Bangladesh have included veteran  spinner Abdur Razzak in place of injured Shakib Al Hasan for  the first Test against Sri Lanka, a team official said today.
Shakib was ruled out of the Test starting Wednesday in  Chittagong after injuring a little finger during the tri-  series final against the islanders last weekend.
The 35-year-old Razzak, who bowls left-arm spin, was  recalled to the side four years after he played his last Test  against the West Indies in 2014.
"It is not easy to find a replacement for Shakib. We need  someone experienced to replace him. Sunzamul has yet to play  any Test, so we recalled Razzak," said chief selector Minhajul  Abedin.
"Now we will see his fitness in training before we  finally include him in the playing team," he said.
Razzak, one of three Bangladeshis to take more than 200  wickets in one-day internationals, played only 12 Tests after  making his debut in 2006. He picked up 23 wickets.
He showed his form with the red ball in the ongoing  ...

AFP

AFP

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