China has announced bans on beards and burkas in its remote violence-wracked Xinjiang region as part of tighter 'anti-extremism' regulations that also prohibit refusing to watch government propaganda.
	Xinjiang is the homeland of the Uighurs - a traditionally Muslim group, many of whom complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination.
	The area has been hit by a wave of deadly unrest, while authorities have stepped up already-strict controls and organised mass rallies of thousands of military police to indicate Chinese resolve in crushing security threats.
	The new regulations, which will come into force on Saturday, outline prohibitions on growing "abnormal" facial hair or wearing robes that cover the whole body and face.
	They also ban spreading "extremist ideas", refusing to watch or listen to government propaganda on radio or TV, and preventing children from receiving "national education", according to the text of regulations published on a government ...

China cracks down on Muslim practices in 'anti-extremist' push

PTI Automatic

Venezuela's Supreme Court took over legislative powers today, after ruling the opposition-majority National Assembly was in contempt of court in an ongoing power struggle with leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
	The ruling marks a dramatic escalation of the political crisis gripping the South American oil giant, where Maduro is fighting off attempts to force him from power amid an economic unraveling that has caused food shortages, riots and an epidemic of violent crime.
	"As long as the National Assembly's contempt of court and invalidity persist, parliamentary powers shall be exercised directly by (the Supreme Court's) constitutional chamber or by the body it stipulates to safeguard the rule of law," the high court said in the ruling, issued late yesterday.
	The court ruled in August 2016 that the opposition majority in the National Assembly was in contempt for swearing in three lawmakers who were suspended over alleged electoral fraud -- charges the opposition condemns as a ...

Venezuela Supreme Court grants itself legislative powers

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said today that the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was up to the war-ravaged country's people.
	Speaking after talks in Ankara, he added there was "no space" between Turkey and the US over fighting the so-called Islamic State group -- even as his Turkish counterpart reiterated a key point of discord.
	"I think the .. Longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people," Tillerson told a joint news conference with Mevut Cavusoglu in Ankara.
	Under Barack Obama's administration, the US made the departure of Assad a key policy aim, but new US President Donald Trump has put the accent firmly on defeating IS.
	Ties between Ankara and Washington were strained under Obama particularly over US cooperation with Syrian Kurdish militia fighting against the Islamic State group.
	Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as a "terror group" linked to Kurdish separatists waging an insurgency inside Turkey ...

Tillerson says Assad's long-term status up to Syrian people

Pope Francis plans to visit Ireland in August next year, the Vatican confirmed today, four months after Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced what will be a landmark trip.
	Francis, 80, "will do everything he can", to attend the World Meeting of Families, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a senior Vatican official, told journalists, as he announced plans and final dates (August 21-26, 2018) for the ninth edition of the gathering of Catholic families.
	Francis will be the first pope to visit Ireland since John Paul II in 1979. The country has undergone momentous social and economic change since then and the Church's influence in what was once one of the most fervently Catholic countries in the world is now greatly reduced.
	Kenny ruffled feathers by announcing the pope's plans to visit after an audience at the Vatican in November, at which point the Holy See had not even confirmed any of the pontiff's 2017 travel plans.
	The Taoiseach, as the Irish premier is titled, has praised Francis for .

Vatican confirms Pope Ireland visit - months after PM

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker joked today that he was ready to encourage Ohio or Texas to leave the United States should President Donald Trump continue to celebrate Brexit.
	"The newly elected president is delighted to see Britain leave" the European Union, Juncker told a congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Malta on the day after one of the bloc's biggest members started the exit process.
	"If he carries on, I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas,'" he said in German to chuckles from delegates in Valletta.
	Juncker, who was in Malta with EU President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, urged the remaining 27 EU nations to pull together.
	"Brexit is not the end of everything, but we must make it a beginning of something that will be new, stronger and better."
	Britons last year voted 52 percent to 48 percent in favour of Brexit, leaving the country bitterly divided.
	Trump ...

Juncker warns Trump over Brexit support

Culture ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised countries gathered in Florence today for two days of talks aimed at "putting cultural diplomacy on the agenda."
	The first meeting of its kind for the G7 grouping was the brainchild of Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini.
	"Because of the importance of our own heritage, Italy has a leadership role in issues of culture," he said ahead of the talks.
	"We want to translate this strength into action at the international level by putting the idea of cultural diplomacy onto countries' agenda."
	He added that the recent damage inflicted on Roman-era monuments in the Syrian city of Palmyra had raised public awareness of the importance of the issue.
	Specifically, Franceschini said the meeting would focus on the protection of cultural heritage, combatting trafficking of artistic and historic items and using culture as an instrument for dialogue.
	It is part of the preparations for a summit of the leaders of G7 countries - ...

G7 culture ministers in first meet

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today he had reached an agreement with his finance minister in a long-simmering dispute over a new public broadcast corporation that had raised the possibility of snap polls.
	Netanyahu said in a statement after a series of meetings with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon that he "believes that the crisis is over."
	A compromise was said to have been reached between them that would allow the new corporation to move forward as planned, while including a series of changes sought by Netanyahu.
	Despite initially backing it, Netanyahu has since opposed the creation of the new broadcaster, with his allies suggesting it would cede too much control from government.
	Kahlon, whose Kulanu party forms a crucial part of Netanyahu's coalition with 10 seats in parliament, is committed to reforming Israel's public broadcasting.
	Earlier this month, Netanyahu reportedly threatened to dissolve the government unless the new broadcasting corporation was ...

Deal struck in row that threatened snap Israeli polls

American astronaut Peggy Whitson made history when she floated outside the International Space Station today, breaking the record for the most spacewalks by a woman.
	Whitson, 57, is making her eighth career spacewalk, surpassing the record of seven previously held by American Suni Williams.
	The spacewalk formally began at 7:29 am (local time) when Whitson and Shane Kimbrough switched their spacesuits to battery power before venturing outside the airlock and into the vacuum of space.
	"Be safe and enjoy your time out," said French astronaut Thomas Pesquet as the hatch opened.
	"I will be waiting for you."
	The goal of the spacewalk is to continue upgrading the International Space Station for the arrival of commercial spaceships in the years to come.
	Today's walkabout is the second in a series of three spacewalks to outfit the exterior of the orbiting outpost with parking spots for a new generation of space taxis ferrying astronauts to the station.
	SpaceX and Boeing are currently ...

US astronaut breaks record for most spacewalks by a woman

The body of Kim Jong-Nam will be sent to North Korea and nine Malaysians in Pyongyang will be allowed to leave, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said today.
	North Korean citizens in Kuala Lumpur will also be allowed to return home, the statement said.
	"... Following the completion of the autopsy on the deceased and receipt of a letter from his family requesting the remains be returned to North Korea, the coroner has approved the release of the body," said Najib.

Kim body to be sent to N Korea, Malaysians freed: Malaysia PM

Malaysia says Kim body to be sent to N Korea, Malaysians

Ethiopia's parliament today approved a four month extension of a state of emergency that was first imposed in October to quell nearly a year of anti-government protests.
	"The House unanimously voted to extend the state of emergency," said a report carried by state media.
	Defence minister Siraj Fegessa said the "extension is needed so as to take the prevailing relatively good peace and security situations to the point of no return," it said.
	Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn declared a six-month state of emergency in October after months of protests in different parts of the country that were met with a strong security response that killed hundreds, according to human rights groups.
	The protesters also targeted foreign farms and businesses, especially in the Oromia region close to the capital where unrest began in November 2015.
	A key complaint of the protesters is the domination of the ruling EPRDF party, in power since 1991, and which holds all 546 seats in parliament.
	More ..

Ethiopia state of emergency extended by four months

South Korea's ousted president Park Geun-Hye was grilled for nearly nine hours in court today as a judge deliberated whether she should be arrested over the corruption and abuse of power scandal that brought her down.
	Looking grim-faced and pale, Park ignored a barrage of press flashbulbs and did not speak when she arrived at the Seoul Central District Court, nor when she left.
	She was taken to a prosecutor's office to await the judge's decision, which was not expected until late into the night.
	Being taken into custody would be a dramatic step in the disgrace of South Korea's first woman president, and is a key demand of the millions of people who took to the streets to protest against her as the scandal engulfed her leadership last year.
	The former president, who was stripped of her immunity when she was dismissed from office by the country's top court earlier this month, is accused of multiple offences including bribery, leaking government information, and abuse of power. Park .

S Korea's ousted president Park appears in court

Three men from Kosovo have been arrested on suspicion of plotting a terror attack in Venice, Italian police said today.
	A fourth person, a minor, was also detained in overnight raids carried out after it was established that the suspects had undergone "religious radicalisation", a police statement said.
	Searches were conducted at 12 locations in the historic centre of the city, which is a magnet for millions of visitors from around the world.
	La Repubblica newspaper reported that the suspects were heard on wiretaps celebrating the attack outside Parliament in London last week, and had downloaded manuals on hand-to-hand fighting and the use of knives.
	They were also recorded discussing the possibility of carrying out a similar attack in Venice, as well as their desire to join Islamist fighters in Syria, according to La Repubblica.

Three arrested over suspected Venice terror plot

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte today described two major media outlets as "sons of whores" and warned them of karmic repercussions for their critical coverage of his deadly drug war.
	Duterte's verbal attacks on top television broadcaster ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper came in a pair of speeches in which he also lashed out at the European Union for criticising him over alleged human rights abuses.
	"I'm not threatening them but someday their karma will catch up with them," Duterte said of the two media outlets.
	"They're shameless, those sons of whore journalists."
	Duterte named the Prieto and Lopez families that own the Inquirer and ABS-CBN respectively, calling them "oligarchs" who use the media to promote their chosen political candidates.
	"That is what ails the Philippine society: it is the corrupt media, the face of Prieto and Lopez and their money and the church," he said.
	He also threatened to use the government TV station to shame those two ...

Philippines' Duterte threatens top newspaper, broadcaster

French President Francois Hollande said today that Britain must agree on the conditions of its exit from the EU before the bloc's members discuss other issues such as a trade deal.
	"First we must begin discussions on the modalities of the withdrawal, especially on the rights of citizens and the obligations arising from the commitments that the United Kingdom has made," Hollande said.
	"On the basis of what progress is made, we could open discussions on the framework of the future relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union," he added.
	Hollande's approach echoes that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel who on Wednesday snubbed Prime Minister Theresa May's call for negotiations on the UK's exit from the EU to run alongside talks on defining the conditions of their future relationship.
	Merkel said the negotiations "must first clarify how we will disentangle our interlinked relationship... And only when this question is dealt with, can we, hopefully soon after, begin ...

France's Hollande says no trade deal with UK before Brexit

South African President Jacob Zuma has vowed to sack his respected finance minister, a government coalition party confirmed today, in a move which could split the African National Congress (ANC).
	Zuma has been at loggerheads with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan for months, and this week abruptly ordered him to return home from a foreign investment trip as speculation rose of a dramatic political showdown.
	Gordhan is supported by several senior ministers and many international investors, as well as being widely admired by ordinary South Africans and veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle.
	He has campaigned for controlled spending and against corruption, but Zuma's allies have accused him of thwarting the president's desire to enact "radical economic transformation" tackling racial inequality.
	"The president informed us of his intention to affect a cabinet reshuffle replacing both the minister and deputy minister of finance," Solly Mapaila, of the South African Communist Party ...

S Africa's Zuma plans to sack finance minister: ally

The tally of refugees who have fled the war in Syria now exceeds five million, the United Nations said today.
	"As the number of men, women and children fleeing six years of war in Syria passes the five million mark, the international community needs to do more to help them," the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement.
	The total of Syrian refugees abroad stood at 4.6 million at the end of 2015 and rose to 4.85 million by the end of last year, according to the agency's data.
	The first three months of 2017 saw more than 250,000 additional Syrians register as refugees, UNHCR said on its website, without providing an explanation for the apparent surge.
	Turkey continues to host the highest number of Syrians displaced by the conflict -- nearly three million.
	Lebanon has over a million Syrian refugees, while Jordan has 657,000, with others spread across Iraq, Egypt and other North African countries.
	Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also fled to Europe, but not all of them ...

Number of Syrian refugees passes five million: UN

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Ankara today for talks on the Syria conflict, just a day after Turkey announced that its military offensive was over.
	Tillerson, the most senior US official to visit Turkey since President Donald Trump took office in January, is seeking to turn around recently rocky relations between the NATO allies.
	He met with Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and was also due to talk to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
	The trip comes after Turkey announced that "Euphrates Shield", its operation in northern Syria, had ended but did not say if troops had been withdrawn from the war-torn country.
	Ties between Ankara and Washington were strained during Barack Obama's administration, particularly over US cooperation with Syrian Kurdish militia fighting against the Islamic State group.
	Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as a "terror group" linked to Kurdish separatists waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984, but Washington 

Tillerson visits as Turkey says its Syria campaign over

A Hong Kong democracy activist was jailed today over Umbrella Movement mass protests while nine more campaigners face charges, as fears grow that freedoms are under threat in the semi-autonomous city.
	The cases come days after pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam was selected as city leader by a committee skewed towards the mainland camp.
	They also precede an expected visit by China's President Xi Jinping in July to mark the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong back to China by Britain in 1997.
	Activist Alvin Cheng, 28, who has in the past advocated the idea of Hong Kong's independence from China, was sentenced to three months in prison for criminal contempt of court.
	The charge related to defying an injunction order for activists to clear a sprawling protest camp in the commercial area of Mong Kok in November 2014 during the Umbrella Movement rallies, which called for fully free leadership elections but failed to win concessions from Beijing.
	Mong Kok saw some of the most ...

Hong Kong activist jailed over Umbrella Movement protest

Angry investors lambasted Toshiba executives at a shareholder meeting today after it warned annual losses could balloon to more than USD 9.0 billion but they agreed to the sale of its memory chip business, the jewel in the Japanese giant's crown.
	The heated meeting held just outside Tokyo comes a day after the huge conglomerate said its troubled US nuclear power unit Westinghouse Electric had filed for bankruptcy protection.
	Toshiba, one of the pillars of corporate Japan, also warned yesterday its annual losses, mainly tied to Westinghouse, could blow out to 1.01 trillion yen (USD 9.07 billion), compared with an earlier projected shortfall of 390 billion yen.
	That would be a record annual loss for a Japanese manufacturer, according to Bloomberg.
	Toshiba has delayed formally reporting its earnings over the problems at Westinghouse, which it bought for more than USD 5.0 billion a decade ago.
	Among the issues, Toshiba has said it is probing whistleblower allegations of accounting ...

Toshiba execs under fire as loss forecast balloons

UN chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Baghdad today to review the humanitarian situation, calling for protection of civilians to be the "absolute priority" as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul.
	Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in Mosul, which was seized by the Islamic State group in 2014, and officials and witnesses have said that air strikes have taken a devastating toll on civilians in the city this month.
	"Just arrived in Iraq to focus on the dire humanitarian situation on the ground. Protection of civilians must be the absolute priority," a post on the UN chief's official Twitter account said.
	Guterres was to meet top Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad before flying to Arbil, the capital of the country's autonomous Kurdish region.
	In addition to civilians caught in the crossfire inside the city, many more have fled their homes to escape the fighting.
	According to Iraqi authorities, more than 200,000 civilians have fled west Mosul ...

AFP

AFP

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