Nepal police today demolished the largest remaining settlement of people displaced by a powerful earthquake that struck nearly two years ago, a move that will leave hundreds homeless.
	Around 100 families were still living in the camp in Kathmandu when police wearing riot gear used bulldozers to flatten the bamboo and tarpaulin structures.
	"The gods will curse the government. We don't have our home and can't rent a room from our earnings in Kathmandu," said Kabita Limbu, tears rolling down her face.
	Limbu's husband fainted when their tent was destroyed before the couple were able to retrieve their processions.
	Apsana Tamang, 19, was breastfeeding her one year-old baby in her makeshift home when the authorities arrived early morning.
	"I have nowhere to live as my parents' house in Kavre district was also damaged in the earthquake," said Tamang, who was pregnant when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal killing more than 9,000 people.
	"We have received nothing from the government 

Nepal police demolish camp for earthquake displaced

PTI Automatic

Israel's medical services have treated more than 2,600 Syrians wounded during their country's conflict since 2013, despite the two nations being officially at war, the Israeli army said today.
	"The wounded are transferred to the border where they receive first aid from Israeli medical teams before being taken to hospitals," the army said on its website.
	It did not say whether rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad were among those treated.
	Assad's regime regularly accuses Israel of supporting "terrorists" -- a label it applies to all its opponents.
	Israel and Syria have been officially at war for decades, though the border between the two countries was largely quiet until the Syrian conflict broke out in 2011.
	The Jewish state has carried out a number of strikes inside Syria, several of them targeting Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an Israeli arch-foe and ally of the Syrian regime.

Israel treats more than 2,600 wounded Syrians: army

Donald Trump, us budget, us defence

A large chunk of a $ 250 million loan will be forgiven, allowing it to be cleared for $ 50 million

Family of Donald Trump son-in-law in $4 bn deal with Chinese company

Press Trust of India

Vietnam police seized more than 100 kilograms of rhino horn smuggled into the country in suitcases from Kenya today, the latest illegal haul in the wildlife trafficking hub.
	Vietnam is a hot market for rhino horn, believed to have medicinal properties and is in high demand among the communist nation's growing middle class.
	The country is a popular transit point for illegal animal products, which often move from Africa through Vietnam to other parts of Asia.
	The latest haul of the prized animal parts at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport were found hidden in luggage on a flight from Nairobi, according to the official publication of the Hanoi police department.
	"After scanning and checking, customs officials discovered the two suitcases of 57 kilograms (125 pounds) and 61 kilograms were full of suspected rhino horns," the online Capital Security Newspaper reports said.
	Photos showed the huge haul in suitcases and stacked on tables.
	Conservationists have warned that rampant ...

Vietnam seizes 100 kgs of rhino horn from Kenya

Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho is set to visit Pakistan as part of a goodwill mission to promote the game in the cricket-mad country.
     The recently retired 36-year-old, who won the World Player of the Year twice and was part of the 2002 World Cup winning team, issued a short video message on Twitter saying simply "Pakistan, I am coming" as he unfurled a Pakistani flag.
     News of Ronaldinho's visit has generated excitement among fans, and comes as the South Asian nation seeks to revive international sports fixtures that were disrupted by a militant attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in 2009.
     Those efforts were given a boost when the country successfully staged the final of its Pakistan Super League cricket tournament in Lahore earlier this month, a rare match featuring prominent international sports stars.
     Ronaldinho is being brought to the country by UK-based Leisure Leagues -- organisers of 5, 6 and 7-a-side tournaments which recently announced plans to expand .

Brazilian legend Ronaldinho to visit Pakistan

Nigeria today charged the leader of Boko Haram splinter group Ansaru with the abduction and murder of 10 foreigners, in one its highest-profile cases yet against Islamist militants.
	Khalid al-Barnawi, one of three Nigerians listed by the US government as a "specially designated global terrorist", appeared in court alongside six other defendants and denied the charges.
	The charges relate to a series of kidnappings and killings of foreign workers between 2011 and 2013, including Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara and his British colleague Chris McManus.
	Both were killed by their captors in the northern city of Sokoto just after the start of a joint British-Nigerian rescue operation at the compound where they were being held in March 2012.
	Barnawi is also accused in connection with kidnapping Frenchman Francis Collomp and German national Edgar Raupach.
	Collomp was kidnapped in December 2012 and held by Ansaru for nearly a year before he managed to stage a dramatic escape in November 

Boko Haram splinter group head charged with foreign murders

Bayern Munich will take on Arsenal, AC Milan, Chelsea and Inter Milan during a promotional tour in China and Singapore this summer, the German Bundesliga champions confirmed today.
     Carlo Ancelotti's side will play Arsenal on July 19 in Shanghai and AC Milan on July 22 at Shenzhen, before heading for Singapore where they will meet Chelsea on July 25 and Inter two days later.
     "It's a very important element in our international brand strategy, FC Bayern now have 135 million fans in China and more and more fans in south-east Asia," Joerg Wacker, head of internationalisation and strategy for Bayern said on the club's website.
     Bayern, bidding for a fifth consecutive Bundesliga titles this season, visited the United States in 2016 for a series of friendly matches.

Bayern to tour China and Singapore

Former Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid midfielder Michael Essien has signed with Indonesia's Persib Bandung, the club announced today, the highest-profile player to join a team in the country for years.
     The Ghanaian signed a one-year contract for an undisclosed sum to join Persib, which is one of the best clubs in the country.
     The 34-year-old had not been playing with a team since he left Greece's Panathinaikos at the end of last season.
     "I will give my very best to Persib," Essien, wearing a club shirt, told media at the team's headquarters in Bandung.
     When asked what he knew about football in Indonesia, he conceded "not very much" but added that he had visited the country with Chelsea before.
     However the move to Indonesia could turn out to be a shock.
     Football in Southeast Asia's biggest nation has been wracked by crisis for years, with an explosive row between the domestic association and government prompting FIFA to ban Indonesia from international .

Ex-Chelsea star Essien joins Indonesia's Persib

The Afghan security leadership has come under scathing criticism from lawmakers and social media users over a catastrophic insurgent attack on the country's largest military hospital, with many calling for their impeachment.
	Gunmen disguised as doctors stormed Sardar Daud Khan hospital in Kabul tomorrow, with multiple surviving staff telling AFP that insiders including two interns were among the attackers.
	The carnage inside the heavily guarded hospital points at a spectacular intelligence failure and spotlights how insurgents have managed to infiltrate top government and military institutions in Afghanistan.
	"If I were the minister of defense, or intelligence chief or the minister of interior, I would submit my resignation over the incident in the 400-bed hospital," MP Nawab Mangal was quoted as saying in the local media Tuesday.
	Another lawmaker Humayoun Humayoun heaped scorn on Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi, who has been regularly mocked for social media images of him dozing 

Afghan security leadership under fire over hospital attack

Israel saw a soap-opera-like spectacle today as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified in court to deny a claim  his wife had kicked him out of the car during a fight.
	"It didn't happen," Netanyahu said at the court in Tel Aviv, where he and his wife entered under tight security to testify in their defamation suit against the journalist who made the claim on social media.
	His hands behind his back, his face tense, Netanyahu said, "it is so false, so absurd, ridiculous".
	The case has been closely followed by the Israeli media, with the unusual scene of a sitting prime minister and his wife, Sara, testifying in court over such a claim making headlines.
	It follows a post by a journalist on his Facebook account last year making the claim, resulting in the Netanyahu's defamation suit.
	The journalist, Igal Sarna, posted that a fight between the Netanyahus had occurred while they were travelling as part of the premier's official convoy on a highway between Tel Aviv and ...

Netanyahu testifies over 'false' claim of fight with wife

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte today slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he said the Dutch "character" was "broken" over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
	"He (Erdogan) continues to escalate the situation," Rutte told Dutch news TV channel RTL Nieuws, adding "it's a repugnant historical falsehood", as a diplomatic row between The Hague and Ankara reached a new low point.
	Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan touched a raw nerve with the Dutch when he recalled the mid-1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, where lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers were overrun by Bosnian Serb forces and failed to protect Muslim refugees.
	Almost 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were then massacred and their bodies thrown in mass graves in the biggest incident of bloodshed on European soil since World War II.
	The incident caused the Dutch government's resignation in 2002 after it finally admitted that it could have done more -- and the incident remains a source of national soul-searching to this ...

Dutch PM says Erdogan massacre claim 'historical falsehood'

About 700 people have died from malaria in Burundi so far this year, the health minister said, with the authorities having registered 1.8 million infections in a rising epidemic.
	"Burundi faces a malaria epidemic," Josiane Nijimbere said yesterday, commenting on a World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
	From January 1 to March 10 this year, 1.8 million infections were registered in Burundi, according to the WHO.
	According to Nijimbere, the latest figures constitute a 17 per cent increase from the same period last year.
	"Some 700 deaths" have been registered since January, the minister added.
	In 2016, an estimated 8.2 million people were infected and 3,000 people died in mountainous Burundi, which is home to around 11 million people.
	UN officials and medical sources say Burundi's stock of anti-malaria medication is nearly empty.
	Nijimbere put the cost of fighting malaria at USD 31 million (29 million euros), as she appealed for donations to help fight the disease.
	She ...

700 dead as malaria 'epidemic' hits Burundi

The death toll from a landslide at Ethiopia's largest rubbish dump reached 72 today as the country's parliament declared three days of national mourning, a government minister told AFP.
	"The death toll is 72 so far," Communications Minister Negeri Lencho said, adding that rescuers were still searching for survivors and victims' bodies.
	Part of the largest hill at the Koshe rubbish dump in the capital Addis Ababa gave way on Saturday, swallowing up a slum that had been built on the trash and burying families alive in their homes.
	Most of the dead are women and children.
	Rescuers today pulled a woman alive from the rubble more than two days after the disaster, said Dagmawit Moges, a spokeswoman for the Addis Ababa city administration.
	Starting tomorrow, flags in Ethiopia will fly at half-mast as the country observes three days of mourning for the victims.
	The Koshe landfill, the country's largest, has for more than 40 years been the main garbage dump for Addis Ababa.
	Hundreds of .

Death toll from Ethiopia landslide reaches 72

A German state said today it would ban foreign officials from holding election rallies on its soil amid a raging dispute with Turkey over campaigning for a pivotal referendum.
	"After the recent debate about campaign appearances of Turkish government officials in Germany, Saarland will ban such appearances," the southwestern region said in a statement.
	Turkey has been waging a war of words with its NATO partner Germany, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing it of "Nazi practices" after several German towns blocked rallies by Turkish ministers campaigning in favour of the referendum to expand the president's powers.
	Erdogan has been seeking to harness the Turkish diaspora vote, which numbers as many as 1.4 million in Germany alone.
	Facing an election in her own state later this month, Saarland premier Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would make use of a law allowing foreign officials' campaigning to be banned "when the peaceful coexistence of Germans and foreigners is ...

German state bans foreign officials' rallies amid Turkey row

The Syrian government intentionally bombed the Ain al-Fijeh spring in December, leaving more than five million people in Damascus without access to water, a UN probe said today, branding the strike a "war crime".
	"The information examined by the Commission confirms that the bombing of (the Ain al-Fijeh) spring was carried out by the Syrian Air Force," the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a report.
	The report, which was presented to the UN Human Rights Council today, dismissed regime allegations that rebels had contaminated the water.
	Around 5.5 million people in Damascus and its suburbs were cut off from water when fighting intensified in Wadi Barada near the Syrian capital in late December.
	The regime accused the rebels of poisoning water resources and cutting off the mains, while the armed opposition said regime bombardment had destroyed the infrastructure.
	The UN commission, which has never been granted access to Syria and bases its reports on interviews and ...

Syria regime bombed Damascus water source: UN

Iraqi forces said today that they recaptured Mosul's train station, once one of the country's main rail hubs and the latest in a series of key sites retaken from jihadists.
	The forces launched a major push last month to oust the Islamic State group from west Mosul, taking back a series of neighbourhoods as well as sites including the city's airport, the Mosul museum and the provincial government headquarters.
	Some, including the museum, which was vandalised by IS, have been heavily damaged, and it will likely be a long time before trains are again plying the rails to and from Mosul.
	But retaking the sites are symbolic victories for Iraqi forces and also bring them closer to fully recapturing west Mosul, though tough fighting remains ahead.
	Lieutenant General Raed Shakir Jawdat, the commander of the federal police, said that his forces have retaken the train station as well as a nearby bus station, both of which are located southwest of Mosul's Old City.
	The station was the "main .

Iraq forces retake Mosul train station, once a major rail hub

Saudi Arabia is aiming for a major boost in female employment in the conservative Islamic kingdom but women need not go to an office, the labour ministry said.
	"Telework" and work from home will generate up to 141,000 jobs by 2020, providing "decent and proper" employment particularly for women and the disabled, the ministry said in a statement dated yesterday.
	The term "telework" applies to a variety of jobs done remotely outside of a company's office.
	As part of a wideranging social and economic reform drive to cope with lower oil revenues, Saudi Arabia is trying to get more women working.
	But the ministry statement acknowledged "a lot of social obstacles including transportation and family responsibilities" that hinder female labour market participation.
	Saudi Arabia is the only country where women are not allowed to drive. Public transport is also limited, restricting mobility for those unable to afford a private driver.
	The ministry said telework would also benefit those in 

Saudi to boost 'decent and proper' jobs for women

An elderly man burnt a nurse alive at a clinic in central Israel today after apparently being dissatisfied by the treatment he had received, police said.
	The suspect, in his late 70s, fled the scene in his car after the incident in Holon, southeast of Tel Aviv, but was later arrested, police said.
	The nurse who died was a woman named Tova Kararo, 56.
	A senior police officer at the scene told news site Ynet that a man went to receive medical treatment at the clinic here in Holon.
	"We understand he wasn't satisfied and during a verbal exchange poured flammable fluid on the nurse taking care of him," the officer said.
	The director of the Clalit health service that operates the clinic said in an interview with public radio that the perpetrator's "medical background" was known, implying the patient might have had mental issues.
	A police spokeswoman confirmed the perpetrator was apparently "mentally unstable". Media reported he was a Holocaust survivor who had received a vaccination ..

Israeli patient burns nurse alive at clinic

France's rightwing presidential candidate Francois Fillon has been charged with several offences over a fake jobs scandal, including for misuse of public funds, his lawyer said today.
	"He was charged this morning. The hearing was brought forward so that it could take place in a calm manner," his lawyer Antonin Levy told AFP.
	He was also charged with misuse of corporate assets, he said.

France's Fillon charged over 'fake jobs' scandal: lawyer

Rivals battling in Libya's eastern oil region have reportedly carried out summary executions, torture and other violations, the UN said today, as a military strongman launched a fresh assault in the area.
	The two main groups fighting for control of Libya's oil terminals are the Islamist Benghazi Defence Brigade (BDB) and the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by strongman Khalifa Haftar.
	There are "serious allegations" that the Benghazi group executed two LNA fighters in the Ras Lanouf medical centre amid clashes on March 3, the United Nations human rights office said in a statement.
	The UN has also received reports of LNA fighters raiding the homes of presumed Islamist supporters in the region, arresting and detaining children and taking hostages.
	"We have received reports that those detained have been subjected to torture," the statement said.
	The Benghazi Islamists captured the Ras Lanouf and Al-Sidra oil sites from Khalifa's forces earlier this month.
	Khalifa's forces mounted ..

UN reports executions, torture in fight for Libya oil sites

Iran has sentenced the son of an opposition leader to six months in prison for propaganda against the regime, Iranian media has reported.
	Hossein Karroubi, eldest son of Mehdi Karroubi, was detained by officials for publishing a letter his father sent last year to President Hassan Rouhani, according to Ebtekar daily and ILNA news agency.
	"Karroubi wrote a letter in (April 2016) to the president and demanded... A trial from an authorised court to examine his charges," said Hossein's lawyer, Mohammad Jalilian.
	Mehdi Karroubi has been under house arrest along with fellow opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi since 2011, following the violent protests that erupted against the re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
	Mousavi and Karroubi alleged that the vote was rigged and encouraged people to take part in public protests. They were eventually put under house arrest in 2011 but have never been officially charged by a court.
	Security officials have filed a ...

AFP

AFP

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