Russia's state communications watchdog said today it had ordered internet providers to block the LinkedIn professional networking site after a court ruled it was breaching a law on storing users' data.
	"The social networking site LinkedIn has been added to a register of violators... And submitted for blocking by internet operators," the Roskomnadzor watchdog said in a statement on its website.
	The site, popular with job-seekers, could still be accessed on a cell phone in Moscow early this afternoon but several providers said they had blocked it. The hashtag LinkedIn was topping the trends on Twitter in Russia.
	LinkedIn, in a statement sent to AFP, said it was "starting to hear from members in Russia that they can no longer access LinkedIn."
	"Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn denies access to the millions of members we have in Russia," it said.
	"We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localisation request."
	Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim ...

Russia moves to block LinkedIn network

PTI Automatic

A Cambodian opposition senator was handed an 18-month jail sentence today over a defamation case filed by premier Hun Sen, the latest legal move to ensnare the strongman's rivals.
	The authoritarian prime minister sued Senator Thak Lany in August over a video clip allegedly showing her accusing Hun Sen of orchestrating the killing of Kem Ley, a prominent government critic.
	The brazen daylight murder of the pro-democracy activist in the capital Phnom Penh in July sent fear rippling across a country with a history of political assassinations.
	Senator Thak Lany, who is believed to have fled the country shortly after she was charged, was convicted today in absentia of defamation and inciting chaos with her remarks.
	"After examining documents and evidence, the court decides to sentence Thak Lany... To one year and a half in prison," Judge Y Thavrak said at a Phnom Penh court.
	A former soldier has been charged with Kem Ley's murder but police have kept a tight lid on the details of ...

Cambodia senator handed 18 months in PM defamation case

Around 100 people are missing feared drowned in the Mediterranean after a migrant dinghy capsized off Libya, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said today, citing testimony from 27 survivors.
	"The 27 men now on board the Argos were on board a boat carrying 130 people. They are the only survivors. This tragedy is just unbearable," MSF said in a tweet. Along with the 27 survivors the Bourbon Argos ship also recovered seven bodies.
	Departures from Libya are continuing unabated despite worsening weather in the Mediterranean, with more than 3,200 people rescued from crowded and unseaworthy dinghies since Saturday.
	The latest tragedy raises the death toll from migrant boat sinkings to over 340 people this week.
	The Malta-based charity MOAS, which deploys two rescue boats in the area, said Wednesday that the true toll is probably much higher "as it is highly likely that many boats sink without ever being reported".
	Over 167,000 people have been brought to safety in Italy since the start of ..

Around 100 missing after migrant boat capsize in Med: MSF

Britain's Prince William today delivered a dire warning on the fate of the world's endangered wildlife, telling a major conference in Hanoi that vulnerable species are being killed at a "horrifying" rate.
	Vietnam is a global hub for the illicit trade of contraband animal products, including ivory, rhino horn, pangolin, tiger and bear parts.
	The communist country is both a top consumer and popular transit route for illegal products from Africa that are smuggled over to other Asian markets, notably China.
	Speaking at the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, William urged governments around the world to act quickly to save vulnerable species before it is too late.
	"We know that we aren't moving fast enough to keep up with the crisis. Rhinos, elephants, pangolins, lions, they are still being killed in horrifying numbers," he said.
	"While we've made progress, the truth is we are still falling behind. A betting man would still bet on extinction."
	The prince, who has become a ...

Prince William warns of looming threat of extinction

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye will not be ready to appear before prosecutors until next week despite their demand to question her sooner over a snowballing political scandal, her lawyer said today.
	Park, who would be the first sitting president to be interrogated in a criminal case, has seen her approval ratings plunge in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to Seoul's streets on Saturday demanding her resignation.
	The scandal centres on Park's shadowy confidant Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her ties with the president to coerce local firms to donate millions of dollars to non-profit foundations that Choi then used for personal gain.
	Prosecutors have said they need to question Park by tomorrow at the latest as part of their investigation into Choi.
	Choi, 60, is also accused of interfering in state affairs to the extent of nominating officials and editing Park's speeches even though she has no official title or security clearance.
	Park's ...

S Korea's Park seeks more time from prosecutors

South Korea fell silent today with heavy trucks banned and businesses opening late as more than 600,000 students sat the high-stakes annual college entrance exam that could define their future in the ultra-competitive country.
	Success in the exam -- which teenagers spend years preparing for -- means a place in one of the elite colleges seen as key to future career and even marriage prospects.
	To clear the roads for the 606,000 students to ensure they arrive on time, government offices, major businesses and even Seoul's stock market opened an hour later than usual at 10:00 am.
	Transport authorities banned all airport landings and take-offs for a 30-minute period in the early afternoon to coincide with the main language listening test.
	Work at many construction sites was suspended and large trucks banned from the roads near the test venues.
	The exam was taken at 1,183 venues nationwide from about 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.
	TV news channels showed nervous-looking students walking into the 

S Korea falls silent for crucial college entrance exam

Canada's largest union and the third party in the Commons has ramped up pressure on the government to make good on a promise to ban asbestos.
	The New Democrats presented a bill in the Commons that would completely ban the heat-resistent fibrous mineral that is woven into building and other materials, but has been found to cause deadly lung disease.
	At the same time, the Canadian Labour Congress launched a public information campaign, pointing out that asbestos exposure is the number one cause of occupational death in Canada, responsible for about one third of all workplace deaths.
	"Thousands of Canadians are diagnosed with cancer annually due to exposure to asbestos," said New Democrat MP Sheri Benson.
	"Five months ago, the Prime Minister pledged to ban asbestos. Every day action is delayed, more lives are put at risk. The Liberal government must impose a complete ban on asbestos immediately."
	Canada once dominated world production of asbestos but the closure of two mines in 2012 

Pressures rise on Canada to ban asbestos

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to follow in Russia's footsteps today and pull his country out of the International Criminal Court, incensed at foreign criticism of his deadly drug war.
	Russia formally withdrew its signature to the ICC's founding Rome Statute yesterday, calling the tribunal's work "one-sided and inefficient".
	Speaking in his home town of Davao city in the southern Philippines shortly before flying to Peru for a regional summit, Duterte said: "They (Russians) may have thought the International Criminal Court is (useless), so they withdrew their membership."
	"I might follow. Why? Because these shameless bullies only picked on small countries like us."
	The Philippines is among 124 countries that are members of the UN-backed ICC, the world's only permanent war crimes court.
	Duterte also repeated an earlier threat to pull the Philippines out of the UN, saying the world body had failed to stop wars that had killed "thousands" of women and ...

Philippines' Duterte threatens to copy Russia ICC exit

Thousands protested in Taipei today against draft bills that would make Taiwan the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, arguing traditional family values would be undermined.
	Protesters dressed in white and holding placards with the slogans including "Stand forward for the next generation's happiness" packed a street outside the parliament, where a committee was debating the issue.
	They shook their hands in the air and gave the thumbs-down as they watched a live stream of the committee meeting on a big screen.
	Supporters of gay rights are more hopeful than ever that same-sex marriage will soon become a reality under the pro-gay rights Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is in control of parliament for the first time.
	But opposing voices have been building since proposed amendments to legalise same-sex marriage passed initial vetting in parliament earlier this month.
	While Taiwan is considered progressive on many issues, its roots in Confucianism translate into 

Thousands opposing same-sex marriage rally in Taiwan

Myanmar has blacklisted a US photographer and prevented him from attending his own exhibition about stateless people, which would have included pictures of the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority.
	Award-winning documentary photographer Greg Constantine said he was stopped at Yangon airport on Friday and told he was on a "blacklist".
	Constantine said he believed it was linked to his work documenting the lives of the Rohingya, whose status is a major flashpoint in Myanmar.
	Many in the Buddhist-majority country revile the million-strong Muslim minority, who are based in western Rakhine state, and vigorously oppose any move to grant them citizenship.
	"I've done a significant amount of work on stateless people in Rakhine... I can only speculate that that would be the reason, or one of the reasons, why I would be on this blacklist right now," Constantine told AFP.
	Immigration officials confirmed that the photographer had been blacklisted but refused to say why.
	"I cannot tell you what 

Myanmar bars US photographer from own show featuring Rohingya

AB de Villiers' job as South African captain is safe despite Faf du Plessis impressing with his leadership as stand-in skipper during thumping back-to-back Test wins over Australia, selectors say.
     Star batsman de Villiers was ruled out of the series with a left elbow injury that required surgery with du Plessis seamlessly taking over.
     His vision has been praised in steering the team to an unassailable 2-0 lead. A win in the final day-night Test in Adelaide next week will consign Australia to their first home series whitewash in history.
     Despite this, selectors are not considering promoting du Plessis to do the job full-time.
     "At the moment it's clear to us that Faf is stand-in captain and AB is the current captain when he comes back," chairman of selectors Linda Zondi told reporters in Hobart late Wednesday.
     "AB is still the captain."
     Officials hope de Villiers will be fit for the home series against Sri Lanka, starting on December 26.
     "We will be ...

Proteas keep de Villiers as skipper

Trevor Hohns was today appointed Australia's interim chairman of selectors after Rod Marsh quit, with Greg Chappell drafted in to help rescue a national team in crisis.
     The experienced Hohns, who previously served as chief selector during a hugely successful period for Australia, currently sits on the four-man selection panel with Mark Waugh, coach Darren Lehmann, and now Chappell.
     Cricket Australia chairman David Peever said Hohns had agreed to step up to ensure continuity while the search for a full-time replacement was carried out.
     "It is vital that Australian cricket finds the best candidate for this role," said Peever.
     "Trevor is highly experienced as a selector, and will ensure we place our best players on the field this summer while we seek a permanent replacement for Rod."
     Former Test fast bowler Jason Gillespie and ex-captains Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh have all been touted as possible successors to Marsh.
     The retired wicketkeeper resigned ...

Australia call on Hohns, Chappell to fix crisis

The opening day of the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan was washed out here today.
     Play was abandoned just after the scheduled tea adjournment with no sign of the sweeping showers easing.
     However, fine weather is forecast for the remaining four days and the umpires are hopeful of making up much of the lost time.
     Play on Friday will begin 30 minutes early at 10.30am (2130 GMT Thursday).
     Pakistan are on a high coming into the Test after crushing the West Indies last month, while New Zealand are hoping for improvement after a disastrous tour of India.

N.Zealand-Pakistan first day washed out

Twitter accounts of white supremacy advocates who cheered Donald Trump's election victory were mute today, suspended as the social network battles hateful vitriol spewed by "trolls."
	Terminated Twitter accounts included that of Richard Spencer, a leader in an 'alt-right' white nationalist movement in the US, and accounts associated with his magazine and "think tank."
	"I think Twitter, Facebook and others are deeply triggered by this election and that social media helped elect Trump," Spencer said in a video posted on YouTube.
	Spencer compared the account suspensions to Adolf Hitler in 1934 wiping out opposition to his Nazi Party to consolidate power in Germany in what is referred to in history as the Night of the Long Knives.
	"Basically, my entire digital presence on Twitter has been suspended," he said in the video.
	"It is corporate Stalinism; there is a great purge going on."
	In response to an AFP inquiry, Twitter referred to its rules prohibiting "violent threats, harassment, 

Twitter suspends white supremacist accounts

Google and Facebook has moved to cut off advertising revenue to fake news sites, after a wave of criticism over the role misinformation played in the US presidential election.
	The move by the two tech giants aims to choke off funds to an industry fueled by bogus, often sensational "news" circulating online and seen as a potential influence on public opinion.
	A Google statement to AFP said new policies "will start prohibiting Google ads from being placed on misrepresentative content, just as we disallow misrepresentation in our ads policies."
	The shift will mean Google restricts ads "on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher's content, or the primary purpose of the web property," the statement said.
	Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the company receives billions of queries daily and admitted errors had been made.
	"There have been a couple of incidences where it has been pointed out and we didn't get it right.
	"And so ..

Google, Facebook take aim at 'fake' news

The number of people across the globe suffering from high blood pressure has almost doubled over the past four decades, with the biggest rise in south Asia and Africa, researchers said today.
	"High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for stroke and heart disease, and kills around 7.5 million people worldwide every year," said lead author Professor Majid Ezzati from Imperial College in London.
	"Taken globally, high blood pressure is no longer a problem of the Western world or wealthy countries. It is a problem of the world's poorest countries and people."
	Between 1975 and 2015, the tally of adults with high blood pressure rose from 594 million to over 1.1 billion, according to the overview, published in The Lancet medical journal.
	At the same time, high income countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan have made "impressive reductions" in the prevalence of high blood pressure, the study found.
	The biggest increase in cases was registered in low- and middle-income 

High blood pressure now major problem in developing world

Scientists have made progress toward a pill that lingers in the stomach and releases its contents over a span of two weeks, an advance that could boost the fight against malaria and other diseases, a study said today.
	The research, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered the anti-parasitic and anti-malaria drug ivermectin to hundreds of pigs and dogs via a capsule that temporarily expands in the stomach so it cannot be passed to the intestines until the drug contents are gone.
	It is scheduled to move into human trials next year.
	"We have a lot of confidence in the safety of these dosage forms," said lead author Andrew Bellinger, formerly a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and now a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
	The goal is to boost efforts to eliminate malaria by making it easier for people to get the medication they need, and avoid having to remember a daily pill.
	"Getting patients to take medicine day after day ...

Progress toward long-acting malaria pill: study

The Democratic mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, said he today met with President-elect Donald Trump and warned him that he would work to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
	"I reiterated to him that this city and so many cities around the country will do all we can to protect our residents and to make sure that families are not torn apart," de Blasio told reporters after the meeting at Trump Tower.
	Trump has vowed to deport or incarcerate as many as three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records after he takes office on January 20.
	De Blasio said Trump's stance "flew in the face of all that was great about New York City, the ultimate city of immigrants."
	"The place that has succeeded because it was open for everyone, the place built of generation after generation of immigrants," he said.
	In the wake of Trump's November 8 election victory, de Blasio said the city would delete from its data base by year-end the names of hundreds of thousands of ...

New York mayor tells Trump will 'protect' immigrants

US President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to hold a first face-to-face meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the UN spokesman said today.
	"They agreed to meet," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that no firm date had been set for the talks.
	Ban told AFP in an interview on Friday that he was hoping to meet Trump before he ends his tenure as UN chief on December 31.
	Trump won the US presidency on a platform that calls for closer ties with Russia, pulling out of the Paris climate deal, shaking up security alliances and questioning US funding of the United Nations.
	His election victory has shocked UN diplomats and notably put a question mark over the fate of the Paris climate deal championed by Ban during his 10 years at the helm of the United Nations.
	Ban has downplayed anxiety over a new world order under Trump, saying that as president, the billionaire real estate tycoon will shed the strident rhetoric of the campaign and work to confront global crises like ...

Trump agrees to meet with UN chief

Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah today denied quotes in a Lebanese newspaper attributed to its second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem saying it had become "an army".
	"Hezbollah's press bureau wishes to clarify that what was published Wednesday in the As-Safir newspaper did not appear in the text delivered by the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah," the group said in a statement.
	The denial came after the newspaper quoted Qassem as saying in an address: "We now have a trained army and the Resistance (Hezbollah) does not need to rely on guerrilla tactics."
	As-Safir's article came after images shared widely on social media showed Hezbollah conducting a military parade in Syria, where it is fighting to bolster President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
	The images provoked controversy in Lebanon, where the Shiite movement is a divisive force, as well as concern from Washington, which deems Hezbollah a "terrorist" group.
	The group said its denial also invalidated a previous ...

Lebanon's Hezbollah denies claiming it is now 'an army'

US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel today argued  for a transatlantic trade deal and stressed that there will be "no return to a world before globalisation".
	Their joint article comes as Obama's successor Donald Trump has pledged to rip up existing trade deals and assume a more protectionist course for the world's top economy.
	Obama, on his European farewell tour, was visiting Merkel from late Wednesday to Friday, when they will also meet the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Spain in Berlin.
	In business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, Obama and Merkel stated their case for a socially responsible market economy, worldwide free trade and ever closer ties between the United States and Europe's top economy.
	"There will be no return to a world before globalisation," they wrote in the German-language article to be printed in full in Friday's edition of the weekly.
	Germans and Americans should grasp the opportunity "to shape globalisation according to our ...

AFP

AFP

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