Iran has set a one-year deadline for foreign social media to hand over data on their Iranian users, state news agency IRNA said today.
	It said the decision was taken yesterday at a meeting of an Iranian committee on the use of cyberspace headed by President Hassan Rouhani that serves as an IT regulator.
	"Foreign social media active in the country must transfer to Iran all the data they hold on Iranian citizens" within a year, IRNA said.
	The measure will affect, in particular, Telegram, an instant messaging app with more than 20 million users in the Islamic republic, a country of 80 million people.
	IRNA said the committee had also decided to work to develop homegrown social media to compete with foreign networks.
	Authorities in Iran, where Facebook and Twitter are officially banned although users can gain access with easily available software, have for years tried to impose curbs on Iranians using social media.
	Rouhani, a moderate cleric, has repeatedly pointed to the ...

Iran demands social media hand over data on its citizens

PTI Automatic

London Olympics chief Sebastian Coe said it would be "delusional" to think the 2012 Games in the British capital may have been the dirtiest in history in the wake of more positive drugs tests.
     A total of 23 positive results came from 265 retested samples, the International Olympic Committee said, on top of over 30 previous failed tests from competitors who had been caught either during the Games or since.
     The high percentage of apparent doping offences sparked suggestions on Friday that London was rife with cheating, but Coe denies that is the case.
     Coe, now the president of world athletics' governing body the IAAF, served as the London 2012 organising committee chairman.
     The former middle-distance track star claims in the Sunday Telegraph that at the time of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where he competed and won 1500 metres gold, technology was "prehistoric" and says many athletes would pick and base their schedules on the athletics circuit "in large part on .

'Delusional' to think London Games dirtiest ever - Coe

A week of shipwrecks and death in the Mediterranean culminated today with harrowing testimony from migrant survivors who said another 500 people including 40 children had drowned, bringing the number of feared dead to 700.
	Brought to safety in the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo, survivors told the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) and Save the Children how their boat  sank on Thursday morning after a high-seas drama which saw one woman decapitated.
	"We'll never know the exact number, we'll never know their identity, but survivors tell that over 500 human beings died," Carlotta Sami, UNHRC spokeswoman, said on Twitter.
	With some 100 people missing after a boat sank Wednesday, and 45 bodies recovered from a wreck that happened Friday, the UNHCR said it feared up to 700 people had drowned in the Mediterranean this week.
	Giovanna Di Benedetto, Save the Children's spokesperson in Sicily, told AFP it was impossible to verify the numbers involved but survivors of Thursday's wreck spoke .

40 children drown as shipwrecks claim up to 700, survivors say

Iran said today its pilgrims will miss the pilgrimage this year because Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam's holiest sites, was raising obstacles and "blocking the path to Allah" for its faithful.
	The Iranian Hajj Organisation said: "Saudi Arabia is opposing the absolute right of Iranians to go on the hajj and is blocking the path leading to Allah."
	The Saudi side had failed to respond to Iranian demands over "the security and respect" of its pilgrims to Mecca, of whom 60,000 took part in last year's hajj, the organisation said.
	In the latest dispute between regional rivals Tehran and Riyadh, "after two series of negotiations without any results because of obstacles raised by the Saudis, Iranian pilgrims will unfortunately not be able to take part in the hajj" in September, Iran's Culture Minister Ali Jannati said.
	Saudi officials have said an Iranian delegation wrapped up a visit to the kingdom on Friday without reaching a final agreement on arrangements for pilgrims from the ...

Iran says to miss hajj, Saudi 'blocking path to Allah'

Scoreboard on the third day of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka at the Riverside here today:
 England 1st Innings 498-9 dec
 Sri Lanka 1st Innings (overnight: 91-8)
 D. Karunaratne b Anderson                 9
 K. Silva c Bairstow b Broad              13
 K. Mendis c Anderson b Woakes            35
 D. Chandimal c Cook b Anderson            4
 A. Mathews c Bairstow b Woakes            3
 L. Thirimanne c Compton b Anderson       19
 M. Siriwardana c Bairstow b Woakes        0
 R. Herath c Anderson b Broad             12
 S. Eranga c Root b Broad                  2
 S. Lakmal c Bairstow b Broad              0
 N. Pradeep not out                        2
 Extras (lb1, nb1)                         2
 Total (all out, 43.3 overs, 201 mins)   101
 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-44, 3-53, 4-58, 5-67, 6-67, 7-88, 8-90, 9-93.
 Bowling: Anderson 12.3-2-36-3; Broad 13-2-40-4; Woakes 7-4-9-3; Finn 7-3-15-0; Ali 4-4-0-0.

Chester-Le-Street (United Kingdom), May 29 (AFP)

Thousands of civilians have fled an offensive by the Islamic State group against non-jihadist rebels in northern Syria into territory controlled by a US-backed Kurdish-led alliance, a monitor today said.
	The offensive against the towns of Marea and Azaz threatens to overrun the last swathe of territory in the east of Aleppo province held by non-jihadist rebels and bring IS to the doorstep of the Kurds' Afrin enclave.
	At least 29 civilians have been killed since IS launched the assault early on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	It came as the jihadists were under attack by the Kurdish-led alliance in Raqa province further east and by the army and allied militia around Fallujah in neighbouring Iraq.
	"More than 6,000 civilians, most of them women and children, were able to flee areas in the countryside of Aleppo province... Especially from Marea town and Sheikh Issa village" to its west, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
	"The displaced arrived last night ..

Thousands flee IS offensive in northern Syria: monitor

OPEC member Kuwait has earmarked 34.5 billion dinars (USD 115 billion) to spend on oil projects over the next five years, despite the slump in oil prices, a senior executive said today.
	"We have earmarked 34.5 billion dinars for spending on oil projects over the next five years," Wafa al-Zaabi, head of planning at Kuwait Petroleum Corp, told an oil conference.
	"Over 30 billion dinars (USD 100 billion) will be spent on the local market and the rest abroad," she said.
	Over two-thirds of the spending, or 23 billion dinars, has been allocated for exploration and production, Zaabi said.
	Kuwait aims to raise its production capacity, currently just over 3.0 million barrels per day, to 4.0 million bpd by 2020 and maintain it for another decade.
	Among main projects, it plans to build four gathering centres, carry out a key project to boost heavy oil production and raise output of free natural gas to over two billion cubic feet daily, from 150 million cubic feet currently, Zaabi ...

Kuwait to spend $115 bln on oil projects: official

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood shoulder to shoulder today to mark the centenary of Verdun, one of the bloodiest battles of World War I.
	The battle in northeast France was the longest of World War I, lasting 300 days, and claimed more than 300,000 lives before France emerged victorious.
	Verdun is now seen as a key symbol of the reconciliation of France and Germany and Hollande and Merkel are expected to make a call for Europe to pull together to confront its current challenges.
	Under persistent rain, the leaders began the commemoration by laying a wreath at the German military cemetery at Consenvoye, just north of Verdun.
	They walked between rows of black crosses embossed in white with the names of the dead that stretch down the hill of the cemetery where 11,000 German soldiers are buried.
	By visiting the German cemetery, Hollande and Merkel were following in the footsteps of their predecessors Francois Mitterrand and Helmut ...

Hollande and Merkel mark centenary of Battle of Verdun

Airbus chief Tom Enders conceded in a newspaper interview today that some of the "massive problems" dogging the European airplane manufacturer's new military transporter, the A400M, were of the group's own making.
	"We underestimated the engine problems," Enders told the Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
	At the start of the programme, Airbus had "let itself be persuaded by some well-known European leaders into using an engine made by an inexperienced consortium," Enders said.
	Furthermore, it had let itself be roped into assuming full responsibility for this new type of turbo-prop engine, he continued.
	"These are two massive problems which we're now paying for."
	But in addition to the "insufficient quality of the supplier... Home-made problems are also playing a role," Enders said.
	Despite delivery delays and limitations in its operational readiness, Enders said governments should not start looking for alternatives.
	"To write off the A400M would be the biggest mistake, because ...

Airbus concedes some A400M problems are 'home-made'

Bayer's chief executive said in an interview published today he is ready to meet environmental groups to address concerns about his group's plans to take over US agrochemicals giant Monsanto.
	In an interview with the Sunday newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Werner Baumann also hinted that the Monsanto brand could disappear once the business is integrated into Bayer.
	Bayer, a household name thanks to its painkiller Aspirin, said this week that it is offering USD 122 per share in cash for Monsanto -- USD 62 billion (55 billion euros) in total.
	If successful, it would be the biggest foreign takeover by a German company and would create a new world leader in seeds, pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops.
	Monsanto has dismissed the offer as too low, but said it was willing to enter into further merger talks.
	Environmental campaigners fear that the combined group's dominant market position in the seeds and pesticides markets could lead to higher prices, limit ...

Bayer CEO invites environmental groups to discuss Monsanto bid

The parents of a seven-year-old Japanese boy missing in the mountains confessed today they had left him as a punishment and he did not get lost during a hike as first claimed, police said.
	More than 150 rescuers and police officers were searching for a second day in mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido after Yamato Tanooka went missing on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
	His parents originally told police Yamato got lost while the family were out walking in the area, a habitat of bears, to pick wild vegetables.
	But the parents later admitted they had lied, he said.
	"The parents left the boy in the mountains as a punishment," the spokesman said. "They said they went back to the site immediately but the boy was no longer there."
	The father told a TV Asahi reporter he did not dare admit the truth while requesting a search.

Missing Japan boy was left in mountains as punishment: police

The British coastguard said it rescued 19 migrants today from the Channel after their inflatable boat began to take on water.
	"The rhib (rigid-hulled inflatable boat), with 19 people on board was located at 2.00am (0100 GMT) and the incident handed over to Border Force," it said in a statement.
	The mission included the deployment of a search and rescue helicopter and lifeboats from  Dungeness and Littlestone, coastal towns in Kent, south east England.
	Calais coastguard organisation SNSM assisted in the operation, according to its president Bernard Barron.
	"We were called for help... With a boat carrying about twenty people between Calais and Dover," he told AFP.
	"The castaways, who were migrants, called their families, who then alerted the authorities and rescue missions were triggered on both sides of the Channel," he said, adding that a helicopter had been deployed from Le Touquet, north west France.
	"This confirms our fears: the smugglers are willing to take extreme measures, 

19 migrants rescued from boat in English Channel: coastguard

Moderate conservative Ali Larijani retained the speakership of Iran's parliament today despite major gains for reformists in February elections, benefiting from credit gained by his support for last year's nuclear deal.
	Several lawmakers from the reformist camp broke ranks to vote against the head of their own List of Hope, Mohammad Reza Aref, who lost by 103 votes to 173.
	February's election was widely seen as a referendum on last July's nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, the signature policy of moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
	Larijani's support for its passage through parliament kept him out of the fierce debate that saw a string of hardline opponents of the agreement lose their seats.
	Reformists took 133 of the 290 seats in parliament. That fell short of a majority but it was more than the conservatives' 125 seats.
	The remaining seats are held by independents and representatives of religious minorities who are expected to give Rouhani a working ...

Conservative reelected Iran speaker despite reformist gains

Seventeen people died when a makeshift home for elderly people outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev caught fire in the early hours today, the emergencies service said.
	"The bodies of 17 people have been found at the site of the fire," the head of Ukraine's state emergencies service, Mykola Chechetkin, said in comments released by his office.
	The fire tore through the temporary two-storey shelter for the elderly which was located in the village of Litochky, located some 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kiev.
	Citing preliminary information, the service said that 35 people were at the shelter when the fire broke out in the early hours today.
	Eighteen people have been rescued and five of them have been hospitalised, said the service, adding that the fire had been extinguished by Sunday morning.
	Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been notified of the blaze, the government said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman had tasked officials with creating a ...

17 die in fire at Ukraine home for elderly

Iranians will not take part in this year's Mecca pilgrimage because of "obstacles" raised by Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam's holiest sites, Iran's Culture Minister Ali Jannati said today.
	In the latest dispute between the two regional rivals, "after two series of negotiations without any results because of obstacles raised by the Saudis, Iranian pilgrims will unfortunately not be able to take part in the hajj" pilgrimage, expected to take place this year in September, he said, quoted by state television.
	Saudi officials have said an Iranian delegation wrapped up a visit to the kingdom on Friday without reaching a final agreement on arrangements for hajj pilgrims from the Islamic republic.
	The Saudi hajj ministry said it had offered "many solutions" to meet a string of demands made by the Iranians in two days of talks.
	Agreement had been reached in some areas, including to use electronic visas which could be printed out by Iranian pilgrims, as Saudi diplomatic missions remain ...

Iran not to send Mecca pilgrims, blames Saudi: state TV

In a Silicon Valley culture known for brilliant ideas boiling up in coffee shops, Gaurav Chawla is pouring his heart into chai.
	Chawla was on a break from his job as an engineering manager at San Francisco-based cloud-computing star Salesforce when he began lamenting how tough it was to find a cup of chai as good as he makes it at home.
	That frustration, and echoed complaints by other natives of India, where the blend of spiced tea and simmered milk is woven into daily lifestyles, prompted him to start tinkering.
	"I took a rice cooker apart and reconfigured it to make chai," Chawla told AFP.
	"It made good chai, and I realized this process could be automated."
	While his background is in software engineering, Chawla went to work developing a chai machine as simple to use as a coffee maker.
	He told of giving his second prototype a test run at Google offices, where it was used daily until it broke. Another prototype got a workout in offices of sound and image specialty firm Dolby, ..

Chai stirred into Silicon Valley coffee culture

Gripping a monkey-faced chess piece, Thein Zaw swipes his hand across the chequerboard and topples an advancing demon, demonstrating an ancient form of the game that Myanmar traditionalists are battling to revive.
	Sittuyin, as Myanmar's unique chess is called, is similar to the modern game but has distinctive pieces as well as moves that echo a time when warriors used it to fine tune real fighting strategies.
	Elephants rampage across the squares, a military general marches in place of the queen and players have creative freedom to arrange many of the pieces as they wish, behind front-line pawns that start almost spear-to-chest.
	"The game can feel like you are fighting a war," said Thein Zaw, a five-times Myanmar chess champion, during a recent Sittuyin contest in downtown Yangon.
	His match is combative from the outset, with slain pieces quickly piling up on either side of the board.
	But soon both armies become entrenched and the games reaches long into the sweltering tropical ...

Checkmate? Purists fight to revive Myanmar's ancient chess

A key party in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's newly expanded right-wing coalition threatened to bring it down today over a demand related to the military.
	The Jewish Home party, whose leader Naftali Bennett is a political rival to Netanyahu, said it would vote against the expanded coalition in parliament if its demand was not met.
	The religious nationalist party holds eight seats, enough to block Netanyahu's proposed new line-up.
	The expanded coalition was agreed to on Wednesday when Netanyahu controversially joined forces with ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman, set to become defence minister.
	Parliament is expected to vote on Monday on the deal, which would form what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.
	"We will vote against if the issue is not resolved," Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home told army radio.
	 Asked about the chances of new elections over the issue, she said it was a "possibility."
	Jewish Home has demanded the ..

Netanyahu's newly expanded coalition already threatened

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to push back his debt-loaded country's next tax hike for two and a half years, when he will likely have left office, reports said today.
	Abe yesterday told his close aides, including Finance Minister Taro Aso, that he intends to push back a planned raise in taxes to October 2019, according to Japanese media.
	Abe's premiership will end in September 2018 unless his ruling Liberal Democratic Party approves an exceptional measure to extend his leadership.
	This means Abe will likely leave the tricky work of imposing heavier taxes -- a key measure which would help pay down one of the biggest debt loads among rich nations but may also undermine Japan's frail economic recovery -- to his successor.
	Tokyo already postponed raising the tax from eight to 10 percent last year to April 2017.
	Abe had previously said that his government would only push back the long-planned consumption tax hike in the event of "a grave situation" -- on the scale of the ...

Japan's Abe may leave tax hike to next PM: reports

A bid by a group of Gulf investors to purchase a majority stake of Kuwait's top food company and a regional leader, Americana, has failed, an official statement said today.
	"No final agreement has been reached," said Al-Khair National for Stocks and Real Estate, which manages billions of dollars of stocks held by the Kharafi family, Kuwait's wealthiest merchant family, which wanted to sell its 69-percent stake in Americana.
	"The two sides have agreed to end negotiations of the planned sale," Al-Khair said in a statement sent to the Kuwait Stock Exchange.
	The consortium carried out a due diligence investigation before making an offer that was never disclosed.
	It was the Kharafi family's second failed attempt to sell Americana after Saudi-based food company Savola reportedly offered around USD 4 billion to acquire the firm last year. That offer was rejected.
	Established in 1964, Americana, or Kuwait Food Company, is the parent group that brought to the Middle East more than a dozen 

Bid to sell Kuwait's top food firm fails: company

At least 16 people died when a makeshift home for elderly people outside the Ukrainian capital Kiev caught fire in the early hours today, the emergencies ministry said.
	"The bodies of 16 people have been found at the site of the fire," the Ukrainian emergencies ministry said in a statement, adding that the improvised temporary home for the elderly was located in the village of Litochki outside Kiev. "The fate of one person remains unknown.

AFP

AFP

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