All references to Australia were removed from a UN report on climate change and World Heritage sites after objections from Canberra, in a move scientists and activists today called "extremely disturbing".
	The study, World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate, was jointly published yesterday by UNESCO, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the United Nations Environmental Programme.
	It profiles the impacts of climate change on major tourism drawcards including the Statue of Liberty, Venice and Stonehenge, listing 31 vulnerable sites in 29 countries.
	Initially it contained a chapter on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is suffering its worst bleaching in recorded history, and sections on Kakadu National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness, scientists said.
	But when the Australian Department of Environment saw a draft, it objected and every mention of Australia was removed.
	The department told AFP it "indicated" to UNESCO that "it did not support any of Australia's World ...

Australia removed from UN climate report over tourism fears

PTI Automatic

Jose Mourinho boasted that giant clubs needed the best managers as he took over at Manchester United on Friday.
     Mourinho said he wanted to bury the past three years at Old Trafford, which saw David Moyes and then his own mentor Louis van Gaal struggle to emulate the title-studded success achieved by legendary manager Alex Ferguson.
     "I feel great," Mourinho said in an interview filmed in London on Thursday and aired Friday on the club's television channel.
     "It comes in the right moment in my career because Manchester United is one of these clubs where you need really to be prepared for it because it is what I used to call a giant club. Giant clubs must be for the best managers and I think I'm ready for it."
     United officially appointed the former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Porto and Inter Milan boss on Friday after three days of contract negotiations.
     The 53-year-old Portuguese said he wanted to forget the lean years under Moyes and Van Gaal and think about the ...

Big clubs need big managers, boasts Mourinho

Leaders from the Group of Seven advanced democracies met today with representatives of emerging and developing countries in Asia and Africa.
	The so-called outreach programme involves Chad, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Laos.
	G7 host Japan said ahead of the meeting that it would zero in on Asia's stability and prosperity including "open and stable seas" as well as United Nations sustainable development goals, with a focus on Africa.
	The reference to maritime issues comes as tensions build over Beijing's claims to almost the entire South China Sea, a strategic body of water that encompasses key global shipping lanes.
	China's maritime claims and ongoing militarisation of islets and outcrops have angered some of its Southeast Asian neighbours, including the Philippines and Vietnam.
	At the close of their formal session in Ise-Shima, G7 leaders fired a broadside across China's bows over its behaviour in the region, without mentioning Beijing by ...

G7 meets developing countries amid China concerns

The US authorities have disciplined 41 Secret Service personnel for improperly accessing and leaking the personal information of a congressman who had scrutinized the agency, the Department of Homeland Security said today.
	The announcement comes after a report in September by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General accused the Secret Service employees of accessing the personal files of Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who has led several inquiries into alleged misconduct at the agency.
	They were punished with measures ranging from a letter of reprimand to suspensions without pay for up to 45 days, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a statement yesterday.
	One person found to have given information about Chaffetz to the Washington Post resigned from the service, he said.
	"Like many others I was appalled by the episode reflected in the Inspector General's report, which ...

'US Secret Service agents disciplined over congressman'

About 300 passengers and crew members were evacuated from a Korean Air Boeing 777 at Tokyo's Haneda airport in dramatic scenes after one of the engines caught fire, officials said today.
	TV footage from the airport showed the plane, which was bound for South Korea's Gimpo International, surrounded by red fire trucks and with the area around its left wing doused in foam. The plane's inflatable emergency evacuation slides had all been deployed.
	"The flight (Boeing 777) had a fire on Engine No.1," a Korean Air spokesman told AFP.
	"The plane bound to Kimpo (Gimpo) Airport from Haneda had 302 passengers and 17 crew members on board. (The) fire was apparently put out."
	Smoke was seen coming from the plane as it was about to take off at around 00:40 pm (0340 GMT), officials of the Japanese transportation ministry and the airport told AFP.
	Passengers and crew were evacuated and there were no reported serious injuries, a fire department official said.
	"So far we know that 19 people were .

300 passengers evacuated from Korean plane at Tokyo airport

The International Olympic Committee today reported 23 new doping failures from retests on 265 samples from the 2012 London Games.
     The 23 were from six countries and took part in five different sports. The revelation came one week after the IOC said 31 new cases had been found from 2008 Beijing Olympics.
     "Reanalysis of the "A" samples from 23 athletes in five sports and from six National Olympic Committees who competed at the Olympic Games London 2012 has returned Adverse Analytical Findings," the IOC said in a statement.

23 new doping failures from London Games - IOC

Israeli environment minister Avi Gabbay announced his resignation today, saying the appointment of a hardline nationalist as defence minister had created an "extremist government".
	Gabbay said that he was "unable to swallow" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to take the defence portfolio from former general Moshe Yaalon and hand it to Avigdor Lieberman, who has pledged harsh measures against Palestinian "terrorists".
	Yaalon resigned from the government a week ago in protest, warning of a rising tide of extremism in the party and the country as a whole.
	"I could not accept the removal of Yaalon, a professional defence minister," Gabbay said.
	"The country has the right to have a rightwing government," he added. "But I do not think it is right to form an extremist government.
	"Recent political events and the changing of the defence minister are to me grave events which ignore what is important to state security and will cause further extremism in society."
	Gabbay, of the 

Israeli minister quits 'extremist government'

Manchester United today anointed Jose Mourinho as their new manager to launch a third bid in less than three years to transform the Red Devils into a title-winning force again.
     After three days of talks, Mourinho agreed a three-year contract on a bumper salary reportedly worth more than USD 20 million a year.
	But the 53-year-old Portuguese supercoach said it was the "mystique" of United that drew him to the challenge. United, one the world's biggest football clubs, need reviving after first David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal failed to emulate the glory years of Alex Ferguson.
     "To become Manchester United manager is a special honour in the game," Mourinho said in a club statement.
	"It is a club known and admired throughout the world. There is a mystique and a romance about it which no other club can match.
	"I have always felt an affinity with Old Trafford; it has hosted some important memories for me in my career and I have always enjoyed a rapport with the United ...

Supercoach Mourinho becomes Manchester United boss

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is seeking a quick revision to the constitution that would allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to renew his party political activity, sources said today.
	Erdogan, one of the founders of the Islamic-rooted AKP, had to cut his ties with the party and step down as its leader when he became president in August 2014 to obey constitutional rules that the president should be politically neutral.
	But the AKP is now seeking a "mini-revision" to the constitution that would allow Erdogan to become a "party- affiliated president", an AKP source told AFP.
	The bill would be submitted to the parliament in June, the source added.
	The move for the so-called "mini-revision" - already flagged in the Turkish press - comes as Erdogan also seeks to rally support for a whole new constitution which would enshrine the president's status as the Turkish number one.
	But mathematics are currently against the AKP with the party lacking the "super majority" .

Turkey party seeks constitutional change to boost Erdogan

The Maldives has begun seizing jars of an imported pasta sauce after discovering it contained white wine and bacon, ingredients considered taboo by the local Muslim population.
	The Maldives Customs Service launched an operation this week to track down jars of the offending sauce made by Australian brand Leggo's, the Maldives Independent website reported.
	Customs officials confirmed on Twitter they had seized jars of Italian Chicken Scallopini sauce after social media users alerted them to the ingredients.
	Serving alcohol and pork to Maldivians is an offence in the nation of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, although both are freely available in upmarket resorts in the archipelago.
	"MCS seizes sauce bottles displayed on racks of a shop, which also said to contain white wine in it," the customs authority said on its official Twitter account on Tuesday.
	It has set up a hotline for people to report sightings of the sauce being sold elsewhere, the Maldives Independent said.
	Leggo's website says 

Pass the pasta: Maldives seizes sauce with wine and bacon

Angola's yellow fever outbreak has killed more than 300 people since December, with cases of the deadly disease spreading to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and even China, the World Health Organization has said.
	The outbreak was first detected in the capital Luanda at the end of last year, and has now been confirmed in most coastal and central regions of the west African country.
	"Angola has reported 2,536 suspected cases of yellow fever with 301 deaths," WHO said in an update released yesterday.
	"Despite vaccination campaigns in Luanda, Huambo and Benguela provinces, circulation of the virus persists in some districts."
	WHO warned of unimmunised travellers spreading the virus after neighbouring DR Congo reported 41 cases imported from Angola, with two cases in Kenya and 11 in China.
	"The outbreak in Angola remains of high concern due to persistent local transmission in Luanda despite the fact that more than seven million people have been vaccinated," WHO said.
	There is 

Angola's yellow fever death toll tops 300: WHO

Former Australia captain Michael Clarke today said his body felt 15 years younger after a spell away from cricket as he prepared for a comeback at the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.
     Injury-plagued Clarke said nine months without cricket and its rigorous travel, as well as a revamped diet and training regime, had given him a new lease of life as he contemplates joining the lucrative Twenty20 bandwagon.
     The 35-year-old batsman played his last Twenty20 international in 2010 but he will test the waters for a stint in Australia's Big Bash League at the four-team Hong Kong event this weekend.
     Clarke, troubled by chronic back problems, retired after last year's Ashes series but less than a year later, he will make an experimental hit-out for Kowloon Cantons.
     "I'm going to play these couple of games and see how I go, see if I enjoy it and then assess after that," he told AFP in Hong Kong.
     "Right now it's about coming here and having some fun. If I enjoy it, I'll assess when I ..

I feel like I'm 20, says returning Clarke

Ivory Coast police has arrested a driver who allegedly transported weapons used in a jihadist attack on the Grand-Bassam beach resort that killed 19 people in March, security sources said.
	"Ivorian security sources inform that one of the members and also the driver of the vehicle which transported the weapons during the terrorist attack of 13 March 2016 in Grand-Bassam was arrested by the Ivorian police today 26 May 2016," said the statement seen by AFP, without giving details on where he was arrested.
	The man "is being questioned right now", the statement said.
	"According to preliminary evidence gathered, it appears that this vehicle has already been respectively in Burkina Faso and Mali during periods when these countries suffered terrorist attacks," it added.
	In mid-April, Ivorian Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said people with ties to the resort attack were being "actively sought, particularly in Mali".
	On March 27 two Malians who "actively participated" in the attack were .

Ivory Coast arrests driver over beach resort attack: sources

Obama in Hiroshima calls for "a world without" nuclear

Obama lays wreath at Hiroshima nuclear memorial. (AFP)

Chinese state media said that the "atomic bombings of Japan were of its own making", ahead of a historic visit to Hiroshima today by US President Barack Obama.
	The trip is the first visit to the city by a sitting American President since the world was first shown the potential key to its own destruction in a bombing that claimed the lives of 140,000 people.
	The state-run China Daily declared in an editorial yesterday that the bombings were of Japan's "own making" and accused present-day Japanese officials of "trying to portray Japan as the victim of World War II rather than one of its major perpetrators".
	While some in Japan feel the attack was an abomination because it targeted civilians, many Americans and former allied countries say it hastened the end of a brutal and bloody conflict.
	China's ruling Communist party often reminds its citizens of the brutal behaviour of Japanese soldiers who occupied China during the War, and accuses Tokyo of attempting to whitewash history.
	The 

Hiroshima bombing 'of Japan's own making': China state media

Nuclear-armed North Korea has ridiculed US President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima as the "childish" diplomatic ploy of a "nuclear war fanatic."
	In a commentary released late yesterday, the North's official KCNA news agency said Obama's decision to become the first sitting US president to visit the site of the 1945 atomic bomb strike was an act of stunning hypocrisy.
	"It is a childish political calculation," the agency said.
	"Even if Obama visits the damaged city, he cannot hide his identity as a nuclear war fanatic and nuclear weapons proliferator," it added.
	Heavily sanctioned for its four nuclear tests, Pyongyang insists its entire weapons programme is an unavoidable response to decades of US nuclear hostility.
	Obama was due to lay a wreath in Hiroshima later today at a memorial to the bombing which ultimately claimed the lives of around 140,000 people.
	The KCNA commentary also questioned Tokyo's motives in organising Obama's visit, saying it was playing up the notion of .

N Korea slams Obama's 'childish' Hiroshima visit

Speculation mounted in Japan today that Tokyo may delay an upcoming sales tax hike, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the global economy faces a looming "crisis" similar to that in 2008.
	Tokyo is scheduled to raise the sales tax from eight to 10 per cent in April 2017 to help pay down one of the biggest debt loads among rich nations.
	Abe has previously made clear that his government will only push back the long-planned consumption tax hike in the event of "a grave situation" -- on the scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers or a major earthquake.
	But at a plenary session of the two-day summit of Group of Seven (G7) leaders yesterday, Abe argued that the global economy faced a risk of falling into a "crisis", drawing comparisons with the mood in 2008, just months ahead of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
	A day after the comment, mainstream Japanese newspapers reported that the PM has decided to push back the tax hike plan.
	Abe will meet with his Finance Minister Taro Aso and ..

Japan PM hints at tax delay with economic 'crisis' comment

Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature is investigating 89 alleged cases of corruption involving current and former government officials amounting to USD 69 billion dollars, lawmaker Freddy Guevara has said.
	"It's possible to buy basic necessities for 900 million people with that money," he said yesterday. "It can feed the entire country for 30 years."
	Guevara is chairman of the National Assembly's comptroller committee, which conducts inquiries into financial dealings.
	He brought up Venezuela's major shortages of food and medicine, the result of a severe economic crisis wracking the country thanks to the drop in global prices for oil, the main national export.
	The money has been deposited into accounts abroad, Guevara said, adding that the goal is to "locate where it is" and "repatriate it."
	The investigation is examining several sectors, including food and health, as well as irregularities linked to Venezuela's tight currency controls since 2003.
	Illegal foreign ...

Venezuelan opposition investigating alleged corruption

Three foreign tourists were killed and one other remains missing after a packed speed boat capsized off the popular Thai holiday island of Koh Samui, a police officer said today.
	The boat, which was carrying 32 tourists plus four crew, flipped over yesterday afternoon after it was slammed by a wave near a rocky stretch of coast off the island in the Gulf of Thailand.
	The bodies of a 28-year-old British woman and a 29-year-old German woman were retrieved that afternoon, said Paiboon Omark, a district chief on the island.
	Today morning rescue workers found the body of a third tourist, who police identified as a Hong Kong woman "in her 30s".
	"Her body (was) found at 10:30am (local time) some 500 metres from the accident site," Thanakorn Pattananun, the head of the island's tourist police, told AFP.
	A team of 50 rescue workers in seven boats were scouring the area for a British man who is still missing, he said.
	The Thai captain of the Ang Thong Explorer speedboat was detained and ..

Three tourists killed, one missing in Thai speed boat accident

Fourteen suspected members of an international drug ring were charged in Australia today over a USD 145 million seizure of the drug ice, police said.
	The 14 include eight Chinese crew from a commercial fishing boat along with six Malaysians.
	Border forces detected the boat off Australia's west coast on April 27, but when it was boarded at sea several days later no drugs were found.
	Police said their inquiries led instead to two properties in the Western Australia state capital Perth with 150 kilograms of crystal methylamphetamine, or ice, found in one and 50 kilograms in the other.
	"It will be alleged in court that the people charged today were part of an organised criminal syndicate that facilitated the transport of the drugs from the fishing boat to Western Australia via small watercraft," police said.
	The Australian Federal Police said that six Malaysian nationals aged from 24 to 54 and eight Chinese aged between 37 and 56 had been charged with commercial drug importation, ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1671 - Afp