Survivors of a fishing boat shipwreck in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya said that some 100 migrants may have drowned, the International Organisation of Migration said.
	"The survivors who talked to our teams when they landed at Porto Empedocle (Sicily) spoke of 100 missing people who were stuck in the hull," IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo told AFP today.
	According to those who made it to land, the boat was carrying some 650 people when it set sail from chaos-wracked Libya, "most of them Moroccans", Di Giacomo said.
	Earlier estimates had put the toll of yesterday's disaster at five.
	While the Italian navy was able to rescue 562 people from the water, yesterday's shipwreck may be one of the worst tragedies since the migrant crisis began.
	Di Giacomo said it was rare for such large, heavy ships to be used by migrants seeking to reach Europe from Libya.
	As well as Moroccans, many Tunisians and two Syrian families who had been living in Libya were among the ...

Survivors say 100 migrants missing in shipwreck off Libya: IOM

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Hillary Clinton defended her use of a private email server for official correspondence while US Secretary of State, insisting her actions were no different than that of her predecessors.
	One day after the release of a critical State Department investigation faulting her use of personal email for government business, Clinton vowed that she would not allow the issue to dog her campaign.
	"There may be reports that come out, but nothing has changed," the Democratic White House frontrunner said in an interview broadcast by CNN today.
	"It's the same story. Just like previous secretaries of state, I used a personal e-mail. Many people did. It was not at all unprecedented," she said.
	The issue has dogged Clinton for months, and has been used by her political enemies, including her presumed Republican opponent in the White House race, Donald Trump, to question her trustworthiness and honesty -- character traits that many voters already had expressed doubts about in opinion polls.
	Sounding 

Clinton: Email controversy won't affect my White House bid

Even after the world sealed a historic climate deal in Paris, the UN's climate chief is worried humanity won't be able break its fossil fuel habit in time to avert catastrophe, she said today.
	"My concern is whether the transformation is going to happen fast enough to avert the worst impacts," Christiana Figueres said, referring to the global shift from carbon-polluting fossil fuels to green energy.
	"Greenhouse gas emissions have to peak quickly and descend," she said in an interview to AFP, as diplomats wrapped up their first negotiating session since hammering out the landmark pact in December.
	"It is a race against the clock."
	Figueres, from Costa Rica, took on the UN climate brief in the aftermath of the failed 2009 Copenhagen summit, and played a key role in laying the groundwork for the world's first universal climate deal.
	Under the Paris Agreement, 195 nations vowed to hold average global warming to well under two degrees Celsius, and even 1.5 C if possible.
	Barely 1 C ..

Climate change still a race against the clock:UN climate chief

Masked youths clashed with police in Paris and striking workers blockaded refineries and disrupted nuclear power stations today as an escalating wave of industrial action against labour reforms rocked France.
	Police fired tear gas at around 100 protesters who broke away from a march through the capital to smash windows of shops and parked cars, an AFP reporter said, in the latest outburst of anger at the controversial legislation.
	With just two weeks to go before France hosts the Euro 2016 football championship, union activists blocked roads and bridges, and train drivers and air traffic controllers staged walkouts.
	Unions called for rolling strikes on the Paris Metro to start on the day of the opening match on June 10.
	Union leaders said 100,000 people marched through Paris, but police put the number at only around 19,000.
	Reports said 31 demonstrators were arrested.
	Although some blockades on fuel depots and refineries in the north of the country were called off, many ...

Clashes as France gripped by fresh wave of strikes

Campaigners wanting Britain to leave the European Union warned today that immigration had "spun out of control", as the new mayor of London launched his campaign for the country to stay in the bloc.
	Exactly four weeks before the so-called Brexit referendum on June 23, the Office for National Statistics published data putting net migration -- the difference between those arriving and leaving Britain -- at 333,000 last year.
	The record of 336,000 was set in June last year.
	A total of 270,000 EU citizens came to Britain last year, up 6,000 from 2014, while and net EU migration was up 10,000 at 184,000.
	"The system has spun out of control," Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, the former London mayor and a possible successor to Prime Minister David Cameron, said in a statement.
	"We cannot control the numbers. We cannot control the terms on which people come and how we remove those who abuse our hospitality. This puts huge pressure on schools, hospitals and housing."
	He said Britain had .

Brexit camp seizes on near record migration figures

Oil prices jumped today above USD 50 for the first time this year as a long-lasting global supply glut showed increased signs of easing.
	In a boost for countries exporting crude, including the likes of crisis-hit Venezuela, prices are once more on the rise having nosedived from above USD 100 a barrel two years ago to around USD 27 in early 2016.
	Futures had slumped owing largely to a global supply glut, fed by rising production of oil extracted from North American shale rock that competed in the market place with crude from key producers including the OPEC cartel, Russia and Norway.
	But in recent weeks, oil prices have rebounded on lower output caused by wildfires in Canada, as well as unrest in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer. Outages in Venezuela have also lent support.
	Today, benchmark oil contract Brent North Sea crude struck USD 50.51 a barrel -- the first time above USD 50 and highest level since early November.
	US contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit USD 50.21 

Oil reaches above $50 for first time this year

Kurdish-Arab fighters aided by American soldiers battled the Islamic State group north of its Syrian stronghold of Raqa today as Iraqi forces edged towards the jihadist-held city of Fallujah.
	The twin offensives are two of the most significant ground assaults against the extremists since they declared a self-styled "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
	The assaults came as Syria's UN envoy said trapped civilians risk starvation unless Damascus and rebel groups allow greater access to humanitarian aid convoys.
	Near the front line north of Raqa city, an AFP photographer saw US soldiers yesterday assisting a Kurdish-dominated alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
	The SDF is working its way through villages and farmland south of the town of Ain Issa, less than 60 kilometres from Raqa city.
	It said its fighters had "advanced seven kilometres from Ain Issa and liberated five villages and four fields."
	"We liberated the villages of Fatisah, Namroudiya, and Wastah as well as .

US-backed forces battle IS near Syria stronghold, Iraqi city

The rapper Belly, a Canadian of Palestinian origin, canceled a coveted appearance on a late-night US television show as a protest against fellow guest Donald Trump.
	Belly had been due to perform with R&B sensation The Weeknd yesterday night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to promote the rapper's upcoming album "Another Day in Paradise."
	But Belly announced that he was scrapping the performance because Trump was the main guest, with the rapper saying he preferred to focus on "positivity and love."
	"I just didn't want to feel like I was part of a celebration for somebody who has beliefs the majority of us don't agree with," said Belly, who as born in the West Bank and grew up in the Canadian capital Ottawa.
	Trump, who has crossed the threshold of delegates needed to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee, has sought to build support among working-class white voters by railing against Muslims, Mexicans and other groups.
	After a couple of Pakistani origin carried out an attack ...

Muslim rapper cancels TV slot to avoid Trump

World number one Novak Djokovic and nine-time winner Rafael Nadal racked up Grand Slam milestones at the French Open today as Serena Williams coasted into the third round.
     Top seed Djokovic, looking for a Roland Garros title to complete a career Grand Slam, claimed his 50th win at the tournament by seeing off Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
     It was the Serb's third win in three career meetings with Darcis, a player nicknamed 'Shark' who dumped Nadal out of Wimbledon in 2013.
	But it was a far from a smooth display from the 11-time major winner and three-time French Open runner-up who committed 42 unforced errors.
	"He plays with a lot of speed, is good from the baseline and it was not easy for me to play the points the way I wanted," Djokovic said of 32-year-old Darcis.
    	"He has a lot of talent and it was tough. I am happy to have won in three sets."
     Djokovic next takes on Britain's Slovenian-born Aljaz Bedene who reached the third round of a major for .

Djokovic, Nadal reach milestones as Serena eases on

At least two people were reported killed today as rallies across DR Congo against President Joseph Kabila turned violent, with police firing tear gas in the capital Kinshasa and the eastern city of Goma.
	Large numbers of riot police were deployed across the country for the rallies called by three opposition groups in defiance of government bans.
	Tensions have been soaring in the country where Kabila, in power since his father's assassination in 2001, is widely thought to be preparing to remain in office beyond the two terms allowed under the constitution.
	"A policewoman was killed by the crowd and a protester was also killed," in the eastern city of Goma, Jose Maria Ajanaz, who heads the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in the deeply restive nation, told AFP.
	But Goma's police chief denied there were any police deaths, saying only a "looter" had been killed.
	Locals said Goma police fired tear gas to disperse youths who had set up barricades and blocked ...

Two killed in clashes as opposition protests sweep DR Congo

Social networks are an increasingly important news source for many Americans, with Facebook leading the pack, a study showed today.
	The Pew Research Center survey showed 62 per cent of US adults get news on social media, and 18 per cent do so often.
	That shows a growing role for social media as a news source. In 2012, based on a slightly different question, 49 percent of American adults reported seeing news on social media, Pew said.
	According to the survey, 66 per cent of Facebook users get news on the site, as did 59 per cent of Twitter users and seven of 10 users of Reddit.
	Because Facebook reaches some two-thirds of US adults, the survey indicates that 44 per cent of the overall population gets at least some news through the leading social network.
	The survey comes with Facebook defending itself against allegations that it suppressed some conservative news content in its "trending" topics.
	Last week, Facebook said was unable to substantiate any specific accusations of bias, .

Social networks key for news; Facebook leading: Study

The UN special envoy to Yemen today called for an economic rescue plan for the war-battered and impoverished Arab nation.
	"I propose the establishment of an economic rescue authority as soon as possible to save the Yemeni economy from further deterioration," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told a press conference.
	He said the body would comprise experts proposed by Yemen's warring parties which are locked in five-week-old peace talks in Kuwait.
	It would be consultative in nature and have the full backing of the United Nations and its  agencies as well as the World Bank among others, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
	"The Yemeni economy requires an urgent intervention ... Economic deterioration is expected to boost inflation and price rises," he said.
	Even before the war escalated in 2015, Yemen was one of the poorest nations on earth with unemployment of more than 40 per cent and over half its 25-million population living under the poverty line.
	Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the peace talks had started 

UN envoy calls for economic rescue plan for Yemen

Ukraine's security service today said it had banned the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for backing Russia's annexation of Crimea.
	Ukraine's National Security Service (SBU) said the 85-year-old who presided over the breakup of the Soviet Union was barred from entering the country for five years.
	"For publicly backing the annexation of Crimea, Mikhail Gorbachev is banned from entering Ukraine for five years," the SBU said on Twitter.
	SBU spokeswoman Olena Gitlyanska wrote on Facebook that Gorbachev had been barred "for state security reasons, particularly for his public backing of the military annexation of Crimea".
	Russia formally annexed Crimea in March 2014 by a controversial referendum after sending special forces there to take over key institutions and military bases.
	Gorbachev, once a harsh Kremlin critic who has turned into a moderate supporter of President Vladimir Putin, said on Sunday that he would have done the same in Crimea if he had been in a similar ...

Ukraine bans Gorbachev for backing Crimea annexation

Global optimism lifted equity markets today, fuelled by oil breaking through USD 50 and a debt deal for Greece, but gains were curtailed by profit-taking pending G7 developments and any hints on the next US rate move.
	"The fresh leg higher in oil we saw overnight, with (Brent oil) breaking above USD 50 a barrel for the first time since October 2015, has only served to provide more fuel to the rally," XTB brokerage analyst David Cheetham told AFP.
	In Europe, Frankfurt, London and Paris extended Wednesday's gains that were won on the back of Greece news, bright German data, easing Brexit concerns and firmer oil prices.
	But Madrid was weighed down by a crash in Banco Popular shares, which lost more than a fifth of their value after the bank asked shareholders to stump up more cash to clear up its balance sheet.
	Wall Street followed Europe, opening a touch higher.
	Rising oil prices boost the profits, revenues and share prices of energy companies and Asian stock markets were first to .

Global markets rise on optimism over oil, Greece

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today said that the Group of Seven has no plan to withdraw sanctions slapped on Russia over its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
	Her comments came on the sidelines of G7 summit talks in Japan, ahead of a formal communique from the club of rich nations due Friday.
	"For me it's too early to give the all clear," Merkel told reporters in response to questions, adding that an earlier pro-sanction policy would remain in place.
	"There is no change of position to be expected" from the G7, she said.
	Earlier today, European Council President Donald Tusk added his voice to the issue, saying the G7 needed to take a "clear and tough stance" on Russia for its moves in Ukraine -- as well as China for its controversial claims in the South China Sea.
	"The test of our credibility at the G7 is our ability to defend the common values that we share," he told reporters at the Japan talks.
	"This test will only pass if we take a clear and tough stance on ..

Germany's Merkel says G7 has no plans to lift Russia sanctions

Syria's devastating war has killed more than 280,000 people, a monitoring group said today in a new toll for the five-year conflict.
	The toll of 282,283 includes 81,436 civilians, among them 14,040 children and 9,106 women, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	Non-jihadist rebel fighters accounted for 48,568 of those killed, while extremist militants -- including non-Syrians -- numbered 47,095.
	The Observatory documented the deaths of 101,662 pro-regime fighters, including 56,609 government soldiers.
	Another 3,522 of the deaths were unidentified.
	The Observatory is based in Britain and depends on a network of sources inside Syria to gather its information on the conflict that erupted in March 2011.
	The toll was the first given since a partial truce came into effect between the government and non-jihadist rebels on February 27.
	Several weeks into the truce, the Observatory said violence -- and daily death tolls -- had dropped dramatically.
	But since then clashes have ..

More than 280,000 dead in Syria war, monitor says in new toll

French police today said they raided the French headquarters of McDonald's and seized documents last week as part of an investigation into tax fraud.
	Agents of a special corruption, financial and tax crime unit searched the premises west of Paris on May 18, taking away company files, a police source said.
	French authorities suspect McDonald's has been illegally lowering its tax bill by channelling French earnings to Luxembourg, where its European headquarters is based, and where corporate taxes are much lower.
	Financial prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry into McDonald's France at the start of this year, after union representatives filed a legal complaint against the company for organised tax evasion.
	Several multinational companies have come under fire for paying extremely low taxes by shifting revenue across borders in an often complex web of financial arrangements.
	On Tuesday, French police and two dozen computer experts raided Google's Paris offices, also in a tax fraud .

McDonald's French HQ raided in tax probe: police

Russian President Vladimir Putin is unable to meet Elton John for a long-planned discussion of gay rights when the singer performs in Moscow next week, the Kremlin spokesman today said.
	"Unfortunately this time it won't work out," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, asked if Putin would manage to meet the star when he gives a concert in Moscow on Monday.
	"The schedules don't fit," Peskov said. "That doesn't mean such a meeting won't happen next time."
	Peskov said he "had been corresponding a couple of weeks ago" with the musician over a possible meeting.
	"As you know, there was indeed an agreement that if their schedules fitted, there would be a meeting, President Putin expressed readiness to do this," Peskov said.
	Putin is set to travel to Greece later this week to meet Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and visit an Orthodox Christian holy site, although it was not clear if this was the reason why he could not meet the singer.
	The British music legend, who is gay and .

Russia's Putin puts off meeting with Elton John

A Bahraini court today jailed 19 Shiites for attacks against police in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, including five for life sentences, a judicial source said.
	In the first case, the five men who got the longest terms were convicted of a bomb attack in a Shiite-populated village east of Manama in August last year.
	The bomb exploded when a police bulldozer was clearing barricades that had been erected by protesters, the source said.
	In the second trial, the same court handed out jail terms of between three and 15 years to 14 Shiites convicted of attacking police in Sitra, south of the capital.
	They were also found guilty of possessing weapons and explosives, the source said.
	The tiny Gulf state has been shaken by unrest since it quelled a month-long, Shiite-led uprising demanding reforms in 2011.
	The Shiite-majority kingdom, connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway, lies across the Gulf from Shiite Iran and is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
	Despite the crackdown on the 2011 uprising, ...

Bahrain jails 19 Shiites for attacks on police

Two documents signed by Abraham Lincoln in his drive to abolish slavery in the 19th century have sold for more than USD 4.5 million in New York.
	Limited edition copies of the Emancipation Proclamation delivered on January 1, 1863 and the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery two years later, were issued by the man many still consider the greatest US president.
	Sotheby's, which conducted the sale on Wednesday, said the copy of the 13th amendment sold for USD 2.4 million, while the proclamation was snapped up by a telephone bidder for USD 2.17 million. Both documents are framed.
	Lincoln signed the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, on February 1, 1865 in the culmination of 70 years of discord over the status of slaves.
	The copy sold is one of 14 signed by Lincoln, his vice president, the speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax and in this case, by 36 senators.
	In the proclamation, Lincoln ordered that all people held as slaves ...

Lincoln anti-slavery documents sell for USD 4.57m in NY

Police in Spain have seized 74 African elephant tusks worth USD 223,000 from a man who was allegedly trying to sell them with a fake permit, authorities said today.
	The tusks, which weighed 744 kilos (1,640 pounds), were seized in April in Colmenar de Oreja, a town located southwest of Madrid, police said.
	The owner of the tusks had tried to use a hunting licence issued in 1970 in Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony on the southeast coast of Africa, to try to sell them, police added.
	The hunting licence allowed for one elephant to be killed, not 37 as the doctored version of the document claimed.
	The man has been charged with falsifying documents, smuggling and endangering wildlife.
	The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the ivory trade in 1989.
	But some countries allow the resale of ivory bought before the ban, and CITES-approved government stockpiles can also be sold with certification.
	Africa is home to between ..

AFP

AFP

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