Obama says no apology for A-bomb on Hiroshima visit. (AFP)

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At least 17 girls died as they slept after a fire swept through a private school dormitory in northern Thailand, a police commander said today, adding several others were either missing or injured.
	"The fire broke out at 11pm on Sunday (local time) Seventeen girls were killed and two are still missing, with five injured" Police Colonel Prayad Singsin, Commander of Vingpatao district in Chiang Rai told AFP.
	The school is home to girls aged from three to 13 years old, he said.

At least 17 girls dead in Thai private school fire: police

Gunmen in Mexico's Veracruz state shot dead four men hours after police killed an alleged criminal elsewhere in the region and another man was kidnapped at church, authorities said.
	Three armed men stormed into a nightclub called La Madame in the regional capital Xalapa yesterday morning, shooting four victims at a table inside.
	"Four elderly men were killed," the state government said in a statement. Several more were injured, an official told AFP, without specifying a number.
	Local media reported that the attack injured 12 people.
	Xalapa, a city of 525,000 residents,  lies 290 kilometers (180 miles) east of Mexico City near the Gulf of Mexico.
	Around noon on Saturday, a group of armed and masked men entered a church in the port of Veracruz, west of Xalapa, during a religious ceremony and dragged away a man before fleeing in two vehicles.
	The church was packed with families gathered for the confirmation of several children, including the daughter of the kidnapped man, whom ...

Five dead, one kidnapped in Mexico's Veracruz: officials

Abu Dhabi's oil giant ADNOC is cutting thousands of jobs as it vies to cut costs to cope with a sharp drop in oil revenues, industry sources said today.
	"Thousands of staff at ADNOC and its affiliates" are affected, said one source in the industry, asking not to be named.
	ADNOC has "asked its affiliates to cut costs", said the source, pointing out that job cuts are the obvious outcome "as more than half of the operating cost is that of the staff".
	A source at ADNOC confirmed the job cuts but did not want to comment on actual figures.
	An Abu Dhabi lawyer confirmed dealing with cases of scores of ADNOC employees who have lost their jobs.
	A spokesperson from the group told AFP that "in keeping with the entire oil and gas industry, ADNOC is constantly looking at ways to be more efficient and more profitable, particularly in the current market environment".
	"This is in line with our strategic goals of efficiency, profitability, and performance," said the spokesperson in an emailed ...

Abu Dhabi's ADNOC cutting thousands of jobs: industry

An illegal party in the Swiss capital spiralled into a violent protest march that saw hundreds of youths slinging rocks and vandalising property throughout the city, police said today.
	The rampage caused hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs' (dollars, euros) worth of damage, Bern's top security official Reto Nause told the ATS news agency.
	Bern police said they had received numerous noise complaints late yesterday, before discovering that hundreds of young people had broken into an old waste incineration plant on the outskirts of the capital for a party.
	Shortly before midnight, partygoers spilled out of the site and began marching towards the city centre, spray-painting and smashing shop windows as they went, according to the police statement.
	Police officers and fire fighters arriving at the scene were met with violence and pelted with rocks, it said.
	A fist-sized rock had smashed through the window of a firetruck, and hit a person inside, it said.
	Police said they had used ..

Violent protesters run rampant in Bern after party: police

Philippine soap star Jaclyn Jose won best actress at the Cannes film festival today for her mesmerising performance as a slum matriarch who falls prey to corrupt police.
	A huge star in her homeland, she said she had to forget everything she learned in her 30 years in the business for the role as a sweetshop owner and small-time drug dealer in "Ma' Rosa".
	"The biggest challenge for me was not to act. Especially since I am coming from television shows where I play loud and campy characters," she told reporters.
	The 52-year-old said she had to "tone everything down to zero" -- for the stark, realistic portrait of a woman fighting to do the best for her family in director Brillante Mendoza's gritty film.
	It is a dramatic change from her regular job, playing a spoilt, rich woman in the popular Philippine TV soap opera, "The Millionaire's Wife".
	Variety magazine praised Jose for the "naturalistic grace" of her film performance, playing the matriarch of a family struggling to survive ...

Philippine star Jaclyn Jose wins best actress at Cannes

British director Ken Loach won the Palme d'Or top prize at Cannes today for the second time in a decade with his moving drama "I, Daniel Blake" about the shame of poverty in austerity-hit Europe.
	The award marked a major upset at the world's top film festival in favour of the left-wing director, who turns 80 this year and is known for shining a light on the downtrodden.
	He beat out runaway favourites including the rapturously received German comedy "Toni Erdmann" by Maren Ade, one of three women directors in competition, and US indie legend Jim Jarmusch's "Paterson" starring Adam Driver as a poetry-writing bus driver. Both left empty-handed.
	Loach now joins an elite club of two-time victors at the French Riviera festival including Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Emir Kusterica.
	"We must give a message of hope -- we must say another world is possible," Loach said as he accepted the prize.
	The runner-up Grand Jury prize went to Canadian wunderkind director Xavier Dolan, 27, for ...

Britain's Loach wins Cannes gold with moving austerity tale

Iranian star Shahab Hosseini won the best actor award at the Cannes film festival today for his role as a husband shaken by an attack on his wife in "The Salesman".
	The 42-year-old won a Golden Globe in for his part in 2011's "A Separation", which was also directed by Iranian master Asghar Farhadi.
	"This prize belongs to my people and I give it to them with all my heart," he said.

Iranian star Shahab Hosseini wins best actor award at Cannes

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today gave his close ally and Transport Minister Binali Yildirim the mandate to form a government as prime minister in a move set to further consolidate the strongman's grip on power.
	Yildirim had earlier been chosen by the ruling party as its new chairman, immediately vowing to make a priority out of implementing Erdogan's controversial plan for a presidential system to enshrine his status as the Turkish number one.
	He replaces in both posts Ahmet Davutoglu, a former foreign minister who promoted his own ambitious agenda but threw in the towel after a power struggle with Erdogan.
	Yildirim, 60, was the only candidate at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) extraordinary congress in Ankara, receiving 1,405 votes from 1,470 delegates present.
	In a carefully choreographed process, Davutoglu hours later met Erdogan at the presidential palace to formally submit his resignation as prime minister.
	Yildirim then also went to the palace to .

Erdogan gives loyal ally mandate to form new government as PM

Libyan coastguards said they intercepted seven vessels today carrying around 850 African migrants trying to reach Europe illegally by sea.
	"The coastguard in the west was patrolling the area off the Zawiya refinery (45 kilometres, 28 miles west of Tripoli) and ... They intercepted seven large inflatables," Libyan navy spokesman Colonel Ayoub Qassem told AFP.
	He said the migrants "from several African countries" included 79 women -- 11 of them pregnant -- and 11 children.
	"The migrants were handed over to the authorities for transfer to shelters," he said.
	The chaos in the North African country since Moamer Kadhafi's fall in 2011 has been exploited by people traffickers, with thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe from Libya just 300 kilometres from Italy.
	The onset of better weather conditions has raised fears of huge numbers of people attempting the still perilous sea crossing.
	At the end of March, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian estimated that around 800,000 ..

Libya coastguard intercepts 850 migrants: navy

Cypriots voted today in an election that produced a record low turnout for parliamentary polls after a three-year economic downturn and amid widespread disillusion with politicians.
	Exit polls showed the ruling rightwing DISY party as winners with between 29 and 33 per cent of the vote, but they also forecast the most fractious assembly ever with the possibility of the far-right ELAM entering parliament for the first time.
	DISY would secure up to 21 seats, one more than their current tally of 20, while the exit polls gave the communist AKEL between 25 and 29 percent, dropping from 19 to 18 seats.
	The polls indicated the 56-seat parliament could be enlarged to eight parties from the previous five.
	Election officials gave an initial turnout of 67 percent, with the record low abstention rate of one third -- up from 21 percent in 2011 polls for parliament -- seen to have played into the hands of smaller parties.
	President Nicos Anastasiades, whose rightwing government negotiated a ...

Cyprus in record low turnout for parliament election

Sudan has "de facto expelled" a senior United Nations official after refusing to renew his "stay permit" for another year, a UN statement said today.
	The foreign ministry informed the UN in Sudan that the annual permit for Ivo Freijsen, who heads the Sudan office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will not be renewed when it expires on June 6, the statement said.
	"This is despite the request for a 12-month extension of his stay permit... Which was submitted on 10 April 2016," it said, adding that the ministry did not provide an explanation in writing for its decision.
	"The action by the government of Sudan is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the international civil service enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations... To which Sudan is a party."
	Freijsen, who is Dutch, is the fourth senior UN official to be expelled from Sudan over the past two years, the statement said.
	His expulsion comes in addition to the "forced closure ..

UN says Sudan 'expels' one of its senior officials

Austrian far-right hopes of winning a presidential runoff remained on hold today as the candidates were neck-and-neck in a battle closely watched by the EU, which is struggling to contain a surge of anti-immigrant parties.
	A win would see Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) become the European Union's first far-right head of state.
	Today evening, the vote was evenly split between Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPOe) and Green-backed economics professor Alexander van der Bellen, with both on 50.0 according to projections based on almost all the votes cast at polling stations today.
	As a result, the winner is unlikely to be known before tomorrow, once the postal vote has been counted.
	Close to 900,000 people -- or a record 14 per cent of Austria's 6.4 million eligible voters -- cast their ballot by mail this year.
	A huge influx of asylum-seekers, rising unemployment and frozen reforms has driven voters away from the two centrist parties that have dominated Austrian politics ...

Austria on knife-edge as presidential race too close to call

Controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova reached the French Open second round today as Roland Garros got off to a soggy, chilly start.
     Kyrgios overcame a first-set code violation to defeat Italy's Marco Cecchinato 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
     The 17th seed picked up the warning for screaming at a ball boy on a shivering Court One where the temperature refused to budge above 15 degrees.
     Kyrgios insisted he only screamed at the youngster during the first-set tiebreak because he wanted his towel.
     He then accused umpire Carlos Ramos of "unbelievable bias" for dishing out the violation.
     That was a reference to world number one Novak Djokovic escaping any sanction for shoving the arm of umpire Carlos Bernardes at the Rome Masters last week.
     "All of us in this room know that if that was me, it would have been a circus. The fact that nothing happened (to Djokovic) speaks for itself," said Kyrgios who ranted on court that ..

Angry Kyrgios, Kvitova pass chilly Roland Garros tests

Afghan Taliban sources confirm death of Mullah Akhtar

Authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip are planning to carry out a series of public executions, the attorney general in the Palestinian enclave said today.
	Islamist movement Hamas has carried out previous executions in Gaza, although rarely in public and mainly of people accused of collaborating with Israel. Today's announcement involved those convicted of criminal offences.
	"Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza," attorney general Ismail Jaber told journalists. "I ask that they take place before a large crowd."
	13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, are currently awaiting execution, Hamas official Khalil al-Haya said on Friday at the mainly weekly Muslim prayers.
	"The victims' families have the right to demand that the punishments be implemented," he said.
	The families obtained rare permission today to stage a demonstration outside parliament, with dozens demanding that the executions be carried out.
	The last public executions in Gaza were in ..

Hamas planning public executions in Gaza Strip

Greece today was set to adopt fresh cuts and tax hikes ahead of a Eurogroup meeting that is expected to unlock desperately-needed bailout funds for the debt-ridden nation.
	After waves of protests over a string of unpopular reforms, lawmakers from the ruling leftist party are to approve today night a bill of over 7,000 pages that raises the sales tax cap and introduces a mechanism to slash spending further in case of budget overruns.
	The contingency mechanism in the new legislation -- labelled "the cutter" by Greek media -- is designed to cut state spending if the country fails to meet fiscal targets, is of chief interest to Greece's international creditors.
	Greece has pledged under its latest EU bailout to bring its primary budget surplus, which excludes debt payments, to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2018.
	Should Athens fail to reach its fiscal targets, it must resort to the new mechanism to save up to two percent of output in a fiscal year.
	People on all sides of ...

Greece to adopt more cuts, tax hikes for bailout cash

US President Barack Obama landed in Vietnam late today for a landmark visit capping two decades of rapprochement between the former wartime foes, as both countries look to push trade and check Beijing's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
	Air Force One touched down in Hanoi just after 9.30 pm for the beginning of a three-day trip in which Obama will meet Vietnam's communist leadership and stress improving relations with the dynamic and rapidly emerging nation.
	For many Americans, Vietnam remains a painful byword for slaughter and folly since hostilities in the decade-long ruinous war between the two nations finally ended in 1975.
	Yet few countries have seen such a dramatic turnaround in their relations since Obama's Democrat predecessor Bill Clinton normalised relations and later became the first post-war president to visit Vietnam in 2000.
	The Obama administration now sees the country as a vital plank in America's much vaunted pivot to the Asia-Pacific ...

Obama lands in Vietnam to boost security, trade ties

The world's first humanitarian summit in Istanbul next week is a "once in a generation" chance to alleviate suffering by improving the global response to crises, senior UN officials said today.
	The two-day UN-backed World Humanitarian Summit which opens tomorrow brings together some 65 heads of state and government with leading NGOs to find a concrete strategy on countering the worst humanitarian crises since World War II.
	"This is a once in a generation opportunity to to set in motion an ambitious and far-reaching agenda to change the way that we alleviate and prevent the suffering of the world's most vulnerable people," UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien told reporters ahead of the meeting.
	He said that the summit differed from other such events as it was not aimed as winning financial pledges but a comprehensive strategy for dealing with crises such as the estimated 60 million people displaced around the world.
	UN Deputy Secretary General Jan ...

UN says Istanbul summit 'once in generation' chance

Rebel groups today set a 48-hour deadline for the US and Russian sponsors of a February ceasefire in Syria's conflict to halt a regime offensive in the Damascus area.
	"We are giving the sponsors of the ceasefire 48 hours to rescue what remains of the accord and to force the criminal regime of (President Bashar al-) Assad and his allies to completely and immediately halt their brutal offensive against Daraya and Eastern Ghouta," 29 rebel groups said in a joint statement.

Syria rebels give truce brokers 48 hours to end regime assault

A Libyan former minister was killed in clashes between unity government forces and fighters of the Islamic State jihadist group in the Sirte area, the LANA news agency reported today.
	Mohammed Soualem, labour minister in Ali Zeidan's government from 2012 to 2014, "was directing military operations against IS" at the time, said the agency loyal to the North African country's new unity government.
	He was killed in fighting in the Abu Grein area, 100 kilometres west of Sirte, the jihadist group's main stronghold in Libya and hometown of late dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
	"The clashes cost the life of Commander Mohammed Soualem and wounded five fighters," LANA reported.
	"Air units in support of this operation succeeded in destroying dozens of vehicles" used by IS "and wounded several" jihadists, it said.
	Last Tuesday, forces loyal to the Government of National Accord said they had retaken the key town of Abu Grein from IS.
	GNA troops and forces of the rival government based in the east ..

AFP

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