Belgian Mourad Laachraoui, the younger brother of one of the Brussels airport bombers, has won gold in the European Taekwondo Championships and will compete in this summer's Olympics.
	Mourad Laachraoui, brother of Najim Laachraoui, beat Spaniard Jesus Tortosa 6-3 in the -54kg final in Montreux, Switzerland yesterday night.
	A silver medallist at the Summer Universiades in 2015, the 21-year-old has qualified for the Rio Games in August.
	Najim Laachraoui, 24, was one of the two suicide bombers who struck Brussels airport on March 22, while a third attacker blew himself up at on a metro train, with the two attacks killing 32 people.
	Two days after the Brussels attacks, Mourad Laachraoui said he had been "devastated" by what had happened. He said he not had contact with his older brother since the latter left for Syria in February 2013.
	"You don't choose your family," he told a press conference at the time, adding not to draw "any parallels" with his family who were trying to "turn ...

Taekwondo: Brother of Brussels bomber wins European title

PTI Automatic

If Britain quits the European Union it will have to get used to being considered an outsider, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker told Le Monde newspaper in comments published today.
	"If the British were to say 'no' (to staying in the European Union), which I am not hoping for, life in the (European) community won't go on as before," he warned.
	"The United Kingdom will have to accept being considered a third party, who we won't be bending over backwards for.
	"If the British quit Europe, then we and they are going to have to accept the consequences from that.
	"That is not a threat, but our relations will no longer be as they are today," he added.
	Britons will vote in a referendum on June 23 on whether or not to stay in the European Union and the latest polls suggest the outcome is finely balanced.

Brexit Britain would be treated as an outsider: Juncker

FIFA's ethics committee adjudicatory chamber today recommended a two-year ban from all football activities for Wolfgang Niersbach, former president of the German Football Association (DFB), over an alleged corruption scandal around the right to host the 2006 World Cup.
     FIFA's ethics chief Dr Cornel Borbely opened the probe in March and last month passed on his report to the adjudicatory chamber, which has now decided to proceed with "formal adjudicatory proceedings against Mr Niersbach".
     FIFA's investigatory chamber had recommended that Nierbach be banned for two years from all football-related activity and fined of CHF 30,000 (27,000 euro, $30,000).
     "In the course of the proceedings, Mr Niersbach will be invited to submit his position including any evidence with regard to the final report of the investigatory chamber and may request a hearing," a FIFA ethics committee statement read.
     Niersbach, vice-president of the 2006 World Cup organising committee and current .

FIFA seeks two-year ban for ex-German football boss Niersbach

A body part, seats and one or more items of luggage were found today by crews searching for the wreckage of an EgyptAir passenger jet that crashed in the Mediterranean, Greece's defence minister said.
	"A few hours earlier we were informed (by Egyptian authorities) that a body part, two seats and one or more items of luggage where found in the search area" north of the coastal Egyptian city of Alexandria, Panos Kammenos told a news conference.
	He said other aircraft participating in the search had "allegedly reported more findings in another area, but currently we have no official confirmation that they belong to the plane in question."
	The EgyptAir plane carrying 66 people disappeared from radar screens early yesterday, taking two sharp turns before plunging 22,000 feet into the Mediterranean Sea, according to Greek officials.
	Egypt's military earlier said search teams had spotted personal belongings of passengers and parts of the Airbus A320 about 290 kilometres north of ...

Body part, seats, luggage found in EgyptAir search: Greece

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon resigned today, charging that extremists had taken over the government after he clashed repeatedly with hardline ministers over the army's handling of Palestinian violence.
	Yaalon said he no longer had any trust in Benjamin Netanyahu after the prime minister offered his post to a hardliner loathed by the Palestinians, in a bid to expand the governing coalition's majority.
	The surprise move by the respected former armed forces chief comes after a series of disputes over the military's values and role in society between ministers in Netanyahu's government and top generals backed by Yaalon.
	"I told the prime minister this morning that due to his conduct in recent developments, and in light of my lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the government and Knesset (parliament) and taking a break from political life," Yaalon said on Twitter.
	His resignation comes two days after former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said he would be open to ...

Israel defence minister quits accusing govt of extremism

Legal proceedings to extradite a man accused of hijacking an EgyptAir plane and diverting it to the Mediterranean island officially got underway today.
	A Nicosia court received the official documentation requesting the extradition of Egyptian Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa, 58 to face trial in Cairo.
	Cypriot authorities had to wait six weeks to acquire all the necessary paperwork from Egypt so the justice minister could make the request before the Nicosia court.
	The court will now decide whether there is sufficient cause to send the accused back to Egypt.
	Proceedings were adjourned until May 26 to give the defence time to study Mostafa's initial statement to police and a list of demands submitted during the March 29 hijacking.
	Unlike his previous two appearances before the court, Mostafa was not wearing a political slogan on his shirt.
	His defence lawyer Robertos Vrahimi complained to the court that his client had his top forcibly removed at the prison under protest and was thus ...

Cyprus begins extradition of EgyptAir hijacking accused

Gunmen in northern Uganda have abducted 20 villagers close to the border with South Sudan, Ugandan police said today, expressing fears they were captured by a militia from their war-torn neighbour.
	The rare attack took place in the early hours of Tuesday in the Yumbe district of Uganda's northern West Nile region, which lies close to the porous border with South Sudan.
	"Police received the information that 20 civilians were abducted by suspected militia members from South Sudan," local police chief Ignatius Otong told AFP.
	He did not say why a South Sudan group was suspected, but said Uganda security forces were working with their counterparts across the border.
	"The group responsible for abducting will pay and the abducted will be rescued," Otong said.
	Civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 but rebel chief Riek Machar returned to the capital last month as part of a peace deal which saw him becoming vice-president and forging a unity government with President Salva ...

Gunmen abduct 20 Ugandans near S Sudan border: police

The head of Germany's doctors' association has lashed out at both Lufthansa and aviation regulators for failing to prevent last year's Germanwings crash by allowing a pilot who suffered from severe depression to fly.
	Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed flight A320 in the French Alps in March 2015, killing himself and the 149 others on board.
	Investigators subsequently found he had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies, and that Lufthansa -- the parent company of Germanwings -- knew about his health condition.
	In remarks to the Hamburger Abendblatt published late yesterday, doctors' association chief Frank Ulrich Montgomery blamed Lufthansa as well as Germany's Federal Aviation Authority for neglecting to take a closer look at pilots suffering from psychological problems.
	"As doctors, we find it appalling that both the Federal Aviation Authority and Lufthansa knew that this pilot had records of severe depression but underwent no particular checks," he said.
	"Lufthansa ...

German doctors blasts Lufthansa over Germanwings crash

A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed three in western Nepal, an official said today, with four people still missing after their hamlet was deluged by water and rocky debris.
	Rescue workers are searching for the missing villagers, the official added, while six people who were injured in the landslide, which happened around midnight Thursday, are all receiving medical treatment.
	"Torrential rainfall led to flooding of gorges which carried a mixture of rocks and water down a hillside, burying houses on the bottom," said Pradip Shrestha, the top government official in Kalikot district.
	"Three people have been killed and four have gone missing... We assume the missing people are buried under mud," Shrestha told AFP.
	Scores of people die every year in Nepal from flooding and landslides during the monsoon season, which usually lasts from June through September.

Landslide kills three in Nepal, four missing

Body part, seats, luggage found in EgyptAir search: Greek

Poland's rightwing Prime Minister Beata Szydlo vowed today that her government would never bow to any EU ultimatum and accused some members of the European Commission of trying to "destroy" the 28-member bloc.
	Szydlo was responding to a Monday deadline set by the Commission for Poland to reverse a controversial overhaul of the country's top court that has set off a fiery dispute between Warsaw and Brussels.
	"Poland will never succumb to any ultimatum," Szydlo told parliament. "There are some in the European Commission... Who want to destroy the European Union rather than see it develop."
	The European Union's executive arm warned earlier this week it could take further action against Poland because of concerns over its commitment to the rule of law.
	"If there is no significant progress by May 23, then the First Vice-President (Frans Timmermans) has been empowered to adopt the draft rule of law opinion," the commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
	The exact contents of the ...

Poland PM says will never bow to EU 'ultimatum'

The roof of a building at Hong Kong's City University collapsed today, injuring three people, officials said, sparking panic among eyewitnesses who said it sounded like an explosion had gone off.
	The accident happened around 2:30 pm (630 GMT) at a university sports centre in the Kowloon Tong neighbourhood, with footage showing the caved-in roof along with police, firefighters and ambulances at the scene.
	"The roof collapsed and there were three people were injured," a police spokeswoman told AFP, adding that the affected area was 30 metres squared.
	The three people who were hurt have been brought to hospital, police said without detailing the extent of their injuries from the collapse, which occurred in an area used for badminton and basketball.
	"When it collapsed... People ran away and were saying 'there's an explosion, run away'," a witness who was identified only as Mr Tsui told Cable Television news.
	Such accidents are very rare in Hong Kong, a city of seven million people.

Hong Kong roof collapse injures three at university

Egypt military says EgyptAir wreckage found. (AFP)

Some 50 Myanmar factory workers and activists involved in a protest march that ended in scuffles with security forces this week have been charged with rioting, police said today.
	The latest move by authorities to punish demonstrators from recent rallies comes despite efforts by Aung San Suu Kyi's new civilian-led government to amend draconian protest laws as the country tries to shake off the repressive legacy of the former junta.
	The labour protesters were on Wednesday blocked by a wall of police as they tried to complete an unauthorised march into the capital Naypyidaw.
	They had walked for three weeks in searing temperatures from northern Sagaing Region, where around 100 workers have recently been fired from a timber factory.
	Scuffles broke out as they were detained.
	Authorities said they had initially planned to charge just the rally leaders, but the remaining demonstrators had insisted on all being prosecuted together.
	"Now around 50 of them have been charged with... Joining 

Myanmar police charge dozens of labour activists over rally

The World Bank has approved USD 130 million worth of new loans for Cambodia, ending a five-year freeze in new lending to the country following a spate of controversial forced evictions by the government.
	The decision will be welcome news to strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen whose government has clashed with the World Bank over the eviction of thousands of families from the shores of a lake in the capital Phnom Penh.
	In a statement published on its website late yesterday, the bank said its board of directors agreed to restart loans for four projects "to provide many communities across Cambodia with better roads, sustainable sources of water, improved livelihoods from agriculture, and increased access to health care".
	"Our new engagement with Cambodia starts with projects aimed to bring tangible benefits for Cambodians," Ulrich Zachau, Country Director of the World Bank for Southeast Asia, said in the statement.
	The bank froze new lending to the impoverished nation in 2011 over mass .

World Bank restarts Cambodia loans after five-year freeze

San Francisco's police chief has resigned at the request of the city's mayor, hours after a black woman was fatally shot by an officer.
	Mayor Ed Lee announced Greg Suhr's resignation at a news conference, saying he hoped to "heal the city" that has been rocked by racial tensions.
	"The progress we have made has been meaningful but it hasn't been fast enough, not for me and not for Greg, and that's why I have asked Chief Suhr for his resignation," Lee told a news conference.
	Hours earlier, Suhr had told reporters that a 27-year-old black woman driving a stolen car was shot and killed by police after she ignored orders to stop the vehicle.
	The shooting took place amid heightened tensions between San Francisco's police department and African Americans over a number of racially-charged incidents in the city.
	The police department has been under intense scrutiny following the fatal shooting of Mario Woods in December and Luis Gongora in April.
	It has also been embroiled in controversy 

San Francisco police chief resigns amid racial tensions

Hong Kong student pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong has been released from custody, after being detained for running onto a motorway to intercept the motorcade of a top Chinese official.
	The move came yesterday on the final day of a three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China's communist-controlled legislature, for which frustrated protesters have been kept out of sight behind barricades in a security lockdown.
	Zhang's visit was the first by such a senior official for four years and comes as concerns grow that freedoms are under threat in semi-autonomous Hong Kong as Beijing tightens its grip.
	Police chased a group of five protesters, including Wong, yesterday as they ran along a major highway in eastern Hong Kong which had been cleared for Zhang. They were carrying a sign calling for "self-determination".
	The protesters were all members of Demosisto, a political party led by Wong, who became the face of major pro-democracy rallies in 2014.
	They were detained before Zhang's .

HK leader Wong released after bid to stop China official

The incoming mayor of a major Philippine city said today he was offering bounties to police to kill criminals, deepening concerns of extra-judicial deaths under the rule of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
	Tomas Osmena, incoming mayor of central Cebu city said he would pay policemen 50,000 pesos (USD 1,060) for each criminal they kill and 5,000 pesos for each one they wound.
	"If you kill a criminal in the line of duty, (you'll be rewarded), no questions asked. I'm there to assist the police, not to prosecute them," Osmena told AFP by telephone.
	"That is my purpose: to instill fear in the criminals. If they want to commit crimes, they get into war with me. I will see to it that they will be casualties."
	Asked if such rewards might encourage vigilante killings, Osmena said: "I'm not going to suppress vigilantes."
	Osmena's pledge comes after Duterte, the longtime mayor of southern Davao city, won the May 9 presidential elections in a landslide largely due to a controversial ...

Philippine mayor offers bounties for slain criminals

Attacks suspect Abdeslam arrives for first questioning in

Brent crude powered back above USD 49 a barrel in Asia today as oil prices resumed their rise after the dollar eased and militants blew up another pipeline in African producer Nigeria.
	A rally that pushed oil prices to a series of 2016 highs since last week had taken a breather over the past two days after minutes of an April meeting showed that the US Fed kept the door open to raising interest rates in June, sending the dollar higher.
	A stronger greenback puts downward pressure on oil, as it makes the dollar-priced commodity more expensive, curtailing demand and depressing prices.
	At around 0910 IST, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June was up 55 cents, or 1.14 per cent, at USD 48.71 and Brent crude for July gained 41 cents, or 0.84 per cent, to USD 49.22.
	Analysts said prices resumed their uptick after the dollar eased and threats of supply disruptions came back to fore after militants in Nigeria bombed a gas pipeline owned by the Nigerian subsidiary of ...

Brent back above $49 as oil prices resume uptick

Taiwan's new president Tsai Ing-wen called for "positive dialogue" with China in her much- anticipated inauguration speech today, striking a conciliatory tone in the face of an increasingly hostile Beijing.
	Tsai took office as the island's first female president after winning a landslide victory in January to defeat the ruling Kuomintang, ending an eight-year rapprochement with Beijing under outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou.
	Voters felt Ma had moved too close to China, which still sees self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
	Beijing-sceptic Tsai swept in with a campaign to restore Taiwanese pride, a message that resonated with a public tired of living in China's shadow.
	However she sought to cast Taiwan as a force for peace in front of a cheering crowd of 20,000 at the presidential palace in Taipei, where she was sworn in earlier today.
	"The two governing parties across the strait must set aside the baggage of history, and engage in positive dialogue, ..

AFP

AFP

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