Facebook today denied allegations from a former news curator that it scrubs its site of articles by and about political conservatives.
	Tech news outlet Gizmodo reported yesterday that a former news curator at the social media giant has alleged that articles from politically conservative outlets -- particularly when written about conservative subjects -- were deliberately omitted from Facebook's "trending news" sidebar of popular stories.
	"I'd come on shift and I'd discover that CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) or (former presidential candidate) Mitt Romney or (radio talk show host) Glenn Beck or popular conservative topics wouldn't be trending because either the curator didn't recognize the news topic or it was like they had a bias," the individual told Gizmodo anonymously.
	The charges unleashed a fierce debate in the US media and on the social network itself, which has some 1.6 billion users around the globe.
	But the Silicon Valley-based Facebook, a dominant player 

Facebook denies anti-conservative bias, censorship

PTI Automatic

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects the computer hacking theft of USD 81 million from Bangladesh's central bank was in part an inside job, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
	Quoting sources familiar with the matter, the Journal said FBI agents investigating the case "have found evidence pointing to at least one bank employee acting as an accomplice."
	But it added that "a handful of others" may have also aided the hackers in breaking into the computers of Bangladesh Bank.
	The spectacular cyber-theft has embarrassed the government in Dhaka, triggered outrage in the impoverished country and raised alarm over the security of the global infrastructure linking central banks.
	Hackers fabricated official electronic transfer orders to move the money from Bangladesh Bank's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February and send it to accounts in the Philippines, where it then disappeared, in part through the Philippines casino industry.
	But the New York ...

FBI suspects insiders in $81 mn Bangladesh central bank theft

Kuwait has launched a probe into a suspected scam involving 5,324 families accused of faking documents to obtain government social security payments, a minister said today.
	Social Affairs and Labour Minister Hind al-Sabeeh told the official KUNA news agency that millions of dollars in public funds were illegally taken by these families on the basis of false claims.
	The families number around 52,000 people in a country with 1.3 million native citizens.
	The minister said payments were made to 1,479 Kuwaiti women who claimed to be single but were later found to be married.
	There were another 1,283 cases of Kuwaiti women claiming they were married to stateless people but were found to be married to Kuwaiti citizens, she said.
	The oil-rich Gulf country, which has a generous welfare system, spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on social aid to low-income families.
	But since the sharp decline in the price of oil, its main source of income, the emirate has begun applying ...

Kuwait suspects 5,000 families of social security fraud

About 15 people were killed and dozens injured today in landslides triggered by torrential downpours in hilly western Uganda, local authorities said.
	Bridges were washed away and some 200 homes destroyed in heavy rains that have cut off access to some areas.
	"It is a major landslide, which has killed about 15 people as from the reports so far received and 50 others are undergoing treatment in hospital," said local official Godfrey Mucunguzi.
	Authorities in the area, which includes the hard-hit villages of Humya and Bukhonzo in the Bundibugyo district, have called for help from the government to rescue anyone trapped and to evacuate the injured.
	"If the rains do not stop the number of casualties are expected to go up," Mucunguzi added.
	The news comes a day after authorities announced that at least 49 people had been killed at the weekend in neighbouring Rwanda after landslides caused by heavy rains.
	Landslides are not unusual in Rwanda but this year's rainy season has been ...

Over a dozen people killed in Uganda landslides

France's parliament voted today to extend a state of emergency in place since November's jihadist attacks to the end of July to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament and Tour de France.
	The upper house Senate approved the measure by a large majority, with 309 in favour and only 30 against, mostly from the communist and ecologist parties.
	The emergency was imposed following the November 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in the French capital, and was already extended by three months in February until May 26.
	It allows police to hold people under house arrest whose behaviour is considered "a threat to security and public order".
	But under the latest extension, police will no longer have the power to raid homes without a court order, as they have since November.
	Such raids "no longer present the same operational interest, since most of the identified locations have already been subject to investigation," said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
	He stressed that the ...

France extends state of emergency for Euro 2016,Tour de France

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said today it was investigating fresh claims of Russian doping involving four Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics gold medallists.
     The allegations - the latest in a string of doping accusations to rock Russian sport -- were made by whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov in an interview aired on Sunday by American channel CBS.
     While Russia have dismissed the claims as an attempt to derail upcoming WADA talks, the anti-doping agency expressed its concern.
     "WADA will probe these new allegations immediately," WADA President Craig Reedie said in a statement.
     "The claims made in the program offer real cause for concern, as they contain new allegations regarding attempts to subvert the anti-doping process at the Sochi Games."
     Russia won 13 gold medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The names of the alleged drug cheats were not revealed in the CBS programme.
     WADA will host meetings of its executive committee and its foundation board in Montreal ..

WADA probes fresh Russian doping allegations

France's Socialist government today used a constitutional tactic to bypass parliament and ram through a labour reform bill that has sparked two months of massive street protests.
	The reform, which would make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers, is viewed as the last major piece of legislation for President Francois Hollande as the clock ticks down on his term in office.
	But Hollande, the least popular leader in modern French history, has faced fierce and vocal opposition from within the ranks of his own party, making passage through parliament unlikely.
	Hollande's cabinet decided at an extraordinary meeting today to invoke the constitution's controversial Article 49.3, allowing the government to bypass parliament.
	The tactic to legislate by decree has been used only once before under Hollande -- to force through another controversial economic reform governing trading hours and the deregulation of some sectors.

France forces through contested labour bill without vote

British Prime Minister David Cameron today called Nigeria and Afghanistan "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world" even as he hailed their leaders' planned attendance at an anti-corruption summit in London.
	He was caught on camera making the remarks to Queen Elizabeth II and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at an event marking the monarch's 90th birthday last month.
	"We've got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain," Cameron said, apparently referring to the anti-corruption summit he is hosting on Thursday.
	"Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world," he said, according to a video clip published by the ITV News channel today.
	Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani are both due to attend the summit alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry and the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

British PM calls Nigeria, Afghanistan 'most corrupt countries'

Yemen's government and Iran-backed rebels agreed today to free half of the prisoners and detainees held by both sides, in the first breakthrough in peace talks that began last month.
	The deal came during a meeting of the joint working group on prisoners and detainees formed by UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
	There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict, which the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year.
	"It was agreed during the meeting to release 50 percent of the prisoners and detainees within the next 20 days," Mane al-Matari, media adviser to Yemen's foreign minister who heads the government delegation, told AFP.
	A source close to the Huthi rebel delegation confirmed the agreement to release half of those held by both sides, describing it as "an exchange of prisoners".
	The two sides will meet again on Wednesday to finalise the mechanism on how and when the exchange will ..

Yemen foes agree to major prisoner swap

Russia's foreign ministry today said international powers will meet to discuss the Syria crisis in Vienna on May 17, with recent fighting threatening to derail fledgling peace efforts.
	A spokeswoman told AFP that minister Sergei Lavrov "is planning" to take part in the meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) -- which includes 17 key nations -- in the Austrian capital next week.
	Moscow -- a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad -- is currently spearheading a diplomatic push to resolve the conflict as co-chair of ISSG alongside the United States.
	Washington and Moscow yesterday vowed in a joint statement to "redouble" efforts to end the five-year war in Syria, as regime forces and rebels in the Syrian battleground city of Aleppo agreed to extend a truce for a second time.
	A surge in fighting in Aleppo has threatened to kill off a broader February 27 ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and the US that had sparked hope of a political solution to fighting that has ...

Russia says international powers to meet on Syria on May 17

Saudi Arabia today executed one of its citizens convicted of murder, raising to 92 the number of death sentences carried out this year in the kingdom.
	Mohsen al-Dosari was found guilty of stabbing to death another Saudi man following a dispute, the interior ministry said in a statement.
	Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword
	Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day in January.
	According to Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the third-highest number of executions last year -- at least 158.
	That was far behind Pakistan, which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty, whose figures exclude secretive China.

Saudi carries out 92nd execution of year

Taiwan today executed a former college student who killed four people in a random stabbing spree on a subway two years ago, in an attack which horrified the generally peaceful island.
	Cheng Chieh, 23, was anaesthetized then shot three times by a firing squad at a jail outside Taipei a little before 9:00 pm (1300 GMT), deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters.
	"Death was the only way to show publically that justice had been served and to relieve the sorrow and pain of victims' families," he said.
	Cheng was sentenced to death last year for killing four people and injuring another 22, in the first fatal attack on the capital's subway system since it launched in 1996.
	His execution surprised many, however, as it came less than three weeks after the supreme court upheld the death sentence despite last-ditch efforts by rights groups.
	Among the victims of the attack in May 2014 was a man named Hsieh Ching-yun. His mother said she was "glad" Cheng had been executed.
	"Losing 

Taiwan executes subway killer

Italian police today arrested an Afghan suspected of plotting attacks in Italy, Britain and France after finding incriminating evidence on his mobile phone.
	A second Afghan has been arrested for alleged people trafficking while warrants have been issued for three other people, two Afghans and a Pakistani man, police said.
	The investigation began in December after four Afghans were spotted taking videos inside a shopping centre in Bari in southern Italy, and a police search of their phones uncovered other images of the city's airport and port, as well as sites in Rome, Paris and London.
	"It was clear these were not tourist images. They appear to have been scouting sensitive sites," prosecutor Roberto Rossi said at a press conference in Bari.
	The phones also contained images of Italian and Afghan military vehicles and weapons, as well as Taliban propaganda videos and "a series of chants traditionally sung in preparation for martyrdom", he said.
	One of the defendants was also seen ..

Italy arrests Afghan suspected of plotting attacks

A German court today threw out a bid by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an injunction against the boss of German media giant Axel Springer in a widening row over free speech.
	Erdogan had sought a court order to stop the media group's chief Mathias Doepfner from repeating support for a TV satirist who crudely insulted the Turkish leader.
	The legal action came after Doepfner published an open letter in one of the group's newspapers, in which he backed Jan Boehmermann -- the satirist who in a poem accused Erdogan of bestiality and watching child pornography.
	But the court dismissed Erdogan's application on the basis of the "constitutionally guaranteed right of the defendant to the freedom of expression".
	"When a potential conflict arises between the fundamental right to the freedom of expression and the personal rights of the plaintiff, it is admissable for Doefpner to publicly express an opinion in this controversial debate," said Christina Harpering, spokeswoman for the 

German court rejects Erdogan's challenge against media group

Chinese producer prices declined at their slowest rate in 16 months in April, official data showed today, a positive sign for the world's second-largest economy.
	The producer price index (PPI), which measures prices of goods at the factory gate and is a leading indicator of consumer inflation, fell by 3.4 per cent from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.
	The figure was ahead of the median estimate of a 3.7 per cent decline in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, and the indicator's best performance since December 2014.
	Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it pushes buyers to act before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth.
	China's economy, a vital driver of global expansion, grew 6.9 per cent last year, the slowest in a quarter of a century.
	Producer prices in the Asian giant have been falling for years, and low consumer ...

China producer price falls slow in April: govt

A Belgian man on trial over a foiled jihadist plot told a court today that he obeyed detailed orders from Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the late ringleader of the deadly Paris attacks.
	Mohamed Arshad, 27, said he acted on instructions from Abaaoud to buy walkie-talkies, ingredients for explosives, rent two vehicles and a flat in the town of Verviers, purchase furniture and work to obtain false papers.
	Arshad is one of seven men who went on trial in Brussels yesterday accused of belonging to a cell plotting to kill Belgian police officers, which was dismantled in a deadly raid in Verviers in January 2015.
	"It was not very well thought out. I did what was asked of me," Arshad said in a deposition to the court, adding that Abaaoud had put "pressure" on him during calls the latter made from Turkey.
	Abaaoud was killed in a French police raid days after the November 13 Paris gun and bombing attacks in which he allegedly played the role of ringleader.
	He also had close links to the cell behind ...

Belgian terror suspect 'took orders from Paris ringleader'

Three people killed, 22 wounded in bomb attack in

Nigeria's oil output has slumped to a 22-year low, figures showed today, because of pipeline sabotage and increasing unrest that has seen major companies evacuate staff.
	Data compiled by Bloomberg indicated that output in Africa's biggest oil producer has fallen below 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time since 1994.
	Rebels seeking a fairer share of revenue for locals in the oil-rich southern delta are increasingly targeting facilities, posing a fresh security challenge for President Muhammadu Buhari.
	The attacks have sparked fears of a repeat of violence and kidnappings that plagued the region in the 2000s and saw Nigeria's output cut by a third, slashing government revenue.
	It also risks hitting crude supplies at a time when Nigeria's oil-dependent economy is facing a slump because of the fall in global prices.
	Fresh queues at petrol stations around the country restarted this week, following speculation the government was to withdraw fuel subsidies that keep ...

Nigeria oil output hits 22-year low on renewed unrest

Germany is raising the number of its troops for the first time since 1990, ending a quarter of a century of successive cuts in the army since the end of the Cold War.
	The Bundeswehr is expected to increase in the next seven years by 14,300 soldiers, while 4,400 civilian officers will also be added to the service, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.
	This boost in troop strength is "necessary given the current situation" of increasing tensions with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, as well as several foreign missions undertaken by the army, she said.
	Germany is preparing to join efforts to bolster NATO's presence on its eastern flank bordering Russia, in a bid to reassure east European alliance members rattled by Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
	The Bundeswehr has also deployed troops to Mali as part of a UN mission to monitor a peace deal between the government and northern rebels in the west African country.
	It has also joined an international coalition battling IS ...

Germany to increase troops for first time since Cold War ended

Australia batsman and former limited-overs captain George Bailey will join Middlesex at the end of next month, the English county announced today.
     The 33-year-old, capped 104 times by his country across the formats, will play for Middlesex from late June until mid-August.
     He will replace compatriot Adam Voges while the Middlesex captain is on Test duty in Sri Lanka and follows New Zealanders Brendon McCullum and Mitchell McClenaghan in pitching up at Lord's this year.
     "Obtaining high-quality overseas player cover for an entire season is extremely difficult and everyone at Middlesex is delighted that we have been able to acquire the services of a player of George's ability," said Middlesex's managing director of cricket Angus Fraser.
     "George is an outstanding cricketer with an excellent record in all forms of the game and as someone who has captained his country, he will be a valuable addition to the squad both on and off the field."
     Bailey, who played for ...

Middlesex move for Australia batsman Bailey

A German man who officials said had drug and psychological problems stabbed to death one person and slashed three more in a bloody dawn attack at a railway station today.
	Police arrested the 27-year-old after the apparently random assault around 5:00 am (local time) at the commuter railway station of the small town of Grafing, east of Munich.
	One of the victims, a 56-year-old man, later died of his wounds in hospital. Authorities had earlier wrongly given his age as 50.
	The others injured were men aged 43, 55 and 58. One of the victims was seriously hurt, the other two more lightly wounded.
	Police and prosecutors initially said the attack appeared to be "politically motivated" and with an apparent Islamist motive after eye witnesses had reported hearing him scream "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).
	However, hours later, Bavaria state's interior ministry said that "so far we have no evidence for an Islamist motive, but the investigation continues".
	"We have found the man had ...

AFP

AFP

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