World number one Novak Djokovic racked up his 30th win of a dominant season with a 6-2 6-1 destruction of Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the Madrid Masters quarter-finals on Thursday.
     The resurgent Rafael Nadal and defending champion Andy Murray also remained on course for a semi-final clash as they eased past Sam Querrey and Gilles Simon respectively in straight sets.
     Djokovic is playing in Madrid for the first time in three years, but hasn't taken long to adjust to the different conditions in the altitude of the Spanish capital as he has reached the quarters for the loss of just nine games.
     "After a long game at 2-2 in the first set, I managed to break his serve. It was a flawless performance after that, everything worked very well," said Djokovic.
      "Today the way I played gives me a lot of satisfaction. I'm just hoping I can continue playing this well tomorrow."
     The Serb will continue his quest for a fifth title of the season against Milos Raonic as 

Djokovic, Nadal, Murray cruise into Madrid quarters

PTI Automatic

Close aides to Hillary Clinton including longtime confidante Huma Abedin have been interviewed by the FBI as part of its investigation into the ex-secretary of state's use of a private email server, a report said.
	The interviews, confirmed to the network by US officials briefed on the probe, mark a step forward in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe, which the officials described as nearing its end.
	The investigation has focused on the security of the Clinton server and whether classified information was exchanged.
	The officials said no date had yet been set for an FBI interview of Clinton, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, but that one was expected in the coming weeks, CNN reported.
	Abedin has cooperated with investigators, who have not found evidence that proves Clinton willfully violated the law, it added.
	Bryan PaBenghazigliano, the former State Department staffer who reportedly helped set up Clinton's server and has been granted immunity in the criminal ...

FBI interviews Clinton aides as email probe advances: report

Crude prices dipped in Asia today as traders await a closely watched US jobs report that could provide clues on the health of the world's biggest economy and the direction of interest rates.
	The non-farm payroll report due for release later in the day could determine when the Fed lifts borrowing costs, which would affect the dollar and, in turn, demand for oil.
	At around 0345 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June was down 20 cents, or 0.45 per cent, at USD 44.12 and Brent crude for July dipped 18 cents, or 0.40 per cent, to USD 44.83.
	Traders are unlikely to make major moves ahead of the report, CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy in Sydney told AFP.
	"It will have a direct impact on the US dollar and given that US dollar weakness has been one of the supportive legs for oil prices in particular, it will be an important read."
	A weaker greenback makes crude cheaper for anyone holding other currencies, spurring demand and ...

Oil prices down as traders await key US jobs report

A Mexican national has been arrested in California on charges of helping drug traffickers launder more than USD 60 million in proceeds through an elaborate scheme.
	Gustavo Barba, 59, of Guadalajara, was detained on Tuesday as he sought to enter the United States through San Diego, authorities said yesterday.
	Three of his associates were also jailed and charged in the 32-count indictment that details how the group laundered millions of dollars in drug proceeds through legitimate businesses in Mexico and South America.
	Barba's organisation allegedly laundered the money by using a "Black Market Peso Exchange" (BMPE) scheme to convert millions of dollars in drug money generated in the United States into pesos that were then delivered to drug cartels in Mexico.
	"The BMPE involves both illegal drug trafficking and legitimate businesses operating throughout the Americas, and the scheme solves problems faced by both groups," prosecutors said in a statement.
	"Drug cartels have massive ...

Mexican ringleader of plot to launder drug money nabbed

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin today in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a bid to bolster ties and seek to resolve a decades-long territorial dispute.
	Tokyo-Moscow relations have been hamstrung by the row dating back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops seized the four southernmost islands in the Pacific Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.
	Japan and Russia's lingering tensions have prevented them ever signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities, hindering trade and investment ties.
	"This is a complex, multi-faceted issue that can only be resolved in a manner acceptable to both sides through an even deeper partnership between the two countries," Putin's chief foreign policy advisor Yury Ushakov said ahead of the visit.
	Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in April that Russia and Japan had agreed to start negotiations on signing a peace treaty "as soon as possible" after the ...

Japanese PM Abe visits Putin looking to warm ties

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said action on climate change must be faster and broader to turn the promises of the Paris deal on combatting global warming into concrete measures.
	"It is time to take climate action to the next level," Ban told a gathering in Washington yesterday that included the mayors of New York and Paris, environmental campaigner Al Gore, business leaders and members of the US Congress.
	"We need to accelerate the speed, scope and scale of our response, locally and globally."
	The meeting, dubbed Climate Action 2016, came two weeks after 175 countries signed the Paris climate deal at the United Nations, raising hopes that the landmark deal will be quickly ratified.
	The Paris agreement will come into force when 55 countries responsible for 55 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases have ratified it.
	"We cannot afford to lose momentum because with each passing day the climate challenge grows," said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
	"It seems that every ..

UN's Ban says time to scale up action on climate change

The United Nations' top aid official has demanded an immediate investigation into the killing of displaced civilians in a camp hit by air strikes in northern Syria.
	"If this obscene attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of a civilian structure, it could amount to a war crime," said Stephen O'Brien yesterday, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs.
	At least 28 civilians including women and children were killed in the air strikes at the camp near Sarmada in Idlib province, which is controlled by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front and rebel allies.
	"I am horrified and sickened by the news of civilians killed today by air strikes that hit two settlements where displaced people had sought sanctuary," O'Brien said in a statement.
	Thousands of Syrians have fled fighting in the northern province over the last weeks, and camps for the displaced have been set up along the Turkish border.
	The air strikes come after an intense diplomatic push to revive a landmark ...

UN demands probe of air strikes on Syria displaced camp

Netflix today released a new tool to help people viewing streamed television shows on mobile devices avoid costly bills for high data use.
	The move comes shortly after Netflix expanded its service to nearly every country on the planet, wooing potential subscribers in vast array of places where smartphones are preferred devices for connecting to the Internet.
	"As we have launched Netflix around the world, we have seen big differences in how much people are streaming on smartphones and what kinds of mobile data plans they have," Netflix director of product innovation Eddy Wu said in a blog post.
	"Today, we are offering a new tool to help you better control how much data you use when streaming on cellular networks."
	A default setting in Netflix applications will let people stream about three hours of shows or films per gigabyte of data, aiming to deliver good video quality in the process.
	"Our testing found that, on cellular networks, this setting balances good video quality with ...

Netflix tool helps mobile viewers manage data limits

Residents fleeing a voracious wildfire in western Canada's Fort McMurray thronged a tiny hamlet several hours away today as firefighters battled to contain the raging blaze consuming a huge section of Alberta's oil sands region.
	By the thousands, evacuees are arriving in Lac La Biche after making a chaotic escape from the epicenter of the inferno that has claimed two lives and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the oil city of Fort McMurray and its outskirts.
	So far about 100,000 people have fled the path of the monster blaze some have dubbed "the beast."
	"There's no guide on how to get out of a forest fire," evacuee Alan Javierto told AFP in Lac La Biche, about 300 kilometers south of Fort McMurray, where many recounted a hurried, frightening escape as homes and businesses were reduced to cinders.
	Television footage showed trees ablaze right on the edge of highways crowded with bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to leave the disaster zone, as billowing black smoke darkened the ...

Thousands flee western Canada's raging wild fires

At least 28 civilians, including women and children, were killed today in air strikes on a displaced camp in northern Syria near the Turkish border, a monitor said.
	Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strikes which also left 50 civilians wounded targeted the camp near Sarmada in Idlib province, which is controlled by Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and rebel allies.
	Mamun al-Khatib, director of the Aleppo-based pro-rebel Shahba Press news agency, accused the regime of carrying out the attacks.
	"Two regime aircraft fired four missiles on the camp in the village of Al-Kammouna," he said.
	"Two missiles fell near the the camp causing people to panic and two more fell inside where a dozen tents caught fire."
	Images shared online by activists showed emergency workers putting out fires among damaged blue and white tents.
	Khatib said the people in the camp had fled fighting in the north of Aleppo province.
	Thousands of Syrians have ...

At least 28 dead in air raids on Syria displaced camp

A Palestinian woman was killed when Israeli tank shells hit her home in the southern Gaza Strip today, the second day of exchanges of fire with Hamas fighters.
	They were the first direct clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants since the devastating Gaza war in 2014, and come as a new tunnel reaching into the Jewish state was discovered.
	Since the confrontations broke out, Hamas and other militant groups have fired bullets and mortar rounds on at least 10 occasions, and the Israeli air force has carried out at least three bombing raids.
	Israeli tanks stationed on the border have also fired multiple times at what the army said were Hamas targets.
	Late afternoon, tank shelling that followed a mortar attack from the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza killed Zeina Al-Amour, 54, according to the Nasser hospital that pronounced her death.
	A 21-year-old was also wounded in artillery shelling in the area.
	The shelling came after a night in which air raids wounded four people, .

Israeli shelling kills Gaza woman in first clashes since 2014

Increased fighting in recent weeks around Aleppo has swelled the number of Syrian refugees stranded at the border with Jordan to more than 64,000, Jordanian border guards said today.
	The kingdom said in April that about 50,000 Syrians were stuck in no-man's land, a three-fold increase since January when it imposed tough security checks at the Hadalat and Rokbane crossings.
	Border guards said today that there were now in excess of 64,000 Syrians along the frontier, including more than 5,000 who arrived in a 24-hour period last week.
	"The number of refugees has hit 59,000 at Rokbane and it's rising," the head of Jordan's border guards, General Saber Al-Mahayra, told reporters today.
	Another officer told AFP that 5,000 others were massed at Hadalat, about 70 kilometres (40 miles) further west.
	Mahayra said nearly 5,500 had arrived at Rokbane since last week, an influx he partly attributed to increased fighting around Syria's second city Aleppo, where more than 280 civilians have ...

Aleppo fighting swells Syrians at Jordan border to 64,000

America's most prominent Republican family, the Bushes, are declining to endorse Donald Trump for president, handing the GOP presumptive nominee an early setback in his efforts to unite a fractured party.
	Former presidents George W Bush and George H W Bush, who undoubtedly bristled at Trump's bullying attacks on candidate Jeb Bush, signaled through their offices that they will stay on the sidelines during this cycle.
	The elder Bush has endorsed every Republican nominee in the past five elections, but he does not have plans to endorse Trump in 2016, his spokesman Jim McGrath told the Texas Tribune yesterday.
	"At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics," McGrath told the paper. "He came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb, but those were the exceptions that proved the rule."
	The 41st president's son Jeb Bush dropped out of the race in February.
	Jeb's brother George W. Bush "does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign," his personal aide .

Bush clan has no plans to back Donald Trump

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister voiced confidence today that the kingdom could implement an ambitious plan to diversify its economy, saying it had already undergone "incredible" change in recent decades.
	The Vision 2030 plan will take the country's advancement "to another level", creating jobs and making government "more efficient, more transparent, more accountable," Adel al-Jubeir said.
	He told reporters that Saudi Arabia would not succumb to foreign pressure to ease what he described as "social restrictions".
	"What Saudi Arabia has done in the last 50 years is incredible. Very few if any societies have been able to change as rapidly and as effectively as Saudi Arabia has over the last 50 years," he said.
	Jubeir was responding to a Norwegian journalist who asked how the kingdom could achieve its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan, to reorient the economy away from oil, while it restricts free speech and other civil liberties.
	"They are social restrictions, not necessarily government 

Economic reforms to spur Saudi's 'rapid' change: FM

Oil prices rallied today with Brent breaching USD 45 a barrel on worries over output from Canada and Libya, while traders reacted also to falling US production.
	New York's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in June was up USD 1 at USD 44.78 per barrel.
	European benchmark Brent crude for July delivery jumped 82 cents to USD 45.44 compared with yesterday's close.
	"Oil prices are rising today after three consecutive lower closes," said analyst David Cheetham at London-based brokerage XTB.
	"Firstly, a huge wildfire - which has forced the evacuation of 88,000 people in the western Canadian oil city of Fort McMurray - has seen some pipelines in the region being shut and disruptions to output at several facilities," Cheetham told AFP.
	"On top of that a political stand-off in Libya which prevented a Glencore cargo from loading raises concerns about the sustainability of the recent levels of output, which at over two million barrels per day are their highest in over five ...

Oil market jumps on output woes in Canada, Libya

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice today suspended Eduardo Cunha, the senior lawmaker at the center of efforts to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, citing his attempt to obstruct a probe into his alleged corruption.
	The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress is the architect of the impeachment drive which is expected to see Rousseff forced to step aside from office on Wednesday.
	Cunha's dramatic setback was not expected to change the momentum against Rousseff, but yet again signaled Brazilian politics' descent into a whirlpool of corruption scandals and instability.
	Despite facing criminal charges including bribery and hiding money in Swiss bank accounts, Cunha has survived months of attempts by prosecutors and a congressional ethics committee to see him brought to justice.
	A master backroom political operator, he is widely seen as the key figure in getting the impeachment proceedings green-lighted by the lower house in April and sent to the Senate, which will vote on opening .

Brazil Supreme Court suspends Rousseff impeachment architect

A Palestinian woman was killed when Israeli tank shells hit her home east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip today, the southern city's Nasser hospital said.
	The hospital identified the woman as Zeina Al-Amour, 54. The tank shelling came in response to a mortar attack by Gaza militants on Israeli forces, the Israeli army said.
	Amour is the first fatality in the latest escalation between the Israeli army and Hamas, the militant movement which rules the Gaza Strip.
	The Israeli army said there have been 10 incidents of Palestinian mortar and gun attacks on Israeli forces operating near the border fence since Wednesday, responding with air strikes and artillery shellings.
	Hamas has accused Israeli forces of encroaching into Gazan territory.
	The uptick in violence, the first time the two sides have fired at each other directly since a 2014 war, has raised fears that a ceasefire agreement could fail.

Israeli tank shelling kills Gaza woman: hospital

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has pulled out of a UN-backed World Humanitarian Summit, saying the gathering would fail to pressure governments that are denying basic help to victims of conflict and disease.
	"We no longer have any hope that the (summit) will address the weaknesses in humanitarian action and emergency response, particularly in conflict areas or epidemic situations," MSF said in a statement yesterday.
	It charged that the summit, due to take place in Istanbul on May 23-24, would not address "serious gaps" in the response to the Ebola epidemic and the "serious restrictions placed by some states on humanitarian access, denying people basic services".
	The first meeting of its kind is expected to gather around 45 heads of state and government as well as UN agencies and non-governmental organisations to brainstorm about global humanitarian action.
	"We can no longer see how the (summit) will help the humanitarian sector to address the massive needs caused by 

MSF to skip UN aid summit fearing lack of action

Four people were pulled alive today from the rubble of an apartment block that collapsed six days ago when heavy rains hit Nairobi, causing floods and landslides in the Kenyan capital.
	There were cheers and shouted prayers from the crowd gathered at the site of the ruined six-storey building as a woman, covered with a blanket and lying on a stretcher, was carried to a waiting ambulance.
	She was hauled between thick concrete slabs and a tangle of twisted metal after being located by rescuers who gave her oxygen while they continued efforts to extract her.
	Later in the day three more people, two women and a man, were pulled from the rubble of the shattered building.
	The rescues came after a baby girl was found alive on Monday, more than 80 hours after the building collapsed on Friday night.
	Officials have so far confirmed a death toll of 33 from the disaster, but at least 80 more people are believed to be missing and rescuers are now trawling the filthy river nearby for ...

Four rescued six days after Kenya building collapse

Leading Russian musicians today staged a classical concert in the ancient theatre of Syria's ravaged Palmyra in a show by the Kremlin to herald its successes in the war-torn country.
	Famed conductor Valery Gergiev led Saint Petersburg's celebrated Mariinsky orchestra through pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Sergei Prokofiev and Rodion Shchedrin in front of a crowd of Russian soldiers, government ministers and journalists.
	Cellist Sergei Roldugin -- a personal friend of President Vladimir Putin recently caught up in the scandal over the leaked Panama Papers -- played a solo against the stunning backdrop of the Roman amphitheatre where jihadists from the Islamic State group staged mass executions less than a year ago.
	"Thank you for today's amazing humanitarian act -- the concert in a Palmyra liberated from terrorists," Putin said in an address from Russia broadcast at the start of the concert.
	"I see it as a sign of gratitude, of remembrance, of hope," Putin said.
	Syrian troops ...

Russian orchestra performs in Syria's war-scarred Palmyra

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today urged European leaders to protect EU borders or risk a "return to nationalism" as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II.
	As Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi kicked off two days of talks in Rome with Merkel and senior EU officials, the German leader said Europe must defend its borders "from the Mediterranean to the North Pole" or suffer the political consequences.
	Support for far-right and anti-immigrant parties is on the rise in several countries on the  continent which saw more than a million people arrive on its shores last year.
	In Austria, Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party is expected to win a presidential run-off on May 22 after romping to victory in the first round on an anti-immigration platform.
	Merkel told a press conference with Renzi that Europe's cherished freedom of movement is at threat, with ramped-up border controls in response to the crisis raising questions over whether the ...

AFP

AFP

Page 1729 - Afp