Star batsman Kane Williamson got the nod as New Zealand's captain in all three forms of the game today, replacing the retired Brendon McCullum.
     Williamson has long been seen as McCullum's heir apparent and has already skippered the Black Caps in several one-day and Twenty20 matches.
     "Kane has been a leader within the team for a long time now and already shown himself to be an extremely capable captain," NZ Cricket chief executive David White said.
     "He's respected by his peers and the wider cricket community for his professional approach both on and off the field, and has a superb cricket brain."
     Williamson, who is currently in India playing in the IPL, said he wanted to build on the achievements of McCullum, who retired in February.
     "It's certainly an honour... (I) believe this team can achieve a lot," he said in a statement.
     Williamson led New Zealand on a giant-killing charge to the semi-finals at the recent World Twenty20 tournament in India, winning ..

Williamson gets nod as Kiwi captain in all three forms

PTI Automatic

N Korea mid-range missile launch failed again: South

South Africa great Allan Donald said he had his eye on a full-time job with Australia Thursday after he was named as temporary bowling coach for their tour of Sri Lanka.
     The former pace spearhead nicknamed "White Lightning" is filling in after Craig McDermott stepped down as bowling coach at the end of the World T20 in India.
     Head coach Darren Lehmann said it was a massive coup to secure Donald's services for the Test, one-day and Twenty20 tour from July to September.
     "He brings a wealth of experience with him and our guys will benefit greatly from having him around," Lehmann said.
     "His Test record speaks for itself and he was without a doubt one of the most formidable bowlers of his generation."
     There was media speculation on Wednesday that Donald could stay on for this year's home series against South Africa, but this was not confirmed by Cricket Australia.
     Donald, who has previously coached with England, New Zealand and South Africa, said if the job ...

Donald eyes full-time Australia job

Australia cannot be "misty-eyed" about boatpeople, the country's prime minister said today, the day after his immigration policy was thrown into disarray when Papua New Guinea ordered an offshore processing camp to close.
	Malcolm Turnbull, who likely faces an election in coming weeks, said allowing even genuine refugees who arrived by boat to settle in Australia would encourage more people to make the risky journey.
	"By stopping the people-smuggling we have stopped people drowning at sea," he told reporters.
	"We cannot be misty-eyed about this. We have to be very clear and determined in our national purpose."
	Canberra has a long-standing policy of sending boatpeople to processing centres in Papua New Guinea's Manus island and the Pacific nation of Nauru.
	Applicants who are deemed legitimate refugees are offered resettlement in PNG or Cambodia, but not admitted to Australia.
	The policy was dealt a blow Wednesday when the PNG government ordered the Manus island facility to close ..

Australia talks tough on asylum-seekers

Players and traditionalists need to accept pink-ball Tests or the five-day format will not survive, New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White warned today.
     Australia and New Zealand played the inaugural day-night Test in Adelaide last year, attracting huge crowds to rival those at limited-overs versions of the game.
     But players from both sides complained about the pink ball, intended to be more visible under floodlights, and some conservatives felt it undermined a Test tradition dating back to 1877.
     White said there was strong enthusiasm for more day-night Tests at a meeting of the International Cricket Council board in Dubai last weekend.
     He said there was also a groundswell of support from fans and television broadcasters, expressing confidence that players would eventually come around.
     "I think the players will be very supportive going forward, (day-night Test cricket) is essential for the survival of the format, to be honest," he told Radio Sport.
   

Get used to pink-ball Tests, says Kiwi boss

Costa Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino today begins his battle to avoid prison for causing the 2012 cruise ship disaster off Italy which cost 32 people their lives.
	Schettino was sentenced in February 2015 to 16 years and one month in jail after a judge ruled his recklessness caused the accident that ensued after the giant pleasure boat struck underwater rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio.
	The 55-year-old career seaman, who has not yet begun his sentence, says he has been made the solitary scapegoat for the disaster and will seek to overturn his manslaughter conviction in an appeal which opens at 0730 GMT today and will run through May at least.
	The prosecution is simultaneously appealing last year's sentence, maintaining that Schettino should have been given 26 years.
	During his first, 19-month, trial, Schettino was accused of showing off when he steered the ship too close to the island and of being distracted because he was entertaining a nightclub dancer.
	He was ...

Concordia skipper fights to avoid prison over Italy disaster

A toddler riding in the back of a car accidentally shot dead his mother with a gun that slid out from under the driver's seat, US police has said.
	The 26-year-old victim, Patrice Price, was pronounced dead at the scene following Tuesday's incident in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the local sheriff's office said yesterday.
	The child, aged two and a half and identified by local media as a boy, fired the 40-caliber gun through the driver's seat.
	Local broadcaster WISN quoted the victim's father as saying that she was a mother of three.
	"I have a knot in my chest," Andre Price told the station.
	The weapon apparently belonged to the victim's security guard boyfriend, with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper reporting that she was driving his car because hers had been stolen.
	The sheriff's office said that deputies found a security officer's gun belt belonging to the boyfriend on the floor of the front passenger seat.
	The firearm was recovered on the floor behind the driver's seat and ..

US toddler accidentally shoots mother

Facebook has reported a powerful surge in profits as the user base of leading social network continued to climb.
	Profit in the first quarter tripled from a year ago to USD 1.5 billion as revenue jumped to USD 5.4 billion from USD 3.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.
	"We had a great start to the year," said Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg yesterday.
	The key metric of monthly active users rose to 1.65 billion, up 15 percent from a year ago. And those using Facebook daily rose 16 percent to 1.09 billion, with strong gains in numbers of people using mobile devices.
	The report shows Facebook is using its dominant position in social media to boost advertising revenues as it connects more people with new services such as live video.
	Facebook also announced that its board of directors has approved a plan to create a non-voting class of stock intended to raise capital while leaving Zuckerberg in control of the company's vision and direction.
	Shareholders 

Facebook profits surge as user base expands

The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura today said that he planned to hold another round of peace talks next month but called for a ceasefire to be "revitalised" before setting a date.
	He made the comments after briefing the United Nations Security Council on progress at the talks, which he said had made gains despite escalating violence on the ground that continued to threaten a fragile truce.
	He highlighted that all parties at the Geneva-based talks now recognised the need for a new transitional government in Syria that should be tasked with drafting a new constitution, even if huge divides remain on the nature of that government.
	As the latest round of negotiations went on recess, de Mistura said he wanted to open a fresh set "during the course of May", to build on momentum earned so far.
	He added however that he was holding off on fixing a date in hopes that world powers would use their leverage to strengthen the ceasefire, which needed to be "urgently revitalised."
	"How can .

Syria ceasefire should be 'revitalised' before peace talks

A collapsing pile of refuse in a landfill in Guatemala's capital killed four people picking through the trash and injured 15 others, emergency officials have said.
	Eight of the people hurt were treated at the scene, the city's main dumping ground for garbage, while the remainder were taken to hospital, a spokesman for Guatemala's national disaster reduction agency, David de Leon, told AFP yesterday.
	The municipality said in a statement that around 1,000 informal trash pickers had been in the landfill when part of the mass of refuse shifted and a warning was sounded.
	"However, some of the collectors did not hear the call and stayed where they were," it said.

Guatemala landfill slide kills four

At least 20 civilians were killed in regime strikes on a hospital and nearby residential building in the Syrian city of Aleppo, civil defence volunteers known as the White Helmets have said.
	A dentist and five members of a family, including two children, were among those killed "by airstrikes targeting al Quds Hospital and a nearby residential building in al Sukkari neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo," the volunteers said late yesterday.
	A doctor who was the only paediatrician in the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo was also among the dead, an AFP correspondent on the ground said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed the raids were carried out by "regime airplanes" and said two hospital guards and a doctor were among the dead.
	Video footage filmed by AFP showed images of the badly damaged hospital, aid workers transporting the victims in ambulances and a weeping man holding a child.
	Rescuers were at the scene searching for victims trapped ...

20 killed in Syrian regime strikes on Aleppo: civil defence

The United States has condemned an alleged deadly strike by Syrian regime forces on a renowned rescue team, but refused to say why it had denied the group's leader a visa.
	State Department spokesman Mark Toner yesterday expressed horror at what he said were "multiple aerial strikes" on a Syrian Civil Defense station Monday in the northern town of Al-Tarab near Aleppo.
	"At least five members of the civil defense are believed to have been killed and many more innocent people were injured," he said.
	Toner said the strikes reflect an "abhorrent pattern" in the tactics of Bashar al-Assad's regime, in which rescue and medical workers in rebel-held areas have been deliberately targeted.
	The spokesman also paid tribute to the Civil Defense group, better known as the "White Helmets," for the work they have done during Syria's five-year-old civil war to save civilian victims of the fighting.
	But he would not say why, earlier this month, US officials had barred the volunteer group's leader .

US condemns strike on Syrian rescue group

The United Nations' Libya envoy has condemned the killing of 12 Egyptians and three Libyan nationals in a string of incidents in the central town of Bani Walid.
	"I strongly deplore these terrible killings and call on those with authority on the ground in Bani Walid to ensure that the incidents are investigated and to prevent any further killings," Martin Kobler said in a statement yesterday.
	He said the incidents took place on Tuesday and yesterday but gave no details and there was no further information from sources in the region, which is controlled by militias loyal to a new unity government.
	Thousands of Egyptians live and work in neighbouring Libya.
	The United Nations has brokered the formation of the unity government for Libya, which has been roiled by turmoil since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi.

UN condemns killing of 12 Egyptians, 3 others in Libya

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has sought help from the European Union to break a deadlock in critical debt talks as his spokeswoman accused the IMF of "undermining" the process.
	Tsipras' office yesterday said the leftist premier had asked EU President Donald Tusk to call a summit to help facilitate negotiations with the debt-ridden country's creditors.
	The move came after an expected Eurogroup meeting on today was postponed, scuppering Greek hopes of an agreement by Sunday to launch talks on debt relief.
	Tusk said he had urged eurozone finance ministers to meet "within days", warning that failure to act could bring a repeat of last summer's drama that nearly saw Greece crash out of the eurozone.
	"We have to avoid a situation of renewed uncertainty for Greece," Tusk said.
	Tsipras and Tusk would speak again today, a Greek government source said.
	Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem for his part yesterday said the next meeting of eurozone finance ministers could take place ...

Greek PM seeks EU help to break creditor deadlock

A student was shot dead during clashes between Sudanese security forces and protesters at a university in the capital's twin city of Omdurman, officials have said.
	Violence erupted yesterday when security forces confronted angry students who spilled out of the campus of Ahaliya university in Omdurman, which lies on the western banks of the Nile opposite Khartoum.
	The protesters were demanding the release of fellow students arrested in previous demonstrations at Sudanese universities.
	"Students clashed with plain-clothed policemen when they stepped out of the university gate," a protester said.
	A doctor at Omdurman hospital told AFP the student was already dead when he was brought to the facility.
	Late yesterday President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party said in a statement that the student was "shot dead with a pistol outside the campus".
	Hundreds of students carried his body from the hospital covered in a white shroud to his home in an impoverished neighbourhood of the .

Sudan student killed during university protest

The United States should grant a special protected status to undocumented Ecuadoran immigrants so they don't have to fear deportation as their country recovers from a huge earthquake, New York's mayor has said.
	The April 16 quake killed around 650 people and flattened coastal cities, causing billions in damage to an oil-dependent country already hit hard by low crude prices.
	New York is home to some 140,000 Ecuadoran immigrants, and they and Ecuadorans around America should be granted Temporary Protected Status, Mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday.
	This status is granted to immigrants for whom returning home is deemed dangerous because of war, natural disaster or other special circumstances.
	"We must extend whatever support we can at this critical moment," de Blasio said.
	"I call upon the Department of Homeland Security to designate Temporary Protected Status for Ecuadorian New Yorkers and all Ecuadorians currently in the United States so that families will not live in fear of ...

NY seeks to shield Ecuadorans from deportation after quake

Venezuelans lined up to seek a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro, exasperated with a grinding crisis that has paralysed government offices five days a week and triggered rolling blackouts.
	A day after Maduro announced his latest drastic measures to tackle power shortages in the recession-hit country, the opposition was gathering signatures for an official petition to launch a referendum yesterday.
	Citizens queued up to sign, voicing anger at Maduro over a crisis that has led to power outages for four hours a day in most of the country, exacerbating an already disastrous economic implosion.
	"I came to sign it to end this anarchy," said Miriam Leal, 54, in eastern Caracas.
	"We are lacking medicine, work, education, and on top of that there is the electricity problem."
	The International Monetary Fund issued a stark warning on the state of Venezuela's oil-dependent economy, hit hard by the collapse in global crude prices.
	"The economic situation is not sustainable ..

Sick of crisis, Venezuelans line up to recall Maduro

At least 14 civilian were killed in a Syrian regime strike on a hospital and nearby residential building in the rebel-held eastern city of Aleppo, civil defence volunteers known as the White Helmets have said.
	The volunteers told AFP late last night: "At least 14 persons, were killed tonight by airstrikes targeting al Quds Hospital and a nearby residential building in al Sukkari neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo."
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the raids were carried out by "regime airplanes".

14 killed in Syria regime strike on Aleppo: civil defence

English junior doctors staged an all-out strike for a second day today in a bitter row with the government over a new contract, forcing more than 13,000 operations to be postponed.
	The strike, from 0700 GMT to 1600 GMT, is the fourth industrial action by doctors since the start of the year but the first to be extended to hospital emergency units.
	Some 21,600 junior doctors took part in the first day of the strike yesterday -- 78 per cent of the number who had been due to work.
	Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the strike called by the British Medical Association (BMA) union as the "wrong thing to do", but public support remains strong.
	A new YouGov poll for The Times found 52 percent of respondents blamed ministers for the dispute, compared with nine percent who blamed the BMA. A further 27 per cent blamed both equally.
	There are 53,000 junior doctors -- graduates with years of experience but who have yet to complete their training -- in England's National Health Service ...

English junior doctors hold second day of all-out strike

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged today citing slower growth in the US economy even as the labor market strengthens.
	The Fed stuck to its stance that US monetary policy will tighten only gradually and gave no hint as to whether it could lift the short-term federal funds rate at its next meeting in June.
	But the language of its policy statement at the end of a two-day meeting suggested it was slightly less concerned about the global economic and financial landscape than during the first quarter of the year.
	Instead, it suggested that domestic growth -- generally thought to have slowed to about a 0.9 per cent annual pace in the first quarter -- and still-weak inflation were its primary concerns.
	Since the March meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee said, "labor market conditions have improved further even as growth in economic activity appears to have slowed."
	"Growth in household spending has moderated, although households' real income has risen ..

Fed keeps key rate unchanged, noting slower US growth

Rio de Janeiro today launched the 100 day countdown to hosting South America's first Olympic Games with government and global sports leaders insisting they can overcome Brazil's political meltdown and troubled preparations.
	At an Athens ceremony featuring ancient Greek goddess costumes, Brazilian organizers took the Olympic flame for the start of a journey that will see it carried by 12,000 people around Latin America's biggest country.
	"Rio is ready to make history," Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, said at the torch handover.
	New Zealand athletes marked the 100 day countdown with a traditional Haka dance on an Auckland beach at sunrise. Buildings around the world lit up in special colors -- Brazilian yellow and green at Tokyo's Municipal Government Headquarters and US red-white-blue for the Empire State Building in New York.
	Several countries also unveiled their Olympic uniforms, including Britain with a set designed by Stella McCartney and the US ..

AFP

AFP

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