Singapore authorities have raided several brokerage houses for possible violations of securities laws, officials and media reports said today.
	The city-state's central bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said it and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the police are currently investigating the breaches.
	The Business Times newspaper said personnel from the MAS and the CAD, which fights white-collar crime, entered the trading floors of at least four brokerages earlier this week and took in some people, believed to be stockbrokers, for questioning.
	In a statement, the monetary authority said it and the commercial affairs department were "jointly investigating possible contraventions of the Securities and Futures Act."
	Authorities "have obtained documents and items from several broking firms and trading representatives," the central bank added.
	No other details were disclosed.
	Singapore closely guards its reputation as a regional financial centre and imposes tough ...

Singapore officials raid brokerages for 'breaches'

PTI Automatic

A magnitude 6.0 aftershock struck near the coast of Ecuador, as the country struggled to recover from a devastating quake that killed almost 600 people, US experts said.
	The tremor hit yesterday some 33 kilometers north- northwest of Bahia de Caraquez and 36 miles north-northwest of Tosagua, the US Geological Survey said.
	AFP reporters in the region felt some shaking but there were no reports of casualties or damage. No tsunami warning was issued.
	It was one of numerous aftershocks following Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake, the worst to hit the South American country in nearly four decades.
	The official death toll from that quake rose to 587 yeesterday, with 5,733 injured. Scores of people are still missing.

Magnitude 6.0 aftershock strikes near Ecuador coast: USGS

Israel has announced the closure of all points of entry between the occupied West Bank, the Gaza strip, and Israeli territory today and tomorrow for the Jewish holiday of Passover.
	Tensions are high in Israel following a wave of violence that has killed 201 Palestinians and 28 Israelis since October.
	The blockade was decided after "an evaluation of the security situation", a military spokesperson told AFP without giving specifics.
	The Israeli government regularly closes off access to Israel for Palestinians during major Jewish religious festivals, though exceptions will be made for humanitarian and medical cases, the spokesperson added.
	Thousands of Jewish pilgrims flock to Jerusalem and other holy sites during the eight-day holiday of Passover, which commemorates the Jewish exodus from Egypt in Biblical times.
	"As Passover approaches, all sorts of extremists will spread lies about our policy concerning the Temple Mount," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week, .

Israel blocks off Gaza Strip and West Bank for Passover

A South Korean passenger train that took a curved section of track at three times the recommended speed derailed today, killing an engineer and injuring eight people, police and rail officials said.
	According to the national rail operator, KORAIL, the locomotive and four of the train's seven carriages jumped the tracks near Yulchon station, some 330 kilometres south of Seoul.
	The train was carrying 27 people, including two locomotive engineers, one of whom was killed in the accident.
	Yonhap news agency quoted police as saying the train was rounding a bend at 127 kilometres per hour, when it should have been moving at less than 50kph.
	The second engineer was reportedly in a serious condition, while another seven people suffered mostly minor injuries.

One killed, 8 injured as S Korea train derails

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Britain, where he is set to wade into the poisonous Brexit debate and have lunch with Queen Elizabeth II.
	Air Force One touched down at London Stansted Airport, northeast of the British capital, at around 9:45 pm (local time), beginning what is Obama's fifth and likely final presidential visit to the kingdom.
	The president, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, will pay tribute to the queen, who turned 90 yesterday, when they meet at Windsor Castle, west of London.
	"The president has very much enjoyed his engagements with the queen over the years," said top Obama foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes.
	The queen has reigned since 1952, during which time she has met with a string of US presidents from Harry Truman to Obama, who leaves office in January.
	The popular monarch has little influence on politics despite her role as head of state, but over the decades she has been a figurehead and ballast for Britons navigating imperial decline, the Cold ..

Obama arrives in UK with royal lunch, Brexit on the menu

Oil prices climbed in Asia today, heading for their third weekly gain after OPEC said it was open to fresh calls on freezing output despite the failure to reach a deal at the weekend.
	The exporting group's Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said it could revive the discussion among members and hold further talks with non-members. OPEC holds its next twice-yearly meeting on June 2.
	A much-vaunted meeting Sunday in Doha collapsed after kingpin Saudi Arabia pulled out owing to bitter rival Iran's refusal to join in output limits. Tehran said it was still in the process of raising production after the removal of nuclear-linked Western sanctions in January.
	However, while crude prices plunged immediately after the meeting fell apart, it has surged this week thanks to falling US production, a strike in key producer Kuwait and signs of a pick-up in key market China.
	At around 0330 GMT today, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in June was up 54 cents, or 1.25 per ...

Oil prices rise, set for third weekly gain

The World Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday suspended the accreditation of the National Anti-Doping Laboratory in Beijing, barring the Chinese facility from carrying out WADA-related testing.
     The suspension of up to four months takes effect immediately, although the laboratory has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
     It "prohibits the laboratory from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples," WADA said in a statement.
     "During the period of suspension, samples are required to be transported securely to another WADA-accredited laboratory."
     The lab needed to take "five remedial steps" highlighted by a disciplinary committee, WADA said, without identifying what those were.
     "If the Beijing laboratory satisfies the Disciplinary Committee in meeting these requirements, the laboratory may apply for reinstatement prior to the expiry of the four-month suspension period," WADA ...

WADA suspends accreditation of Beijing anti-doping lab

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger complained that criticism of his team was misplaced following their 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion and said that stay-away supporters were not necessarily protesting.
     Alexis Sanchez scored twice as Arsenal returned to winning ways on Thursday following successive draws, climbing above Manchester City and into third place in the Premier League in the process.
     With Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all out of the picture, this season represented a golden opportunity for Arsenal to end their 12-year title wait, but Wenger feels that it is unfair to single his side out for criticism.
     "It is difficult for everybody," said the Frenchman, whose team now have a four-point cushion over fifth-place Manchester United in the scramble for a top-four finish and a place in next season's Champions League.
     "Look at the table. There are top, top teams who are behind us. Because Leicester are in front, everyone thinks we should have done ...

Unfair to single Arsenal out, says Wenger

Having scored four and provided three assists as Barcelona roared back into form with an 8-0 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna in midweek, Luis Suarez has refused to contemplate any other outcome than Barca retaining their La Liga title.
     The Catalan giants lead Atletico Madrid solely thanks to their superior head-to-head record with Real Madrid just one point back in third with four games to go.
     However, having taken just one point from their previous four league matches, Suarez believes Barca are fully back on course for a 24th La Liga title.
     "We needed that victory. We came off the back of many games suffering and, as we are human, the defeats hurt," he said.
     "It is in our hands and if we win all our games what the others do doesn't bother us. The normal thing would be that none of us slip up.
     "We are the leaders and we are convinced we are going to win it. We aren't contemplating anything other than winning."
     Lionel Messi and Neymar were also on target .

Three-way title race firmly in Barca's hands: Suarez

Chasing a gilded finale to a difficult season, Louis van Gaal's Manchester United face an Everton team reeling from Merseyside derby humiliation in Saturday's first FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
     Van Gaal found himself back in the media's crosshairs following a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, but not for the first time this season, his side responded with a timely burst of wins.
     Victory at West Ham United in their FA Cup quarter-final replay provided the spur for back-to-back league wins over Aston Villa and Crystal Palace that have bolstered United's quest for Champions League qualification and they will travel to London with renewed confidence.
     "We are further than last year," Van Gaal said of his side's FA Cup progress. "Then it was the quarter-final, now it is the semi-final. It means we are better than last year.
     "We are in the semi-final and still in the race for fourth. That was our aim."
     A long, dark English winter is threatening to .

Man Utd eye FA Cup solace against shellshocked Everton

Dozens of Japanese lawmakers visited a Tokyo war shrine today in a ritual sure to anger China and South Korea, where memories of Japan's military and colonial record remain raw.
	The capital's Yasukuni Shrine honours millions of Japanese dead, including several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes after World War II.
	The leafy central Tokyo shrine to Japan's Shinto religion has for decades been a lightning rod for criticism by countries that suffered under Japan's colonialism and aggression in the first half of the 20th century.
	Visits to the shrine by senior Japanese politicians, including occasionally prime ministers, routinely draw an angry reaction from China and South Korea, which see it as a symbol of Tokyo's militaristic past.
	Abe and other nationalists say the shrine is merely a place to remember fallen soldiers and compare it to burial grounds such as Arlington National Cemetery in the United States.
	"We are still counting the number of parliament 

Japanese lawmakers visit Tokyo war shrine

When two Polish heritage experts first restored the famed lion statue in Syria's Palmyra in 2005, they never imagined they would see it smashed to pieces only a decade later.
	"We did new restoration, new presentation of this lion, the Lion of Al-Lat. And after, I thought, I'm doing this (to last) for over 200 years or 300 years, maybe more," archeologist Bartosz Markowski told AFP.
	"But it appears it was only 10 years."
	Markowski spoke to AFP at the entrance of Palmyra's museum, where the striking 15-tonne Lion of Al-Lat lay in large, jagged pieces.
	It was smashed by the Islamic State group, which overran Palmyra - known as the "Pearl of the Desert" - in May 2015.
	During their ten-month rule over the city, the jihadists executed hundreds of civilians and blew up some of Palmyra's most beautiful temples and funerary towers in the old city.
	Palmyra's museum lies in the residential parts of the city.
	The destroyed Lion of al-Lat at the museum's entrance serves as a harbinger for ..

Polish experts in Syria's Palmyra to restore lion statue

Spinal meningitis, which can kill in 24 hours, poses a threat to 450 million Africans this year, according to medical experts from eight of the continent's countries.
	Meningococcal meningitis is a global burden that affects 1.2 million people every year and causes the death of 135,000 of them, said the doctors from west and central Africa.
	Twenty-six countries that make up the so-called "African meningitis belt that stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia -- an area home to 450 million people -- may be heavily affected by epidemic outbreaks," said the doctors at a press conference.
	"Meningitis is still a problem, we must react to avoid tragedy," said Dr Elia Gilbernair, a medic at pharmaceutical giant Sanofi which organised the conference.
	Dr Gilbernair added that countries don't make calls for stockpiles of meningitis vaccines until the last moment, when an epidemic is declared.
	Mali's Professor Mamadou Keita Marouf called for a mass vaccination programme to help prevent the disease .

450 million Africans threatened by spinal meningitis

Chad's veteran leader Idriss Deby has won a fifth term in office after taking more than 60 per cent of the vote in the first round of presidential polls, the national electoral commission has said.
	Supporters from his Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party celebrated by firing guns and automatic rifles into the air in the capital's vast Nation square.
	Deby secured 61.56 per cent of votes in the April 10 polls, according to the results released by the CENI commission yesterday, with opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo a distant second on 12.8 per cent.
	Deby, who took office in a 1990 military coup, had been widely tipped for re-election.
	But opposition candidates have accused the government of fraud, including stuffing ballots and buying up voter cards.
	More than six million people were asked to choose between 13 presidential hopefuls in the vote, with turnout pegged at more than 71 per cent.
	The constitutional council is expected to confirm the results in the coming days.
	Under ..

'Chadian President Idriss Deby wins fifth term'

At least seven people were killed in a suicide bomb attack near a camp for those displaced by the Boko Haram conflict in northeast Nigeria, the has army said.
	The attack happened early Wednesday in Banki, a town on the border with Cameroon some 130 kilometres (80 miles) southeast of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
	"Seven people lost their lives. There were two suicide bombers," both women,  army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman told AFP.
	News of the attack was slow to emerge because of the poor to non-existent telecommunications in the remote area.
	Usman said one of the women failed to detonate her explosives and was arrested, despite being injured but a civilian vigilante said the second bomber died of her wounds on her way to hospital.
	"Two female suicide bombers came by a checkpoint manned by CJTF (civilian joint task force) and the military at about 6:30 am (0530 GMT) yesterday (Wednesday)," the vigilante said.
	"They successively detonated their explosives. One of them died .

Seven killed in NE Nigeria suicide bombing: army

One year after receiving them at Camp David, US President Barack Obama meets Gulf leaders again today, hoping they can more strongly commit to the fight against jihadists.
	At the same time, with nine months left in his term, the president must again seek to reassure his Sunni allies upset over American overtures to their regional rival, Shiite Iran.
	Obama attends the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in the Saudi capital after reporting progress in recent months against the Islamic State group of Sunni extremists who seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.
	Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations belong to the US-led coalition which carries out air strikes against IS.
	Around 4,000 American troops are in Iraq as part of that mission which trains and assists local forces fighting the militants.
	The research group IHS said on Monday that Islamic State had lost about 22 percent of its territory in the past 15 months.
	In a bid to accelerate gains against the jihadists, Defence Secretary ...

Obama at Gulf summit to seek help against IS

The founder of China's Internet giant Tencent will donate USD 2 billion in shares to charity, the company said -- one of the largest gifts ever given in a country whose new super-rich have no tradition of philanthropy.
	Pony Ma, Tencent's chief executive, will give the shares to a new foundation for mainland projects in health, education and environmental conservation, among other issues, his company said.
	The donation -- which will vest over several years -- appears to be the largest ever by a single individual in China, where there is great public mistrust of charitable organisations battered by years of scandal.
	"After 10 years of exploration and participation in philanthropic activities, I increasingly feel that a longer-term and more organized way is needed to give back to society," Ma said.
	Pony Ma is the 34th richest man in the world with a net worth of USD 20.2 billion, according to Bloomberg's ranking of billionaires.
	China's top businessmen fall far behind their Western .

Chinese Internet mogul pledges USD 2 billion donation

A spectacular explosion at an oil facility in southeastern Mexico has injured at least 30 workers, state-run energy giant Pemex said.
	A huge plume of gray smoke could be seen spewing from the plant known as Pajaritos, in the city of Coatzacoalcos yesterday. The blast forced the evacuation of nearby schools and businesses.
	The cause of the explosion at the Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo (PMV) plant was not immediately known. The facility is run in partnership with Pemex.
	Fires at oil facilities in Mexico are fairly regular occurrences.
	In February, two people were killed and at least seven were injured in a blaze at a Pemex oil platform off the coast of Campeche, also in the southeast.

Explosion at Mexico oil plant injures 30

Malnutrition remains a significant health issue in North Korea, with a drought last year slashing crop output and undermining the push for agricultural self-sufficiency, according to a new UN report.
	More than three quarters of North Korea's population of 25 million remain "food insecure and highly vulnerable to shocks," said the report compiled by UN agencies in Pyongyang and published today.
	"An estimated 18 million people are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance," it added.
	Malnutrition rates continue to be a public health concern, with significant gaps remaining in nutritional intake, particularly affecting women and children under-five.
	Undernutrition is a major underlying cause of "maternal and child mortality and morbidity," said the report.
	According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)'s 2015 State of Food Insecurity report, the proportion of people undernourished in the total population was 41.6 per cent in 2014-16, up from 35.5 per cent in ...

Malnutrition still major health concern in N. Korea: UN

Oil prices today built on recent gains after data showed US production fell to 18-month lows and Iraq pushed for a fresh meeting of crude majors on limiting output.
	The advances come just days after the collapse of weekend talks aimed at negotiating an output freeze, which had fuelled worries a global supply glut would continue.
	Upbeat economic readings from China -- the world's biggest energy user -- expectations the Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates before June, and a series of easing measures by central banks have fuelled optimism in world markets recently.
	Prices surged four percent to near five-month highs Wednesday after the US energy department revealed the dip production last week to levels not seen since October 2014.
	And at about 0400 today in Asia US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June was up 12 cents, or 0.27 per cent, at USD 44.30 while Brent crude for June added eight cents, or 0.17 per cent, to USD 45.88.
	"The panic associated with the 

Oil extends gains in Asia after US output falls

US President Barack Obama mourned Prince as one of the most gifted artists of his time after the pop legend's sudden death.
	"Today the world lost a creative icon," Obama said in a statement yesterday, adding: "Few artists have influenced the sound and trajectory of popular music more distinctly, or touched quite so many people with their talent."
	"As one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time, Prince did it all. Funk. R&B. Rock and roll. He was a virtuoso instrumentalist, a brilliant bandleader, and an electrifying performer," he said.
	Obama last year invited Prince, along with Stevie Wonder, to perform a concert for friends at the White House, which generated a level of controversy as the event was listed as private.
	Prince was famously reclusive but has occasionally taken up politics, last year writing the song "Baltimore" in support of African-American victims of perceived police brutality.

AFP

AFP

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