A Syrian rebel group allied with Al-Qaeda said it had downed a warplane over northern Syria today, with the pilot reportedly captured.
	In a statement on Twitter, Ahrar al-Sham, a hardline Islamist group that fights alongside Al-Qaeda's local affiliate, said it "shot down a warplane (over the town of Al-Eis) that was conducting airstrikes".
	Earlier, a rebel source had confirmed that a regime warplane had been shot down, but said it was likely by fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, Al-Nusra Front.
	The source said the pilot had been taken alive.
	The Syrian pro-government website Al-Masdar News identified the captured pilot as Khaled Said, quoting army sources.
	It also reported, citing the same unnamed sources, the "death" of co-pilot Musaab Hourani, without giving further details.
	There was no immediate confirmation from the Syrian government or the armed forces.
	Video footage circulating on social media purported to show the scene where the plane came down, with a dozen men ..

Syria rebel group downs warplane, captures pilot

PTI Automatic

Authorities in Libya's capital said today they were ceding power to a UN-backed unity government in a major boost to international efforts to end deep political divisions in the strife-torn country.
	The move came nearly a week after UN-backed prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj arrived with members of his cabinet in the capital by sea, after the Tripoli authorities closed airspace to keep him out.
	The international community has pleaded with Libya's warring sides to unite behind the unity government, which it sees as vital to tackling a jihadist expansion and rampant people smuggling in the North African state.
	Libya has had rival governments since a militia alliance seized control of Tripoli in mid-2014, forcing the internationally recognised government to flee to the country's far east.
	The Tripoli-based administration said today that it was stepping aside in the national interests.
	"We inform you that we are ceasing the activities entrusted to us as an executive power," ..

Tripoli authorities cede power to Libyan unity government

Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh today announced a ceasefire after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scrambled to end the worst violence in decades over the disputed region.
	The two sides said they had agreed to halt fighting from 0800 GMT after clashes since Friday left at least 73 people dead, but Armenia's defence ministry claimed there was still "sporadic shooting" going on.
	Key regional powerbroker Russian President Vladimir Putin called the leaders of ex-Soviet Armenia and Azerbaijan after the ceasefire agreement and told them to "ensure" an end to the violence.
	"Putin called on both sides to urgently ensure a complete cessation of military hostilities and respect for the ceasefire," the Kremlin said in a statement after Putin spoke to the two presidents separately by telephone.
	On a visit to a hospital to meet wounded soldiers, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said the conflict could still be resolved peacefully if Armenia's ...

Azerbaijan,Armenian forces agree truce in clashes

Spanish police said today they have arrested three people on suspicion of making a bomb hoax that caused a plane to return to Madrid airport escorted by an air force fighter jet.
	Spanish airport operator AENA on December 14 ordered a Brazilian TAM airlines plane with 315 passengers and 16 crew members on board back to Madrid 90 minutes into its flight to Sao Paulo, after getting call from a man claiming a bomb was on board, police said in a statement.
	The man, who spoke Spanish with an Arabic accent, mentioned the flight and then could be heard saying "Today people will die" and "Allahu Akbar", an Islamic phrase meaning "God is Great", the statement added.
	The passengers were evacuated from the plane and police searched the aircraft, finding no bomb.
	A police probe determined that the call was made from a public pay phone in a town in Cuenca in central Spain and officers detained two men and a woman who they believe are responsible for the call.
	The three had ties to a Brazilian .

3 arrested in Spain over bomb hoax that forced plane back

Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe's refugee crisis next week, Greece announced today as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled.
	The papal trip to Lesbos, accompanied by the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, is likely to pile pressure on European leaders already criticised for the deal with Turkey, which aims to defuse Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II by curbing the influx of people.
	"The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with (them) to the island of Lesbos," a government source in Athens said.
	News of the papal visit came as a last-minute rush of asylum applications stalled operations to return migrants from Greece to Turkey under a deal signed in March.
	The holiday island of Lesbos has served as a major gateway for refugees and other migrants ..

Pope set to visit refugees in Greece as expulsions stalled

A senior official dismissed reports today that Washington plans to allow Iran access to the US financial system or to buy the latest Russian warplanes.
	Responding to skeptical US lawmakers, Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon insisted that the United States would maintain sanctions pressure on the Islamic republic.
	But he confirmed that the State Department is attempting to "clarify" the terms of its financial sanctions to foreign banks now looking to do business with Iran.
	"The rumours and news that has appeared in the press that the US is preparing to reinstate Iranian access to the US financial system are not true," he said.
	In January, the United States and the European Union implemented their side of last year's Iran nuclear deal, lifting a raft of sanctions.
	Under the accord, Iran had divested itself of its nuclear fuel stockpile, dismantled much of its enrichment capacity and put a bomb beyond its immediate reach.
	In return, the West dropped many sanctions, giving Iran 

Washington insists Iran gets no access to US finance

The head of one of Chile's leading anti-corruption watchdogs has resigned after his name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers, a massive leak of secret offshore financial dealings.
	Gonzalo Delaveau, the president of Transparent Chile -- the local branch of anti-graft group Transparency International -- submitted his resignation yesterday after he was named as a director or representative of at least five companies registered in the Bahamas.
	The information emerged in the leak of millions of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that has put a host of world leaders, celebrities and other prominent figures in the hot seat over their secret financial dealings.
	Delaveau, a lawyer who was acting as interim head of Transparent Chile, had been due to step down in a week.
	"Given that I have one week remaining, given that I can't even continue as director, the damage that has been done to the institution, I believe it's best to step aside," he told CNN Chile.
	Besides his ..

Head of Transparent Chile resigns over Panama Papers

A gas explosion ripped through an apartment complex north of Rio de Janeiro early today, killing five people and injuring 13, firefighters said.
	Civil defense officials said the explosion occurred at 5:00 am local time and may have resulted from a leak in a gas line.
	Residents reportedly complained of a gas smell for more than a year.
	Images on Globo News television showed a blown manhole cover in the sidewalk outside the building, and shattered glass.
	The injured were rushed to area hospitals.
	The building where the explosion occurred is in Fazenda Botafogo, a complex of 86 apartment buildings housing some 17,000 people near a main access road leading to the center of Rio.
	The state gas company CEG said it was too soon to say what caused the explosion.
	"We are going to look into the complaints of residents, who said there have been odors of gas for more than a year," said Cristiane Delart, a CEG spokeswoman, told the G1 news website.
	Delart said company technicians had ...

Five dead, 13 injured in Rio gas explosion

France will put Panama back on its list of countries that do not cooperate in efforts to track down tax dodgers, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said today in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations.
	"France has decided to put Panama back on the list of uncooperative countries, with all the consequences that will have for those who have transactions" with the central American state, Sapin told parliament.
	Panama "wanted to have us believe that it could respect major international principles," Sapin said. "That's how it managed to avoid being on the blacklist of tax havens."
	France removed Panama from the list of Uncooperative States and Territories (ETNC) in 2012 after the two countries reached a bilateral accord on fighting tax evasion.
	In December the finance ministry warned that it was "very attentive" to changes in France's relations with Panama, faulting a poor response to requests for information.
	The so-called Panama Papers, a massive leak of secret offshore financial ...

France to put Panama back on list of tax havens: finance min

Embattled Nigerian Senate president Bukola Saraki today brushed off allegations of wrongdoing concerning his wife's offshore assets revealed in the Panama Papers as he defended himself in court against fraud charges.
	The latest graft claim to hit the senate president emerged from the "Panama Papers" investigation into a trove of 11.5 million tax documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies.
	Saraki is alleged to have failed to declare at least four offshore assets listed under his wife Toyin's name that appear in the leaked documents, according to investigation media partner Nigerian newspaper Premium Times.
	Under Nigerian law, it is mandatory for the president, the vice-president, state governors and their deputies to declare their assets along with those of their wife and children under 18 when they take office and before stepping down.
	But Saraki said he did not do anything illegal and argued that the assets ...

Panama Papers: More trouble for Nigerian Senate president

South African President Jacob Zuma easily survived an impeachment vote today after a stormy session of parliament over a court ruling that he had violated the country's post-apartheid constitution.
	Lawmakers from Zuma's African National Congress (ANC) rallied to his defence, defeating the motion by 233 votes to 143 despite growing pressure for him to resign over the scandal.
	During the debate, Zuma was likened by the leader of the main opposition party to a "large and malignant tumour" on the ANC, which came to power in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela and the end of white-minority rule.
	"When the highest court in the land ruled that the man occupying the highest office violated the constitution, it should have been the end of President Zuma," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, told the assembly.
	"Corruption has infected the entire party like a cancer."
	Acknowledging that the ANC would use its overwhelming majority to defeat the impeachment motion, Maimane .

S Africa's Zuma survives impeachment vote

A Swiss legal expert will decide on the validity of a controversial ruling that allows male Muslim students to avoid shaking hands with female teachers for religious reasons, an official said today.
	The decision reached by a school in Switzerland's northern municipality of Therwil sought to reach a compromise with two male students, aged 14 and 15, and their families, but ended up causing uproar and fierce public debate over the limits of religious freedom.
	"We have asked for an expert opinion from our legal service," said Deborah Murith, spokeswoman for the education department in the canton of Basel-Country, where Therwil is located.
	The two students informed the school that a Swiss custom of pupils shaking teachers' hands violated their faith if the teacher is a woman.
	To avoid approving the de facto discrimination of female teachers, the school decided to exempt the boys from shaking hands with any of their teachers, regardless of sex.
	That ruling -- made independently by the 

Swiss expert to rule on Muslim pupils' handshake exemption

Russian President Vladimir Putin today urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a halt to deadly clashes over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region after a truce was agreed.
	"Putin called on both sides to urgently ensure a complete cessation of military hostilities and respect for the ceasefire," the Kremlin said in a statement after Putin spoke to the two presidents separately by telephone.
	Putin voiced "serious concern" after four days of fighting killed at least 64 people in the the worst outbreak of violence over the territory since since an inconclusive truce in 1994.
	Putin also underlined the need to restart internationally moderated peace negotiations that have failed to definitively end the bitter feud over the past two decades.
	Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh today said were ending their fighting after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scrambled to resolve the worst violence in decades over the disputed region.
	Armenian ..

Putin tells Armenia, Azerbaijan to end Karabakh clashes

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has resigned, his party said today, the first major political casualty to emerge from the leak of the so-called Panama Papers financial documents.
	"The prime minister told (his party's) parliamentary group meeting that he would step down as prime minister and I will take over," the Progressive party's deputy leader and Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told a live broadcast.

Icelandic PM resigns in wake of Panama Papers scandal: party

The US today designated a leading suspect in last year's jihadist attacks on Paris, Salah Abdeslam, as a "global terrorist" under American law.
	   The order, announced by the State Department, freezes any assets held by Abdeslam in US jurisdictions and forbids Americans from doing business with him.
	   "Belgian-born French citizen Salah Abdeslam is an operative for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," it said, using a former name of the Islamic State group.
	   The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control separately confirmed that Abdeslam's name has been added to its list of specially designated foreign nationals.
	   The 26-year-old was arrested on March 18 in a police raid on a hideout in the Brussels district of Molenbeek and is due to be extradited to France.
	   He is accused of being the sole surviving member of a gang that launched a series of attacks on civilian targets in Paris on November 13 last year that left 130 dead.
	   "Witnesses identified Abdeslam as the 

US designates Paris attacks suspect 'global terrorist'

Icelandic PM resigns in wake of Panama Papers scandal:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today suggested that supporters of Kurdish rebels locked in conflict with government troops should be stripped of their Turkish citizenship.
	"To prevent them from doing harm we must take all measures, including stripping supporters of the terrorist organisation of their citizenship," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
	"These people don't deserve to be our citizens. We are not obliged to carry anyone engaged in the betrayal of their state and their people."
	Erdogan has refused to give any quarter to the PKK which has been blamed for a string of attacks in Turkey in recent weeks after the collapse last year of a truce in its decades-long fight for greater autonomy and rights for Kurds.
	In March, Erdogan came under fire for calling for the definition of terrorism to be expanded to include journalists, activists and others who "exploit their positions, pens and titles and put them at ...

Erdogan proposes to strip Kurdish rebel backers of citizenship

Israeli tax authorities said today they were searching the mass of leaked documents known as the Panama Papers, after media reports said 600 Israeli companies and two major banks were included.
	A spokeswoman from the tax authorities said the information from the leak "strengthens our campaign, launched last year, aimed at convincing Israelis who have not declared their fortune abroad to do so without facing penalties."
	She stressed that new legislation which seeks to reduce tax evasion had also been passed, with those found guilty facing up to 10 years in prison.
	The Israeli Ministry of Finance did not comment on the Panama Papers revelations.
	According to Israeli media, the names of 600 Israeli companies, including two of the three major Israeli banks -- Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim -- were contained in the documents.
	Some 850 shareholders were also named as holders of accounts in the tax haven.
	Among those said to be named in the documents were Israeli businessman Idan Ofer ...

Hundreds of Israeli firms in Panama Papers: reports

Chinese authorities have arrested six people for making and selling fake infant formula as the popular US brand "Similac", marketing the counterfeit product across seven provinces, a Shanghai government body said.
	Abbott, maker of Similac, said separately on Tuesday that the case came to light in December and the fake goods had been traced and seized by the end of last year, according to a statement on its verified Chinese microblog.
	The case is the latest scandal involving food safety in China. In 2008, several infants died and thousands fell ill because of baby milk powder tainted by a chemical additive, driving parents to seek out foreign brands of infant formula.
	The Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration said it was also tracking Internet sales of the fake milk powder, according to its statement released yesterday.
	State media reports have previously said the gang sold more than 17,000 cans, earning nearly 2.0 million yuan (USD 309,000).
	National authorities said ...

China arrests six over fake infant formula: government

China today imposed restrictions on imports of North Korean coal and iron, Beijing's commerce ministry said, in line with United Nations sanctions on the country following its nuclear and missile tests.
	The coal trade between the neighbours was worth USD 1 billion last year, Chinese Customs figures show, but the announcement allowed for trade to continue if the proceeds were for livelihood purposes.
	The move also put in place bans on the import of gold, titanium and rare earth metals from the North, as well as some sales of aviation fuel to it, in line with the UN Security Council measures.
	The council approved the measures in March, in the wake of a fourth atomic test by Pyongyang, and Beijing pledged strictly to implement them.
	But the resolution's language -- concluded after seven weeks of hard negotiations between Washington and Beijing -- left significant loopholes for Pyongyang's key economic supporter to continue business as usual.
	China is the North's main provider of ...

China restricts N Korea exports: ministry

Iceland's prime minister today asked the president for permission to dissolve parliament as his government reeled from a political crisis over the so-called Panama Papers, but the president refused.
	President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who cut short a visit to the US to return to Reykjavik earlier today to deal with the crisis, told a televised press conference he wanted to consult the government's junior coalition member before making a decision.

AFP

AFP

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