The only known footage of Britain's biggest Cold War traitor, Kim Philby, discussing his life as a double agent has been unearthed in Berlin, the BBC said today.
	In the grainy 1981 video, Philby, who defected to the Soviet Union, is seen giving an hour-long lecture to spies in then communist East Germany.
	The BBC said it found the footage in the official archives of the Stasi, the East German intelligence service.
	It said the previously unseen footage shows Philby discussing how he went about betraying his country.
	Philby was one of the Cambridge Five spy ring, a group of upper class men shockingly uncovered as traitors to Britain.
	After his cover was blown, he fled from Beirut to Moscow in 1963 and spent the last 25 years of his life in the Soviet Union.
	In the footage Philby begins his lecture with "Dear comrades", then says he is "no public speaker", having spent most of his life trying to avoid publicity.
	He talks about how he rose through the ranks of Britain's Secret ...

Infamous UK double agent talks of treachery in secret video

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One of the best-loved animated films of all-time, "The Jungle Book" boasted iconic songs and a cast that ensured it would be revered as a milestone in Hollywood history.
	But for all its virtues, Disney's 1967 version of Rudyard Kipling's tale of an orphan raised by wolves lacked the one thing you'd be sure to find in the jungle -- the female of the species.
	"I thought it was a little gender biased. I have two daughters, and the world is different now," says Jon Favreau, who directs the big budget live-action remake which hits US theaters on April 15.
	The veteran director set about putting things right by bringing on board Tinseltown A-lister and regular collaborator Scarlett Johansson to give villainous, and very male, snake Kaa the feminine touch.
	"I liked the character of this mother figure who is welcoming and also menacing. I thought that there was something interesting psychologically about that," Favreau told AFP.
	The 49-year-old, who directed the first two "Iron Man" ...

Favreau gives 'Jungle Book' a girl-power makeover

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko today denied any wrongdoing after documents leaked from a Panama law firm showed him holding three offshore accounts that could be used as tax havens.
	A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents found that the former Soviet state's pro-Western leader had registered a company in the British Virgin Islands that he never disclosed in his income forms.
	The Ukrainian leader did not deny the accounts' existence but said they in no way broke either his country's or international laws.
	"I may be the first top official in Ukraine who treats declaring assets, paying taxes and conflict of interest issues profoundly and seriously, in full compliance with the Ukrainian and international private law," Poroshenko said in a statement issued on Facebook.
	"Having become president, I stopped participating in the management of my assets, having delegated this responsibility to the respective consulting and law firms," he ...

Ukraine's prez denies breaking law by having secret accounts

The Pentagon today announced the transfer of two Libyan inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention center to Senegal.
	The two men -- Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby, 55, and Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar, born in 1972 -- had been in the controversial US military jail since 2002.
	Both had ties to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and Al-Qaeda, according to their leaked prisoner files.
	"The United States is grateful to the government of Senegal for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said in a statement.
	The latest transfers mean the remaining population at the controversial jail is now 89. Thirty-five of these inmates have been approved for transfer to other countries, though the complex process is only completed after rehabilitation and monitoring measures are implemented.
	President Barack Obama in February presented Congress with a new plan to close Guantanamo, which he says ...

Two Guantanamo Bay inmates transferred to Senegal: Pentagon

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today predicted that Ankara's ally Azerbaijan would "one day" regain control of Nagorny Karabakh, as deadly clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over the region raged for a third day.
	"We are today standing side-by-side with our brothers in Azerbaijan. But this persecution will not continue forever. Karabakh will one day return to its original owner. It will be Azerbaijan's," Erdogan told a conference in Ankara broadcast live on television.
	Nagorny Karabakh was seized by Armenian rebels from Azerbaijan in a war that ended with an inconclusive truce in 1994.
	The territory is now ruled by Armenia-backed separatist authorities who claim independence and are backed by Yerevan but are not recognised by any state.
	Erdogan praised Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, saying he was the only leader who came to Turkey to personally give condolences for the deadly attack that rocked Ankara in March.
	"The leaders who ran to give condolences ..

Turkey says Azerbaijan will 'one day' regain Nagorny Karabakh

Women employees of Air France will be allowed to opt out of working on the resumed flights to Iran so that they can avoid having to wear a headscarf, a company official said today.
	The airline will appoint a "special unit" to replace those who do not want to fly to Tehran, he said.
	"Any woman assigned to the Paris-Tehran flight who for reasons of personal choice would refuse to wear the headscarf upon leaving the plane will be reassigned to another destination, and thus will not be obliged to do this flight," human resources official Gilles Gateau told Europe 1 radio.
	Air France is to resume on April 17 its Paris-to-Tehran service, which had been suspended since 2008 because of international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
	Unions say company executives sent staff an internal memo regarding flights to Tehran saying that female cabin crew would be required to wear trousers on board with a loose fitting jacket and must cover their hair with a scarf when they leave .

Air France crew can opt out of Iran flights over headscarf

World oil prices steadied today as Saudi Arabia cast doubt on whether a key producers meeting would reach an agreement to freeze output to address a global supply glut.
	Around 1100 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May was down six cents at USD 36.73 a barrel.
	Brent North Sea crude for June delivery added just four cents to USD 38.71 a barrel compared with today's close.
	Hopes for a deal at the April 17 gathering in Doha led by Russia and Saudi Arabia had been a major driver of a rally in prices from near 13-year lows in February.
	But the latest comments by Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, signalling a reluctance to freeze output unless others did the same knocked down already low expectations of an accord.
	"If all countries agree to freeze production, we're ready," he said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
	Michael McCarthy, an analyst with CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP the price slump came as "no surprise" as traders ...

Oil steadies on Saudi comments

A nephew of South African President Jacob Zuma and the son of Ghana's former president John Agyekum Kufuor were among African figures named in the Panama Papers trove of leaked tax documents.
	Zuma's nephew, Clive Khulubuse Zuma, is a cigar-chomping mining magnate who is thought to own up to 19 collectible cars.
	The documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca show that Khulubuse Zuma was authorised to represent Caprikat Limited, one of two offshore companies that controversially acquired oil fields in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
	In 2010, as questions were raised about the acquisition, British Virgin Islands authorities ordered Mossack Fonseca to provide additional background information on Zuma. Later that year, Mossack Fonseca ended its relationship with the companies.
	Zuma and representatives of the companies have rejected allegations of wrongdoing and claimed the oil deals are "quite attractive" to the DRC government.
	Also implicated is John Addo Kufuor, the eldest 

African leaders' relatives named in Panama Papers

The German government today said it hoped the revelations from the so-called "Panama Papers" will spur global efforts to combat tax evasion and money laundering.
	"We hope the current debate will turn up the heat," finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told a news briefing.
	German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has long been at the forefront of the worldwide fight against money fraud and tax havens.
	"We can harness this momentum and express the hope that restrictions will be imposed," but such practices "cannot be abolished with a simple click of the fingers," Jaeger said.
	The meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington next week will provide an opportunity to put the issue back on the agenda.
	"And we will take the initiative in this direction," Jaeger pledged.
	The Panama Papers are a massive leak of 11.5 million documents allegedly exposing the secret offshore dealings of aides to Russian president Vladimir Putin, world leaders and ...

Germany hopes Panama Papers will spur tax evasion fight

Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based law firm at the heart of the "Panama Papers" scandal, is a discreet outfit with a roster of big-name clients and a quiet reputation for hiding money from the tax man.
	That cloak of secrecy it wrapped around itself was ripped apart on Sunday when media organizations around the world publishing information from a massive leak from the firm's supposedly secure data center.
	Politicians, sports stars, celebrities -- many were named in the 11 million pages of documents, according to information starting to be released by the International Consortium of Investigating Journalists (ICIJ), which is parsing the data.
	So too were the techniques allegedly used by Mossack Fonseca to make money trails murky, including slavish use of off-shore havens such as the British Virgin Islands and some Pacific Ocean nations.
	The revelation detailing the off-shore structures of many wealthy clients is a "crime" and an "attack" on Panama, the law firm maintains.
	"This is a 

Law firm in 'Panama Papers' leak is secretive,with big clients

Brussels airport scheduled nearly 40 flights today, officials said, as Belgium struggles to get back to normal after two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the departure hall nearly two weeks ago.
	The number was a sharp rise over the three flights at Belgium's main air hub on Sunday, but a far cry from the 600 the airport usually handles per day, officials said.
	"Some 39 passenger flights, most of them arriving from or departing to European cities, are planned," Brussels Airlines spokesman Kim Daenen told AFP, adding her company was the only operator today.
	Tomorrow, the airline will run 89 flights, with 48 heading to European destinations, five to Africa and one to New York. Some 40 return flights are planned.
	Brussels airport spokeswoman Florence Mulls said other companies such as Dutch carrier KLM will operate from Wednesday.
	The airport reopened on Sunday for the first time since two Islamic State commandos blew themselves up in the departure hall on March 22 in ...

Bomb-hit Brussels airport runs nearly 40 flights

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will travel to Iran next week for a two-day trip that will make him the first major leader to visit since the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.
	Renzi's office said in a statement Monday that the centre-left premier would be in the Islamic Republic on April 12 and 13, without giving further details of his itinerary.
	Italy has led the way among Western countries in re-establishing economic ties to Iran following the lifting of international sanctions imposed over concerns the country was seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capacity.
	An accord to lift the sanctions was agreed last year and came into force in January.
	Renzi's trip follows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Italy and France at the end of January -- a trip which resulted in a string of major trade and investment deals being signed between Tehran and the two European countries.
	Contracts worth an estimated 17 billion euros (USD 18 billion) were signed in ...

Italy's Renzi to make landmark visit to Iran

An Iraqi Mi-35 helicopter crashed south of Baghdad due to a "technical problem" today, security officials said, the latest in a series of military helicopters to go down.
	A colonel in Iraq's Joint Operations Command said  an "Mi-35 training helicopter crashed as a result of a technical problem," but that the crew survived.
	The helicopter went down on Monday morning near the city of Kut, south of Baghdad.
	Sahib al-Chlaibawi, the head of the Wasit province security committee, confirmed that the helicopter had crashed during a training mission, but no one was killed.
	Iraq has lost multiple helicopters to accidents and ground fire in recent years, while others have been damaged.
	In February, the Islamic State jihadist group shot down an Iraqi Bell helicopter west of Baghdad, killing at least one person, while an Mi-17 crashed east of Kut due to a technical problem, killing nine.
	In October 2014, militants shot down a Bell 407 north of Baghdad, killing two crew, five days after an ...

Iraqi Mi-35 helicopter crashes south of Baghdad: officials

The Kremlin today slammed the leak of the "Panama Papers" tax documents as an attack aimed primarily at Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming that former CIA officials helped analyse the papers.
	"Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilise the situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
	The year-long worldwide media investigation into millions of documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm exposed a tangle of confidential financial dealings by close friends and aides of Putin.
	The documents analysed by Russian journalists from Novaya Gazeta opposition newspaper put Putin's close friend at the top of an offshore empire worth more than USD 2 billion that has made his circle fabulously wealthy.
	The Kremlin spokesman, who himself figures in the leaked documents, said there was "nothing new or concrete" about the Russian leader in the leaks, but blamed them on a mood of rampant ...

Putin, Russia 'main target' of Panama Papers leaks: Kremlin

Deadly clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over the Nagorny Karabakh region continued for a third day today despite international pressure to halt the worst fighting in decades over the disputed territory.
	Azerbaijan said three of its troops were killed overnight when Armenian forces shelled its positions using mortars and grenade launchers, taking the overall death toll in the latest surge of violence to at least 36.
	"In the event of continued Armenian provocations, we will launch a full-scale operation along the entire front line, using all kinds of weapons," Azerbaijan's defence ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahly told journalists.
	The Armenia-backed separatist authorities in Karabakh -- which claims independence but is backed by Yerevan --  said that Azeri troops "intensified shelling of the Karabakh army positions on Monday morning, using 152-millimetre mortars, rocket-propelled artillery and tanks".
	The fresh outbreak of fighting over the region -- which was seized 

Azerbaijan, Armenia locked in deadly clashes over Karabakh

Iceland's prime minister was under pressure to quit today after the leak of the "Panama Papers" tax documents showed he and his wife used an offshore firm to allegedly hide million-dollar investments.
	A former prime minister urged Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism yesterday released 11.5 million financial records detailing the holdings of a dozen current and former world leaders.
	They included Gunnlaugsson of Iceland's right-wing Progressive Party and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, as well as criminals and celebrities.
	"The prime minister should immediately resign," former Social Democratic prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said in a message posted on Facebook.
	More than 16,000 Icelanders have also signed a petition demanding his resignation, while the opposition has said it will seek a vote of no confidence in parliament, likely to be held this week.
	According to the documents, Gunnlaugsson and ...

Iceland's PM urged to resign after Panama Papers leak

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has dropped plans to run two major ministries but will act as spokeswoman for the country's new president, a ruling party official said today.
	Banned from becoming president by a junta-era constitution, Suu Kyi has cemented control over the country's first civilian-led government in decades by taking on a string of senior roles in the new administration.
	She has vowed to rule "above" the president, picking school friend and close aide Htin Kyaw for the role.
	Lawmakers from her National League for Democracy party are also pressing for a special "state counsellor" position for the Nobel laureate, an appointment that would allow her to liaise between the presidency and parliament.
	Last week the NLD said she would take on four cabinet posts -- foreign, energy, education and the ministerial position in the president's office.
	But during a parliamentary session today, the NLD put forward two new names for the energy and education portfolios, according to NLD .

Myanmar's Suu Kyi takes on spokeswoman role

Maldives police have released 16 journalists arrested during a protest against a perceived government crackdown on press freedom on the politically troubled holiday islands, officials said today.
	The journalists, which the government said were released late yesterday, have been ordered to report to police for questioning over the demonstration held outside President Abdulla Yameen's office in the capital Male.
	"We were told that we disobeyed police orders and they want to question us further," Zaheena Rasheed, an editor of the private Maldives Independent website, told AFP after she was released.
	Police used pepper spray to break up yesterday's protest against the government's move to criminalise defamation, which media fear will be used to stifle freedom of speech. A draft bill proposes heavy fines and jail terms for offenders.
	The government said in a statement the demonstration was broken up because journalists were gathered in "a high security zone, where protesting is ...

Maldives police release journalists arrested over protest

The families of some of China's top communist brass - including President Xi Jinping - used offshore tax havens to conceal their fortunes, a treasure trove of leaked documents has revealed.
	At least eight current or former members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party's most powerful body, have been implicated, highlighting the hot-button issue of wealth among China's ruling elite.
	The eight are among 140 political figures around the world alleged to have links to offshore accounts, after an investigation into the leak of 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.
	One of the people named in the leaks is Xi's brother-in- law Deng Jiagui, who set up two British Virgin Islands companies in 2009 when his famous relation was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee but not yet president.
	Xi has been dogged by foreign media reports of great family wealth. The claims are ignored by mainstream Chinese outlets, and their publication 

Panama Papers: Family of China's President Xi implicated

The first Syrians arrived in Germany from Istanbul today under a controversial EU-Turkey migrant pact, an official from the German federal refugee office said.
	The 16 asylum seekers flew into the northern city of Hanover and were to be taken to a shelter about 140 kilometres (90 miles) away. A second group of Syrians was to arrive in Hanover in the early afternoon, the official told AFP.
	The representative from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Corinna Wicher, asked reporters to respect the privacy of the asylum seekers, who were members of three families. An AFP reporter saw five children among them.
	"This is all very new, very difficult," Wicher said. "They have been travelling for a very long time."
	One protester also arrived to meet the group, holding a banner reading: "Please keep fleeing, refugees not welcome."
	Wicher said the new arrivals would spend two weeks at the temporary shelter in the town of Friedland for orientation, including lessons in basic German .

First Syrians arrive in Germany under EU-Turkey pact

Alaska Airlines parent company Alaska Air Group said today it was acquiring Virgin America in a friendly takeover worth around USD 4 billion.
	A definitive merger of the airlines had been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, it said in a statement.
	Alaska Air will pay USD 57 in cash per share for Virgin America.
	"The combination expands Alaska Airlines' existing footprint in California, bolsters its platform for growth and strengthens the company as a competitor to the four largest US airlines," it said.
	The newly merged company will be headquartered in Seattle, it said.

AFP

AFP

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