Turkey has made preparations to take in up to 500 migrants from Greece tomorrow under a plan agreed with the EU to reduce the flow of illegal migration, the Turkish interior minister said.
	Local authorities say the first wave of migrants sent back from Greece will arrive in the resort town of Dikili, just opposite the Greek island of Lesbos which has become a major hub for migration to the European Union.
	"We have prepared for 500 people to come on Monday. We are making our plans and putting in place our capacities," Interior Minister Efkan Ala was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency today.
	"We have been in touch with the Greek authorities and said we could take 500 people and they have given us 400 names. Tomorrow it's possible that this figure could change," he added.
	Under the scheme -- which has been condemned by rights groups -- Turkey will send one Syrian refugee to Europe in exchange for every Syrian it takes back from Greece.
	The plan aims to halt the flow of ...

Turkey prepares for up to 500 migrants from Greece on Monday

PTI Automatic

A controversial movie about the future of Hong Kong won the top prize at the city's film awards today, after being a local box office hit but antagonising Beijing over its portrayal of the semi-autonomous territory in 2025.
	"Ten Years" scooped the "Best Film" prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards, following a short cinema release that was widely believed to have been curtailed for political reasons.
	The film is made up of a series of five vignettes that tap residents' worst fears for the future of the southern Chinese city as Beijing's grip tightens.
	The film had only a short general release, while some cinemas refused to screen it altogether, and it raised heckles on the mainland with China's state-run Global Times newspaper describing it as "totally absurd" and a "virus of the mind".
	"The meaning of this prize is that it shows Hong Kong still has hope. It reminds us that we could have courage to be creative. I would like to thank everyone who has watched it," said the film's ...

Controversial Hong Kong movie wins 'Best Film' award

Two people were killed when a train carrying some 350 passengers and crew derailed early today near Philadelphia, prompting officials to shut down service along a busy stretch of the northeast corridor.
	Dozens of people were injured in the accident, which took place in the town of Chester, Pennsylvania shortly before 8:00 am (1200 GMT).
	The accident occurred after "a vehicle was struck on the tracks," said Travis Thomas, fire commissioner for Chester, Pennsylvania, at a press briefing.
	"There were two deceased, but they were not passengers on the train," Thomas said.
	He declined to provide additional details about the accident or the victims.
	However, news reports said the train, the Palmetto, en route from New York to Savannah, Georgia, struck a backhoe on the tracks and that the two fatalities were construction workers.
	An Amtrak spokesman, Stephen Gardner, told reporters that officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the scene of the disaster to 

Two dead as derailment halts US northeast train travel

Activists staged a demonstration inside one of London's biggest museums today in protest at its sponsorship links with energy giant BP.
	A 20-strong group of activists held what they called a "disobedient exhibition" inside the British Museum in central London.
	The mock exhibition was entitled "A History of BP in 10 Objects", a play on "A History of the World in 100 Objects", a recent British Museum show.
	"It features objects sent from all over the world by communities impacted by BP's environmental destruction and human rights abuses, including crude oil from the Gulf Coast spill," the activists said in a statement.
	They claimed BP's support -- largely focused on special exhibitions -- represented 0.8 percent of the central London museum's annual income.
	Last September, the self-styled "theatrical campaign group", named "BP Or Not BP?", held a similar protest inside the museum with demonstrators dressed in black to resemble an oil slick, forming the word "No".
	The new protest ...

Protesters target British Museum over BP links

The man accused of hijacking an Egyptian plane and diverting it to Cyprus did not enter the cockpit during the six-hour long ordeal, the pilot of the aircraft said today.
	Egyptian Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa is accused of using a fake suicide belt to force the Alexandria-to-Cairo flight to divert to Cyprus on Tuesday, and has been remanded into custody in Cyprus.
	He said he acted out of desperation to see his ex-wife and children who live in the eastern Mediterranean island.
	"Immediately after the hijacking, I asked the security officer to stay at the door of the cockpit and not leave," EgyptAir pilot Amr Al-Gamal told reporters in a meeting organised by Egyptian authorities.
	Systems that lock a cockpit door have existed since the 1980s and strict procedures became standard after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
	"Our main fear was that the hijacker may enter the cockpit, or that he knew how to fly a plane or use it to explode", said co-pilot Hamad al-Qaddah.
	Mostafa ...

Hijacker of EgyptAir plane never entered cockpit: pilot

Greece was today making final preparations to return hundreds of migrants to Turkey, the first to be sent back under a landmark EU deal that has been slammed by rights watchdogs.
	The operation is set to begin tomorrow on the Greek island of Lesbos, which has served as a gateway for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe from Turkey in the past year.
	Details of how the operation will proceed are sketchy, with Greek officials tight-lipped today over who and how many migrants will be sent back across the Aegean Sea.
	Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said his country had made preparations to receive 500 people tomorrow, and that the Greeks had given the names of 400.
	"We have been in touch with the Greek authorities and said we could take 500 people and they have given us 400 names. Tomorrow it's possible that this figure could change," Ala was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
	The European Union signed the controversial deal with Turkey in ...

Greece counts down to first Turkey migrant returns

The government will do all it can to keep Britain's biggest steelworks running, Business Secretary Sajid Javid said today, in the face of a crisis threatening the country's steel industry.
	Indian steel giant Tata Steel announced Tuesday it was putting its loss-making British business up for sale, including the Port Talbot plant on the south Wales coast.
	Javid said he thought there was time to find a buyer for the plant and Tata Steel's other UK assets.
	"Tata will issue an offer document very soon," he told BBC television.
	The government is "also going to have to offer support to clinch that buyer and give that steel plant a long-term, viable future".
	Tata Steel employs around 15,000 staff in Britain.
	However, Port Talbot is reportedly losing 1 million pounds (1.3 million euros, USD 1.4 million) a day in the face of high energy costs and plunging prices caused by a chronic global oversupply of steel and a glut of cheap imports, particularly from China.
	The facility is Wales's ...

British government pledges support for steel plant

US presidential primaries spark back to life Tuesday after an eventful 10-day break with clear frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both facing the real possibility of losing in Wisconsin.
	Defeat in the north-central state isn't likely to immediately change the course of the overall nominating contest, but it could serve as an indicator of the race's current status ahead of the New York primary on April 19, where polls show both in the lead.
	It's been a bumpy period for Trump, the Republican billionaire from New York.
	Although his campaign has seemed bulletproof up until now, his latest controversies -- including abortion, opponent Ted Cruz's wife and a journalist who said she was roughed up by Trump's campaign manager -- have alienated women voters further, polls indicate.
	His divisive style is also under scrutiny, and the real estate magnate had a surprise meeting with Republican party chief Reince Priebus in Washington on Thursday amid rumblings that the party would ...

Tough task for Trump, Clinton as US primaries fire up again

Proposals to tighten an already restrictive abortion law today drew thousands of people to protests in Poland.
	The Catholic church, to which some 90 percent of Poles profess allegiance, backs the proposals being considered by the new right-wing government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.
	Those proposals would tighten what are already some of Europe's most restrictive laws on pregnancy termination.
	Current legislation, dating from 1993, already bans all terminations except when pregnancy results from rape or incest, poses a health risk to the mother, or if the foetus is severely deformed.
	Pro-life activists support even tougher legislation but the move has sparked a backlash and today's protest saw marchers answer a call by a leftist party to rally outside parliament.
	Other marches were taking place in several other cities.
	Some carried wire coat hangers, a crude self-abort method, "used in the past by desperate women deprived of their rights to interrupt their pregnancy", 

Polish abortion proposals draw protests

The leader of Nigeria's Ansaru jihadist group, Khalid al-Barnawi, one of three Nigerians listed by Washington in 2012 as "specially designated global terrorists", has been arrested, an army spokesman told AFP today.
	"Security agents made a breakthrough on Friday in the fight against terrorism by arresting Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of Ansaru terrorist group in Lokoja," military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.
	"He is among those on the top of the list of our wanted terrorists," he added.
	Lokoja is the capital of Nigeria's central Kogi state.
	The US Department of State in June 2012 named Khalid al-Barnawi alongside Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and Ansaru founder Abubakar Adam Kambar.
	"Shekau is the most visible leader of the Nigeria-based militant group Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati Wal-Jihad, commonly referred to as Boko Haram. Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb, a ..

Leader of Ansaru jihadist group arrested in Nigeria

Italian police are dropping an investigation into a bishop for the alleged sexual abuse of seminarists, media reports said today.
	Prosecutors in Cassino, south of Rome, had opened a probe into monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo after receiving a letter from a seminarian accusing the bishop of sexually molesting him and others.
	But prosecutor Luciano d'Emmanuele today released a statement saying no charges would be brought, La Repubblica daily said.
	Antonazzo had been quoted yesterday stressing "how utterly unfounded the accusations are".
	Sex abuse scandals have dogged the Catholic Church in recent years with alleged victims breaking their silence in the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Mexico and Poland.
	Pope Francis has approved the creation of an internal church tribunal to punish bishops who cover up sex abuse by priests, but networks of abuse survivors point out that the Holy See has shied away from legal action so far.

Police drop sex abuse probe into Italian bishop

A US Republican delegation visiting Cairo today said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the "right man at the right time" for Egypt even as Washington criticises alleged rights abuses in the country.
	The six-member delegation led by hawkish senator Lindsey Graham backed Sisi in the fight against the jihadist Islamic State group, but was cautious when asked to respond to growing accusations of human rights violations committed by Egyptian security forces.
	Graham said Sisi was "the right man at the right time" to lead Egypt as the Islamic State group had become a "nightmare" for the entire region.
	"There is a desire that Daesh be destroyed in Sinai... the president has expressed his desire to destroy Daesh," Graham said using the Arabic acronym for the IS, which is spearheading an insurgency in the restive peninsula.
	When asked about the human rights situation in Egypt, Graham offered a response in stark contrast to the present US administration, which has regularly criticised ...

US Republicans back Egypt's Sisi despite rights concerns

A Syrian opposition figure today criticised perceived "American ambiguity" on the future of President Bashar al-Assad and urged Washington to confirm he will not be "rehabilitated" in a future government.
	"We have American ambiguity that is very damaging for us," Bassma Kodmani, member of the main opposition High Negotiations Committee which attended last month's peace talks in Geneva.
	The committee has rejected Assad's demand for any transitional government to include his regime as Syria struggles to emerge from five years of civil war.
	The White House last week indicated Assad should not feature in a transitional unity administration, White House spokesman Josh Earnest dubbing his participation a "non-starter" for Washington.
	But Kodmani said the committee wanted confirmation of that stance two days after high level US-Russian discussions on ways of strengthening a fragile ceasefire.
	"We don't know what the United States are discussing with Moscow," Assad's long-time ally, said 

Syria opposition sees US 'ambiguity' on Assad future

The South African parliament will next week discuss an opposition motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma after country's highest court ruled that he flouted the constitution, an official said today.
	The speaker of parliament Baleka Mbete told journalists that the move by the Democratic Alliance (DA) would be considered on April 5.
	The DA is pushing for Zuma to be impeached after the Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that he had "failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution" in ignoring the ombudswoman's directives to repay a portion of public funds used to upgrade his private residence.
	"The national assembly will on Tuesday, 5 April, consider a motion by the Democratic Alliance for the removal of the President in terms of section 89 of the constitution," said Mbete.
	Zuma, whose ruling African National Congress (ANC) commands a strong grip on parliament, is likely to survive any bid to have him removed.
	A previous impeachment attempt in 2015 over failure to arrest ..

S Africa parliament to consider Zuma impeachment

Thailand has long served as one of the globe's main rice bowls, but chronic water shortages are pushing the country to move away from a grain that dominates its fields and has defined a way of life for generations.
	Laddawan Kamsong has spent the past forty years coaxing rice from her plot in central Thailand, but she is tired of watching her farmland squeezed dry by increasingly severe droughts.
	"I plan to replace some rice paddies with limes," she told AFP after attending a government-run workshop urging farmers to diversify their crops.
	Thailand is one of the world's top rice exporters.
	But four consecutive years of below-average rainfall have drained water reserves and strangled production, pushing many farmers into debt.
	The current drought, the worst the country has seen in decades, has hit nearly a third of Thailand's 76 provinces, particularly in the rice-heavy central and northeast.
	Reservoirs are also dropping to historically low levels.
	Thailand is also facing ...

Parched fields force Thailand to look beyond rice

At least 36 people were killed and 27 injured after heavy rain across northwest Pakistan caused the roofs of dozens of homes to collapse, officials said today.
	The deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during a downpour that began last night, a provincial disaster management agency spokesman said.
	The number known to have died had now risen to 36, the spokesman said, adding reports were still awaited from a few more remote areas.
	The worst-hit area was Kohistan where 12 deaths were reported, followed by Shangla district where rains and landslides killed 10 people.
	Poorly-built homes, particularly in rural areas, are most susceptible to collapse during heavy spring rain.
	Severe weather hits the country every year, with hundreds killed and huge tracts of prime farmland destroyed in recent years.
	During the rainy season last summer, torrential downpours and flooding killed 81 people and affected almost 300,000 people across the country.

Rains kill 36 in NW Pakistan: officials

Iran's oil exports have surpassed 2 million barrels per day following the lifting of sanctions under its nuclear deal with world powers, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said today.
	"Iran's oil and gas condensate exports are now at more than 2 million barrels per day" after rising by 250,000 bpd since March 1, the ministry's Shana news service quoted Zanganeh as saying.
	Iran has doubled exports since its nuclear accord took effect on January 16.
	Iran, an OPEC member, has the world's fourth-largest oil reserves but its exports were long hampered by sanctions over its nuclear programme.
	It has moved ahead with an increase in exports despite global concerns over a supply glut that has pushed oil prices to below USD 40 a barrel, from more than USD 100 a barrel in mid-2014.
	Top exporter Saudi Arabia has said it is willing to consider an output freeze to help shore up prices.
	But in an interview published Friday, Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reiterated Riyadh's position ...

Iran oil exports surpass 2 million barrels per day: minister

Maldives police arrested 16 independent journalists today while breaking up a demonstration against an alleged crackdown on freedom of speech in the politically troubled nation, private media outlets reported.
	Police used pepper spray and roughed up reporters who were staging a sit-in protest outside President Abdulla Yameen's office in the capital Male, according to several outlets including the Maldives Independent website.
	The protest was aimed at forcing the government to withdraw its draft criminal defamation bill, which protesters fear will be used against private media as well as political opponents of the government.
	Demonstrators were also attempting to pressure authorities to investigate the whereabouts of a reporter who disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and were denouncing a court decision to temporarily close a newspaper over an ownership dispute.
	Ongoing political unrest in the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands, has dented its image as a peaceful ..

Maldives police arrest 16 independent journalists

Syrian troops today seized the key Islamic State group bastion of Al-Qaryatain, dealing the jihadists a new blow in the country's centre a week after expelling them from Palmyra, state television said.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group however said fighting was still raging in the east and southeast of the town, which is located in the desert in Homs province.
	"The army with backing from supporting forces (pro-regime militia) brings back complete security and stability to the town of Al-Qaryatain, after crushing Daesh terrorists' last remaining positions there," state television said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
	But the Britain-based Observatory said the army was still fighting the jihadists in about half the town.
	"Clashes are still ongoing in the east and southeast of the town," it said.
	The advance came after the Russian-backed Syrian army dealt IS a major blow on March 27 by seizing the ancient city of Palmyra, known as the "Pearl of the desert", ...

Army seizes key IS bastion in central Syria: state TV

First plane leaves Brussels Airport since March 22

AC Milan led the Serie A tributes to former defender and club legend Cesare Maldini, who died today at the age of 84.
     Maldini, the father of 1990s club icon Paolo Maldini, made 412 appearances with the Rossoneri between 1954 and 1966, winning four league titles including a first 'scudetto' in his first season with the club.
    	Maldini had the honour of lifting the trophy at Wembley in 1963 when Milan became the first Italian club to win the European Cup, with victory over Eusebio-inspired Benfica.
	He would play 14 times for Italy, including their 1962 World Cup campaign in Chile before hanging up his boots in 1966.
	Maldini returned to Milan for an ill-fated spell as a coach, spending less than one season on the bench in 1973-1974, when Giovanni Trapattoni was ushered in to take over for the remaining games that year.
	A minute's silence was held before the Udinese v Napoli clash early on Sunday and was due to be observed in the remaining seven league games.
	Meanwhile, a ...

AFP

AFP

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