World oil prices rallied this week, supported by a drop in US stockpiles, while traders on the metals markets took their lead from movements in the dollar and Chinese data.
	OIL: Crude futures rallied as data showed a much bigger than expected drop in US crude inventories, while OPEC said demand would pick up.
	Oil prices had surged more than two dollars Tuesday on expectations that the US inventory data would reveal a drop,
	The Department of Energy indeed said that commercial stockpiles of US crude slumped by 6.8 million barrels last week to 470.6 million. Analysts' consensus forecast had been for a drop of 1.45 million, according to Bloomberg.
	A drop in US stockpiles is seen as an indicator of healthy demand in the world's top crude consumer, supporting global prices.
	OPEC meanwhile stuck to its forecast that oil demand will pick up this year but warned that over-supply may still keep a "ceiling" on crude prices, even as it kept on increasing its own output to a two-year ...

Oil prices rally; metals mixed

PTI Automatic

The best-known portrait of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach goes on public display for the first time in centuries today in his former home city after an odyssey sparked by the Nazis' rise.
	The 1748 oil painting by Elias Gottlob Haussmann shows the bewigged composer aged around 60 holding the score to one of his canons.
	It will be unveiled in a ceremony at around 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) in the eastern city of Leipzig, accompanied by a choir.
	"Bach is coming home!" announced the Leipzig Bach Archive in April.
	The work, valued at USD 2.5 million (2.2 million euros), has returned to the city after 265 years.
	Bequeathed by its US philanthropist owner to the archive, it is often considered the most authentic depiction of the Baroque period composer and appears in many biographies.
	"The portrait, which probably everyone has already seen once in their life, is an icon of music history and, to judge by the sources, is the only true portrayal of the composer," said the Bach museum.
	"All 

Bach portrait set for public gaze after return to Germany

Saudi lawyer Waleed Abu Al-Khair, who is defending a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes in the Middle East country was today awarded the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux Prize for his work defending human rights, organisers said.
	The annual legal award -- one of the world's oldest -- is presented to lawyers who "through their work, activities or suffering defend the respect for human rights," the prize's founder Bertrand Favreau said from Amsterdam.
	Al-Khair, who is the founder of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA) was last year handed a 15-year sentence on six charges by a specialised court in connection with his work.
	This included "publicly slandering the judiciary, distorting the king's reputation, making international organisations hostile to the kingdom and issuing unverified statements that harm the kingdom's reputation."
	Al-Khair is the brother-in-law and lawyer of local blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for ...

Saudi blogger lawyer wins human rights prize

A rocket fired from Yemen killed one civilian and wounded another at a mosque during Friday prayers in the Saudi border region, the Saudi-led coalition said.
	"They fired one missile, a Katyusha... At the time of Friday prayer," Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, the coalition spokesman, told AFP.
	Assiri initially said two people had died in the attack.
	The incident came two days before Yemen's exiled government and rebel forces are set to hold talks in Geneva sponsored by the United Nations in an effort to end the war that has killed more than 2,000 people.
	On the Saudi side of the frontier at least 39 people -- civilians and troops -- have now lost their lives in shelling and border skirmishes since March 26, when the coalition began bombing Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.
	Authorities tightly restrict access by foreign journalists to the border zone.
	Last Saturday the coalition said it shot down a Scud missile fired from Yemen and Assiri said the alliance is still hunting 

Yemen rocket kills one at Saudi mosque: coalition

Sharp suits vied with streetwear and top brands at men's fashion week in London, which opened today with an eye on boosting ties with the lucrative luxury Chinese market.
	Burberry, Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford and Jimmy Choo are some of the big names showing over the next four days alongside Savile Row tailors such as Richard James, Gieves & Hawkes and Hardy Amies.
	The event opened with a show by Topman, the brother label of high-street brand Topshop, featuring retro tracksuits, wide-legged chinos and sporty tailoring and watched from the front row by Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton.
	Men's fashion week, officially known as "London Collections: Men", grew out of the larger womenswear event and is now in its seventh edition, with 77 designers on the main programme.
	This season sees a new focus on promoting British menswear to China, with the appointment of the event's first international ambassador, 45-year-old Chinese model, actor, singer and philanthropist Hu ...

Men's fashion week opens in London with eye on China

UNESCO condemned the destruction Friday of ancient houses described as a "jewel" of Islamic urban landscape in an alleged Saudi-led air strike on the Yemeni capital's old quarter that killed five people.
	The incident occurred before Yemen's warring factions are to meet Sunday for UN-sponsored talks in Geneva in their first bid to break a deadlock after more than two months of Saudi-led air strikes.
	The coalition led by Riyadh denied claims that it had carried out an air strike in Sanaa, suggesting instead that a rebel munitions cache may have exploded.
	Residents of the quarter said a pre-dawn strike was the first direct hit there since the launch of the campaign against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in late March.
	A missile hit the Qassimi neighbourhood without exploding, but killed five residents, including a woman and a child, and destroyed three three-storey houses, medics and witnesses said.
	"We saw the flashing light of the missile launched from a plane. We expected it to ...

UNESCO condemns ancient houses' destruction in Sanaa 'strike'

Scoreboard at lunch on the second day of the second and final Test between the West Indies and Australia at Sabina Park in Jamaica today.
	Australia 1st Innings (overnight 258 for 4)
	D. Warner c Hope b Taylor       0
	S. Marsh lbw b Taylor          11
	S. Smith not out              175
	M. Clarke c Ramdin b Holder    47
	A. Voges c Ramdin b Taylor     37
	S. Watson b Taylor             25
	B. Haddin b Taylor             22
	M. Johnson c Bravo b Roach      5
	M. Starc b Holder               6
	J. Hazlewood not out            5
	Extras (b5, lb7, nb5)          17
	Total (117 overs, 8 wickets)  350
	To bat: Nathan Lyon
	Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Warner), 2-16 (Marsh), 3-134 (Clarke), 4-210 (Voges), 5-264 (Watson), 6-296 (Haddin), 7-306 (Johnson), 8-330 (Starc).
	Bowling: Taylor 23-10-38-5 (2nb), Roach 22-2-92-1 (3nb), Holder 22-3-64-2, Permaul 30-7-105-0, Brathwaite 19-2-39-0, Blackwood 1-1-0-0.
	West Indies - Kraigg Brathwaite, Rajendra Chandrika, Darren Bravo, Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope, ...

Cricket: West Indies v Australia second Test scoreboard

Steve Smith held firm even as wickets fell with Australia reaching 350 for eight at lunch on the second day of the second and final Test against the West Indies at Sabina Park today.
	Having provided the foundation around which the tourists' first day effort of 258 for four was built, Smith started sedately before getting back into stride in the second hour, progressing by another 40 runs in getting to 175 not out.
	On the plus side for the West Indies, Jerome Taylor made good use of the second new ball in completing the fourth five-wicket innings haul of his Test career and third on his home ground.
	Amid overnight speculation as to the reasons why the home side did not utilise the second new ball when it became due an hour before the end of play on day one, Taylor wasted no time in getting among the wickets when it was eventually taken at the start of play.
	He bowled Shane Watson for 25 offering no shot and then dispensed with Brad Haddin, whose defence was breached after he had ...

Cricket: Smith closes in on double century

South Korea today reported three more deaths from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), but health officials urged people to go about their normal daily activities, saying the rate of new cases was slowing.
	In what has become the largest outbreak of the virus outside Saudi Arabia, a 72-year-old woman died Friday after being infected by a MERS patient at a hospital, the health ministry said.
	Two more fatalities were reported later -- both men in their 70s who had come in contact with a MERS patient -- bringing the country's total to 13 dead, Yonhap news agency said.
	The number of new cases, however, fell to four, down from 14 on Thursday, bringing to 126 the total number of people in South Korea diagnosed with the virus.
	Currently, 3,680 people are under quarantine, down from 3,805. A total of 1,249 people have been released from quarantine, including 294 today.
	"The number of newly confirmed cases has fallen sharply and there are little risks of the virus spreading through ...

S Korea reports 13th MERS death

The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen denied claims that it carried out a strike today on the historic old quarter of the country's capital, suggesting a rebel ammunition cache may have exploded.
	"For sure we did not conduct any operation inside (the) city," Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, the coalition spokesman, told AFP.
	The area, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been inhabited for 2,500 years and Assiri said "we know that those sites are very important."
	He said rebels may have been hiding weapons or ammunition in the area.
	"Several days before they had an explosion in one of their storage" areas, he said of the Huthi rebels. "So it could be one of these."
	Medics and witnesses said a missile hit the Qassimi neighbourhood without exploding. It killed five residents and destroyed three houses, they said.
	There were conflicting statements from residents about whether rebels had occupied one of the houses.
	The Arab-led coalition began bombing the Iran-backed rebels and ...

Saudi-led coalition denies bombing Yemen heritage site

Libyan militiamen kidnapped 10 staffers from Tunisia's consulate in Tripoli today after storming the mission, the government in Tunis said.
	A foreign ministry statement denounced "the intrusion of an armed group in the offices of the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli and the detention of 10 staff of the mission."
	The government in Tunis said a crisis cell had been established in the wake of the kidnapping.
	Security forces sealed off the area around the consulate, banning journalists from the site and barring them from taking pictures, an AFP correspondent said.
	Libya has descended into chaos since a NATO-backed revolt unseated longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. It has rival governments and parliaments, and powerful militias are battling for influence and a share of its oil wealth.
	Authorities were unable to say where the kidnapped people had been taken.
	"All government services are following developments with interest in coordination with Libyan, regional and international ...

Libya militia kidnap 10 staffers from Tunisia consulate

A programme that teaches university-age women how to avoid rape has shown some success in reducing the numbers of women in Canada who are sexually assaulted, according to a study.
	Previous research has suggested that as many as one in four young women are raped or are victims of attempted rape while attending college.
	The findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine are based on a group of nearly 900 women at three Canadian universities.
	The first-year students were randomly assigned to either look at brochures on avoiding campus rape or to complete the training course.
	During four separate three-hour sessions, the women learn "information, skills and practices to assess risk from acquaintances, to overcome emotional barriers in acknowledging danger and to engage in effective verbal and physical self-defense," the study said.
	Instructors also helped students "explore their own sexual values, desires, boundaries and rights," according to the study.
	The programme, ...

Study sees success in training women to prevent rape

Ross Taylor's century helped New Zealand turn the tables on England as the World Cup finalists piled up 398 for five in the second one-day international at The Oval today.
     Taylor's 119 not out and Kane Williamson's 93 did the bulk of the damage as England conceded their highest total in all one-day internationals, surpassing the 387 for five posted against them by India at Rajkot in 2008.
     Chris Jordan's return of one for 97 in nine overs equalled the England record for the most expensive in an ODI innings, with former fast bowler Stephen Harmison also conceding 97 runs, but in 10 wicketless overs, against Sri Lanka at Headingley in 2006.
     Remarkably, in view of what followed, the innings started with a maiden from fast bowler Steven Finn, but from then on New Zealand were on top with England rarely making use of the yorker as the runs kept coming.
    	The most England have made batting second to win a one-day international is 306 for five, needing 305, against Pakistan .

Ton-up Taylor turns tables on England

Norwegian scientists have seen polar bears eating dolphins in the Arctic for the first time ever and blame global warming for the bears expanding their diet.
	Polar bears feed mainly on seals but Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar Institute has photographed dolphins being devoured by a bear and published his findings in the latest edition of Polar Research this month.
	"It is likely that new species are appearing in the diet of polar bears due to climate change because new species are finding their way north," he told AFP.
	The first incident he documented was in April 2014 when his team came across a polar feeding on the carcasses of two white-beaked dolphins.
	Although dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic in the summer months when the ice has melted, they have never been observed during winter or spring when the sea is usually still covered in sheets of ice.
	But Norwegian scientists have reported a strong retreat of ice and two nearly ice-free winters in recent years ...

Polar bears develop taste for dolphins as Arctic warms

Ukraine's premier warned today that Kiev would freeze its debt repayments if no immediate deal was found with private lenders because it had to fund its escalating campaign against pro-Russian fighters.
	Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on his return from a crunch visit to Washington that the International Monetary Fund had given his embattled government a few weeks' reprieve to enact laws needed for the release of new loans.
	But the Western-backed cabinet leader said the Fund has signaled its readiness to let Ukraine restructure debts at its own pace -- and that interest payments to Western commercial lenders and Russia may stop as early as next week.
	"Today, Ukraine spends as much on foreign and domestic debt servicing as it does on defence," Yatsenyuk told a government meeting.
	"The budget can no longer afford it -- and not just the budget. The Ukrainian people can no longer live like this," he said.
	"We will not take money out of Ukrainians' pockets to pay foreign ...

Ukraine says it may freeze debt payments to fund war

A South African man who received the world's first successful penis transplant is to become a father just months after undergoing surgery, his doctor said today.
	Urologist Andre van der Merwe, who led the team that performed the operation, told AFP that the 21-year-old's girlfriend was pregnant.
	"I was informed by him that his partner is about four months pregnant," said Van der Merwe, who is based at Stellenbosch University.
	"We are happy that there were no complications and his penis is functioning well," Van der Merwe told AFP.
	"There was nothing preventing him from having children because his sperm wasn't affected."
	Van der Merwe has previously admitted surprise at the speed of the man's recovery of sexual function however, saying the original goal was that "he would be fully functional at two years".
	The man, whose identity has not been revealed, received his new penis from an organ donor in a nine-hour operation on December 11 at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.
	His own ..

S African man with penis transplant to become father

Four Western tourists were ordered deported from Malaysia today after pleading guilty to obscenity charges for taking nude photos on a popular climbing peak, an act some in the country blamed for causing a deadly earthquake.
	The defendants -- Eleanor Hawkins of Britain, 24, Dutchman Dylan Snel, 23, and Canadian brother and sister Lindsey, 23, and Danielle Petersen, 22 -- were arrested earlier this week in the wake of the deadly June 5 quake which killed 18 people on Mount Kinabalu.
	A court in Kota Kinabalu, capital of the state of Sabah on Borneo island, sentenced them to three days' jail time starting from when they were arrested on Tuesday, meaning their term had been served.
	They also were fined 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (USD 1,330) and ordered deported for committing an "obscene act in a public place," which can carry a three-month jail term.
	It was not immediately clear when they would be deported.
	"It is a wake-up call to tourists not to ignore local traditions and culture," .

Four tourists ordered deported over nude pix on Malaysia peak

A six-year-old British girl chosen to give a posy to Queen Elizabeth II got more than she bargained for when a soldier standing next to her knocked off her hat during a salute.
	Maisie Gregory had donned a traditional Welsh costume for her meeting with the royal in Cardiff yesterday, and presented the flowers and made a curtesy without a hitch.
	But as the queen moved away, the soldier next to Maisie lifted his arm into a salute and knocked off her bonnet, prompting the girl to run to her mother standing behind.
	The soldier immediately turned around and apologised to Maisie and her mother, according to the WalesOnline website.
	Joanne Gregory, who is married to a soldier, replied that her daughter was fine but overcome with tiredness.

Little girl hit by soldier saluting Britain's queen

A Rwandan journalist has been arrested and charged with "spying" in neighbouring Burundi, law officials said today, as the country clamps down on the media whom it accuses of organising anti-government protests.
	Etienne Besabesa Mivumbi was arrested on Monday carrying his voice recorder and camera in the northeastern Giteranyi district, local prosecutor Ernest Nduwimana told AFP.
	"We charged him with spying because he was a journalist who sought information without accreditation," Nduwimana said, adding Mivumba was being held in custody.
	After visiting him in prison Adam Ruhamiriza, of Burundi's Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH), said Mivumbi insisted he was reporting on agriculture and trade in the Rwanda-Burundi border region.
	Ruhamiriza said it appeared the journalist had been beaten while in detention as security forces interrogated him as to the whereabouts of alleged Burundian rebel training camps in Rwanda.
	Burundi has been in ...

Rwandan journalist arrested for 'spying' in Burundi

Canadian federal police announced today the arrest of a Somali national in the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian and Australian journalists.
	Ali Omar Ader had been in Ottawa for "a few days" before he was taken into custody by Royal Canadian Mounted Police national security unit.
	Several Canadian agencies, as well as Australian federal police, were involved in the investigation that the RCMP said, "required the deployment of a number of investigative techniques over a long period of time."
	Ader is accused of involvement in the hostage negotiations that led to the November 2009 release of freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan.
	The Canadian and Australian had been kidnapped near Mogadishu, Somalia 15 months earlier.

Somali man arrested in Canada for journalists kidnapping

Romania's parliament today rejected a motion of no-confidence in the government of Prime Minister Victor Ponta who has been embroiled in a corruption inquiry.
	The motion -- the third of its kind against the government since Ponta took office in 2012 -- fell far short of the 278 votes needed for it pass.
	Only 194 lawmakers in the 554-member assembly, where Ponta's centre-left coalition has a large majority, voted in favour.
	Coming three days after the parliament voted against stripping Ponta of his immunity the outcome of the vote came as little surprise.
	"We're going to get to work because the country needs to be governed," the 42-year-old Social Democratic premier said afterwards.
	On Tuesday, lawmakers rejected a request from the DNA anti-corruption agency to lift Ponta's immunity to allow prosecutors investigate him for conflict of interest.
	The agency said it would however continue investigating him on suspicion of money laundering and tax evasion between 2007 and 2011, ...

AFP

AFP

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