Indonesian prosecutors today recommended an 18-year jail sentence for a New Zealand man accused of trafficking crystal methamphetamine into the resort island of Bali.
	Antony de Malmanche was detained with 1.7 kilogrammes of the drug hidden inside his backpack upon landing in Bali in December.
	His family have claimed the 53-year-old was the victim of an online dating scam and that he was heading to Bali to see a woman he met on the Internet, who had made his travel arrangements.
	However prosecutors said he was guilty of drug trafficking and called for him to spend 18 years behind bars, saying that 1,700 people could have consumed the drugs that he was transporting.
	"What the defendant did could paint an image of Bali as a heaven for drug trafficking," prosecutor Siti Sawiyah told a court in the Balinese capital Denpasar.
	The recommendation is lighter than the maximum penalty of death by firing squad for drug trafficking in Indonesia. Judges are not obliged to follow prosecutors' ..

N Zealand man faces 18-year jail term in Bali for drugs

PTI Automatic

A Turkish policeman who tear-gassed a female protester at close range in one of the most iconic moments of 2013 anti-government protests has been ordered by a court to plant 600 trees, media reported today.
	The tear-gassing of Ceyda Sungur was captured in dramatic images and she became known as the "lady in red" around the world due to the colour of the dress she wore.
	An Istanbul court found Fatih Z guilty of causing intentional injury and professional fault and gave him two sentences of 10 months in prison.
	However, the court immediately cancelled these terms due to his "good behaviour" during the trial and instead sentenced Fatih Z to the unusual community punishment of planting 600 saplings and looking after their growth, the Hurriyet daily said.
	Sungur had also been targeted by a criminal probe but this was rapidly scrapped by prosecutors.
	The May-June 2013 protests started as a local show of anger against plans to develop a small park in central Istanbul.
	But they quickly .

Turkey cop gets 'tree-planting' sentence for tear-gassing

Chinese soldiers today shot dead a man suspected of crossing into the country from North Korea, officials said, the latest of several deadly incidents along the frontier.
	A "suspected illegal border-crosser" was shot early in the morning after he "resisted arrest," an official microblog account of Helong county in China's northeast Jilin province said.
	The incident occurred in Yanbian prefecture, where Chinese agents shot a North Korean soldier who reportedly killed four locals after crossing the border in December.
	Reports at the time said North Korean soldiers had often crossed the border to demand money and food from villagers on the Chinese side.
	Yanbian is home to a large number of Chinese ethnic Koreans, as well as refugees from North Korea.
	China Defence News said earlier this year that it had established "militia patrols" to guard border villages with 24-hour video surveillance.
	Tens of thousands of North Koreans are estimated to have fled famine and repression over the .

Chinese soldiers kill North Korea 'border-crosser'

The European Union's anti-trust watchdog opened a formal investigation today into Amazon's e-book distribution, in the latest Brussels inquiry to target the US-based Internet retailer.
	The European Commission, the EU executive's arm, is probing clauses Amazon has with publishers which may shield the company from competitors, including an obligation to be informed of more favourable terms being offered by rivals.
	Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement that the inquiry did not call into question Amazon's "successful business" offering customers goods such as e-books.
	"However, it is my duty to make sure that Amazon's arrangements with publishers are not harmful to consumers by preventing other e-book distributors from innovating and competing effectively with Amazon," Vestager said in a statement.
	"Our investigation will show if such concerns are justified," she added.
	Brussels is already conducting a separate investigation into Amazon's tax arrangements ...

EU opens anti-trust probe into Amazon e-book business

Moscow police said today they had detained three members of a criminal gang suspected of stealing more than 30 million rubles (USD 546,000) after a dramatic shootout close to a busy rail station.
	Officers from the criminal investigation department and special forces detained "three members of an armed criminal group" that specialised in robbing couriers ferrying bags of cash, police said in a statement released after the operation yesterday.
	Police officers fired their service pistols as they attempted to capture the suspects parked close to the Paveletsky mainline rail station.
	Witnesses posted photographs on social media of bullet holes in the windows of a nearby office block.
	Russian media compared the shootout in broad daylight in a public place to a scene from the mafia-ridden 1990s and questioned why the police was allowed to fire shots that could have hit a passerby.
	The suspects managed to flee at high speed in their stolen black Mercedes SUV prompting a car chase with ...

Russian police arrest three after dramatic Moscow shootout

The Zimbabwean dollar will officially be taken out of circulation, officials said today, six years after hyper-inflation rendered it worthless and US dollars became the most widely-used currency.
	The government effectively abandoned the local currency in 2009 and adopted a multiple currency system that includes the US dollar and the South African rand.
	"Zimbabwe adopted the multiple currency system or dollarisation in 2009 and it is therefore necessary to demonetise the Zimbabwe dollar unit," Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said at a news conference.
	"We are decommissioning this currency."
	The southern African country once removed 12 zeros from its battered currency at the height of hyper-inflation in 2009 when the largest note was the USD 100 trillion denomination. Official figures put inflation at 230 million per cent but put it much higher.
	Mangudya said USD 20 million has been set aside to offset Zimbabwe dollar bank balances and to pay people still holding to 

Zimbabwe to phase out worthless local dollar

French customs officials said today they had intercepted 136 kilos of ivory shipped from the Democratic Republic of Congo en route to Vietnam - the biggest haul in nearly a decade.
	Officials at Paris's main Charles de Gaulle airport found a dozen elephant tusks chopped into 37 pieces hidden in cases under aluminium plates, possibly to confuse scanners.
	The haul is the biggest seized by French customs officials since December 2006, when 600 kilos of "white gold" was uncovered.
	"This is a sadly typical case," said airport customs official Sebastien Tiran.
	"There's one thing that never goes out of fashion and that's ivory," he told AFP.
	There were "several criteria" that alerted officials to the possibility of smuggling, he explained. "The route, what is declared, documents linked to the declaration."
	"As soon as we have any doubts, we dig," he said.
	Ivory ornaments are coveted in Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand and China, and activists say Africa's wild elephants are being 

French customs seize biggest ivory haul in nine years

Oil prices dropped today as the International Energy Agency predicted that a recent surge in world crude demand was set to end.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July fell 58 cents to USD 60.85 a barrel compared with yesterday's closing level.
	Brent North Sea crude for July slid 46 cents to stand at USD 65.24 around midday in London.
	World oil demand growth soared to a four-year high in the first three months of 2015, but the surge is unlikely to persist, the IEA said today in its monthly report.
	The strong growth, which reached 1.7 million barrels per day in the first quarter, was underpinned by an economic recovery, a European winter that was colder than the previous year's, and lower crude prices which spurred consumption.
	"However, there are doubts that this trio will persist" in the second half of 2015, said the IEA.
	Heating needs are not expected to return to such levels and crude prices have also started to rise and are therefore likely to stymie ...

Oil prices drop as IEA predicts demand slowdown

SEA Games organisers launched an investigation into feared food poisoning today after "a bout of loose stools" struck several athletes in the cycling competition.
	Cyclists complained their performance had been affected as the competition in Singapore got under way with the men's and women's individual time trials.
	"The Singapore Southeast Asian Games Organising Committee has received a report of an incident involving a bout of loose stools that has affected a few athletes early this morning," a statement said.
	"We are investigating the matter with the relevant authorities and reinforcing hygiene practices."
	The Straits Times newspaper said the cyclists were staying at Resorts World Sentosa, a hotel, casino and funpark complex popular with tourists.
	Malaysian rider Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi blamed his dinner of chicken and curry egg for his performance after he finished 11th in the men's time trial.
	"Two other riders, including my room-mate, are down too. I think it was the ...

SEA Games: Food poisoning probe after 'loose stools'

Swiss and Austrian investigators have launched probes into alleged spying in hotels hosting delicate Iranian nuclear talks, the authorities in both countries said today.
	The Swiss attorney general's office confirmed it had launched an investigation on May 6 and conducted a raid six days later, seizing computer equipment, due to "suspicion of illegal intelligence services operating in Switzerland."
	It did not specify if hotels were targeted in the probe.
	"The aim of this raid was on one hand to gather evidence and to on the other verify if information systems had been infected by malware," the attorney general's office said in an email.
	The revelation comes in a countdown to a June 30 deadline for a historic agreement between Iran and world powers on curtailing Tehran's nuclear programme in return for relief from punishing sanctions.
	Austria -- which has also hosted numerous rounds of the nuclear talks --  said today it was also investigating possible spying at meeting venus ...

Swiss and Austrians probe spying at Iran talks hotels

At least 20 members of Syria's Druze minority have been killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria, a monitor said today.
	The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came yesterday in the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, most of which is now controlled by an alliance including Al-Nusra.
	Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said villagers had protested after a Tunisian Al-Nusra leader "tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Lawzah, claiming he was loyal to the regime."
	"Relatives of the owner of the house protested and tried to stop him, then there was an altercation and shooting," he added.
	"The Tunisian leader brought his men and accused the Druze residents of the village of blasphemy and opened fire on them killing at least 20 people, among them elderly people and at least one child."
	Abdel Rahman said some of the villagers had weapons and returned fire, killing three members of .

Al-Qaeda Syria affiliate kills 20 Druze: monitor

Filippino police have freed eight children from a house in Manila where they were allegedly sold for prostitution and forced to have sex for an online audience, authorities said today.
	Two people, including the alleged mastermind of the abuse Christopher Villanueva and the mother of three of the children, have been arrested after the raid in the Philippine capital last night.
	Villanueva is accused of forcing the children, all but one of them girls aged between 13 and 17, and another 18-year-old girl to have sex with him and each other in front of web cameras for watchers in Asia, the US and Europe.
	Police, acting on a tip-off from the US Department of Homeland Security, found sex toys, web cameras and laptops during the raid on his rundown house in Taguig, a southern Manila suburb.
	"It is always shocking how people can be so perverse and callous when they abuse children," Alex Nuqui, head of the National Bureau of Investigation's anti-human trafficking division, told AFP.
	The ...

Eight kids rescued in online sex abuse raid: Philippine govt

Almost 5,000 people have been told to evacuate after torrential rain triggered landslides and flooding in Southern Japan.
	A further 380,000 people were advised to flee because of heavy downpours in Kumamoto and Nagasaki, on the southern island of Kyushu, officials said.
	Evacuations were ordered in Kumamoto after 23 centimetres of rain fell in one day. Nextdoor Nagasaki had 31 centimetres over the same period.
	Television footage showed mud and brown water gushing into homes, with hillsides collapsing, blocking roads and damaging houses.
	"We have received no reports of injuries," an official said.
	Forecasters said the bad weather was expected to continue, with some parts of Kumamoto set to get several more centimetres of rain overnight.
	Flooding and landslides that hit the same region in 2012 left more than 30 people dead or missing.
	Japan's rainy season is in full swing over much of the country, a month-long period of often ferocious and prolonged downpours.
	As a mountainous ...

Japan orders 5,000 to evacuate after heavy rain

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today called for the formation of a new coalition government as soon as possible, ending almost four days of unusual silence after legislative polls seen as a blow to his authority.
	"Everyone should put their egos aside and a government must be formed as soon as possible, within the constitutional process," Erdogan said in his first public comments since the ruling party he co-founded lost its majority in Sunday's vote.
	Erdogan insisted that the election result "certainly does not mean Turkey will remain without a government."
	He said he hoped political parties will "prefer solution rather than crisis."
	"We cannot leave Turkey without a government, without a head. Those who are condemned to their egos will neither be able to give account to history, nor to our people."
	Although the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the biggest share of the vote in the elections, it lost its majority for the first time since it came to power ...

Turkey's Erdogan breaks silence, presses for coalition govt

Germany coach Joachim Loew admits the world champions' poor finishing is an issue following their shock 2-1 friendly defeat to the USA on Wednesday.
     Germany were stunned by the Jurgen Klinsmann-coached Stars and Stripes in Cologne as the visitors came from a goal down to inflict a 2-1 defeat on Loew's side with Bobby Wood scoring the 87th-minute winner.
     It was Germany's third defeat in nine games since winning the World Cup last year after defeats to Argentina last September and in a Euro 2016 qualifier in Poland in October, and their poor finishing was again a factor after missing a string of chances.
     "For me, some of the players lacked that lust to score a goal," said Loew, who had rested several first-choice players ahead of Saturday's Euro 2016 qualifier against minnows Gibraltar in Faro, southern Portugal.
     "It was the same against Poland and Georgia (when Germany won 2-0 in Tbilisi in March), as well as the United States.
     "The conversion of chances is ...

Poor finishing bothers Germany coach Loew

Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior announced today that he has retired at the age of 33 due to injury.
     Prior made the last of his 79 Test appearances against India at Lord's 11 months ago before undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.
     He had hoped to return to action with Sussex in this season's County Championship, but having failed to recover full fitness, he has decided to walk away.
     "Today is a very sad day for me, as I am forced to announce my retirement from the game I love," Prior said in a statement released by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
     "I had been hoping and expecting to be fit for the start of the 2015 season. Unfortunately, this has proved impossible, and I have now had to reach this decision."
     Prior made his England debut against the West Indies at Lord's in May 2007 and marked the occasion with a maiden century.
     He went on to play a key role in three Ashes triumphs and hit a further six Test centuries during a period ..

Former England wicketkeeper Prior retires

South Korea reported a tenth MERS death today, as the outbreak of the potentially deadly virus forced the central bank to cut its key interest rate to ward off greater economic damage, as retailers report a slump in business.
	In what has become the largest outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outside Saudi Arabia, a 65-year-old man died Thursday after being infected with the virus while receiving treatment for lung cancer at a hospital.
	Seoul also reported 14 new cases, including the first infection of a pregnant woman. The new diagnoses brought to 122 the total number of confirmed cases in South Korea, the health ministry said.
	Businesses including shopping malls, restaurants and cinemas have reported a sharp drop in sales as people shun public venues with large crowds.
	Bank of Korea governor Lee Ju-Yeol said slowing exports and threats to business from MERS were central to the decision to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point, to a record low of 1.5 

10th death as MERS outbreak forces SKorea to cut interest rate

Three Ukrainian civilians and one soldier have died in the past day of intensifying clashes between the Western-backed government's forces and pro-Russian insurgents, officials from both sides said today.
	The eastern Donetsk region's self-proclaimed deputy defence minister Eduard Basurin told AFP that three women died when Ukrainian forces shelled Gorlivka, a rebel bastion about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of Donetsk city.
	The Kiev-appointed governor of the neighbouring war-torn province of Lugansk reported the death of one soldier in a mortar attack on the edge of the disputed demarcation line between the two forces.
	Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have accused both Kiev and separatist fighters of breaching a February ceasefire agreement that required the withdrawal of heavy weapons from a mutually-agreed buffer zone.
	Western organisations reported the death of nearly 35 people last week in the first serious upsurge in clashes .

Three civilians, one soldier killed in east Ukraine

Chinese authorities have released the jailed American wife and business partner of a British investigator linked to a corruption case involving pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a family friend said today.
	British national Peter Humphrey was granted early release on Tuesday, seven months before his two-and-a-half year jail term for illegally obtaining the personal information of Chinese citizens was due to end. His wife was released at the same time, the friend said.
	The British Consulate in Shanghai said on Thursday that China was preparing to deport Humphrey, but gave no time for when that might happen.
	"We have been notified by the Chinese authorities that arrangements are being put in place for the deportation of a British national detained in China," a British consulate spokesman said in a statement to AFP.
	Humphrey's wife Yu Yingzeng, a naturalised American citizen, had been serving a two-year term on a similar charge. The Shanghai court that convicted them in ...

China frees wife of British investigator in GSK case

A woman has tested negative for the potentially deadly MERS virus in a Hong Kong hospital, authorities said today, as an outbreak in South Korea triggers alarm elsewhere in Asia.
	The unidentified woman had sought treatment at a clinic near the southern Chinese city's Tsing Yi rail station for a runny nose and fever after returning from a trip to South Korea.
	The area around the clinic was cordoned off and health officials there wore protective gear.
	Messaging services lit up with false rumours that that a MERS case had been confirmed in Hong Kong and surgical masks reportedly sold out in shops around the station.
	Residents in Hong Kong are particularly sensitive after an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) killed 299 people in the city in 2003.
	The MERS virus is considered a deadlier but less infectious cousin of SARS.
	Hong Kong officials said Thursday that the city had no confirmed cases of MERS, but two test results were still pending.
	"Of the 33 suspected ...

Woman tests negative for MERS after panic in Hong Kong

FIFA has handed over computer data to Swiss police investigating the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes and suspended bidding for the 2026 tournament as it remained at the centre of a football corruption storm.
     Brazilian legend Zico, meanwhile, became the first person to officially declare himself a candidate to take over football's scandal-tainted world governing body from Sepp Blatter.
	FIFA said that computer data from its Zurich headquarters had been handed to Swiss prosecutors.
     Swiss authorities are investigating the 2010 FIFA vote that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
	"FIFA today provided, as planned, data requested by the attorney general," said a spokesman for the global body.
    	The BBC claimed that documents were seized from the offices of Blatter, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke and chief financial officer Markus Kattner. Swiss prosecutors refused to reveal the identity of the individuals involved.
	FIFA has been thrown ...

AFP

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