The United States is becoming a little less Christian, and a little more unaffiliated to any faith, a major study on the nation's changing religious landscape suggested today.
	"The United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world," with 70.6 per cent of its population, or 173 million adults, identifying as Christian last year, the Pew Research Center said.
	But that figure is down from 2007 when 78.4 per cent called themselves Christian, Pew said in its 200-page study, titled "America's Changing Religious Landscape."
	The decline is seen across many segments of American society, including whites, Latinos, women, men and those with or without a college education.
	But it is particularly marked among younger American, and concerns Roman Catholics as much as mainstream Protestants.
	At the same time, Christians are also a more diverse group, a reflection of the growing Latino population, the study found.
	While Protestants in 2007 accounted for 51.3 per .

Study finds fewer Christians, more unaffiliated in US

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Growing sea ice surrounding Antarctica could prompt scientists to consider relocating research stations on the continent, according to the operations manager of the Australian Antarctic Division.
	Rob Wooding said that resupplying Australia's Mawson Station -- the longest continuously operated station in Antarctica -- relied on access through to a bay, a task increasingly complicated by sea ice blocking the way.
	"We are noticing that the sea ice situation is becoming more difficult," Wooding told a media briefing ahead of two days of meetings between science and logistics experts in Hobart.
	Wooding said that at Mawson, the ice typically only breaks out for one or two months of the summer, but in the last four to six years this has not happened every year, and some years only partially.
	"In the 2013-4 season we couldn't get anywhere near Mawson due to the sea ice and we had to get fuel in there by helicopter which is inadequate for the long-term sustainability of the station," he ...

Record Antarctic sea ice a logistic problem for scientists

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on Southeast Asian governments Tuesday to find and rescue thousands of migrants who are believed to be stranded at sea and at risk of death.
	Campaigners fear as many as 8,000 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar -- among them many from the Rohingya minority -- are being held at sea with dwindling supplies after a Thai crackdown on trafficking curbed smuggling routes.
	Nearly 2,000 migrants have been rescued or have swum to shore in Malaysia and Indonesia over the last few days.
	"It needs a regional effort... We don't have the capacity to search for them, but governments do, they have boats and satellites," IOM spokesman Joe Lowry told AFP, adding they may be in a "very bad condition or even dead" if not found soon.
	"The journeys are long and a long time at sea isn't good for humans... They need to be found," he said.
	It is unclear what efforts, if any, are currently being made to locate migrants still at sea.
	A spokeswoman 

IOM calls on SEAsia to rescue migrants stranded at sea

Real Madrid must overcome a 2-1 first-leg deficit to keep their season alive when a Juventus side boosted by the return of Paul Pogba visit the Santiago Bernabeu in the return of their Champions League semi-final tomorrow.
     Los Blancos' La Liga title hopes are all but over despite coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Valencia on Saturday as Barcelona moved four points clear at the top with just two games remaining.
     However, Carlo Ancelotti's men recovered from exactly the same result against Valencia that proved an almost fatal blow to their title hopes at the same stage last season to go on and win the club's 10th European Cup in Lisbon a few weeks later.
     Defensive lapses have cost Madrid in recent weeks as they have conceded twice in four of their last five matches and right-back Dani Carvajal insists they can't go for a clinical Juventus side from the off and risk being caught on the counter-attack.
     "We need to win, that is fundamental. However, above all, we ...

Madrid season on line against Pogba-boosted Juve

Two families of endangered monkeys were stolen from a zoo in central France over the weekend, the sanctuary's director has said.
	Rodolphe Delord yesterday said the thieves broke in to the zoo in Beauval on Saturday night, avoiding security cameras and patrols, and took seven golden lion tamarins and 10 silver marmosets.
	"These are extremely rare, extremely fragile monkeys that are part of an international breeding programme," he told AFP, adding that the golden lion tamarins belong to the Brazilian government.
	"We have absolutely no idea how such a thing could have happened," he said. "The thieves were experts. They knew exactly which to take."
	The zoo is currently looking through CCTV footage and the French police and veterinary services have been informed, Delord said.
	Concerns are now mounting for the health of the monkeys, which require a strict diet and are only allowed to be owned and sold by specialists. One of the golden lion tamarins also has an injury on its tail which .

Seventeen endangered monkeys stolen from French zoo

Rival Cypriot leaders agreed today to resume UN-brokered peace talks on May 15 in a fresh bid to reunify Cyprus after four decades of division, the United Nations announced.
	UN envoy Espen Barth Eide made the announcement after hosting a dinner for President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, the newly-elected Mustafa Akinci.
	The meeting, held in the UN-patrolled buffer zone of Nicosia, was held in a "positive atmosphere", the envoy said.
	The two leaders had agreed it was "important to use the momentum created and this new opportunity to move forward without delay."
	Eide said the leaders agreed to meet on Friday to have a "general exchange of views" and discuss how the negotiations should proceed.
	The Norwegian diplomat said it was a "unique opportunity" to be grasped.
	The two hours of dinner diplomacy was part of efforts to kick-start reunification talks, which have been suspended since October.
	It was the first time the two ...

Cyprus rivals to resume peace talks on Friday: UN

Dozens of people were killed in clashes between two Arab tribes in Sudan's troubled East Darfur state today, a politician told AFP.
	Fighting broke out between the Rezeigat and Maaliya groups around the Abu Karinka area of East Darfur state, the latest in a series of bloody ethnic and tribal conflicts in the region.
	"The Rezeigat killed 60 people in their attack on the Maaliya and when the Rezeigat departed they left behind them 36 dead bodies and a number of wounded who have not been counted yet," said Hamdan Tirab, a member of the state's parliament for Abu Karinka, said by telephone.
	Access to Darfur is strictly limited, so it is not possible to independently verify the toll.
	Fighting "started at around 11:00 am (0900 GMT) and continued until dusk, and heavy weapons and government vehicles were used," Tirab said.
	The latest violence comes amid long-standing tensions between the two tribes over land ownership rights and allegations of cattle theft.
	A government-initiated peace .

Dozens killed in tribal clashes in Sudan's East Darfur: MP

Four suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed today in an apparent US drone strike on the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, which the jihadists overran last month, an official said.
	The drone targeted a vehicle at the entrance to a presidential palace in Mukalla, capital of the southeastern province of Hadramawt, the official said, asking not to be named.
	"Four Al-Qaeda members were killed, including leaders, and others wounded," he said, without being able to name those killed.
	A US drone strike last month killed the senior Al-Qaeda official who appeared in a video claiming the deadly January attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo, a monitor said Thursday.
	Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi was killed in the April strike along with his eldest son and other fighters, also near the palace in Mukalla.
	The announcement of his death came in a video posted last week on Twitter by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which Washington considers the international terror network's deadliest branch.
	The ...

Drone strike kills 4 Qaeda suspects in Yemen's Mukalla

Syria's key opposition National Coalition will not take part in talks with the UN's peace envoy, instead delivering him a letter stating their position, a member said today.
	Hisham Marwa, deputy head of the coalition, which is recognised by much of the international community, dismissed the talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura as "unimportant".
	And he said the body had been angered by de Mistura's decision to invite key regime ally Iran to the consultations.
	"We were waiting for de Mistura to invite us to negotiations, and instead he invited us to unimportant consultations at a time when the Syrian opposition is winning key victories on the ground," Marwa told AFP.
	"The invitation to Iran only strained the situation further and that's our basic problem with de Mistura," he added.
	The UN envoy began talks last week with a wide range of parties involved in the Syrian conflict, including the Syrian government's envoy to Geneva.
	The coalition had been expected to hold talks with ..

Syria opposition coalition turns down talks with UN envoy

More than 50 US police officers were slain in the line of duty last year, an 89 per cent increase on the number of fatalities in 2013, statistics released by the FBI showed today.
	A total of 51 officers were killed in 2014, including 46 who died from firearms, compared to 27 in 2013.
	Despite the increase, the number of fatalities in 2014 is below the average for the period since 1980 when figures first started being compiled by the FBI. Between 1980 and 2014, an average of 64 police officers have died each year.
	The figures come against a backdrop of mounting nationwide tensions between law enforcement and the communities they police following a series of deaths of unarmed black men which have triggered unrest.
	FBI director James Comey referenced the "especially challenging relationship between law enforcement and the communities we serve" in a video message to announce the statistics.
	He called on law enforcement to "do our absolute best to try and see clearly those people we ...

Number of slain US police officers soars: FBI

Thirty alleged gunmen were charged today with terror offences after a bloody shootout with Macedonian police which left 22 dead, including eight police officers, and dozens of homes destroyed in a town close to the border with Kosovo.
	The clashes in Kumanovo at the weekend were the worst in Macedonia for 14 years, and raised fears of a fresh conflict similar to the country's 2001 ethnic conflict.
	But the opposition and analysts suggested the timing of the violence with the government under huge pressure over a series of alleged misdemeanours was suspicious.
	In the district where the shootout took place, several dozen houses and around a dozen small narrow streets populated by both Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, signs of large-scale destruction were everywhere to be seen.
	Cars and houses were destroyed, with some completely burned down, and a large amount of debris lay on the ground, while broken windows and bullet holes were visible on almost every house in the ...

30 charged with 'terrorism' over deadly Macedonia shooting

Sea-level rise is accelerating, not declining as some have hoped, scientists said today citing melt water from Earth's ice sheets as the likely cause.
	In 2013, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the global mean sea level rose by 19 centimetres (7.6 inches) from 1901-2010, an average 1.7 mm (0.06 of an inch) per year.
	This accelerated to 3.2 mm per year between 1993 and 2010, the IPCC said in its landmark Fifth Assessment Report.
	But in 2014, another study raised a big question.
	In the past decade, it said, sea-level rise had been much lower than the previous decade.
	That raised hopes in some quarters that, far from being an inexorably rising threat, sea levels could fluctuate in response to some hidden but natural variability.
	The new study deals a blow to this scenario.
	Both the IPCC estimate and the 2014 paper were based on satellite observations of sea levels.
	But they were unable to take an important variable into account: something called ...

Sea-level rise accelerating, say scientists

Yemeni rebels said today that they shot down a fighter jet as Saudi-led coalition air strikes intensified a day ahead of a hoped-for five-day humanitarian truce.
	Morocco announced that one of its warplanes taking part in operations against the rebels was missing along with its pilot, and that a search was underway.
	Coalition air strikes hit Iran-backed rebels in their northern stronghold of Saada and in the capital Sanaa, where they sparked powerful explosions at an arms depot at Mount Noqum that shook the city.
	Contact was lost with the Moroccan F-16 late afternoon yesterday, the country's official MAP news agency reported, citing the armed forces.
	"A second plane which was flying in formation was not able to see whether the pilot ejected," it added.
	A Saudi official said the warplane was "certainly on Yemeni territory and had a single pilot on board."
	Huthi rebel television said tribesmen shot down a coalition aircraft in the Wadi Nushur area of Saada, and broadcast pictures ..

Yemen rebels say coalition jet downed as raids heat up

Janaki Karmacharya sits on a plastic chair under the tarpaulin that now serves as her office and despairs at the wreckage of her once magnificent library in the heart of Kathmandu.
	Until last month's earthquake, the Kaiser Library buzzed with Nepali students, intellectuals and tourists attracted by its collection of rare books, maps and ancient manuscripts -- all housed in an opulent former palace.
	Now wooden bookcases lie smashed on the floor of the 120-year-old building, which was gifted to the nation by the Rana dynasty that ruled Nepal for more than a century before losing power in 1951.
	The library was closed on April 25 when the quake struck, and Karmacharya said it was two days before she plucked up the courage to go and see the destruction.
	"I was speechless for a while... It was hard to believe the extent of the damage," the 58-year-old chief librarian told AFP as she surveyed the impact of the 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 7,800 people.
	"I cried when I got 

Nepal quake leaves century-old library in ruins

The Red Cross and a Nepalese telecom firm launched an emergency texting service today to send out real-time updates on aid distribution and weather warnings across the quake-hit Himalayan nation.
	The free messaging service, set up by the charity and mobile network provider Nepal Telecom, will target users according to their location, offering them potentially "life-saving" information on weather and health hazards in time for the approaching monsoon.
	The 7.8-magnitude earthquake sparked avalanches and landslides in northern Nepal, including on Mount Everest base camp, and killed more than 8,000 people, leaving thousands more homeless and in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.
	"As earthquake survivors battle to recover from this disaster, they are now faced with (the) prospect of the monsoon season which is just weeks away," said Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, Secretary General of the Nepal Red Cross.
	"This life-saving service provides real-time information and warnings on flood ..

Red Cross, Nepal firm launch emergency texting service

A full size replica of parts of Beijing's nationally sensitive Old Summer Palace has opened 1,000 kilometres away from China's capital, state media reported today, despite managers of the original threatening legal action.
	The vast array of gardens, palaces and lakes in the western suburbs of the Chinese capital was used by Qing dynasty emperors in the 19th Century.
	The original site is regarded as a symbol of national humiliation in China after it was sacked by British and French troops in 1860 in response to the capture, torture and killing of members of a delegation from the two European countries.
	Communist authorities tout it as an example of the country's victimisation by foreign powers as the complex -- parts of which were designed by French and Italian Jesuit missionaries -- was looted again by forces from the United States, Russia and Britain in 1900.
	The first stage of the sprawling 400 hectare (1,000 acre) replica in the eastern province of Zhejiang opened its doors to .

Controversial replica Old Summer Palace opens in China

Auto sales in China, the world's largest car market, fell 0.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.99 million vehicles in April, an industry group said today.
	For the first four months of the year, auto sales increased 2.8 per cent on the same period last year to 8.14 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
	The fall in April compared with a rise of 3.3 per cent in March, CAAM figures showed.
	Slowing economic growth, limits by some cities on vehicle numbers and a prolonged corruption crackdown affecting the luxury segment have all had an impact on sales in China.
	But foreign brands have generally held up well despite the economic downturn, due to consumer perceptions of better quality.
	Japanese auto maker Honda said last week it sold 71,546 units in China in April, up 11.7 percent year-on-year.
	Sales by Japanese giant Toyota, the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer, rose by 7.8 per cent to more than 92,600 units last month, CAAM said last ..

China auto sales down 0.5 per cent in April: industry group

Violent storms and a tornado battered parts of the southern United States over the weekend, leaving at least two dead, 10 missing and dozens more injured, officials said today.
	A couple was killed in Nashville, Arkansas yesterday when powerful winds smashed their mobile home in a trailer park, Howard County Coroner John Gray told local media. An infant in the home reportedly survived.
	About 290 kilometers to the southwest in Van, Texas, 10 people were unaccounted for after a tornado ripped through the town and injured dozens of people, Van Zandt County Fire Marshal Chuck Allen said.
	Homes were completely destroyed, and trees and power lines were toppled as high winds and heavy rains pounded the town in eastern Van Zandt county late yesterday.
	"Approximately 26 patients have been identified and transported to area hospitals," Allen told AFP in a statement.
	He said 30 per cent of all property in the city was damaged.
	"Fire and law enforcement are going door to door performing a ...

At least two dead after storms tear through southern US

Airbus said it will carry on with test flights of its A400M military transport plane despite a crash in Spain of one of the aircraft that killed four employees who were honoured today with a moment of silence at the company's factories.
	The European aerospace giant has decided to keep producing the model as well in the wake of Saturday's crash, the first involving a A400M plane, a company spokesman said.
	The next test flight is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Toulouse in southern France where Airbus' headquarters are located, he added.
	All planes undergo a series of test flights before they are delivered to customers.
	The A400M plane that crashed in a field and burst into flames just north of Seville's airport after hitting a power line was on a test flight before it was due to be delivered to Turkey in July.
	Three passerby helped emergency services workers pull two of the plane's six crew members alive from the wreckage. The pair, an engineer and a mechanic, are in hospital .

Airbus to continue A400M test flights, crash victims honoured

Malaysia's embattled prime minister said his party's ruling council gave him its "undivided support" at a meeting today, amid intensifying speculation over his future in the wake of a financial scandal.
	The comments by Najib Razak followed a weekend in which pressure on him mounted over allegations of fraud and embezzlement at a debt-ridden, state-owned investment company that he launched and still oversees.
	Influential former premier Mahathir Mohamad has waged a months-long campaign for Najib to step aside over the matter, saying it could eventually result in the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) being ousted in future elections.
	But some of Najib's own cabinet ministers over the weekend began echoing the calls for a thorough probe into the scandal-tainted company, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
	"The UMNO Supreme Council gave their undivided support for the party president and deputy," Najib, who is UMNO president, said during a brief press conference ..

Malaysia PM claims party's support despite mounting scandal

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet named a new cabinet today, seeking to turn the page on a corruption scandal involving her son that risks derailing her ambitious reform agenda.
	Five days after making a surprise announcement that she had asked her entire cabinet to resign, Bachelet unveiled her new line-up of ministers, sacking five, including interior minister Rodrigo Penailillo, a close ally who was also her chief of staff.
	"Today it's time to give new impetus to the quality of our government," said Bachelet, Chile's first woman president.
	Penailillo will be replaced by Jorge Burgos, who was previously defense minister.
	Bachelet, 63, also replaced finance minister Alberto Arenas with the head of the national bank, Rodrigo Valdes -- the first time a Chilean leader has sacked a finance minister since the end of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in 1990.
	In all, 18 ministers kept their jobs, four of them reassigned to different portfolios.
	Bachelet had previously announced that 

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