Cuban President Raul Castro met with Pope Francis at the Vatican today, thanking the pontiff for his role in brokering an historic rapprochement between Havana and Washington, a papal spokesman said.
	"Raul Castro thanked the Pope for his mediation between Cuba and the United States," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi of the exchange that also focused on Francis' upcoming visit to Cuba.
	The first South American pope played a key role in secret negotiations between the United States and Cuba, which led to the surprise announcement in December that the two countries would seek to restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of tensions.
	During the meeting Castro offered the pontiff a painting by Cuban artist Kcho inspired by the plight of illegal immigrants stranded at sea -- a subject close to the pope's heart.
	Francis in turn presented Castro a medal of Saint Martin de Tours, a French saint celebrated for having given his coat to a beggar, and urged others to "clothe and 

Castro at Vatican thanks pope for mediating thaw with US

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Nico Rosberg was left sighing with relief Sunday after he finally ended his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton's winning streak in this year's Formula One drivers' world championship by claiming victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.
     The 29-year-old German, who had been beaten by Hamilton in all four of this year's 'flyaway' season-opening races, led from the 16th pole position of his career all the way to the chequered flag, his supremacy interrupted only by his pit-stops.
     It was his first win since last November's Brazilian Grand Prix and the ninth of his career, and trimmed defending champion Hamilton's lead from 27 points to 20.
     "It was a perfect weekend," said Rosberg. "Perfect to be on pole and then to win the race like this. The car has been awesome all weekend....  Really perfect. And, finally, I got a perfect start. It's been a long time coming."
     Hamilton, who slipped from second to third at the start, fought back with daring and great skill, coupled to a ...

Rosberg relief at ending Hamilton supremacy with flawless

Two brothers were arrested today over the killing of two police officers in Mississippi, local media reported, less than a week after a New York officer died of a gunshot wound to the head.
	Police officers Benjamin Deen, 34, and Liquori Tate, 25, were shot yesterday and taken to a hospital where they were confirmed dead, The Clarion-Ledger newspaper reported, citing Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict.
	Officials did not give details on the motive of the attack but said the suspects, Curtis Banks, 26, and Marvin Banks, 29, were arrested early this morning, ending an hours-long manhunt, according to the newspaper.
	Both men were reported to have criminal records, which include drugs and weapons-related charges and felony convictions.
	A third woman who was allegedly in the car at the time of the shooting in Hattiesburg city was also taken into police custody.
	"No sir, I didn't do it," Curtis Banks said when asked whether he had shot two officers, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
	The ..

Two arrested in Mississippi after policemen shot dead: report

Suspected militants set off three small bombs today outside the home of an Egyptian judge who sentenced Islamists to death, wounding four people and damaging the building, police said.
	Judge Mutaz Khafagi, who had also sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to life in prison, was in his first-floor apartment in the suburban Cairo building but was not injured in the explosions, a police official said.
	Khafagi had sentenced 12 men to death in August 2014 after convicting them of murdering a police general in the town of Kerdasa near Cairo during a police crackdown targeting supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president ousted in 2013.
	Militants have carried out dozens of bombings across the country, often using small rudimentary devices, since Morsi's overthrow by the army.
	Building security caught one of the "terrorists" who planted the bombs on Sunday after they emerged from a taxi, the police official said.
	The other suspect escaped and remotely detonated the ...

Militants set off bombs outside Egypt judge's home: police

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu travelled into Syria today to visit a relocated historic tomb inside the country, his office said.
	The trip, which was not announced in advance, is the first such visit by a Turkish political leader to the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire's founder Osman I, just 200 metres from the Turkish border inside Syrian territory.
	Davutoglu visited Turkish troops who are permanently stationed at the tomb, which now lies in the settlement of Eshme and is easily visible from Turkish territory, his office said.
	In February, hundreds of Turkish soldiers staged an unprecedented incursion deep inside Syrian territory to move the tomb from its previous location.
	The tomb complex, which is considered sovereign Turkish territory, had been located some 37 kilometres (23 miles) inside Syrian territory.
	But the government ordered the tomb, which has a permanent honour guard of Turkish troops, to be moved due to security concerns as it was .

Turkish PM visits historic tomb in Syria: government

A policeman injured in clashes with unidentified gunmen in northern Macedonia died of his wounds today, a hospital source said, raising the number of officers killed in the violence to six.
	"(A) policeman has died while another one is in critical condition," a source at a Skopje hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity as Macedonia began two days of official mourning for victims of the violence.
	The government said earlier that five policemen had been killed and some 30 injured in clashes with unidentified gunmen in Kumanovo that erupted yesterday at dawn.
	"There are victims among the terrorists but for the time being we cannot give the exact number," Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska told reporters late yesterday.
	During the operation in Kumanovo, some 40 kilometres north of Skopje, officers met with "violent resistance" from snipers, grenades and automatic weapons, the minister said.
	Violence broke out when police moved in to dismantle what they called a "terrorist group" 

Sixth police officer dies in Macedonia clashes

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today paid tribute to Soviet soldiers killed in WWII as she called for cooperation with Russia amid tensions over Ukraine.
	Merkel flew to Moscow to lay a wreath at the grave of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin walls, in an apparent compromise gesture after she skipped Russia's main festivities yesterday.
	Meeting her host Vladimir Putin for talks at the Kremlin, she stressed the importance of cooperation.
	"It's necessary for us to work, to cooperate including over complicated situations -- the way the situation is now -- and try to find diplomatic solutions," Merkel said at the start of the talks after the wreath-laying ceremony.
	The two leaders were set to discuss the Ukraine crisis over and address reporters afterwards.
	Russia yesterday staged a huge parade to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany but most Western countries boycotted the festivities over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern ...

Merkel urges cooperation after missing WWII victory parade

The Philippines' navy chief said today it would hold a joint exercise with Japan in the South China Sea, but emphasised the collaboration was unrelated to China's land reclamation efforts in the disputed waters.
	Two warships from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) will take part in the exercise with a single Philippine ship after making a port call in the Philippines this month, said Vice Admiral Jesus Millan.
	"This is a port call, a regular port call of the Japanese navy and while they are here, it would be good if we can practise this code of unplanned encounters at sea," he said.
	The exercise will take place just outside the former US naval base of Subic, off the archipelago's west coast, he added.
	The Japanese vessels would be leaving Subic while a Philippine ship was heading there under the training scenario, he said.
	Millan said Japanese and Philippine sailors would have an opportunity to "compare notes" during the exercise, but stressed it had nothing to do with 

Philippines, Japan to hold joint naval exercise in S China Sea

Rescuers today brought ashore 469 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh after their wooden boat arrived off Aceh in northwest Indonesia, an official said.
	"We received a report from fishermen this morning that there were boat people stranded in the waters off north Aceh," Aceh provincial search and rescue chief Budiawan told AFP.
	"We despatched teams there and evacuated 469 migrants who are Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladeshis. There are women and children among them. So far, all of them are safe," he added.
	He said the group would be taken to a detention centre in north Aceh district, where police and immigration officials would carry out "further processing" which would include investigating their motives.
	Darsa, a disaster management agency official who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP the group had arrived near a beach in north Aceh district early today and were told to swim to shore.
	"One of the migrants who could speak Malay told me that their agent had ...

Almost 500 Rohingya rescued off Indonesia: officials

More than 2,000 people were fleeing their homes as Typhoon Noul approached the northern Philippines today, triggering warnings of possible flash floods, landslides and tsunami-like storm surges.
	The storm's movement has slowed slightly but it has also strengthened to pack gusts of 220 kilometres per hour, said Esperanza Cayanan, chief of the government's weather monitoring division.
	It was expected to hit the northern edge of the country's main island of Luzon by late this afternoon or evening.
	In Taiwan, which is also in the storm's predicted path, authorities warned sailors of strong winds and high waves and evacuated almost 1,000 tourists from an island off the southeast coast.
	Cayanan said the northern Philippine province of Cagayan was expected to feel the brunt of the typhoon later in the day when it made landfall there.
	"This is a very dangerous storm. It is the strongest so far this year," said Rene Paciente, head of the marine weather division.
	More than 2,000 people in 

Thousands flee as typhoon threatens north Philippines, Taiwan

Members of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance voted today at a congress expected to elect the party's first black leader in what has been billed as a watershed moment for the mostly white party.
	Some 1,425 delegates from across the country began casting their votes by secret ballot early in the morning with all eyes on Mmusi Maimane, 34, the party's parliamentary leader and the favourite to succeed outgoing leader Helen Zille, who has led the party for eight years.
	Maimane was raised in the township of Soweto - heartland of the anti-apartheid struggle - and joined the Democratic Alliance (DA) only in 2009.
	He faces competition from Wilmot James, a 61-year-old mixed-race party veteran who is current the party's chairman.
	"Voting has closed and counting is now underway. Results are expected by 1 pm (1630 IST)," said Congress Presiding Officer Penny Tainton.
	Today's vote marks "a milestone for the DA and South African politics", according to an editorial in the Sunday ...

S Africa opposition set for first black leader

A Thai soldier has been charged with murder after shooting dead two of his colleagues at an army barracks in the insurgency-battered south, police said today.
	More than 6,300 people, the majority of them civilians, have died in over a decade of conflict pitting troops and police against rebels seeking greater autonomy for the Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia.
	A 57-year-old soldier from the southern province of Phatthalung  opened fire late on Friday at a barracks in the Yaring district of Pattani province, killing two other soldiers, local police chief Montri Kongwatmai told AFP.
	"The soldier killed two other soldiers and then surrendered himself," he said. "Our investigation shows he had a personal conflict with them."
	The soldier has been charged with murder and will face trial in a military court, Montri added.
	Last November the nation's army chief warned that under- pressure troops in the south need better support after a conscript shot dead four officers before ..

Thai soldier shoots dead two colleagues in deep south

Australian police said today a teenager charged with a terrorist bomb plot was "well advanced" in plans to target a public event, adding they were investigating whether he was radicalised or recruited online.
	Tim Cartwright, acting police Chief Commissioner for Victoria state, said officers found "improvised explosive devices" in the boy's family home in the north Melbourne suburb of Greenvale after the 17-year-old was arrested in a raid on Friday.
	"We do believe the young man intended to explode the device at an event over the coming days," he said. "We will allege he was well advanced in preparing a bomb."
	Cartwright said it was not yet known if a specific event was targeted. Reports yesterday said Mother's Day celebrations today may have been the focus of the alleged plans.
	Police in the southern state have been searching the house of the boy, whose identity has not been disclosed, before his appearance in a juvenile court tomorrow.
	Cartwright said investigators were at this ..

Teen 'well advanced' in alleged bomb plot: Australia police

Vladimir Putin was due today to host German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will commemorate the memory of Soviet soldiers killed in WWII after she stayed away from Russia's military parade.
	Russia yesterday staged a huge parade to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany but most Western countries boycotted the festivities over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
	In an apparent compromise, Merkel was today expected to lay a wreath at the grave of the Unknown Soldier and hold talks with Putin.
	In February, Putin hosted Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande for crunch talks over Ukraine, in what was the German leader's first Russian visit since the start of the crisis.
	In recent months Merkel has played a key negotiation role in the Ukraine crisis, acting as a go-between for an isolated Kremlin and the West.
	Putin, who watched yesterday's parade seated next to Chinese President Xi Jinping, shrugged off the Western ...

Putin, Merkel to pay respects to WWII dead

Poles voted today in presidential elections after a lacklustre campaign focused on national security and social issues, with incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski expected to win, but not without a struggle.
	The 62-year-old historian, who was elected in 2010 and is close to the governing centrist Civic Platform (PO) party, appears unlikely to secure a second five-year term without a run-off vote on May 24.
	While Komorowski has focused on the national security challenges Warsaw faces amid heightened tensions with Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, analysts say his rivals are trying to appeal to disenchanted voters by pledging to lower the retirement age and to bring taxes down.
	Voting got underway at 7 am with the polls due to close at 9 pm.
	Mieczyslaw Jankowski, a worker from Warsaw in his early 60s, told AFP he'd be voting for Komorowski's rival Andrzej Duda, a 42-year-old lawyer.
	"Duda, only Duda," he said. "I was hoping to retire soon, but Komorowski and his friends changed the ...

Poles vote for president, incumbent Komorowski tipped to win

Cuban President Raul Castro will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican today to thank the pontiff for his role in brokering the rapprochement between Havana and Washington.
	The first South American pope played a key role in secret negotiations between the United States and Cuba that led to the surprise announcement in December that they would seek to restore diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of tensions.
	The Holy See has said the Argentine pope personally mediated between the two sides, and the Vatican hosted delegations from the two countries in October.
	The Vatican said today's meeting would be "strictly private" while a US theologian said Francis would reprise the words of Polish pope John Paul II, who made a historic first papal visit to Cuba in 1998.
	"Let Cuba open itself to the world, and let the world open itself to Cuba," John Paul II urged during the visit, when he was accompanied by Jorge Bergoglio, then auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires and today Pope Francis.
	The ...

At Vatican, Castro to thank pope for mediation role with US

Two police officers have been shot and killed in Mississippi and police are looking for a suspect, according to local media.
	Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said both officers were shot yesterday in Hattiesburg and taken to hospital where they were confirmed dead, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper.
	At least one of the officers was alive when he entered the hospital, the newspaper reported.
	Officials did not say what the motive was for the attack.
	Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree urged residents to stay indoors while police searched for the shooter.
	Police said they believed the suspect stole a police car after the shooting, which was later found abandoned.
	The Clarion-Ledger said it was the first police killing in Hattiesburg in 30 years.
	A plainclothes police officer in New York died Monday after he was shot in the head by a suspect.
	He was the third on-duty officer killed in the past five months, following the shooting death of two other New York policemen in ...

Two police officers shot dead in Mississippi: reports

A South Korean envoy attending Russia's World War II anniversary ceremony briefly met with North Korea's ceremonial head of state in a rare high-level encounter between two Koreas, a report said today.
	Senior lawmaker Yoon Sang-Hyun, who was visiting Moscow on behalf of South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, met yesterday with Kim Yong-Nam, Yonhap news agency said, citing anonymous Seoul officials.
	But the two only exchanged pleasantries during their encounter after a military parade in Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, it said.
	Kim, the president of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, travelled to Russia after leader Kim Jong-Un cancelled a planned, much-anticipated visit.
	The young leader cancelled what would have been his first overseas trip due to internal issues, Pyongyang's state media said earlier.
	Kim Yong-Nam, 87, has frequently travelled overseas as Pyongyang's representative head of state.
	The encounter came as cross-border ..

S Korea envoy meets N Korea ceremonial head of state: report

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition today bombed the residence of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, following a night of intensive strikes against rebel positions, witnesses said.
	Two air raids struck Saleh's house in central Sanaa, witnesses said. Yemen's former strongman is believed to be outside the capital.
	Saleh, who stepped down in February 2012 following a year of deadly nationwide protests against his three-decade rule, is accused of siding with Shiite Huthi insurgents who have rebelled against UN-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
	Troops still loyal to Saleh have fought alongside the rebels, who overran the capital unopposed in September and have since extended the areas under their control.
	Riyadh formed an Arab coalition in support of Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia, and launched strikes in late March against rebels as they closed in on his refuge in the southern city of Aden.
	The coalition bombed the Huthi northern strongholds in Sanaa overnight 

Saudi-led coalition bombs ex-Yemen president's house

More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes as Typhoon Noul approached the northern Philippines, threatening flash floods, landslides and tsunami-like storm surges, government agencies warned today.
	The storm's movement has slowed slightly but it has also strengthened to pack gusts of 205 kilometres per hour and is still expected to hit the northern edge of the main island of Luzon by afternoon or evening, according to Esperanza Cayanan, chief of the government's weather monitoring division.
	As of this morning, it was about 140 kilometres northeast of the northern province of Cagayan, which is expected to feel the brunt of the typhoon's fury later in the day, she added.
	Over 1,200 people have already been pre-emptively evacuated from the areas expected to be affected by Noul, said Mina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the government's national disaster monitoring council.
	"There are areas which can have landslides. There are areas which can have flash floods. There are ...

Over 1,000 flee as typhoon threatens northern Philippines

Barcelona are just one win away from a 23rd La Liga title after Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in Real Madrid's 2-2 draw at home to Valencia.
     The league leaders are four points clear with two games to play after earlier claiming a comfortable 2-0 win over David Moyes's Real Sociedad thanks to goals from Neymar and Pedro Rodriguez yesterday.
     Barcelona can now seal the title when they travel to reigning champions Atletico Madrid next Sunday should a potential players' strike due for the weekend be called off.
     First-half goals from Paco Alcacer and Javi Fuego gave Valencia a commanding half-time lead.
     However, despite goalkeeper Diego Alves denying Ronaldo from the spot just before the break, Madrid roared back in the second-half to earn a point thanks to goals from Pepe and Isco.
     "There are two games to go, we need to win them, but obviously it is more difficult (to win the league)," admitted Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.
     However, the Italian refuted ...

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