China has dramatically ramped up its land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea this year, building artificial islands at an unprecedented pace to bolster its territorial claims in the disputed area, US officials has said.
	The rapid construction of artificial islands in the strategic waters comes to 2,000 acres, with 75 per cent of the total in the last five months, officials said.
	"China has expanded the acreage on the outposts it occupies by some four hundred times," said a US defense official.
	The United States did not endorse land reclamation by any of the countries with territorial claims in the South China Sea, but "the pace and scale of China's land reclamation in recent years dwarfs that of any other claimant," the official said.
	The South China Sea is home to strategically vital shipping lanes and is believed to be rich in oil and gas. Washington is concerned China's efforts carry a military dimension that could undermine America's naval and economic power in the ...

China pursuing huge South China Sea land reclamation: US

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A former Department of Energy employee has been indicted after attempting to hack agency computers to steal and then sell nuclear secrets to Iran, China and Venezuela, US officials has said.
	Charles Harvey Eccleston, 62, who also worked at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was snared in an FBI sting operation that was launched after he entered a foreign embassy and offered to hand over classified information, according to the affidavit.
	Eccleston proposed to undercover FBI agents posing as representatives of the unnamed country to design and send Energy Department employees "spear-phishing" emails that contained malware that could be used to extract classified nuclear information.
	Eccleston, who faces up to 50 years in prison over the four charges, offered to provide that sensitive information in return for payment.
	He was detained by Philippine authorities in Manila on March 27, 2015 and deported to the US.
	"As alleged in the indictment, Eccleston sought to compromise, exploit .

Former US govt employee 'tried to sell nuclear secrets'

Brazilian football legend Pele will leave hospital today after recovering well from prostate surgery, doctors said, following his latest health scare.
     The 74-year-old underwent surgery Tuesday at Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, the same facility that treated him last year for a severe urinary tract infection.
     "His release is scheduled for tomorrow but there is no specific time," the hospital said in a statement Friday, stressing Pele was making a "good recovery" and tests showed no signs of cancerous tumors.
     A close friend and advisor, Jose Fornos Rodrigues, told AFP that his surgery -- a transurethral resection of the prostate, or TURP -- "was a very simple procedure."
     "Everything is going well with Pele, he is resting," the aide said.
     Media reports said the surgery for an enlarged prostate -- a common condition in aging men -- was aimed at preventing a repeat of the urinary infection that sent Pele to the hospital last year.
     The global sports ...

Football icon Pele to be released Saturday: hospital

Disgraced former CIA chief and retired general David Petraeus, who recently pleaded guilty to providing secrets to his mistress, has said that he would consider serving the US again if asked.
	There is "nothing greater" than public service and "if some opportunity at some point comes along I would certainly consider it," he told a group of French foreign trade advisors yesterday in Miami.
	Petraeus, hailed by some in the US for changing the course of the Iraq war, was given two years' probation and fined USD 100,000 in April for providing classified information to his mistress and biographer Paula Broadwell.
	There was "no greater privilege than I had as a soldier and then as a spymaster and to some degree now in the business world," said the man who led the US wars in Iraq and then Afghanistan.
	Petraeus served as the head of the CIA after retiring from the military. He resigned from the post after his affair became public.
	Once a rising star in the US who some regarded as ...

Disgraced ex-CIA chief Petraeus says could serve again

The United Nations Security Council made an urgent appeal for calm and for fair elections in Burundi, but stopped short of addressing President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term.
	UN special envoy Said Djinnit told the council's 15 member countries that conditions were "not ripe" for elections, according to the Lithuanian ambassador, who holds the body's rotating presidency.
	Discussions are underway to move the vote to a later date in June, according to Djinnit.
	The council members "called on all parties to refrain from violence," Lithuanian envoy Raimonda Murmokaite said after the closed-door talks.
	She said the council also "stressed the need to hold a credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful electoral process and uphold the fundamental freedoms of opinion and assembly."
	Asked about Nkurunziza's bid, Murmokaite recognized that "individual member states have different opinions so the council cannot pronounce itself on that issue because views ...

UN Security Council weighs Burundi crisis

Dozens were feared dead in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in renewed clashes between minority Pygmies and majority Bantus, the UN said today.
	"Several people died" but the exact toll was "in dispute", with estimates ranging from around 20 to 60 people killed in attacks between April 30 and May 4, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP.
	An NGO source said the Red Cross had already buried "more than 20" victims.
	The aid group could not be reached Friday for confirmation.
	The violence in Nyunzu, in the mineral-rich Katanga province, kicked off when vigilantes from the Luba ethnic group, who are Bantu, attacked communities of people displaced by previous bouts of intercommunal violence.
	Pygmies were particularly targeted in the attacks, OCHA said.
	"The Pygmy situation... Must be taken very seriously," said Rogatien Kitenge, head of an association that defends the rights of Pygmies, warning the hunter-gatherer Pygmies were ..

Dozens feared dead in DR Congo ethnic clashes: UN

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said today that a humanitarian ceasefire in the Yemen conflict would start on Tuesday, although he stressed its success depended entirely on the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels.
	"We have made a decision that the ceasefire will begin this Tuesday, May 12, at 11.00 pm and will last for five days subject to renewal if it works out," Adel al-Jubeir said at a meeting of Gulf ministers in Paris.
	Speaking at a press conference alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry, al-Jubeir said the success of the ceasefire hinged on the Huthis and their allies.
	"The ceasefire will end should Huthis or their allies not live up to the agreement -- this is a chance for the Huthis to show that they care about their people and they care about the Yemen people," al-Jubeir added.
	Saudi Arabia, which has led six weeks of air strikes on Yemen in support of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, warned yesterday that Huthi rebels had crossed a "red line" by shelling ...

Saudi FM says Yemen ceasefire to start Tuesday

The US military has bolstered security at bases across the country as a precaution after the FBI voiced concern that Islamist extremists could target troops or police officers, officials said today.
	The head of US Northern Command, Admiral William Gortney, ordered the heightened alert to make sure troops have a "greater awareness and vigilance out in the field" for potential security risks, a defense official told AFP.
	"We want to make sure they're taking extra care guarding installations and our people," the official said.
	The move raised the official alert status one notch higher on a five-point scale, from the fourth level "Alpha" to the third level "Bravo," which the military describes as an "increased and predictable threat of terrorism."
	Officials said most of the additional security measures would likely not be readily apparent to the public, apart from perhaps more bags being searched at base entrances.
	The move came after two men attempted to storm an exhibition on ...

'US bolsters security at military bases over terror threat'

A bust and a memorial plaque to Stalin were unveiled today by Russian Communists as concerns swirl that the Kremlin is turning a blind eye to glorifying the Soviet tyrant.
	On the eve of celebrations commemorating the 70th anniversary of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on May 9, Communists unveiled a bust to Stalin in the city of Lipetsk, some 500 kilometers south of Moscow.
	"We need to cherish our history and not spit on it. We'd vowed that it would be ready for Victory Day and we did it," Nikolai Razvorotnev, who is the leader of Communists in the region, told AFP.
	Nearly 60 years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin's crimes and his "cult of personality" in 1956, the tyrant remains a hugely polarising figure in Russia.
	Critics condemn millions of deaths under his regime, while supporters say he led the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany and presided over the country's industrialisation.
	Razvorotnev said the party had wanted to erect a monument to ...

Stalin monument unveiled in Russia despite criticism

Britain's top politicians took part in commemorations on the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day today, just hours after a dramatic election that left the opposition in disarray.
	Conservative leader David Cameron laid a wreath at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London, close to the Downing Street office that he will again occupy after confounding the pollsters to comfortably keep his job as prime minister.
	He was flanked by outgoing Labour leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg, who both quit shortly before the ceremony after their parties were routed at the polls.
	Triumphant Scottish National Party chief Nicola Sturgeon, whose party demolished Labour north of the border, also laid a wreath during the memorial ceremony, as did Queen Elizabeth II's son Prince Andrew.
	With the Tories securing an outright majority, it is a far cry from pre-poll predictions that the event would be held amid political horse trading to form a coalition.
	Putting the politics 

Party leaders commemorate VE Day after seismic UK vote

Three people-smugglers accused of trafficking thousands of people were killed in a gunfight with Bangladeshi police today, officers said, days after dozens of migrant remains were found in Thailand.
	Police said the three "notorious" traffickers had died after being shot during an anti-trafficking raid in the southern coastal town of Teknaf in the Cox's Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar.
	The traffickers were suspected of smuggling thousands of Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals across rough seas to Malaysia and Thailand.
	The raid followed the discovery this month of migrant graves and a network of secret jungle camps by people- smugglers in Thailand's deep south.
	"The three are the most notorious human traffickers to have been operating along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for years," senior regional police officer Jashim Uddin told AFP.
	He added that one of them, 55-year-old Dholu Hossain, had been responsible for smuggling more than 1,000 Bangladeshis, "many of whom 

'Notorious' human traffickers killed by Bangladeshi police

Israel's parliament is to vote next week on enlarging the cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party said today, reportedly to satisfy senior party members demanding portfolios.
	After six weeks of intensive post-election negotiations, Netanyahu yesterday signed a deal with the far-right Jewish Home party, completing his new coalition government.
	Media said he had hoped to submit it to parliament for a vote of confidence on Monday, although legally he has until Wednesday to do so.
	His slim majority of 61 of the 120 seats in parliament, called the Knesset, was built at the cost of major concessions to his coalition partners, sparking frustration within his own party.
	A Likud statement said the Knesset would be asked to vote on Monday to increase the number of cabinet ministers to 20 from its present legal maximum of 18.
	"Following the vote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will begin the process of allocating responsibilities for government ministries and other duties 

Israel to vote on enlarged cabinet before new govt

Foreign fighters allied with the Islamic State group are training Taliban insurgents in a volatile Afghan province, an official said today, the first such claim as the government raises the alarm over an emerging IS threat.
	President Ashraf Ghani has repeatedly raised fears that IS - notorious for their brutal reign of terror in Syria and Iraq - are making steady inroads into Afghanistan, which is already in the grip of a fierce Taliban insurgency.
	But the governor of Kunduz, the scene of intense fighting for two weeks that has displaced thousands, has gone further by claiming that the two groups are joining forces in the northern Afghan province.
	IS fighters are "supporting the Taliban, training the Taliban, trying to build the capacity of the Taliban for a bigger fight", provincial governor Mohammed Omar Safi told the BBC.
	Local observers have viewed claims of IS's rise in Afghanistan with caution.
	The Middle Eastern group has never formally acknowledged a presence in ...

IS, Taliban pairing up in northern Afghanistan: official

Peter Moores is set to be sacked for the second time as England coach after Andrew Strauss takes up a new post in the national set-up, several British newspapers reported today.
     Strauss is the overwhelming favourite to land the newly-created post of England director of cricket, a post created by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last month following Paul Downton's sacking as managing director.
     Further evidence that former England captain Strauss was on course to take up the administrative role at Lord's came when he was withdrawn from the Sky television commentary team covering the washed-out one-day international between Ireland and England in Malahide on Friday.
     "It is highly likely that he will be the new cricket director, and if that appointment does go ahead it will be announced next week," said Sky presenter Ian Ward as he explained Strauss's absence.
     If Strauss does take over and Moores is removed from his post, it will mean the coach's second spell .

England coach Moores facing sack - reports

London's stock market rallied and the pound surged on Friday as Prime Minister David Cameron's "business friendly" Conservatives claimed a surprise victory in Britain's general election.
	The benchmark FTSE 100 index jumped 1.83 per cent to stand at 7,013.0 points in midday deals, lifted by soaring share price gains for banks and energy majors.
	Among the biggest winners were energy firm Centrica, up 7.50 per cent to 276.70 pence and state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group, up 6.56 per cent to 87.53 pence, with the Conservatives seen as being less tough on regulating the financial and energy sectors compared with the Labour party, which will stay as the main opposition party.
	"The Conservatives are seen as being more business friendly and more importantly, offer continuity in a country that last year experienced the fastest rate of growth in the G7," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda trading group, said today.
	As the results rolled in, forecasts of a close contest between the ..

London stocks, pound surge as Cameron holds onto power

Pele was in stable condition in a hospital after undergoing surgery for an enlarged prostate, doctors said, just the latest health scare for the Brazilian football legend.
     The 74 year old had the surgery Tuesday and is to have tests to see when he can be released from the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, the same facility that treated him for two weeks last year for a urinary infection.
     It said he was resting in his room after a "transurethral resection of the prostate," or TURP.
     The Urology Care Foundation says the surgery "has excellent outcomes and is the gold standard" in caring for benign prostatic hyperplasia, or non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate, a common condition in aging men.
     Brazilian media reports said the surgery was aimed at preventing a repeat of the urinary infection that put him in hospital last year.
     That health scare, which included five days in intensive care, came after he underwent surgery for kidney stones on November 13.
  

Brazilian football great Pele stable after surgery

Thousands of people demonstrated today in Tehran to denounce Saudi-led air strikes on Shiite rebels in Yemen, where Iran is accused of meddling by Saudi Arabia.
	The protests came as Iran rejected anew Saudi claims it was interfering in Yemen by backing the Huthi rebels, and accused Riyadh of seeking to absolve itself of responsibility in the war.
	Protesters thronged the city centre chanting "Death to America", "Death to Israel" and "Death to the Saudi (royal) family", according to footage shown on state television.
	They also denounced US support for the military operations, the report said.
	Some protesters carried placards that read: "From Gaza to Yemen, stop killing children", and state television described the protest as "massive".
	An effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia holding an American flag in one hand and an Israeli one in the other was also displayed at the rally.
	In a statement published by Fars news agency, organisers of the protest criticised Riyadh, branding it ...

Protests in Iran against Saudi-led air war on Yemen

Norway expressed "great sadness" over the death today of its ambassador to Pakistan in a helicopter crash claimed by the Taliban.
	Leif Larsen, 61, was "one of our best and most experienced diplomats" who was "very respected by his colleagues," Foreign Minister Borge Brende told reporters, adding that his Pakistani counterpart had told him the causes of the crash "could not be fully explained yet."
	"This will be investigated," and the Pakistani authorities have already "established an investigation committee," Brende said.
	Larsen, married and the father of one, had been stationed in Islamabad since 2014.
	The ambassador was killed, along with the Philippines envoy and at least five others, when the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed on a school in a remote area of the Himalayas.
	The Taliban in Pakistan have claimed responsibility for the crash, claiming they downed the helicopter as part of a plot to kill Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had been travelling to the .

Norway expresses sadness' over death of ambassador in Pak

The United States believes a hard-won Ukraine ceasefire accord is "imperfect" but still much better than having nothing at all to help resolve the bloody conflict, a senior US official said today.
	US ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute said the agreements also offered "a glimmer of diplomatic hope" on ending a war between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine which has cost more than 6,000 lives.
	"Implementation of Minsk has been mixed and uneven but it is better than no Minsk," Lute told reporters ahead of NATO foreign ministers meeting next month where Ukraine will again be a top agenda item.
	A first peace accord agreed in September in the Belarus capital Minsk between Ukraine and the rebels and backed by the European Union and Russia, failed to halt the fighting.
	France and Germany then brokered a second Minsk agreement in February which appears to be working better although breaches are reported daily as Ukraine and the rebels swap charges of bad faith.
	Lute said the ...

US says Ukraine ceasefire 'imperfect,' better than nothing

Nepal's government fired a warning shot at landlords today, saying any property owner who tries to profit from a devastating quake that left thousands of families homeless would face legal action.
	The April 25 disaster completely destroyed 288,798 houses nationwide while 254,112 homes were partially damaged, according to the Himalayan country's National Emergency Operation Centre.
	Large areas of Kathmandu were turned into piles of rubble and almost two weeks on from the 7.8-magnitude quake thousands are still living in makeshift tents in the capital.
	On Friday, the Nepalese home ministry warned in a statement that any landlord who took advantage of the tragedy by increasing rents would face the full force of the law.
	"Respective district officials have been directed to take legal action against anyone trying to profit from this difficult situation and increase rent," the ministry said.
	The statement added that rent spikes were "socially, morally and legally" wrong and appealed to 

Nepal warns against post-quake rent increases

The US economy pumped out a solid 223,000 net new jobs in April, rebounding modestly from a dismal March, the Labor Department reported today.
	The jobless rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.4 per cent, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.
	The gains were roughly in line with expectations after March's sharp fall in job creation. Analysts said the economy still shows muscle following the first-quarter stall.
	But, pointing to weak details behind the headline numbers, they also said another strong month or two is needed to prove the winter slowdown was "transitory", as the Federal Reserve said at the end of April.
	The report was "much better than in March, but still not by enough to fully offset March's weakness," said Jim O'Sullivan of High Frequency Economics.
	Details in the report showed only slight signs of tightening in the labor market, which is key to both confidence in the economy's strength and the Fed's plan to begin hiking interest rates this year.
	The ...

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