The number of deaths from the Ebola epidemic now exceeds 11,000, figures from the World Health Organization showed.
	In the three countries worst affected -- Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea -- 26,593 people were infected, and 11,005 had died, the WHO said.
	The worst ever outbreak of Ebola began in southern Guinea in December 2013 before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
	Liberia has recorded the most deaths with 4,716, while 3,903 have died in Sierra Leone and 2,386 have died in Guinea.
	Although the number of cases has topped 11,000, the WHO is due to declare on May 9 that the epidemic is over in Liberia, unless there are any new cases in the country before then.
	The number of new infections are also dwindling in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Only nine new cases were recorded in each country last week, the lowest figures for almost a year.

Ebola deaths pass 11,000 mark: WHO

PTI Automatic

Mexican police have rescued some 100 undocumented foreigners, including from India, and arrested a gang of people traffickers trying to extort money from them, officials said.
	The smugglers told the foreigners that if they did not provide a phone number with which they could demand money from relatives, they would be handed over to organised crime gangs, said a statement from the state security commission.
	Police were alerted by a Guatemalan man who said he escaped from the house where the foreigners were being held.
	The captors were Central Americans, the statement said.
	Those being held were from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and India and included women and children.
	Some of them said the Guatemalan who claimed to have escaped was in fact in on the kidnapping.
	Every year some 200,000 undocumented foreigners, most of them Central American, enter Mexico trying to make their way to the United States.
	The trip is extremely dangerous, with the travelers ..

Mexican police rescue 100 kidnapped migrants

French nuclear group Areva, which incurred massive losses last year, announced today it would cut up to 6,000 jobs worldwide as it seeks to slash a billion euros from its costs by 2017.
	The number of job cuts will be between 5,000 and 6,000 worldwide, said the group's human resources director Francois Nogue.
	Between 3,000 and 4,000 of the job losses will be in France.
	Areva had earlier said it plans to reduce its labour costs by around 15 per cent in France and 18 percent internationally.
	The group's labour costs currently reach around 3.5 billion to 4.0 billion euros -- an unsustainable level given that revenues are only about twice that, said Nogue.
	"It is urgent to take the necessary measures to adapt the costs of our business to the reality of its markets," said chief executive officer Philippe Knoche in the statement.
	The group currently employs around 45,000 people, including some 30,000 in France.
	In March, the French nuclear group confirmed record net losses in 2014 of .

French nuclear group Areva to cut up to 6,000 jobs worldwide

German engineering giant Siemens said today that it would slash an additional 4,500 jobs worldwide, on top of 7,400 cuts previously announced as part of an ongoing restructuring plan.
	Some 2,200 of the latest job cuts will be in Germany, said the Munich-based firm that employs more than 300,000 people in all.
	Chief executive Joe Kaeser unveiled a mass streamlining plan in May 2014 aimed at dramatically reducing both the number of divisions and hierarchy levels within the industrial group by 2016.
	The restructuring plan aims to produce savings of about one billion euros (USD1.2 billion) and boost profitability by focusing on certain divisions, such as energy, medical equipment and digitalised systems for industry and transport.

Siemens says to cut 4,500 jobs worldwide

Four robbers who hit a luxury Cartier boutique in the French town of Cannes this week made off with an estimated 17.5 million euros (USD 20 million) in jewellery and watches, sources close to the investigation said today.
	The robbery came a week before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, during which the world's top jewellery makers bring some of their best pieces to the town, to adorn the movie stars walking the red carpet and attending parties at the cinema extravaganza.
	One of the robbers wore an old-man mask and carried a pistol as he barged into the store on the famed beach-front Croisette on Tuesday morning.
	He let in two accomplices with scarves around their faces, while a fourth man stood guard outside.
	Two employees and a shopper were in the store at the time.
	The robbers put the jewellery and watches into a leather satchel and jewellery bag. In their rush to escape, a number of expensive watches fell on the pavement and were recovered by the store.
	It was not known .

Cannes heist nets 17.5 mn euros in jewels and watches

Azhar Ali smashed a career-best 226 and Asad Shafiq made 107 before the bowlers rattled Bangladesh's top order to leave Pakistan on top in the second and final Test in Dhaka today.
     The pair put on 207 for the fifth wicket as Pakistan posted 557 for eight before declaring their first innings during the tea interval at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
     Bangladesh tottered to 107 for five in reply by stumps, still 450 runs behind and facing the daunting prospect of batting for a major part of the remaining three days to avoid defeat.
     Left-arm seamer Junaid Khan set the hosts back by trapping Tamim Iqbal, who hit a double-century in the drawn first Test in Khulna, leg-before with the fourth delivery of the innings.
     Junaid also had Mominul Haque caught behind by Sarfraz Ahmed for 13 and leg-spinner Yasir Shah bowled Imrul Kayes for 32 to reduce Bangladesh to 69-3.
     Wahab Riaz had Mohammad Mahmudullah fending a catch to short-leg and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim was bowled by ...

Dominant Pakistan take charge of Bangladesh Test

He has lectured at Harvard University and featured on the front pages of a global newspaper, now Japan's paunchy black bear mascot is to walk the red carpet at Cannes promoting his own movies.
	Kumamon -- a stylised creation with red cheeks and a fixed grin -- is to attend the premier global film festival when it opens in the south of France next week.
	The man-sized mascot, whose name means "Bear-person" in the dialect of southwestern Kumamoto, will appear at the Japanese Pavilion at Cannes where the nation's cinema and culture will be featured on May 18-19, Kumamoto prefecture said in a statement.
	"Kumamon will promote short films titled 'Waiting in Kumamoto' (Kumamato de matteru) and "Forever in Hometown' (Furusato de zutto), in both of which he plays the lead," the statement said.
	Even by the standard's of cute-obsessed Japan, the klutzy bear has been an eye-popping success for his home prefecture, rocketing to international stardom and inspiring awe among marketing ...

Japan's man-sized mascot bear goes to Cannes

A New Zealand man was tried today for smuggling large quantities of crystal methamphetamine out of China, a court said, in a case that could carry the death penalty.
	Peter Gardner was arrested in the southern city of Guangzhou last November allegedly carrying over 30kg of the drug in his luggage.
	Gardner had been duped into being a mule for a drugs syndicate, his lawyer said, according to a live feed on the website of Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court.
	The 25-year-old, who is reported to have lived in Australia for most of his life, had offered to "help police capture...The criminal gang" involved, the attorney said.
	"He's been feeling very sorry for doing this," he added. "He was just playing a small part in this and running errands."
	The proceedings were completed today, but it was not clear when the verdict and sentence would be handed down. More than 99.9 per cent of defendants in Chinese criminal courts are found guilty.
	The trial comes a week after two Australian men ..

New Zealand man faces death in China drugs case

Human Rights Watch today accused Yemeni rebels of committing "possible war crimes" and urged all parties in the conflict to protect civilians.
	The New York-based watchdog said rebel forces shot and killed two women in the main southern city of Aden last month and also unlawfully detained 10 local aid workers for up to two weeks.
	"The incidents, possible war crimes, exemplify the grave threats to civilians in the embattled southern seaport," said HRW.
	Its deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork warned that "the difficulty of investigating the fighting in Yemen may mean abuses like these in Aden are just the tip of the iceberg".
	He urged all fighters on the ground as well as the Saudi-led coalition carrying out air strikes against rebel positions across Yemen "to take steps to abide by the laws of war".
	At least 38 civilians were killed Wednesday and 95 were wounded, including women and children, when shelling hit people trying to escape Aden by sea, according to a ..

Yemen rebels committed 'possible war crimes': HRW

A French court ruled today that secret wiretap recordings of former president Nicolas Sarkozy talking with his lawyer could be used as evidence in an ongoing corruption probe, one of his legal team confirmed.
	Sarkozy, now head of the opposition UMP, is accused of discussing the idea of giving a magistrate a lucrative job in exchange for inside information on another corruption investigation related to his campaign financing.
	"Contrary to our legitimate hopes, the court has not upheld our calls for dismissal (of these recordings)," said Paul-Albert Iweins, one of Sarkozy's lawyers.
	The ruling is another blow to Sarkozy, who returned to frontline politics last year ahead of an expected run for the presidency in 2017.
	Investigators first bugged his phones over allegations that he accepted illicit payments from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign, much of it in cash-filled envelopes.
	He was cleared in 2013 of taking advantage of the elderly woman ...

French court OKs use of Sarkozy recordings in corruption probe

Iran has released the Maersk Tigris cargo vessel seized by its patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz last week over a business dispute, official media said today.
	"An informed source at the Ports and Maritime Organisation said the Maersk ship was free" to leave the country, the IRNA state news agency reported.
	It gave no further details but said an official statement would be issued later on the vessel's release.
	Iran has said it seized the container ship because of a commercial dispute with Denmark's Maersk group, which chartered the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel.
	The move caused concern for the security of shipping lanes in the strategic strait and prompted the United States to send vessels to monitor the situation.
	In a sign of reduced tensions, the Pentagon said yesterday that the US Navy had halted a mission to accompany American-flagged vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
	US warships will however remain in the area to conduct "routine maritime security ...

Iran releases seized Maersk cargo ship: official media

Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao had surgery on his injured right shoulder, coming through with flying colours according to doctor Neal ElAttrache.
     ElAttrache, of the Kerland Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles, said he couldn't be more pleased with the results and fully expects Pacquiao to resume his boxing career, a Pacquiao spokesman said.
     The arthroscopic procedure took 90 minutes and was an outpatient operation, so Pacquiao did not have to spend the night in the hospital.
     It came four days after Pacquiao's 12-round unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather on Saturday in Las Vegas in the most lucrative fight in boxing history.
     The super-fight cemented unbeaten American Mayweather as the top pound-for-pound fighter of his era.
     But Pacquiao's camp revealed after the fight that the Filipino had suffered a rotator cuff tear in training camp which he aggravated early in the bout.
     The injury, Pacquiao's decision to fight through it and questions over .

Pacquiao has surgery on injured shoulder

Call it the fallout of the century.
     More disgruntled fight fans are going to court with their complaints, suing Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao and others for failing to disclose a shoulder injury prior to his "Fight of the Century" against Floyd Mayweather.
     A class-action suit filed in US District Court in Illinois not only names Pacquiao and promoters Top Rank but also telecasters HBO and Showtime, who combined to produce the pay-per-view fight program that was sold in the United States for about $100.
     The suit also names Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions and cable television providers AT&T, COMCAST and DirecTV, and accuses the defendants of deceptive practices in marketing and advertising the bout.
     "Defendants, individually and collectively, deceptively and fraudulently promoted, produced and sold the fight as one between two healthy fighters... Expressly misrepresenting the health of Manny Pacquiao to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, all in an effort ...

Lawsuits pile up over Pacquiao injury

Lionel Messi struck twice and set up Neymar in the last 13 minutes as Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 3-0 in the Champions League semi-final first leg, ensuring Pep Guardiola's Camp Nou homecoming ended in misery.
     On his 100th appearance in European football, Messi's double moved him back ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the all-time leading scorer with 77 in the Champions League and Barca to the brink of their first final in four years.
     Manuel Neuer had kept Bayern in the game with a string of fine saves, but was helpless as Messi drilled home the opener from the edge of the area in the 77th minute and then delightfully chipped the German three minutes later.
     Messi then fed Neymar in stoppage time to roll past Neuer and hand Bayern an almost impossible task in next week's second-leg.
     "The result is a bit harsh. We wanted to control and play our own game," said Bayern boss Guardiola, a former Barca coach.
     "Against Barca you can defend deep or play to control. Our ...

Magical Messi ruins Guardiola homecoming

Top US diplomat John Kerry has flown in to Riyadh for talks on a "humanitarian pause" in Yemen, where dozens of people were reported killed trying to flee worsening conditions after weeks of war.
	On the Saudi side of the border there were more casualties as well, when shelling from Yemen killed five people, the civil defence agency said.
	Riyadh has said it is considering temporary halts in air raids to allow aid deliveries into Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition took action on March 26 in an effort to halt an advance by Iran-backed rebels.
	Twenty-two humanitarian organisations warned their emergency aid operations in Yemen could cease because of fuel shortages. They urged an immediate opening of roads as well as an end to the coalition's air and sea blockades.
	There has been growing concern for civilians in the war.
	Yesterday, 32 people were reported to have died while trying to flee the southern city of Aden by sea.
	Before he travelled to Saudi Arabia, Kerry told reporters in ..

Kerry to talk Yemen bombing 'pause' with Saudis

Yemen's mission to the United Nations has called for a ground intervention to push back a Huthi rebel offensive in the south of a country where conditions are deteriorating after weeks of war.
	The mission also urged rights organisations yesterday to document "barbaric violations" allegedly carried out by the Iran-backed Huthis in Aden, in the south of Yemen, and other cities.
	"We urge the international community to quickly intervene by land forces to save Yemen, especially Aden and Taiz," the mission said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council.
	More than 50 civilians, including women and children, fleeing fighting in the port city of Aden were killed when Huthi air strikes hit their boat, the letter said.
	Huthi militias are "targeting anything that moves in the city of Aden," said the letter obtained by AFP.
	The government will spare no effort to bring the Huthis to "international justice as war criminals," it said.
	The letter was sent to the 15-member council yesterday as .

Yemen at UN calls for land forces to 'save' country

Sudanese anti-aircraft crews shot down an "aerial target" near Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, a military spokesman said today, after witnesses reported hearing explosions in the area.
	An air base detected the target around 10:45 pm (1945 GMT) yesterday flying at low altitude over Omdurman's Wadi Sayidna military area, checked there were no civilian planes nearby and shot it down, military spokesman Colonel Al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad said in a statement.
	After it was hit, it disintegrated and its debris fell to earth in several residential areas of Omdurman, Saad said.
	Saad described the downed aircraft as a "photographic surveillance target," but said it was still unknown where it came from and did not specify if it was a drone.
	No one was hurt in the incident according to the statement, which was published on the website of the defence ministry.
	Investigations were ongoing, Saad said, stressing the "stability of the situation" in the capital today.
	In an earlier statement, Saad .

Sudan military shoots down 'aerial target' near capital: army

Shells fired from Yemen killed five people in Saudi Arabia today in a second day of cross-border bombing blamed on Shiite Huthi rebels, civil defence authorities said.
	Two civilians in a car and two passers-by were killed by a shell in the city of Najran, while 11 others were wounded, the civil defence department said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.
	A prison security officer was also killed and another wounded when a second shell landed on their patrol in the same area, the statement said.

Shelling from Yemen kills 5 in Saudi border city: civildefence

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza insisted today he would run for a third term in an election in June, defying international pressure to change his mind in a crisis that has sparked deadly protests.
	A day after the Constitutional Court ruled he could stand for another term, Nkurunziza said it would be "the last mandate" he would seek, and offered to release those jailed during the recent unrest if the opposition movement ends its protests.
	"There is no other solution to this crisis except to hold an election," Nkurunziza said in a televised speech.
	"If the people of Burundi put their trust in us, it will be the last mandate I seek, as determined by the Constitutional Court," Nkurunziza added.
	Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader from the Hutu majority who has been in power since 2005, has come under intense international pressure to withdraw from the June 26 election.
	The speech came a day after the Constitutional Court cleared his bid to stay in power after its vice-president ..

Burundi president confirms will seek third term

The head of Denmark's intelligence agency today stepped down as an investigation criticised parts of the police response to February's deadly twin attacks in Copenhagen.
	"After careful consideration, I have agreed with the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and the National Commissioner of Police that I will now undertake new tasks to develop Danish police," Jens Madsen of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a statement.
	His resignation came hours before the publication of a police report that revealed it took almost four hours from the moment gunman Omar El-Hussein shot dead a filmmaker outside a cultural centre, until police were deployed outside Copenhagen's main synagogue, where a Jewish man was later killed.
	"That is too long, it's obviously not satisfactory. It can't be explained," Justice Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference.
	She declined to comment on whether Madsen was stepping down as a result of the delayed police ...

Danish intelligence chief steps down after criticism

Thai authorities investigating people-smuggling said six more bodies were found today in the same patch of jungle bordering Malaysia where the remains of dozens of migrants were exhumed last week.
	The latest bodies were discovered about one kilometre from the hillside site where the remains of 26 migrants were found over the weekend, near the town of Padang Besar in the southern province of Songkhla.
	Hours later authorities released a statement saying 38 police officers in southern Thailand have been transferred from their positions -- including more than a dozen from senior immigration roles.
	The move takes the number of police transfers since last week's grim discovery past 50 after an earlier spate of redeployment which comes as the ruling junta has vowed it is serious about tackling the kingdom's spiralling trafficking crisis.
	National police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said the bodies of two men and four women had been found not far from where the mass grave had been exhumed 

AFP

AFP

Page 2358 - Afp