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 

Thai authorities find 6 more bodies in people-smuggling probe

PTI Automatic

Canadian police announced today the arrest of 41 people in Canada and the United States for child pornography distributed through social media in 17 countries.
	The suspects face a total of 110 charges in the ongoing investigation, York Regional Police said in a statement.
	Nineteen child victims including infants and teenagers have so far been identified, police added. Their images were distributed in 17 countries including Australia, Britain, the Netherlands and Russia.
	"The abusers appear to be people that the victims trusted or online predators that coerced the victim into creating child sexual abuse materials," police Inspector Tim Kelly told a press conference.
	The investigation started with a tip about a Toronto area computer that had been used to upload illicit images.
	Police traced the online activity to a "young person (who) had been a victim of child exploitation, and had been coerced into providing self-exploited images to the unknown people online," Kelly said.
	The US 

Canada police announce 41 arrests in child porn probe

More than 400 child soldiers have escaped the grip of armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this year thanks to a string of operations targeting militants, the UN mission said today.
	"The military operations against the armed groups have enabled a very large number of children formerly used as child soldiers and in other support roles to escape," said Felix Prosper Basse, spokesman for MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo.
	"At least 430 children, among them three girls (have been) separated since January 1, 2015" from armed groups in the restive east of DR Congo, Basse said.
	The number of children escaping the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Rwandan President Paul Kagame province of DR Congo is rising especially fast, he said.
	In just four days, from April 27 to May 1, 65 boys associated with armed groups managed to get away, Basse added.
	The FDLR are Rwandan Hutu rebels whose older members are blamed for taking part in the ..

Hundreds of child soldiers freed in DR Congo: UN

The oldest complete example of the Ten Commandments has gone on rare display in Jerusalem, part of the Israel Museum's collection of the Dead Sea scrolls, an official said today.
	Written in Hebrew more than 2,000 years ago, it is one of 870 scrolls discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea.
	"It's not usually exhibited... Because it's very sensitive and fragile," a museum official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that it was being displayed in a climate-controlled glass case.
	When not on show, the scrolls are kept in a dark,climate- controlled storeroom in conditions similar to those in the Qumran caves, where the humidity, temperature and darkness preserved them for two millennia.
	The Ten Commandments scroll is part of "A Brief History of Humankind", a unique exhibition on human development drawn from the museum's collections that includes the original handwritten manuscript of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
	The scroll, which ...

World's oldest example of 10 Commandments on show in Israel

A nuclear agreement will allow Iran to become the number one energy player in the Middle East and herald major opportunities for foreign companies, top Iranian officials said today.
	The remarks, at an industry event in Tehran, underlined the broader political and economic implications should sanctions on Iran be lifted under a deal, following long-running diplomatic efforts with world powers.
	Iran has the world's fourth largest proven oil reserves and the second biggest gas deposits, both of which are seen as long under-tapped and ripe for exploration.
	But its exports have halved since US and EU sanctions were imposed in 2012 as punishment for Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
	Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, who in recent months has signalled Iran's willingness to see global oil giants return, said international cooperation was essential.
	"We have to use the foreign companies that will come to us after the removal of sanctions... To increase exports and access regional markets," .

Nuclear deal can make Iran region's 'number one' energy power

SpaceX today launched the first flight test of the emergency astronaut escape feature on its Dragon spaceship, which aims to carry people to low-Earth orbit as early as 2017.
	The California-based company headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk described it as "the first critical test in preparation for our first human missions."
	No astronauts were on board for the brief demonstration flight, which blasted off at 9 AM (1300 GMT) on a cloudy morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
	The gum-drop shaped Dragon launched with the help of eight SuperDraco rocket engines built into the white capsule's walls, accelerating from 0 to 100 miles per hour in one second and traveling over a mile in the first 20 seconds.
	Mid-flight, at about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters), the spacecraft jettisoned its trunk and three parachutes deployed to slow the descent of the Dragon capsule before it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.
	The entire flight test was over in about one and a half minutes.
	"This ...

SpaceX tests astronaut escape feature on Dragon spacecraft

Standard Chartered said today its London headquarters remained under review as the Asia-focused bank mulls Britain's increased regulation and taxation on the eve of a general election.
	"We continue to keep our UK domicile under review," Chairman John Peace told investors at the group's annual general meeting in London, ahead of a knife-edge election fought largely over the economy.
	"Although we have no current plans to leave our domicile, we are listening carefully to our shareholders views on this issue," he added.
	Peace indicated that the two main factors for the bank were the nation's regulatory landscape and bank levy.
	The emerging markets bank is based in Britain but generates most of its profits in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
	Some shareholders are reportedly pushing for the lender to switch its base to Hong Kong or Singapore.
	British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative- Liberal Democrat government introduced the banking levy -- imposed on lenders' balance ...

Standard Chartered bank says London HQ under review

Germany's opposition kept up its attack on Angela Merkel's government today, charging that it did nothing to stop its foreign intelligence service spy on European politicians and companies for the United States.
	Merkel's close ally, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, however, emerged from a closed-door grilling by a parliamentary oversight panel, denying any wrongdoing while he ran her office and oversaw intelligence matters.
	"As chancellery chief of staff in 2008 I knew nothing about search terms from the US side or ... Similar things for the purpose of industrial espionage in Germany," he told reporters. "No company names were mentioned."
	"There is no substance to the allegations made against me," he said.
	German media have accused the foreign intelligence service BND of helping the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy on targets such the Airbus Group, the French presidency and European Commission.
	The key question has been to what extent the BND willingly cooperated as the 

German opposition targets Merkel ally in US spy scandal

Human traffickers could try to target vulnerable women and children displaced by a devastating earthquake in Nepal, campaigners warned today.
	The deadly earthquake that struck on April 25 killed thousands of people and made many more homeless.
	One non-government organisation working to prevent child trafficking said it had seen an increase in suspicious cases at the porous border with India which has in the past been used to traffic women and children from Nepal into slavery and prostitution.
	"Girls are at high risk of trafficking and sexual abuse, they have to be protected," Anuradha Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal, an anti-trafficking organisation, told AFP.
	Koirala said her organisation had increased its monitoring operations on the border with India.
	A cycle of unemployment, poverty, gender discrimination and impact of 10-year Maoist insurgency has made Nepalese women and children in the country easy targets for traffickers.
	A 2013 report by the country's human rights ...

Campaigners warn of rise in trafficking after Nepal quake

Nadir Soofi, one of the gunmen who attacked a Texas venue hosting a controversial cartoon contest concerning Prophet Mohammed, was a charismatic "ladies' man" as a teenager, contemporaries from an elite Pakistani school said today.
	Soofi, 34, and Elton Simpson were shot dead by police on Sunday as they tried to storm the controversial cartoon drawing event.
	The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, although US officials caution it is too early to draw a firm link.
	Soofi studied at the USD 20,000-a-year International School of Islamabad from 1992 to 1998, where contemporaries said he was funny, popular and charming and showed no inclination towards extremism.
	Speaking on condition of anonymity, one told AFP Soofi was "quite suave and charismatic" and something of a "ladies' man" as a student.
	"Whatever fundo [fundamentalist] indoctrination occurred, [it] happened after he graduated and moved to USA -- here he was simply a cool kid with a bright future," the contemporary .

Texas shooter was 'heartthrob' in Pakistan: schoolmates

Some 75 people have been killed in four days of cattle raids and revenge attacks in northern Kenya, the Red Cross said today.
	"Over the last four days close to 75 Kenyans have died. Is it worth it, and what for?" Kenya Red Cross chief Abbas Gullet said.
	"In the 21st century, we can't have Kenyans killing one another -- especially these pastoralist communities who come from a very marginalised environment," he said.
	The violence started in northern Kenya's Turkana and East Pokot districts, and clashes have also been reported in the nearby districts of Marsabit, Samburu and Baringo.
	In the worst fighting, gunmen from the ethnic Turkana people are suspected of launching an attack on Monday against an ethnic Pokot village along the Turkana-East Pokot district border, an area where there are frequent deadly conflicts between the two communities.
	"There were 54 people who have lost their lives from these two communities of Pokot and Turkana... It is very sad," Gullet said, adding that .

75 die in fighting after Kenya cattle raids

At least 32 civilians were killed and 67 wounded today in shelling that hit people trying to escape fighting in Yemen's southern city of Aden by sea, a health official said.
	The shelling hit a small fishing harbour and a barge carrying civilians, said the official who gave the toll, blaming Huthi rebels battling to take control of Aden's Tawahi neighbourhood and clashing with forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
	"Dozens of civilians were killed in this massacre committed by the Huthi rebels and fighters loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh," said Ali al-Ahmadi, a spokesman for the southern pro-Hadi Popular Resistance Committees.
	Civilians have been fleeing the port city's worsening combat aboard small boats.
	Witnesses have said the rebels have intensified attacks over past days on Tawahi, which houses the headquarters of pro-Hadi Aden TV.
	The commander of troops loyal to Hadi was shot dead during the battles today.
	General Ali Nasser Hadi, who is not .

Shelling kills 32 civilians fleeing Yemen fighting by sea

At least 16 members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces were killed today in an Islamic State group attack on a base in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, a monitor said.
	"There was a large explosion at dawn today in Hasakeh city caused by an Islamic State car bomb attack on a base belonging to the Kurdish internal security forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
	The Britain-based group said IS jihadist militants opened fire on Kurdish forces after the blast, prompting fierce clashes.
	All the attackers were killed, the Observatory said, without specifying the number of IS fighters involved in the assault in the provincial capital, where Kurdish and regime forces share control.
	IS holds large areas of the countryside around Hasakeh and has attacked it on previous occasions.
	Syrian state media reported a "terrorist car bomb" in Hasakeh city had left several dead and wounded, without giving a toll, and said the jihadists had also bombarded the city.
	"IS ...

IS attack on Kurdish forces in Syria kills 16: monitor

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was today locked in a last-ditch effort to piece together a ruling coalition with a working majority ahead of a midnight deadline.
	With less than 12 hours left, talks with the far-right Jewish Home -- the only potential coalition partner yet to agree to join a Netanyahu government -- took on heightened urgency.
	If Netanyahu manages to sign the party, as expected, it will give him a razor-thin majority of 61 within the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.
	If he fails, President Reuven Rivlin will ask another party leader to form a government -- most likely Isaac Herzog, head of the centre-left Zionist Union, which won 24 seats in the March election.
	Netanyahu's success or failure rests in the hands of Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who raised the stakes in the negotiations by demanding ministerial portfolios for all eight of members of his faction.
	Without his support, Netanyahu, who began his second term as premier in 2009, will fail and 

Netanyahu races to form government ahead of deadline

Even as they mourn their dead, the quake-hit villagers of Barpak high in the Nepal Himalayas must make a difficult and dangerous hours-long trek into the valley for tents and supplies.
	More than a week after a deadly earthquake flattened their village, many survivors in this small mountain community still lack adequate shelter from the cold and rain.
	Although the army has begun airlifting relief supplies to Barpak, the villagers say they are desperately short of tents and tarpaulins as the season for monsoon rains approaches.
	"Relief materials are coming but only a little, not much," said 21-year-old Prem Gurung, who was in Kathmandu when the quake hit but has returned to his devastated native village to help.
	"There are a lot of people there, so even if people bring a lot of things, they don't get much."
	Instead, the villagers are forced to haul tarpaulins and basic food supplies on foot up the vertiginous rock-strewn path from the valley -- an eight-hour round trip.
	Along the .

Quake-hit Nepal villagers take aid into their own hands

Global oil prices hit 2015 peaks today as fresh tensions in oil producer Libya raised concerns about a supply disruption in the Middle East, analysts said.
	The market was meanwhile awaiting the latest snapshot of oil inventories in the United States, which is the world's top crude consuming nation.
	US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June rallied to a five-month pinnacle at USD 62.08 per barrel. It later stood at USD 61.99 in midday trade, up USD 1.59 from yesterday's closing level.
	Brent North Sea crude for June jumped to a similar high at USD 69.15, before pulling back to USD 68.92, up USD 1.40.
	"Geopolitical concerns in the Middle East continue to form a firm base for oil prices, be it Libya, Yemen or Iraq," CMC Markets analyst Nicholas Teo told AFP.
	Media reports yesterday said protests in Libya had shut oil deliveries to a port in the east of the country.
	Fighting since 2011 in OPEC member Libya has seen output reduced from a high of almost 1.5 million ...

Oil market strikes 2015 highs

Younis Khan and Azhar Ali hit centuries as Pakistan capitalised on Bangladesh's misfortune to post a commanding 323 for three on the opening day of the second and final Test here today.
     Younis made 148 and Azhar was unbeaten on 127, the pair having shared a third-wicket stand of 250 to rescue the tourists from 58-2 after Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and elected to field in Dhaka.
     Both batsmen were lucky to reach three figures after being reprieved by no-balls even as Bangladesh struggled to overcome the loss of strike bowler Shahadat Hossain in the day's first over.
     Shahadat, who replaced the injured Rubel Hossain for the decisive Test, collapsed on his follow through after sending down the first ball and hobbled off the field after his second delivery.
     Shahadat returned after the morning drinks break, and even though he did not bowl for the rest of the session, he took a catch in the deep to dismiss Sami Aslam.
     However, Shahadat broke down .

Younis, Azhar hammer luckless Bangladesh

Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 12 wounded over the last 24 hours as clashes rumbled on between government forces and pro-Russian rebels, a military spokesman said today.
	Four of the soldiers died when their armoured vehicle hit a landmine close to the frontline town of Avdiivka, while the fifth was killed in a rebel ambush, Ukrainian spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.
	The latest casualties come as Ukrainian and separatist representatives gear up to meet for the first time since the two sides inked a shaky peace deal in February that dampened much of the fighting but failed to halt clashes at key hotspots.
	Negotiators from the warring sides will meet with international mediators and officials from Russia -- which Kiev accuses of masterminding the conflict -- in the Belarussian capital Minsk to discuss the battered truce and a convoluted political roadmap for ending the conflict.
	Both Kiev and the insurgents accuse each other of continuing to violate the ceasefire deal despite .

Five Ukrainian soldiers killed, 12 wounded in past day: Kiev

Conflicts and violence in places like Syria and Ukraine have displaced a record 38 million people inside their own countries, equivalent to the total populations of New York, London and Beijing, a watchdog group said today.
	Nearly one third of them -- a full 11 million people -- were displaced last year alone, with an average of 30,000 people fleeing their homes every day, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said in a report.
	"These are the worst figures for forced displacement in a generation, signalling our complete failure to protect innocent civilians," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council which is behind the IDMC.
	Internally displaced people (IDPs) is a label given to people who remain in their homeland, as opposed to refugees, who flee across borders.
	Today there are nearly twice as many IDPs in the world as refugees, the IDMC report said, without providing an exact figure for refugees.
	According to UN statistics, some 16.7 ...

Record 38 million people internally displaced by conflicts

One policeman was killed and five others wounded in clashes with supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in a Nile Delta city, police said today.
	Clashes erupted yesterday when police arrested a group of Morsi supporters, including 13 women, who were demonstrating in a nightime rally in a key square in Damietta, around 50 kilometres west of Port Said.
	Police said an officer who was hit by birdshot during the clashes died later on Tuesday. Five other policemen, including an officer, were also wounded in the fighting.
	The health ministry said a total of 22 people were wounded in the clashes.
	Supporters of Morsi have regularly attempted to stage rallies demanding his reinstatement, but their demonstrations have lost momentum amid a deadly government crackdown.
	Hundreds have died and thousands have been jailed in the crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters since his ouster in July 2013.
	Morsi was ousted by then army chief President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after ...

Egypt policeman killed in clashes with Morsi backers

Russia said an unmanned supply ship set for the International Space Station will fall back to Earth Friday and burn up in the atmosphere, after the spacecraft suffered a communications failure.
	The Progress supply ship is expected to "end its existence on May 8," between 1:23 am and 9.55 pm, Moscow time," the Russian space agency said in a statement released today.
	"The space ship will completely burn up in the layers of the atmosphere and only a few small parts of elements of its construction could reach the surface of our planet," the space agency said.
	It said the crash would be similar to a planned descent. Russia sends three or four such spacecrafts per year to supply the ISS. They then fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.
	The spacecraft, a Soviet design generally known for its reliability, blasted off for the ISS on April 28 carrying cargo including oxygen, water and spare parts for the orbiting space laboratory with a crew of six ...

AFP

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