The United Nations today criticised the Maldives for jailing its former president after a "vastly unfair trail" as police in the honeymoon destination's capital teargassed protesters demanding his release.
	The latest UN censure came as international experts, including London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, petitioned the world body over the controversial jailing of Mohamed Nasheed for 13 years.
	The UN Human Rights Office said their delegation, which visited Male late last month, found that the country's first democratically elected leader had been subjected to a "rushed trial" under a system that was highly politicised.
	"The trial of Mr Nasheed was vastly unfair and his conviction was arbitrary and disproportionate," the UN rights body said in a statement issued from Geneva. He was convicted on a charge of ordering the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge when he was in power in 2012.
	It asked the government of President Abdulla Yameen, the half brother of former strongman 

UN slams Maldives over jailing ex-leader, fresh protests

PTI Automatic

Oil giant Saudi Aramco today named an interim president and CEO after his veteran predecessor's appointment as minister of health.
	Amin Nasser was named "acting president and chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company until further notice," Saudi Aramco said in a statement.
	The appointment followed Khalid al-Falih's assignment on Wednesday to the Saudi cabinet under a major government reorganisation.
	Saudi Aramco is the world's largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports.
	Falih had led the company and its 60,000 employees since 2009.
	Nasser, who has spent more than 30 years with the firm, is a member of the board of directors and served as senior vice president of upstream operations since 2008.
	Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco names acting CEO

The German intelligence service BND, which is accused of helping the United States spy on EU leaders and companies, had actually "deleted 12,000 requests" targeting European officials, according to the latest edition of the Der Spiegel weekly.
	The BND has come under fire after German media reported that it spied on officials from the French presidency, French foreign ministry and the European Commission from its Bavarian post Bad Aibling.
	But the Spiegel said that in fact, a BND agent had in August 2013 sifted through requests made by the NSA to the BND, as part of the two agencies' anti-terror cooperation agreement, and found 12,000 which he referred to his managers.
	The requests related to "a certain number of senior officials from the French foreign service", as well as members of "EU institutions and several European countries," said Spiegel.
	On August 14, 2013, the agent raised the issue with his manager, asking what should be done with these requests.
	"Delete them," he was .

Berlin deleted '12,000 NSA spying requests'

Prosecutors in Baltimore today charged six officers with multiple counts including second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the death of a 25-year-old African American man in police custody.
	State prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said warrants have been issued for the arrest of the Baltimore Police Department officers over the death of Freddie Gray, which sparked days of protests and rioting in the East Coast port city.
	"The findings of our comprehensive, thorough and independent investigation, coupled with the medical examiner's determination that Mr. Gray's death was a homicide, which we received today, has led us to believe that we have probable cause to file criminal charges," Mosby told a press conference.

Six police officers charged with Baltimore death

The opening of Expo 2015 was marred today by violent clashes between police and opponents of Milan's hosting of the first world fair since Shanghai five years ago.
	Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing, masked protestors who had smashed windows and torched several cars and bins during a "No Expo" march which organisers said had brought 30,000 people onto the streets.
	Water cannons were used to put out blazes, including one at a bank branch where the wall had been graffiti-ed with the words: "You've skinned us, today you pay."
	The violent scenes helped make it a distinctly bitter-sweet start to a six-month food-themed event Italy hopes will bolster its international standing and give a boost to the struggling economy.
	Thousands of visitors poured into the specially created site on the edge of Milan. After months of concern about delays partly linked to a corruption scandal which hit the organisation last year, it appeared most of the key construction work for the Expo had been ...

Violent clashes overshadow start of Milan Expo

Just over a month of fighting in Yemen has left nearly 1,250 people dead, in a conflict affecting 7.5 million people, the World Health Organization said today.
	The UN health agency described a "deteriorating" humanitarian situation in the country, especially in Taez in the centre of the country where there have been heavy clashes.
	Fighting and airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition killed 1,244 people and injured 5,044 between March 19 and April 27, according to the latest WHO toll.
	WHO receives its statistics from health facilities in Yemen, but since many people are unable to get to hospitals for treatment the real numbers are probably higher.
	 The latest toll was published as Saudi-led air strikes entered a sixth week today, and did not include the 47 people killed in the latest strikes and clashes on the ground in Yemen's second city Aden.
	The air strikes began in late March when the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies advanced on the main southern city of Aden, where ...

Yemen violence kills 1,244, injures 5,044: WHO

At least seven people have died and 66 others wounded in nearly a week of clashes between police and protestors in the central African nation of Burundi, officials said today.
	Giving an overall toll of those injured in the violence, Burundian Red Cross spokesman Alexis Manirakiza said 29 people were hurt in yesterday's clashes, bringing to 66 the number of wounded since the violence began on Sunday.
	Sporadic clashes continued in parts of the capital Bujumbura today, witnesses said, while hundreds of university students -- whose student lodgings have been closed by the government -- have been camping outside the US embassy, saying they want protection.
	The unrest broke out after the ruling CNDD-FDD party designated President Pierre Nkurunziza as its candidate in the next presidential election, which is due to be held in the small central African nation on June 26.
	Opposition figures and rights groups say that Nkurunziza's attempt to stand for a third consecutive term violates the ..

Seven dead, 66 hurt in week of Burundi protests: officials

One thousand EU citizens are still unaccounted for in Himalayan Nepal, diplomats said today, almost a week after a massive earthquake that has claimed more than 6,300 lives and left survivors desperate for aid.
	The Europeans had mostly been climbing in the avalanche-hit Everest region and trekking in the remote Langtang range near the epicentre of the quake that ripped up infrastructure and left tens of thousands homeless.
	"They are missing but we don't know what their status is," EU ambassador to Nepal Rensje Teerink told reporters in the devastated capital Kathmandu, confirming that 12 EU citizens were also known to have died.
	Another EU official said on condition of anonymity that the majority were likely to be found safe, but given the difficulty of the terrain and poor communications, their whereabouts were currently unknown.
	Concern over the missing underscores the mammoth task facing rescue and relief teams struggling to reach mountainous districts cut off by Nepal's ...

1,000 Europeans still missing after Nepal quake

China today announced measures aimed at promoting innovation and job creation, state media said, as authorities seek to ensure that slowing economic growth doesn't harm employment.
	According to measures released by the State Council, which functions as China's Cabinet, the government should broadly encourage entrepreneurship as well as startup enterprises to serve as a new engine for economic growth, the official Xinhua news agency said.
	The announcement comes as China's economic growth in 2014 registered its worst annual performance in nearly a quarter century, expanding 7.4 percent, while gross domestic product (GDP) decelerated further in the first quarter of this year from the previous three months.
	Chinese authorities are tolerant of the slowdown, seen as a necessary element of their attempt to oversee a transformation of the economy in which consumer spending drives growth, a change that they and analysts envision as leading to more sustainable long-term expansion.
	But they .

China announces measures to boost creativity, jobs

Taxi app Uber's office in the southern city of Guangzhou has been raided by authorities, a report said today, in an apparent crackdown on the Internet ride-sharing service.
	Officials from the public security, traffic, and industry and commerce authorities visited Uber's office yesterday night and seized numerous iPhones, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily said.
	The newspaper said authorities carried out the raid on the basis of their oft-repeated statements that the use of private vehicles for ride-sharing businesses is illegal in China, even as the popularity of Uber and its competitors soars.
	US-based Uber, which puts customers in touch with private drivers in an alternative to traditional taxis, has become the focus of global controversy and is facing legal challenges and limits on its activities.
	Leading the opposition are taxi companies that contend Uber drivers should be regulated in the same way as normal cabs.
	Guangzhou authorities issued no public statements ..

Uber office raided in southern China: report

Ben E King, the soul singer whose Gospel-influenced "Stand By Me" became one of the most broadcast songs of the 20th century, has died at 76, his spokesman said today.
	King, who lived in New Jersey, died of natural causes yesterday, spokesman Phil Brown told AFP.
	R&B singer Gary US Bonds, who had collaborated with King, wrote on Facebook that he was "one of the sweetest, gentlest and gifted souls that I have had the privilege of knowing and calling my friend for more than 50 years."
	King was born in North Carolina but moved as a child to New York City, where he had his start in doo wop and R&B. He initially wrote "Stand By Me" for another band before recording it himself.
	Influenced by a traditional Gospel spiritual and a Psalm, the song was led by a now instantly identifiable bass line and featured chord progessions common in 1950s popular music.
	The song was first released in 1961 but had several revivals and was covered hundreds of times in various genres.
	"Stand By ...

'Stand By Me' singer Ben E King dead at 76

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro joined President Raul Castro at a huge May Day rally in Havana today in a show of socialist unity at an uncertain time for both countries.
	Dressed in his army general's uniform, Castro saluted thousands of people as they passed the reviewing stand at the Plaza of the Revolution in the Cuban capital.
	As the guest of honor, Maduro, the leader of Cuba's closest ally and longtime benefactor, was at his side.
	The annual rally and parade is being held this year against a backdrop of a thaw in Cuban relations with the US and a deepening crisis in oil-rich Venezuela, which has undercut public support for Maduro.
	"Some steps have already been taken to re-establish diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, but we have a long and difficult road to travel," said Ulises Guilarte, the head of the Cuban Workers Union, the sole speaker at the rally.
	"We will only advance toward the normalization of bilateral relations on a basis of respect for .

Castro, Venezuelan leader at May Day rally in Havana

Politicians are often accused of pursuing their own interests and British Prime Minister David Cameron did little to dispel this impression today when he remarked that next week's election was "career-defining".
	"This is a real career-defining...Country-defining election that we face now in less than a week's time," the Conservative leader said as he urged people to vote on May 7.
	Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband immediately seized on the apparent slip, accusing Cameron of being more focused on his legacy than the state of the country.
	"That tells you the difference between us. He thinks this election is about him. I think it's about you the British people," he told voters on the campaign trail.
	Senior Conservative lawmaker Michael Gove insisted: "This election will define the careers, the job prospects, the prosperity of everyone in the UK."
	It is not Cameron's first election gaffe -- last week he got the name of his favourite football team wrong, which commentators put down 

British PM in 'career-defining' election slip

US officials today announced a USD 20-million pilot programme to help equip law enforcement agencies across the country with body cameras.
	The programme is part of a general push by American police agencies to outfit officers with cameras to provide clear recordings of arrests, and is part of a proposal by President Barack Obama last year to invest USD 75 million to purchase 50,000 body cameras.
	The move comes amid growing calls for transparency and accountability in the law enforcement community after a string of high-profile deadly encounters between white police officers and black men.
	"Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability, and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve," the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, said in a statement.
	Riots broke out in Baltimore on Monday and protests took place in several American cities this week as demonstrators rallied against the death of ...

US announces USD 20mn police body-camera programme

Russia said today that it was premature to discuss the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in war-torn eastern Ukraine before a peace deal agreed in February is implemented in full.
	"Before the text of the Minsk agreement and its concrete points are implemented we believe that it would be absolutely wrong to raise any other issues including that about peacekeepers," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.
	Yesterday, the Ukrainian presidency said Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, after the leaders of both countries spoke by phone with their French and German counterparts.
	"In the context of the discussion of ways towards a peaceful resolution (of the conflict), President Putin has accepted the possibility of deploying a peacekeeping contingent to the Donbass region," the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement.
	Moscow however made no mention of a possible peacekeeping force in its own statement ...

Too early to speak of Ukraine peacekeeping mission: Kremlin

Flights were disrupted today as pilots working for the Portuguese airline TAP began a 10-day strike as part of their dispute with the government.
	One in three flights were cancelled, a spokesman for the state-owned airline told AFP, adding however that at least 10 per cent of its 300 scheduled flights were expected to run.
	The pilots accuse the government of reneging on an agreement to set aside between 10 and 20 per cent of TAP's capital for employees in its planned privatisation and of not reinstating seniority bonuses frozen in 2011.
	Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho yesterday evening urged the pilots to "review their position", adding that the strike could "put the company in danger".
	TAP management estimates the strike could cost the airline USD 78 million while the prime minister said on Wednesday it could have a "significant impact on the national economy".
	The country's centre right government is putting 66 per cent of the company up for sale between now and ..

Portuguese airline pilots begin 10-day strike

Kuwait today arrested a former opposition lawmaker for alleging Iran was pressuring the oil-rich emirate to change the crown prince, the government and relatives said.
	The interior ministry said Waleed al-Tabtabai had been "arrested on the orders of the public prosecution for spreading false news about the internal situation and undermining the status of the crown prince on social media."
	The former Islamist lawmaker, a long-time critic of the Islamic republic, would now be referred to prosecutors for questioning, it added.
	In comments posted yesterday on Twitter, Tabtabai wrote that Iran had been putting pressure on Kuwait to replace Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 76, with a new heir who has strong relations with Tehran.
	He said he hoped the attempts would fail.
	Under the Kuwaiti constitution, the crown prince is proposed by the emir and approved by parliament. Sheikh Nawaf, half brother of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, was appointed to the post in ...

Kuwait arrests ex-lawmaker over Iran tweet

A thousand European Union citizens in Nepal are still unaccounted for, nearly a week after a massive quake that hit during the peak trekking season, the EU ambassador to Nepal said today.
	Most were trekking in the remote Langtang mountain range near the epicentre or in the Everest region, Rensje Teerink told journalists in Kathmandu.
	"They are missing but we don't know what their status is," she said.
	"Many were in the Langtang area and some were in the Lukla area," she added, referring to the small Himalayan airstrip known as the gateway to Everest.
	Another EU official said on condition of anonymity that the majority were likely to be found safe and well but that their status was currently unknown given the difficult terrain and lack of access to affected regions.
	The 7.8-magnitude quake that hit on Saturday triggered an avalanche at Everest base camp that left 18 people dead on the world's highest peak.
	There have also been unconfirmed reports of large avalanches flattening ...

EU says 1,000 citizens unaccounted for after Nepal quake

Turkish police today used water cannon and tear gas to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbul as tens of thousands of labour activists turned out worldwide to defend their rights at a time of austerity.
	Turkish police had blocked all vehicle access and cut public transport to prevent protests on Taksim Square in the centre of Istanbul, the traditional focus for protests in the country's largest city.
	Police moved in on the protesters close to the shores of the Bosphorus as they tried to head towards the square, using water cannon trucks and spraying tear gas, an AFP correspondent said.
	Even before the police moved in on the Besiktas protesters, Istanbul's police chief Selami Altinok had said that 136 people had been arrested in various points in the city during the day.
	This is the first May Day in Turkey, a national holiday in the country, to be marked after parliament passed a controversial security bill this year giving the police greater powers to crack down on ...

Police fire tear gas to disperse Turkey May Day protesters

The United Nations warned fuel shortages threaten to halt all relief operations in Yemen "within days" as Saudi-led air strikes and ground fighting killed 47 people in second city Aden.
	Gulf Arab states rejected any neutral venue for UN-brokered peace talks as a confidential UN report supported their allegations that regional rival Tehran had been arming Yemen's Huthi Shiite rebels since 2009.
	Yemen was the poorest Arab country even before the rebellion against now exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escalated last year and UN agencies said yesterday that millions were at risk from any halt to food distributions.
	The bombing campaign launched by a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab states on March 26 has virtually halted the delivery of both humanitarian aid and commercial goods, including fuel.
	UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the lack of fuel was preventing agencies on the ground from distributing even those stocks already inside the country, most of which are in the hands of rebels 

UN warns on Yemen aid as 47 killed in Aden

Openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes hit unbeaten centuries to lead a brilliant fightback by Bangladesh on the fourth day of the first Test against Pakistan here today.
     The left-handed pair put on their nation's highest partnership for any wicket as Bangladesh, trailing by 296 runs on the first innings, closed the day strongly at 273 for no loss in their second knock.
     Tamim was unbeaten on 138 to become the first Bangladesh batsman to score seven Test centuries. He beat former captain Mohammad Ashraful's tally of six hundreds.
     It was Tamim's third century in as many Tests, having made identical scores of 109 in the last two matches against Zimbabwe in November.
     Imrul scored 132 not out, his third hundred, as the bowlers toiled on the placid wicket at the Sheikh Abu Naser stadium that has already produced 1,233 runs and just 20 wickets over the four days.
     The pair batted through just over two sessions to surpass the previous Bangladesh record of 267 by Ashraful .

AFP

AFP

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