Three suicide bombers attacked a border crossing between western Iraq and Jordan today, killing at least four Iraqi security personnel and wounding eight others, officials said.
	The bombers detonated explosives-rigged vehicles, one of them a lorry, at three successive checkpoints at the Turaibil crossing, said Sabah Karhout, the head of the Anbar province council.
	The deputy head of the crossing, Khaled Alwan, and army Colonel Jabr Khailan, both confirmed the attack took place, with the officer blaming it on the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
	Iraqi security forces control pockets of territory in Anbar, a vast desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approaches to Baghdad.
	But much of the province is held by IS, which spearheaded an offensive last June that overran swathes of territory north and west of the Iraqi capital.
	Some areas have been out of government control for longer than that. Anti-government fighters ...

Suicide bombers kill 4 at Iraq-Jordan border crossing

PTI Automatic

Indonesia said today it has officially notified eight foreign drug convicts that they will be executed, but a Frenchman was granted a temporary reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure on Jakarta.
	The eight -- from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines -- have been transported to the high-security prison island of Nusakambangan where they will face the firing squad along with an Indonesian prisoner, despite strident international criticism.
	"Today, just now, we just finished notifying every convict, nine people except for Serge," a spokesman for the attorney-general's office, Tony Spontana, told AFP, adding it would be at least three days until the sentences are carried out.
	Officials said earlier that Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, who was expected to be among the group being put to death, will not be included in the forthcoming batch as he still has an outstanding legal appeal.
	Spontana did not give a date for the executions but a lawyer for Filipina Mary Jane Veloso said she 

Indonesia informs convicts of execution, Frenchman excluded

The wife of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today entered the race for the parliamentary seat vacated by her husband's recent jailing over a much-criticised sodomy conviction, a party official said.
	Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, an Irish-trained medical doctor and mother of six, filed her nomination papers for the by-election in Anwar's constituency in the northern state of Penang, her party's communications director Fahmi Fadzil said.
	It marks the second time Wan Azizah, 62, has stepped in for her husband during one of his controversial imprisonments.
	She won Anwar's seat in 1999 after he was sacked as deputy prime minister in Malaysia's long-ruling government and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges widely considered politically motivated.
	The episode left her in control of a reform movement that emerged in response to Anwar's ouster. The popular Anwar later became leader of a rejuvenated opposition, which he inspired to unprecedented gains in parliament.
	"It is not that .

Wife of Malaysia's jailed Anwar to run for his seat

The Australian government today said it has been told by Indonesia that the execution of "Bali Nine" drug traffickers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan was "imminent".
	"Indonesian authorities today advised Australian consular officials that the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be scheduled imminently at Nusakambangan prison in central Java," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement.
	Consular officials had earlier Saturday been summoned to a town near Nusakambangan, the high-security prison island where Indonesia carries out its executions by firing squad.
	Jakarta must give 72 hours notice before it kills an inmate.
	Bishop said she would continue to press Indonesian President Joko Widodo for clemency.
	"They have been rehabilitated in a most remarkable way over the past 10 years and are genuinely remorseful for their serious crimes ," she said  of Sukumaran and Chan.
	"Nothing can be gained and much will be lost if these two young Australians are ...

Aus says executions of two nationals in Indonesia 'imminent'

Thailand's controversial "Tiger Temple" has been banned from charging tourists to visit dozens of big cats in their care, the parks department said today, following a dispute between monks and officials over the welfare of the animals.
	Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua in Thailand's western Kanchanaburi province has long proved a hit among visitors who flock there to visit the monks and be photographed next to their huge feline pets.
	But the temple has long had a controversial reputation among animal rights groups and Thai wildlife officials who say it is breaking the law in keeping the cats.
	Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation say the temple has been keeping the animals without the proper paperwork and have vowed to seize them, sparking standoffs in recent weeks between officials and angry monks blocking their way.
	DNP officials conducted a headcount yesterday, discovering 147 tigers in the monk's care.
	Officials had earlier indicated they would take the .

Thai temple banned from making money off tigers

At least 27 people were killed in Yemen today as fighting raged in southern towns between rebels and loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, local officials said.
	At least four pro-Hadi fighters and six Huthi Shiite rebels were killed in dawn clashes in the town of Daleh, north of the main southern city of Aden, an official said.
	Eight more rebels were killed in an ambush.
	Farther east, in Loder, loyalist militiamen killed nine rebels in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, a government official in the town said.
	There were also heavy clashes in Aden itself, as Saudi-led warplanes kept up strikes on rebel positions despite the coalition's announcement on Tuesday that it was halting the bombing campaign.
	Targets included the rebel-held presidential palace, which was Hadi's last refuge before he fled to neighbouring Saudi Arabia last month, military officials said.
	Coalition warplanes also bombed the rebel-held Al-Anad air base north of Aden, which housed US troops ...

At least 27 killed in south Yemen fighting

Two Australian drug traffickers and a Filipino woman were today given official notification by Indonesia that they will be executed, but with no given date, reports and a lawyer said.
	They include Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the "Bali Nine" heroin trafficking gang, and mother-of-two Mary Jane Veloso.
	There was no official word on the fate of several other foreign drug convicts due to face the firing squad, including one each from Brazil and France and four from Africa.
	"We received an order of execution but that does not mean she will be executed soon," Edre Olalia, a lawyer for Veloso, told DZMM radio in Manila from Jakarta.
	"The date was not specified. It is not saying she will be executed soon."
	Consular officials had earlier Saturday been summoned to a town near Nusakambangan, the high-security prison island where Indonesia carries out its executions.
	Jakarta must give 72 hours notice before an execution and News Limited newspapers in ...

'Indonesia issues execution orders for Australians, Filipino'

At least five members of a family have been killed after an insurgent mortar hit their house in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan provincial authorities said today.
	"Five Afghan civilians, four women and a man were killed in an enemy mortar attack in Alingar district of Laghman province late Friday evening," provincial police chief, Daud Amin, told AFP.
	Amin said eleven other members of the family were wounded in the mortar attack.
	Laghman provincial governor spokesman, Sarhadi Zwak, confirmed the mortar attack and gave the same death toll.
	Zwak said women and children were among the wounded in the attack.
	No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
	It comes as the Taliban insurgents have announced their annual spring offensive -- vowing to target Afghan police, army and intelligence officials.

Insurgent mortar attack kills five in Afghanistan: officials

Below is a list of some of the world's deadliest earthquakes in the past 30 years.
	   -- August 11, 2012: Twin earthquakes with a magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 leave 306 dead and more than 3,000 injured near the Iranian city of Tabriz.
	   -- March 11, 2011: Nearly 18,900 are killed when a tsunami triggered by a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake slams into the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.
	   -- October 23, 2011: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude rocks eastern Turkey, leaving more than 600 dead and at least 4,150 injured.
	   -- January 12, 2010: Magnitude 7.0 quake hits Haiti, leaving between 250,000 and 300,000 dead.
	   -- April 14, 2010: A 6.9-magnitude quake hits Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province leaving 3,000 people dead and missing.
	   -- May 12, 2008: A quake measuring 8.0 hits China's southwest province of Sichuan, leaving more than 87,000 people dead or missing.
	   -- May 27, 2006: A powerful quake ..

Deadliest earthquakes of the past 30 years

The Islamic State jihadist group killed two senior officers and 10 other soldiers in a suicide bombing and heavy fighting in Iraq's Anbar province, a general said today.
	"The commander of the 1st Division, Staff Brigadier General Hassan Abbas, and the commander of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division, Staff Colonel Hilal Matar, and 10 soldiers were killed and 10 wounded," Staff Major General Mohammed al-Dulaimi said.
	IS seized parts of the Nadhim al-Tharthar area east of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi during the fighting yesterday and government forces counterattacked, Dulaimi said.
	Iraqi security forces control pockets of territory in Anbar, a vast desert province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approaches to Baghdad.
	But the majority of the province is held by the Islamic State group, which spearheaded an offensive last June that overran swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad.
	Some areas have been out of government ...

Senior officers killed in Iraq's Anbar: general

A large column of smoke has streamed from Chile's Calbuco volcano, prompting new warnings that it could erupt again after unexpectedly roaring back to life and forcing thousands to evacuate.
	As thick plumes of pale gray smoke began to billow again from the volcano's crater, the National Geology and Mines Service issued new warnings that a third eruption could follow the spectacular bursts of ash and lava that sent southern Chile into panic late Wednesday and early Thursday.
	Authorities ordered the preventive evacuation of some 2,000 people from three more towns at risk of flooding from snow and ice melting high in the mountains due to the volcano's heat, bringing the total number of evacuees to around 6,500.
	Additionally, about 300 farmers were affected by the eruption and authorities today planned to evacuate about 4,000 sheep and cattle.
	The ash cloud meanwhile continued to drift, disrupting flights across a large swath of South America, including planes from Paris, Sydney and ..

Chile volcano belches more smoke after twin eruptions

A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal today, causing massive damage in the capital Kathmandu with strong tremors felt across neighbouring countries.
	Television footage showed that large numbers of offices and homes had collapsed in Kathmandu while roads had been split in two by the force of the impact.
	Panicked residents rushed into the streets as the tremor erupted around midday, with the impact felt hundreds of miles away in big swathes of northern India and even in Bangladesh.
	The United States Geological Survey said the quake struck 81 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu at 1141 IST, with walls crumbling and families racing outside of their homes.
	"The walls of houses have collapsed around me onto the road. All the families are outside in their yards huddled together. The tremors are still going on," an AFP reporter said in Kathmandu.
	Another resident recounted scenes of panic and mayhem.
	"Everything started shaking. Everything fell down. The walls around the main ..

Terror in Nepal as 7.9 quake rocks capital

Thousands of Australians and New Zealanders today thronged the beaches of Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula to remember the heroism and sacrifice of their forefathers who took part in the World War I campaign against the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago.
	Troops from the The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) launched their first amphibious assaults on the Gallipoli Peninsula in what is now western Turkey on April 25, 1915, splashing through the waters into a rain of Ottoman gunfire.
	Many were killed in the initial assault and the overall Allied campaign ended in failure and evacuation.
	But the spirit shown by the Anzac troops has long been seen as critical in forging a national identity in New Zealand and Australia. Both commemorate April 25 as Anzac Day.
	Their descendants of all ages - many wrapped in the national flags as extra protection against the early morning cold - attended the dawn service at what is now known as Anzac cove where the first attacks were ...

Thousands remember Anzac heroism on Gallipoli centenary

Jose Mourinho ramped up his long-running war of words with Arsene Wenger as the Chelsea manager hit back at criticism from his Arsenal counterpart.
     Mourinho and Wenger have engaged in numerous verbal jousts during their time as Premier League rivals and there is no sign of any thaw in their frosty relationship ahead of their latest meeting at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
     Mourinho's Chelsea will be virtually assured of winning the English title if they defeat the second-placed Gunners, who already trail their London rivals by 10 points with six games remaining.
     But Wenger is unimpressed by the manner of several of Chelsea's recent performances, claiming on Friday that "it is easy to defend" as he reflected on the Blues grinding out narrow wins against Manchester United, QPR, Hull and Stoke.
     That prompted a typically waspish response from Mourinho at his own press conference later in the day. The Portuguese boss, who once angered Wenger by labelling him a ...

Mourinho takes swipe at Wenger after defensive jibe

Louis van Gaal has backed Ryan Giggs to succeed him as Manchester United manager when the Dutchman eventually leaves Old Trafford.
     Giggs has been working as Van Gaal's assistant since the former Barcelona boss took over at Old Trafford last year.
     The United legend had a spell in temporary charge following the dismissal of David Moyes last season and Van Gaal believes Giggs would be the ideal choice to replace him in the long-term.
     "I expect that he (Giggs) will be the next manager after I am gone," Van Gaal told MUTV on Friday.
     "Now I have the responsibility. He has tasks that he has to perform like the players. What he has to do, for me, he does it very well."
     Giggs made a record 963 appearances for United during his playing career, which stretched to 25 years.
     The 41-year-old won a remarkable 25 trophies, including 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.

Van Gaal backs Giggs as future United boss

Kraigg Brathwaite's unbeaten 101 anchored a determined West Indies second innings as the home side reached 202 for two at stumps on the fourth day of the second Test against England on Friday.
     Trailing on first innings by 165 runs after the tourists were dismissed for 464 in the morning session, the home side go into the final day's play ahead by just 37 runs with eight wickets in hand.
     First innings centurion Marlon Samuels, who generated considerable media attention for his saluting send-off of all-rounder Ben Stokes following his dismissal late on the third day, will resume on the last morning on 22 alongside Brathwaite.
     Known for his stodgy defiance, Brathwaite actually outscored the more flamboyant Darren Bravo for much of their 142-run second-wicket partnership.
     However he returned to his cocoon of circumspection after the left-hander fell for 69 to a catch at the wicket off fast bowler Stuart Broad in the final session.
     With Samuels calm and composed at 

Ton-up Brathwaite nudges Windies ahead

UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council he sees slim chances for success in the latest round of talks next month to end the internecine conflict, diplomats said.
	During closed discussions with the 15-member council yesterday, de Mistura acknowledged that the "odds and conditions for launching a political transition are no better now than six months ago" and the Damascus regime and opposition forces aren't showing "much new willingness to negotiate" in the four-year war.
	But "the UN remains convinced about the necessity to revive a political solution," he said, according to diplomats.
	The mediator explained that he will hold separate consultations with the parties in May to probe the positions of the Syrian regime, the opposition and civil society groups, and see if they are ready for negotiations based on the Geneva statement.
	The Geneva statement is a plan signed by major powers in June 2012 as a political settlement for the conflict following international 

UN envoy sees slim chances for success of Syria talks

Greece's parliament has adopted a controversial decree ordering all public institutions to hand over their cash reserves to the central bank to help Athens meet its financial obligations.
	The decree was adopted by the ruling Syriza party and its junior partner ANEL by 156 votes in favour and 104 against in a noisy debate.
	The decree says the reserves will be used to cover "the state's urgent needs, which amount to three billion euros over the next 15 days".
	As talks bog down between Athens and its international creditors to unlock 7.2 billion euros (USD 7.7 billion) in bailout funds, the cash-strapped leftwing government last week moved to call in reserves, triggering a wave of anger.
	The measure will require some 1,400 public institutions -- including hospitals and universities -- to hand over their reserves to help pay civil servants' wages and debt servicing costs.
	It underlines the urgency of the cash crunch faced by Athens and heightened fears that Greece was lurching closer 

Greek parliament okays controversial cash reserve transfer

Auschwitz survivor and two-time Polish foreign minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski has died at the age of 93, his biographer said.
	Bartoszewski, who was held prisoner at the Nazi-German death camp because of his wartime resistance activities, died yesterday in Warsaw, according to friend and biographer Michal Komar.
	Government spokeswoman Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska announced earlier yesterday that he had been hospitalised.
	"It's a very sad day for us," European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, tweeted in tribute.
	Bartoszewski helped Jews during the war and was later jailed by Poland's post-war communist regime before going on to become the country's top diplomat after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
	Considered a moral authority in Poland, Bartoszewski spent his whole life trying to bring Jews, Poles and Germans together -- three groups fiercely divided by World War II.
	Bartoszewski was a historian, "but he also made history," according to Father Adam ..

Polish ex-foreign minister Bartoszewski dies at 93

A day after revealing that the United States killed two Western hostages in a botched operation against Al-Qaeda, a mournful President Barack Obama assembled intelligence staff to pay tribute to their work and patriotism.
	"There may be those outside who question or challenge what we do," a resolute Obama told officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as he addressed the deaths of 73-year-old American Warren Weinstein and 39-year-old Italian Giovanni Lo Porto.
	"But I know what you do," he said. "We are more secure because of your service. We are more secure because of your patriotism and your professionalism."
	Obama has appeared publicly to take "full responsibility" for the two men's deaths, which officials suggested was a result of a drone strike on an Al-Qaeda compound in Pakistan in January.
	"It's hard," Obama admitted. "We all bleed when we lose an American life. We all grieve when any innocent life is taken.
	"We don't take this work lightly. And I know 

Obama rallies intelligence staff after botched strike

An Algerian jihadist sympathiser arrested in connection with a thwarted attack on a church in France was charged with terror-related murder today after five days of police questioning.
	Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 24, was taken into custody Sunday after he accidentally shot himself in the leg, a fluke occurrence that led to police uncovering an alleged plot to attack at least one church in the town of Villejuif, just south of Paris.
	Ghlam, who remains in a Paris hospital recovering from the gunshot wound, was charged with "murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and criminal conspiracy, a source close to the case told AFP, adding that he was due to go before a judge on a prosecution request he be remanded into custody.
	Police say they found an arsenal of weapons, tactical gear and cellphones in Ghlam's car and student flat, but one of the suspect's lawyers said today he denies "vigorously all the accusations against him."
	Investigator say they uncovered detailed 

AFP

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