UN staff were evacuated from Yemen's capital today after a third night of Saudi-led air strikes, as President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi urged his Arab allies to bomb Iranian-backed rebels into submission.
	The deeply tribal and impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, on the front line of the US battle against Al-Qaeda, is the scene of the latest emerging proxy struggle between Middle East powers.
	An Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies, is battling to avoid having a pro-Iran regime on its doorstep, as Shiite Huthi rebels tighten the noose around Hadi's southern stronghold.
	"I call for this operation to continue until this gang surrenders and withdraws from all locations it has occupied in every province," Hadi told a regional summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
	"I say to Iran's puppet and whoever is with him, you are the one who destroyed Yemen with your political immaturity," Hadi said.
	Hadi later flew to Saudi Arabia with King Salman 

UN staff flee Yemen as Hadi urges decisive campaign

PTI Automatic

Russia today announced initial plans to build a new orbital space station together with NASA to replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is set to operate until 2024.
	Russia and NASA recently agreed to keep operating and financing the ISS until 2024, but future joint space projects have remained in doubt, as relations between Russia and the US have plunged to post-Cold War lows over the Ukraine conflict.
	"Roscosmos together with NASA will work on the programme of a future orbital station," the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, Igor Komarov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
	Komarov made the announcement flanked by NASA administrator Charles Bolden at Russia's Baikonur launchpad in Kazakhstan.
	"We agreed that the group of countries taking part in the ISS project will work on the future project of a new orbital station," Komarov said.
	The Russian space chief said that the project to build the new station would be "open" and could include countries that are not 

Russia announces plan to build new space station with NASA

A series of heavy explosions at an arms depot rocked Yemen's second city Aden today, causing casualties, witnesses said.
	The blasts were heard across the city and plumes of smoke were seen rising from the depot, where looting by residents had broken out a day earlier, an AFP correspondent reported.
	Houses shook, many windows were shattered and several nearby buildings were destroyed after the depot blasts, residents said.
	The depot is located at the foot of Jabal Hadid, a mountain near the port of Aden.
	A large amount of weapons dating back to the Soviet era were stored in a cave.
	Troops guarding it abandoned the area this week after their commanders fled as chaos gripped the war-torn country.
	Many people were in the depot or climbing on Jabal Hadid when the explosions took place, said witnesses.
	No casualty toll was immediately available.
	President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi took refuge in Aden after fleeing the rebel-held capital last month.
	He left the southern port city this .

Heavy blasts at arms depot rock Yemen's Aden

At least two people were killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack on polling stations in northeast Nigeria today, residents and an election official told AFP.
	The attacks happened in the villages of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani in the Nafada district of Gombe state, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamists.
	An election official, who requested anonymity, said: "We could hear the gunmen shouting, 'Didn't we warn you about staying away from (the) election?'," the election official said, requesting anonymity.
	Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video message last month that the militants would disrupt the election, which they see as "un-Islamic".
	"This election will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive, Allah will not allow you to do it," he said.
	The threat and a spate of suicide attacks and bombings against "soft" targets in restive northern Nigeria have prompted the authorities to impose tight security across the country.
	The election ...

2 killed in Boko Haram attack on polling stations in Nigeria

Arab air strikes against Iranian- backed rebels in Yemen could last up to six months, Gulf diplomatic officials said today, voicing fears that they could face retaliation at home by Iran.
	Initially Saudi Arabia and its allies had anticipated a one-month air campaign but "it could last five to six months," an official said.
	He said the three-day-old campaign had been successful so far, destroying targets including 21 Scud missiles.
	He accused Iran of providing "logistical and military support" to the Shiite rebels.
	"According to estimates, there are 5,000 Iranians, (members of the pro-Tehran Lebanese movement) Hezbollah and Iraqi militia on the ground in Yemen," he added.
	It was not possible to independently verify the claim.
	Gulf diplomats said Saudi Arabia and its allies had decided to intervene after satellite imagery in late January showed the movement of Scud missiles north towards the Saudi border, with the capacity to strike a large part of the kingdom's territory.
	The ...

Yemen strikes could last six months: Gulf officials

Vandals today destroyed an improvised memorial created by supporters of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on the bridge where he was shot a month ago, the Echo of Moscow radio station reported today.
	Supporters had regularly refreshed flowers and candles on the bridge next to the Kremlin where the 55-year-old former deputy prime minister and prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin was gunned down on February 27.
	Early today, around 10 men in black clothing hurriedly stuffed flowers, photographs and candles into rubbish sacks leaving the bridge bare, a video shot from a passing car and published on social media showed. Despite the proximity to the Kremlin, police did not intervene.
	"They raked up all the old and new flowers, candles and photographs," Natalya Pelevina, a member of the liberal RPR-Parnas party that Nemtsov co-chaired, wrote on Twitter.
	"They did it all very quickly and came at 2 am. Following orders, of course. It's vile and low."
	Later today morning ...

Vandals destroy memorial to murdered Russian leader Nemtsov

Germany will hold a national memorial ceremony and service for victims of a Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, on April 17, regional authorities said today.
	The ceremony will be held at Cologne Cathedral in western Germany, a region from where many of the victims originated, and is due to be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, a spokeswoman for the regional North Rhine-Westphalia government told AFP.
	Families and friends of the victims, as well as representatives from other countries affected by Tuesday's air disaster are invited, she said, adding they also wanted to enable anyone wishing to express their condolences to take part.
	Gauck attended a memorial service yesterday for 16 pupils and two teachers from a school in the western town of Haltern, who had been flying back from an exchange trip in Spain.
	Half of the 150 people on the ill-fated flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf were German, with Spain 

Germany to hold national memorial for crash victims

Tortuous negotiations aimed at laying to rest fears Iran will get nuclear weapons moved into top gear today as both sides demanded the other give ground as a deadline loomed.
	"We're at that point in the negotiations where we really need to see decisions being made," a senior US State Department official said late yesterday at the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
	"The work is very complicated and difficult. The other side needs to choose between pressure and a political accord," countered Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
	France's top diplomat Laurent Fabius, the most hawkish in the P5+1 group of countries negotiating with Iran since late 2013, will be the first European minister to fly in for the crunch talks.
	He will join US Secretary of State John Kerry, Zarif and negotiators from the six powers, chasing an agreement on the broad outlines of a what they hope will be a historic deal by Tuesday.
	Since a major diplomatic push to resolve the long-running crisis began in 

Iran talks go into top gear in battle of wills

Italy's top court threw out Amanda Knox's conviction for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, bringing a sensational end to an eight-year legal drama that has gripped a global audience.
	   Judges at the Court of Cassation yesterday also quashed all charges against Knox's Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito after 10 hours of deliberations in Rome.
	   "I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy," Knox said in a statement from her home in Seattle.
	   The 27-year-old, who served four years in prison before being freed on appeal in 2011, added: "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal."
	   Sollecito, 31, learned of the verdict at his home in Puglia in southern Italy, where he had driven after attending the final hearing in the high court review on Friday morning.
	   "Finally I can resume my life," he said. "I still can't quite believe it. Finally I will no longer have to ...

Italy clears Knox of murder that gripped the world

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan turned up today to accredit himself and his wife Patience for his re-election bid but problems with new voting technology forced to him to temporarily abandon his plans.
	The incumbent leader, who is seeking a second term of office, arrived at his hometown polling station of Otuoke in southern Bayelsa state to begin the accreditation process.
	But handheld technology being used for the first time to "read" biometric voter identity cards apparently malfunctioned, forcing Jonathan to stand around in the scorching heat before leaving.
	The 57-year-old, whose ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised concerns about the technology and election officials' ability to use it, acknowledged that "there may be an issue".
	But he joked, "Maybe it's me?" while calling for patience.
	"If I can endure, you see my sweat? I plead with all Nigerians to be patient, no matter the pains we take," he told reporters outside the polling station.
	"It's the first ..

Nigerian president quits voting station after tech glitch

New Zealand's ruling National Party suffered a setback today when it was comprehensively beaten in a by-election in one of its safest seats.
	Winston Peters, the leader of the minor opposition party New Zealand First won the Northland by-election with a majority of 4,012.
	National had won its traditionally safe seat with a 9,000 majority in the general election six months ago.
	The successful candidate then, Mike Sabin, resigned last month amid reports he was being investigated by police.
	The by-election result has reduced the centre-right National Party to 59 seats in the 121-seat parliament but it retains a comfortable majority to govern with support of its political allies Act, United Future and the Maori Party.

New Zealand ruling party trounced in by-election

Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate seized control of most of Idlib today after government forces pulled back to bases in the heart of the main northwestern city, a monitoring group said.
	Al-Nusra Front and its Islamist allies "control the majority of neighbourhoods in Idlib, apart from government and security buildings," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
	Street fighting raged through the night after the rebels entered the government-held city yesterday evening.
	"Regime forces have retreated and are now in their barracks," Abdel Rahman said.
	Idlib province, which borders Turkey, is a bastion of Al-Nusra, with only Idlib city itself remaining under government control.
	Were the jihadists to take Idlib, it would become only the second provincial capital after Raqa - the stronghold of the Islamic State group - to fall out of government hands since the conflict erupted in 2011.
	On Tuesday, a new coalition of Islamist rebels launched a ...

Qaeda seizes 'majority' of Syria's Idlib: monitor

Russia is to sign up to the Chinese-led development bank AIIB, first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov said today at an international forum in China.
	"I'd like to inform you that Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken the decision that Russia will participate in the capital of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)," Shuvalov said at China's Boao Forum, quoted by RIA Novosti state news agency.
	The Beijing-backed AIIB, unveiled in October, is a multinational lender that the United States perceives as a threat to the Washington-led World Bank.
	It has proved highly successful with countries that are US allies, however, with Britain, Germany, France, Italy and this week South Korea all saying they intend to join the USD 50 billion (46 billion euro) bank.
	Russia has sought to align itself more closely with China in recent years and these efforts have intensified amid a freeze in relations with the Western powers, which have imposed harsh economic sanctions over Moscow's .

Russia to join China-led development bank: official

The Germanwings co-pilot who crashed his Airbus in the French Alps, killing all 150 aboard, told his ex-girlfriend that "one day everyone will know my name", according to a media report.
	In an interview, the 26-year-old flight attendant known as Maria W told German newspaper Bild that when she heard about the crash she recalled Andreas Lubitz telling her last year: "One day I'm going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember."
	The black box voice recorder indicates that Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out of the cockpit on Tuesday and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials say, in what appears to have been a case of suicide and mass killing.
	French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that all the signs were "pointing towards an act that we can't describe: criminal, crazy, suicidal".
	German prosecutors revealed that searches of Lubitz's homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness ..

Alps crash pilot told ex 'everyone will know my name': report

Polling stations opened in Nigeria today, the electoral commission said, as voters went to the polls to elect a new president in what is being seen as the closest campaign in the country's history.
	"Polling stations have opened. Accreditation has started," Independent National Electoral Commission spokesman Kayode Idowu told AFP, despite reports of delays to the 8:00 am (1230 IST) start.
	Reporters said the process had not started at some locations in Kano, Lagos and Abuja because of the late arrival of INEC officials and election materials. Voting proper is due to start at 1:30 pm local time.
	President Goodluck Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term as leader of Africa's most populous nation against a strong challenge from the main opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
	The vote has been seen as a referendum on Jonathan's record over the past four years, with an escalation in the Boko Haram insurgency and the continent's top economy hit by the global shock in oil ...

Polling stations open in Nigerian presidential election

Japan opened what organisers are billing as the world's first "Otaku" summit today, drawing  visitors from around the world as the country looks to boost the international fan base for Japanese comic books and anime.
	So-called Otaku -- usually translated as "geeks" -- from at least 18 countries and territories, many dressed as their favourite anime characters, were converging on the Otaku Expo at a convention centre near Tokyo for the two-day event.
	The Expo is part of a special comic book fair held every five years, which attracts about half a million visitors, but this year's event marks the first time that groups from outside Japan are invited. About four dozen overseas Otaku groups were expected to attend.
	Briton Katie Carter, 23, was dressed as Usagi Tsukino, a character from the popular "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon".
	"This is amazing. There are so many people of different cultures are coming together," she told AFP.
	The culture of Otaku has grown into a major industry in ...

World's first 'Otaku' summit opens in Japan

Heavy bombing shook Yemen's capital for a third night, residents said today, as Saudi-led warplanes struck Iranian-backed rebels to try to prevent the fall of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
	"It was an intense night of bombing and the windows shook," said a foreigner working for an international aid organisation in Sanaa.
	"People want to leave but there are no flights out of Yemen," she said.
	According to an AFP photographer, it was the most violent night of raids heard in the capital since the operation began late Wednesday.
	He said the bombing was felt throughout the night until dawn.
	The airstrikes apparently mainly targeted arms depots and other military facilities outside Sanaa, witnesses said.
	Saudi Arabia says more than 10 countries have joined the Arab coalition defending Hadi, who arrived in Egypt yesterday to meet Arab allies at a regional summit.
	Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do "whatever it takes" to prevent Hadi's overthrow, accusing Shiite Iran of ...

Intense bombing shakes Yemen capital: residents

Saudi warships have evacuated dozens of foreign diplomats from Yemen's main southern city Aden, state television reported today, as the kingdom leads an air war against advancing Shiite rebels.
	"Saudi naval forces carried out Operation Tornado to evacuate dozens of diplomats, including Saudis, from Aden," the television said.
	"They arrived later in Jeddah aboard two Saudi naval vessels."
	The evacuation to Saudi Arabia followed deadly fighting in Aden between supporters and opponents of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who took refuge in the port city last month after fleeing the rebel-held capital.
	Hadi arrived in Egypt yesterday for a summit with Arab allies, a day after he surfaced in Riyadh.
	He went into hiding earlier in the week as rebel forces bore down on Aden and a warplane attacked the presidential palace.
	A Saudi-led coalition has carried out three nights of air strikes against the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels and their allies to try to prevent Hadi's fall.
	The ...

Saudi navy evacuates diplomats from Yemen's Aden: TV

Alfred Nobel's last will and testament, which played a pivotal role in Swedish history by creating the now-illustrious Nobel prizes, has gone on display for the first time in Stockholm.
	Until now, only a handful of people had laid eyes on the original 1895 document that has been stashed away in a safe at the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm.
	The Nobel Museum has changed all that, putting it on public display as part of its new exhibition "Legacy".
	"The exhibition draws attention to how important it is to pass things on. The will is the centrepiece. It is a simple document, but it still today provides the basis of our work with the (Nobel) prizes," exhibition curator Karin Jonsson tells AFP.
	"The aim is to show Alfred Nobel's legacy to the public. It makes him more understandable," her colleague Gustav Kaellstrand adds.
	The Nobel prizes are "one of Sweden's biggest brands," notes a spokesman for the Swedish Institute, Sergio Guimaraes.
	The will itself is written on four yellowed ...

Nobel's will goes on display for first time

Taiwanese police today arrested 13 people who splashed red paint on the wall of the presidential residence in the latest protest against China's planned launch of a controversial new flight route.
	The protesters from the small anti-China opposition party Taiwan Solidarity Union briefly scuffled with military police guarding the residence of President Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei in the early morning.
	The demonstration came ahead of the scheduled launch of the route known as M503 over the Taiwan Strait tomorrow.
	M503 is one of four routes which would take planes over the Taiwan Strait from China's coastal province of Zhejiang and the cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen in Fujian province.
	Beijing says they are necessary to ease congestion on an existing flightpath.
	But Taiwan's authorities have slammed the unilateral move and said it poses a potential air defence threat.
	Earlier this week, protesters clashed with police as they tried to enter government buildings in two demonstrations in a row 

Taiwan arrests after protest over China flight route

The Maldives' former defence minister has been found guilty of attempting a coup and jailed for 11 years, his family and officials said, weeks after the conviction of former president Mohamed Nasheed sparked international concern.
	The controversial criminal court found Mohamed Nazim guilty of smuggling dangerous weapons into the upmarket tourist destination with the aim of toppling President Abdulla Yameen.
	Nazim's family said he had not received a fair trial following the verdict, which came out overnight Thursday and is likely to intensify fears of growing political repression in the honeymoon island nation.
	The verdict came less than two weeks after the court convicted opposition leader Nasheed under anti-terror laws for ordering the arrest of a chief judge in 2012 when he was president and sentenced him to 13 years in jail.
	"This is a verdict that neither us nor any Maldivian accepts," Nazim's family said in a statement that was copied to diplomats in Colombo.
	"We ask your ...

AFP

AFP

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