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 ...

Maldives jails ex-defence minister for 11 years

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Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is close to the country's Shiite Huthi rebels, called today for a ceasefire and the resumption of UN-brokered dialogue between warring parties.
	In a statement, Saleh urged a simultaneous halt in military operations in Yemen by a Saudi-led Arab coalition and by the rebels, and for dialogue to take place in the United Arab Emirates.
	He called for "an immediate cessation of military operations by the coalition" and "a simultaneous immediate stop" to operations by the Huthis, as well as a halt to looting of public buildings and army camps.
	Saleh also proposed a "resumption of dialogue... Under the sponsorship of the United Nations, and its transfer to the United Arab Emirates or a UN building" aimed at negotiating a solution to the crisis.
	 Saleh, who stepped down in 2012 following a year of protests, is accused of allying with the Huthis, relying on the loyalty of many army units that he built during his three-decade rule.
	The ...

Ex-president Saleh calls for Yemen ceasefire: statement

US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel today urged Iran to take the final steps needed to bring long-running nuclear talks to a successful conclusion.
	"Iran must make the decisions necessary to resolve several remaining issues," the White House said, in a statement released after the two leaders spoke by telephone.
	They pressed for a "long term comprehensive deal."
	Senior officials from six countries, including Germany and the United States, are holding talks with Iran ahead of an end of March 31 deadline for an interim deal.
	A number of major issues appear yet to be resolved, including the phasing out of sanctions and inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.
	The deal would see Iran curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief that could provide a much-needed economic boost.

Iran must make decisions to advance nuclear talks: Obama,

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call today agreed a possible meeting of foreign ministers Sunday at the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland, the Russian foreign ministry said.
	"An agreement was reached on the possibility of holding a meeting on March 29 in Lausanne of the foreign ministers of the six powers acting as international mediators and Iran," the ministry said in a statement on its website.
	Kerry and Lavrov discussed the "work on a universal agreement on resolving the situation around the Iranian nuclear programme" and noted the "closeness of the positions of Russia and the United States on many aspects of this process," the ministry said.
	Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier Friday that there was a possibility that Lavrov would attend the talks but a decision had not yet been taken, quoted by TASS news agency.

Kerry, Lavrov agree possible meeting of Iran talks foreign

Eight children were wounded on today, one severely, when a cluster bomb from the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah exploded in south Lebanon, security and medical officials said.
	During the war, Israel dropped more than four million cluster bombs on south Lebanon in violation of international humanitarian law.
	Since 2006, hundreds of civilians have been killed by the delayed detonation of these weapons.
	"Eight children, aged between six and eight years old, were wounded when a cluster bomb left over from the 2006 war exploded in the town of Zebqin, in the region of Tyre," the security official said.
	"One child was wounded in the head and is in critical condition in the operating theatre," said an employee at the Lebanese-Italian hospital in Tyre, where the children were taken.
	"We were having a picnic next to a river in Zebqin and on the way back, my friend stepped on a device that exploded, and we were all hit," six-year-old Hussein Bazzi told AFP.
	Since 2006, more than 400 

8 children wounded by cluster bomb in south Lebanon

Apple chief Tim Cook is joining Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and other technology titans who have vowed to donate their wealth to charities, according to a report in Fortune magazine.
	"You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change," Cook was quoted as saying in a Fortune story focused on how he has brought his own winning style of leadership to the iconic California company more than three years ago.
	Cook plans to give away his entire fortune, after setting money aside to pay for a 10-year-old nephew's college education, according to the Fortune article available online Friday and to appear in a printed version of the magazine due out at the start of April.
	His net worth was estimated at about USD 120 million, based on the amount of Apple stock he owns. Cook also owns restricted shares that could be worth USD 665 million if they become fully vested.
	Cook told Fortune that he has been donating money discreetly, but intends to adopt a more systematic ...

Apple chief Cook to give his wealth away: Fortune

Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed rebel camps in Yemen today in a second straight day of strikes as embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi arrived in Egypt for talks with Arab allies.
	A months-long rebellion by Shiite fighters has escalated into a regional conflict that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
	Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do "whatever it takes" to prevent the fall of its ally Hadi, accusing Shiite Iran of "aggression" and backing the Huthi rebels' power grab.
	At least 39 civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Huthis and their allies, officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in the capital said.
	Twelve died when surrounding residential areas were hit in a raid on a military base north of the city, the officials told AFP.
	Three dawn strikes Friday hit the rebel-held presidential compound in south Sanaa, witnesses said.
	Warplanes also bombed a ...

Saudi pounds Yemen rebel camps, Arab allies gather

Europe was set to launch two navigation satellites today for its rival to America's GPS, the first additions to the Galileo constellation since a technical mishap misdirected two orbiters last year.
	Galileo's seventh and eighth satellites are set to lift off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 2146 GMT on a Russian Soyuz rocket -- the same type that malfunctioned last August.
	"We are fully ready for the launch tonight," Galileo programme director Didier Faivre told journalists in a conference call from Kourou nine hours before liftoff.
	The mission should last three hours and 47 minutes in total -- it will take nine minutes to cast off the first three stages of the rocket before the fourth continues on its own steam.
	The multi-billion-euro satellite navigation and search and rescue system will ultimately consist of 30 orbiters, and is set to become fully operational by 2020.
	But it has encountered a long series of technical hitches, delays and budget ...

Europe poised to launch navigation satellites after mishap

The Singapore government late today ordered mourners to stay off a congested field near parliament for safety reasons as tens of thousands paid their last respects to former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
	Outnumbered police officers were turning away mourners at the City Hall metro station next to the Padang, an open field where the mourners were queueing to enter the legislature.
	"The Padang queue is closed for public safety. Please go back home," a police officer said using a loudhailer.
	A government statement said that as of 11 pm, more than 290,000 people had paid their respects to Lee since his casket was brought to parliament's main lobby on Wednesday after a private family wake.
	The city-state has a population of 5.5 million but only 3.34 million are citizens. The rest are guest workers, expatriates and their families.
	Thousands more were massed in long, snaking lines, packed like cattle at some points, despite waiting times of up to 10 hours.
	The statement said that ...

Access to Lee's public wake restricted over safety fears

A film inspired by the sex scandal that ended Dominique Strauss-Kahn's career comes out in the United States on today, but in a doctored version that has enraged the director.
	"It's an arbitrary censorship," American director Abel Ferrara told The New York Times. "The illegal version... totally changes the political content of the film," he added.
	The movie "Welcome to New York" is widely seen as a fictionalized account of the downfall of the former IMF boss once tipped as the future president of France.
	It stars Gerard Depardieu as a man called Georges Devereaux with striking similarities to Strauss-Kahn, whose alleged 2011 sexual assault on a hotel maid in New York shook the world.
	The director said he will take legal action over the modified release, which in the United States is distributed by IFC Films, trade journal the Hollywood Reporter said.
	The modified film is 15 minutes shorter than the original, the rape scene is also recast as a flashback and takes place from the ...

DSK-inspired movie on US release, but in edited format

Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer, who won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature, has died at the age of 83, his publishing house Bonniers said today.
	Transtroemer, who suffered a stroke in 1990 which affected his ability to speak, wrote poems full of imagery that addressed nature, history and death.
	He has been called a master of mysticism, who often presented a dream-like consciousness in which time slows to allow for dissection of the relationship between the inner self and the surrounding world.
	"Most of Transtroemer's poetry collections are characterised by economy, concreteness and poignant metaphors. In his latest collections... Transtroemer has shifted towards an even smaller format and a higher degree of concentration," the Nobel jury said when it honoured him.
	His books of poetry include "The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems" (New Directions, 2006), "The Half-Finished Heaven" (2001); "New Collected Poems" (1997); "For the Living and the Dead" (1995); "Baltics" (1975); ...

2011 Nobel literature laureate Tomas Transtroemer dies

At least 21 Yemeni Shiite rebels were killed today when residents in a tribal southern region opened fire at their vehicles, a local official and witnesses told AFP.
	The Huthi rebels, who are also facing Saudi-led air strikes, were travelling in three vehicles from Lahj province towards Aden, the southern stronghold of embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, when they were ambushed.
	The attack took place just 15 kilometres north of Aden, where tensions were high on Friday as the rebels clashed with the "popular committees" -- an anti-Huthi militia controlling parts of the city, security officials and residents said.
	At least eight people were killed in clashes around Aden airport, where the Shiite militiamen were deployed on the runway, security and medical sources said.
	The popular committees used rocks and tree branches to block entrances to some Aden neighbourhoods, as shops remained shut for the second day in a row, after Arab coalition air strikes began on Thursday, ...

Tribes kill 21 Shiite rebels in south Yemen: local official

Iraq's volunteer Popular Mobilisation units, which had played a leading role in the ongoing assault on Tikrit, are freezing their participation in offensive operations, commanders said today.
	The organisation -- called Hashed Shaabi in Arabic -- had repeatedly voiced its opposition to the involvement of the United States, which launched its first air strikes on Tikrit Wednesday.
	Several commanders from the Badr organisation, a militia whose leader Hadi al-Ameri is a senior figure in the Hashed Shaabi, said the group was pulling back but not out of the operation.
	"We consider this a break until the coalition issue is resolved," one commander, who gave his name as Baqir, told AFP in Awja, just south of Tikrit.
	The Hashed Shaabi account for the bulk of the various government and allied forces who have been trying, since March 2, to dislodge diehard Islamic State militants holed up in the centre of Tikrit.
	Another Badr commander confirmed the pullback, which he said was a result of ..

Iraq paramilitaries decide Tikrit pullback: commanders

Arab coalition warplanes bombed rebel camps in Yemen today in a second straight day of strikes led by Saudi Arabia, which accused Iran of "aggression" across the region.
	   A months-long rebellion by Shiite fighters has escalated into a regional conflict that threatens to tear apart the impoverished state at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
	   Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has vowed to do "whatever it takes" to prevent the fall of its ally President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, accusing Shiite Iran of backing the Huthi rebels' power grab.
	   At least 39 civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Huthis, officials at the rebel-controlled health ministry in the capital said.
	   Twelve died when surrounding residential areas were hit in a raid on a military base north of the city, the officials told AFP.
	   Three dawn strikes Friday hit the presidential compound in south Sanaa which the rebels seized last month, witnesses said.
	   Warplanes ...

Saudi pounds Yemen rebel camps, lashes out at Iran

Supporters of gay rights united in outrage today after Indiana adopted a law that critics say would enable businesses in the Midwestern state to deny services to homosexuals on religious grounds.
	Governor Mike Pence signed Senate Bill 101 on Thursday at a closed-door ceremony attended by Catholic nuns, orthodox Jews and social-conservative lobbyists.
	"It is vitally important to protect religious freedom in Indiana," the Republican governor said in a statement.
	"It was therefore important to pass Senate Bill 101 in 2015 in order to help protect churches, Christian businesses and individuals from those who want to punish them because of their Biblical beliefs!"
	The law, which takes effect July 1, makes no mention of gays or lesbians, and Pence said that if it was discriminatory, he would never would have signed it.
	 But activists say it effectively makes it legal for Indiana businesses whose owners reject homosexuality on religious grounds to turn away LGBT customers.
	"They've ...

Indiana religious freedom law triggers gay rights fury

A nuclear deal with Iran is possible but Tehran must make "new efforts" to clinch agreement, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said today.
	"We wish to have an agreement and it is possible, but there has to be new progress," Fabius told reporters at UN headquarters ahead of his trip to Lausanne to join the talks now in their final stretch.
	"There has to be new efforts from our Iranian partners."
	The negotiations in Lausanne are aimed at agreeing by Tuesday the contours of a deal that world powers hope will thwart any Iranian drive to develop nuclear weapons.
	Iran has repeatedly denied that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
	Fabius suggested that the March 31 deadline was not final, saying "the important thing is the content, not the deadline."
	"There has been some progress," he added. "There are still things that have to be solved."
	The foreign minister called for a "robust agreement" that sets out clear requirements on Iran to allow transparency of its program and ..

Iran nuclear deal 'possible' but 'new efforts' needed:Fabius

Israel will release to the Palestinian Authority tax funds it collects on its behalf and withheld as punishment for its move to join the International Criminal Court, the premier's office said today.
	"Tax revenues that have been accumulated through February will be transferred, after payments for services to the Palestinian population have been deducted, including electricity, water and hospital bills," a statement said.
	Israel froze the transfer on January 2, after the Palestinians moved to join the ICC, where they would be able to sue Israeli officials.
	The decision comes 10 days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected and subsequently chosen to form the next government.
	The Palestinians formally become members of the ICC and can proceed with legal action there.
	According to the statement, the decision to release the funds was based on "humanitarian concerns and in overall consideration of Israel's interests at this time," among other factors.
	"Given the ...

Israel to release tax funds to Palestinians: PM's office

France plans to begin talks at the United Nations on a new Security Council resolution to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said today.
	Fabius told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that discussions on a text would start "in the coming days."
	The Security Council in December rejected a resolution that would have set a deadline for reaching a final peace deal and pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.
	The United States had voted against the measure but was spared from resorting to its veto after eight council members including France voted yes, one vote short of the nine needed for adoption.
	 "I hope the partners that were reluctant will be less reluctant," Fabius said.
	"It is necessary to move forward to have a solution to this problem," he added.
	The French move came a day after UN envoy Robert Serry told the Security Council that it should step in to present a "framework for negotiations, including parameters" to ..

France to launch new UN push for Israel-Palestinian resolution

Beijing escalated its war of words with the Philippines over the South China Sea today, decrying Manila as "hypocritical" for criticising its land reclamation works in the area.
	Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying's denunciation came one day after the Philippine foreign secretary accused Beijing of "accelerating its expansionist agenda" and maintained that Manila would resume its own construction in the South China Sea.
	"The Philippines criticised China's normal construction on our own islands, but in the meantime it claims to resume its construction, such as airstrips on Chinese islands it has illegally occupied," Hua said at a regular briefing.
	"This does not only violate China's territorial sovereignty but also reveals (the Philippines') hypocritical nature," she added.
	Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the resource-rich sea, even areas approaching the coasts of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations, based on a 1940s Chinese map .

Philippines 'hypocritical' on South China Sea: Beijing

Microsoft said today the number of global law enforcement requests for user data fell in 2014 as the tech giant renewed its call for surveillance reforms.
	In its twice-yearly "transparency report," Microsoft said the total number of law enforcement requests received in the second half of the year was 31,002, bringing to the total for the year to 65,496 -- down from 72,279 a year earlier.
	Some 70 per cent of the requests came from five countries -- the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Turkey, the report said.
	Microsoft deputy counsel John Frank said in a statement that while law enforcement authorities sometimes need to access data to protect the public, "access should be governed by the rule of law, and not by mandating back doors or weakening the security of our products and services."
	He said revelations about vast government surveillance programs underscore a need for reforms in the United States and more clarity in international agreements on cross-border data ...

Microsoft says data requests down, reforms needed

Thailand's junta chief today said he was considering lifting martial law, but only after passing a new order to replace it.
	Speaking to reporters during a trip to the beachside resort of Hua Hin, former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said he had already drawn up a replacement provision.
	"I have prepared for it already to be used after the martial law," he said.
	"If I lift the martial law, you all will know," he added.
	It is the first time Prayut has indicated a potential lifting of martial law, which bans political gatherings of more than five people and outlaws criticism of the junta.
	Critics, businesses and Thailand's western allies have called for martial law to be lifted.
	It was imposed two days before the military takeover that followed the ousting of Yingluck Shinawatra's democratically elected government after months of often violent street protests.
	But Prayut did not elaborate on what the new order would look like.
	Under the interim charter the ...

AFP

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