Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt agreed today on the formation of a joint military force, the Arab League's chief and the Egyptian foreign minister said.
	   The plan forms part of a draft resolution to be submitted to Arab leaders at a weekend summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
	   The ministers "agreed on an important principle, to establish the force", Arab League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi told a news conference.
	   "This is the first time that a force will be created and work under the name of Arab states," he said, describing the move as "historic".
	   Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the agreement was unanimous.
	   The rapid response force envisaged by the Arab League will work to counter "terrorists", Arabi told AFP in a recent interview.
	   The issue has been brought to the fore by Saudi-led air strikes overnight Wednesday against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen.
	   Other Arab states in the Gulf and Egypt have said they are ...

Arab foreign ministers agree on joint military force

PTI Automatic

The leader of the US Congress has invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make a landmark address to American lawmakers on April 29, House Speaker John Boehner said today.
	"Prime Minister Abe will become the first Japanese leader to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress, and we are proud to host this historic event," Boehner said in a statement.
	"His address will provide an opportunity for the American people to hear from one of our closest allies about ways we can expand our cooperation on economic and security priorities," Boehner said, including "working together to open markets and encourage more economic growth through free trade."
	Few Japanese politicians have ever addressed Congress, and none have done so in a coveted joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives.
	Prime minister Nobusuke Kishi addressed the US House on June 20, 1957, while prime minister Hayato Ikeda did so almost exactly four years later, according to congressional ...

Japan PM Abe invited to address US Congress April 29

Afghanistan may have one of the worst reputations in the world for women's rights in the world but its leader joked in New York today that Afghans may elect a female president before the United States.
	President Ashraf Ghani could not resist the throwaway quip -- just weeks before Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her bid for the White House in 2016 -- while addressing a think tank.
	Referring to efforts to crack down on corruption, Ghani said he wanted to be a bridge to a new generation of well-educated leaders, including "the first woman president of Afghanistan."
	"Leaving aside questions of first women presidents," interjected host Robert Rubin, co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, to which Ghani quipped: "We may accomplish it before you!"
	The Afghan leader then broke into a chuckle, met with laughter and applause from the audience, at his latest appearance as part of a maiden visit as president to the United States.
	Due to quotas introduced after the 2001 US-led 

Ghani jokes Afghanistan may beat US to woman president

Iran's president today appealed to the leaders of Britain, France and Russia to seize an "exceptional opportunity" to strike a nuclear deal, as negotiators raced against the clock in Switzerland.
	"We are acting in the national and international interest and we should not lose this exceptional opportunity," Hassan Rouhani told British Prime Minister David Cameron by phone, the presidency said.
	Rouhani, whose 2013 election led to the biggest effort in years to end the decade-old standoff over Iran's nuclear activities, also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and France's Francois Hollande.
	"Hope was expressed for success at the new round of talks in Lausanne," the Kremlin said in a statement, while noting with "satisfaction the progress" made over previous weeks of talks.
	Hollande, "while insisting on Iran's legitimate right to use peaceful nuclear power, insisted on the need to work towards a lasting, robust and verifiable agreement," the French presidency said.
	But ...

Iran's Rouhani in diplomatic drive to push nuclear deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's military intervention today in Yemen and urged all countries in the region to stay out of their neighbour's internal affairs.
	"Interference by foreign militaries is very dangerous and deepens the crisis," Rouhani said, during a phone call with French President Francois Hollande.
	He insisted the "solution to Yemen's problems is not military," the presidency said.
	Saudi Arabia's air strikes on Shiite rebels in Yemen triggered fury from Iran Thursday, with officials warning the military action threatened to spill over into other countries.
	During a separate telephone conversation with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Rouhani referred to "this morning's military aggression and condemned all military intervention in the internal affairs of independent nations," his website said.

Iran president condemns military intervention in Yemen

Yemen's embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi arrived today in Riyadh, which is leading a coalition against Shiite rebels threatening his rule, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
	   He was received at an airbase by Saudi Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is overseeing the military operation by nearly a dozen countries against the Huthi Shiites.
	   Hadi's whereabouts had been unknown since the Huthi rebels and their allies closed in on his refuge in the main southern city of Aden this week.
	   Yemen's acting foreign minister, Riyad Yassin, told reporters in Cairo that Hadi would take part in a two-day Arab summit starting Saturday in Egypt.

Yemen president lands in Saudi capital

Twitter today launched its streaming video application Periscope, a move that could dampen enthusiasm for the rising online rival Meerkat.
	The Periscope app, like Meerkat, allows anyone to stream live video to a wide audience with their smartphone.
	The new app "lets you share and experience live video from your mobile phone" and is "a perfect complement to Twitter, which is why we acquired the company in January," Twitter's Kevin Weil said in a blog post.
	The Periscope team outlined a range of possibilities for the service, including how it can turn any smartphone user into a global reporter.
	"What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine? Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia?" the Periscope team blog said.
	"It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation. While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video."
	The ...

Twitter launches Meerkat-killer app Periscope

Saudi Arabia's interior minister today ordered security measures strengthened along its borders and across the kingdom, including at oil facilities, as Riyadh led air strikes against Shiite rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
	The minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, vowed that the OPEC kingpin will "act firmly" against any attempts to undermine the kingdom's security, according to a statement published by the official SPA news agency.
	The statement came after Nayef chaired a meeting of security chiefs to discuss "developments in light of the military operations" in Yemen and "security measures needed to face them," it said.
	Nayef ordered the "strengthening of all security measures along the kingdom's borders and at all public, oil and industrial facilities."
	Saudi Arabia is the world's top oil exporter and has borders with Yemen, where its warplanes began an offensive overnight against the Shiite Huthi rebels, backed by Iran which lies just across the Gulf.
	Riyadh is also taking part ..

Saudi boosts security nationwide amid Yemen operation

Morocco has joined the Saudi-led military coalition that has intervened to support Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in his fight against Iran-backed Shiite rebels, the foreign ministry said today.
	Rabat has "put at the disposition" of the coalition Moroccan warplanes already based in the United Arab Emirates, from which they have been participating in US-led strikes against the Islamic State group, a statement said.
	Morocco had "decided to provide all forms of support to the coalition to sustain legitimacy in Yemen through the political, intelligence, logistical and military dimensions," the statement added.
	The objective was to help "remove Yemen from the crisis in which it is mired," as well as to "stand up to all foreign conspiracies woven against the country, and against Gulf and Arab security."
	The ministry pointed out that Morocco has a "multidimensional strategic partnership" with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups the six Gulf monarchies, including Saudi ...

Morocco joins Saudi coalition in Yemen: ministry

US President Barack Obama will host Pope Francis at the White House on September 23, accepting an invitation extended during talks at the Vatican last year.
	The White House said the president and the pope will continue a dialogue about poverty, the environment, immigration and promoting religious freedom.
	"The president looks forward to continuing this conversation with the Holy Father during his first visit to the United States as pope," a statement said.
	The 78-year-old leader of the world's Roman Catholics confirmed late last year that he would visit the United States to take part in a Catholic Church congress in Philadelphia.
	During the trip, he will also address the United Nations in New York and become the first pontiff to address the US Congress.
	Obama and Francis met for the first time at the Vatican in March last year in talks clouded by disagreements over provisions for contraception included in the US leader's landmark health care reforms.
	Obama has regularly spoken ..

Obama to host Pope Francis on September 23

US Drug Enforcement Administration agents have admitted attending orgies with prostitutes they should have known were hired by a drug cartel, the Justice Department revealed today.
	According to a broad report commissioned into the behavior of federal agents, seven of 10 officers who were accused of taking part in the parties confessed and were disciplined.
	The 138-page Justice Department report does not say where the parties took place, but the Washington Post cited an official identifying the location as Colombia.
	There, a local police officer working with US colleagues sent to help fight the war on drugs "arranged 'sex parties' with prostitutes funded by the local drug cartels for these DEA agents at their government-leased quarters, over a period of several years.
	"Although some of the DEA agents participating in these parties denied it, the information in the case file suggested they should have known the prostitutes in attendance were paid with cartel funds," it said.
	It ...

US anti-drug agents went to cartel-funded 'sex parties': govt

China dismissed Japanese concerns about its defence spending as "ridiculous" today after Tokyo commissioned its biggest-ever helicopter carrier.
	Both sides are boosting their military budgets as they grow increasingly wary of each other's ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region, facing off over a maritime territorial dispute and how to interpret Japan's motivations and actions during World War II.
	Japan is uneasy about what it sees as China's growing assertiveness, including through regular double-digit increases in its defence spending, and on Wednesday commissioned its biggest warship since World War II, the helicopter carrier Izumo.
	The 248-metre Japanese-built vessel can carry nine helicopters and is aimed at beefing up Tokyo's maritime defences in the East China Sea.
	In 2012, China commissioned its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and has said its plans more.
	Tokyo has repeatedly called on Beijing to be more transparent about its military outlays but Chinese foreign ...

China hits out at Japan over defence spending worries

Warplanes from a Saudi-led Arab coalition bombed Huthi Shiite rebels today in support of Yemen's embattled president, as regional rival Iran warned the intervention was a "dangerous" move.
	Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, on the eve of a regional summit in Egypt, declared his full support for the strikes against the Huthis who he said had carried out a "coup" in Yemen.
	The rebels and their allies had been closing in on main southern city Aden, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has been holed up since fleeing the rebel-controlled capital Sanaa last month.
	Their advance raised Saudi fears that the Shiite minority rebels would seize control of the whole of its Sunni-majority neighbour and take it into the orbit of Shiite Iran.
	Tehran condemned the Saudi-led intervention as "a dangerous step" that violated "international responsibilities and national sovereignty".
	Huge explosions were heard in Sanaa as warplanes pounded an air base adjacent to the international airport and ...

Saudi strikes Yemen rebels as Iran warns of 'dangerous step'

The head of Lufthansa said today there were no clues to what led the co-pilot of a jet operated by its subsidiary Germanwings to deliberately crash the plane.
	Carsten Spohr, chief executive of the German carrier, said he was "stunned" by findings that 28-year-old Andreas Lubitz appeared to have deliberately slammed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps.
	All 150 people on board were killed in Tuesday's crash.
	He told a news conference shortly after French officials gave an account of the flight's last minutes based on initial information gleaned from cockpit recordings that there was "no indication what might have led" to the young co-pilot's actions.
	"In our worst nightmares we could not have imagined that this kind of tragedy could happen to us here at the company," Spohr said.
	Cockpit employees are selected "very, very carefully" with much attention paid to their "psychological suitability", the Lufthansa chief, himself a former pilot, added.
	Lubitz began his training in 2008 ..

No indication of co-pilot's motives: Lufthansa chief

Uganda said today it was boosting security over threats by Somalia's Shebab militants, after the US embassy in Kampala warned its citizens of a possible imminent terror attack.
	In an emergency warning, the US mission in Kampala said it had "received information of possible terrorist threats to locations where Westerners, including US citizens, congregate in Kampala, and that an attack may take place soon".
	"Out of an abundance of caution, the US mission has cancelled some non-essential events scheduled at local hotels in the coming days," the embassy warning said, telling US citizens they "should expect increased security sweeps and delays when entering or exiting hotel areas".
	Ugandan defence spokesman Paddy Ankunda said the warning was "absolutely" linked to the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, who carried out twin bombings in Kampala in 2010, killing 76 people, but who have been thwarted in their attempts to carry out subsequent attacks in Uganda.
	Uganda's police chief Kale Kayihura .

Uganda boosts security after US attack warning

Washington's opposition to a new China-led development bank is "embarrassing" and "idiotic", a former top Goldman Sachs executive said today, as an increasing number of US allies embrace the institution.
	Jim O'Neill, former chief economist at the US investment bank and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, made the comments about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) during a visit to Beijing.
	The US has lobbied hard against the USD 50 billion project, but its efforts have not stopped powerful allies including Britain, Germany, France and Italy signing up, with Australia and South Korea considering joining.
	"I certainly applaud the UK authorities for the decision they've made. I'd call it 'enlightened self-interest'," said O'Neill, who is known for having coined the BRIC acronym to refer to emerging powers Brazil, Russia, India and China.
	"If you are a small, open economy, and you want to do things that are right for you, why would you not do that?" he added.
	"I ..

'US stance against China-led bank 'embarrassing''

World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo said today efforts are intensifying to end more than a decade of stalemate in negotiations for global trade liberalisation.
	"The negotiations are changing gears, very visibly, very clearly," Azevedo told reporters in Geneva.
	The WTO launched the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2001, with the stated aim of underpinning development in poorer nations.
	The talks have repeatedly faltered, but the organisation's 160 members have given themselves until the end of July to agree on a way forward by finalising a work programme for the negotiations.
	Azevedo said member countries up until the end of last year had simply been identifying problems and restating their positions and concerns.
	"That clearly changed," he said: "Right now you will see a number of delegations exploring new approaches... Proposals are being put on the table."
	He stressed "that doesn't mean yet that we are converging. We're still putting things on the table ..

WTO chief says negotiations on trade deal 'changing gears'

China faces a million deaths a year from antibiotic-resistant superbugs and a loss of USD 20 trillion by 2050, an economist and former top Goldman Sachs executive said today.
	Beijing should "take ownership" of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) when it hosts the G20 summit next year, said Jim O'Neill, the leader of a British government-commissioned review on the subject.
	"Here is an issue that doesn't distinguish between religion, colour, race," he said. "Whether you're Sunni or Shiite, you're going to get killed by AMR if we don't do something about it."
	O'Neill, former chief economist at the US investment bank and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said that the threat put "China's remarkable economic performance in the last decade and its enormous future potential" in jeopardy.
	"Drug-resistant infections could cost the Chinese economy 20 trillion USD by 2050, and even more shockingly, cause an additional 1 million deaths per year," he said.
	The review, announced last ...

Superbugs could kill a million Chinese a year: economist

Details emerged today about the co-pilot who French authorities say "deliberately" initiated the descent of the Germanwings flight that crashed this week, killing all 150 people on board.
	The 28-year-old German, Andreas Lubitz, had worked for Germanwings, a Lufthansa subisidiary, since September 2013, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said today.
	He qualified as a pilot at the Lufthansa training centre in the northern city of Bremen and began flying for Germanwings immediately after completing the course. He had 630 hours of flight experience, she said.
	Lubitz was from the western town of Montabaur and lived with his parents there while keeping a flat in Duesseldorf, a Germanwings hub and the city for which the doomed flight from Barcelona was bound, Montabaur mayor Gabriele Wieland told national news agency, DPA.
	French prosecutor Brice Robin said Lubitz was "not known by us" to have links to terrorism or extremists, and that German authorities are expected to provide additional ...

Germanwings co-pilot lived with parents, avid runner

England's slain King Richard III, exhumed from an undignified grave under a car park, was today finally buried with honour, 530 years after his death on the battlefield.
	In a ceremony filled with pageantry and poignancy, a coffin containing his bones were lowered into the ground at Leicester Cathedral in central England as thousands of well-wishers gathered outside.
	"We return the bones of your servant Richard to the grave," Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England, said in a prayer.
	Many of those outside the cathedral, which was draped in Richard's personal standard, were clutching white roses, the symbol of the former king's House of York dynasty.
	"I feel he was badly treated at the time of his death and all through history," said May Doherty, a 62-year-old pensioner from Coleraine in Northern Ireland who was dressed in full medieval costume.
	"We believe he was innocent and this is the burial he deserved. This is a once in a lifetime .

England's Richard III gets burial fit for a king

The young co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps after locking his captain out of the cockpit, but is not believed to be part of a terrorist plot, French officials said today.
	The 28-year-old co-pilot "deliberately" initiated the plane's descent, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told a press conference in which he revealed the details of recordings made by the Airbus' cockpit flight recorder in the final minutes before the crash that killed all 150 aboard.
	"The co-pilot is alone at the controls," Robin said. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane."
	There was no immediate clue to the motive of the co-pilot, but investigators appeared to rule out terrorism.
	"At this moment, there is no indication that this is an act of terrorism," Robin said, adding that the co-pilot, identified as Andreas Lubitz, had no known terrorist connection. "He was not known to .

AFP

AFP

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