A top German league official today backed calls for a European boycott of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar over corruption allegations.
     Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seifert told the Suddeutsche Zeitung daily that a "boycott would be the most efficient arm" if Europe could unite to take on global governing body FIFA.
     "As a serious organisation, we (Germany) no longer feel represented by this FIFA, we no longer feel that we are a member," he added.
     "Seventy-five percent of the players in the World Cup are under contract in Europe and if Europe says 'we will no longer participate', then that changes everything," Seifert said.
     "FIFA could certainly suspend Germany, England, Italy and Spain for the next three World Cups but that would have no impact. Because there would be no more World Cup."
     But Seifert said a boycott could only work if Europe was united in taking such a decision "which I doubt a lot."
     But the German official attacked .

German league chief backs World Cup boycott calls

PTI Automatic

Russia today said the US-led operation against Islamic State jihadists in Syria could be a guise for trying to "surreptitiously" topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
	The comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came days ahead of scheduled Moscow talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Syrian delegation.
	"Possibly... This is not so much an operation against Islamic State as the preparation for an operation to change the regime surreptitiously under the cover of this anti-terrorist operation," Lavrov told a forum of politics experts in Moscow, quoted by TASS news agency.
	He accused the US of having "perverted logic" over Assad, saying Washington blamed the Syrian leader's regime for the flood of militants arriving in the region.
	"The Americans say that Assad's regime is a very important factor that brings terrorists to the region to try to topple him. I think this is absolutely perverted logic," Lavrov said.
	Moscow has been a staunch ally ..

Lavrov accuses US of seeking to 'surreptitiously' topple Assad

The Bank of England has opened a formal investigation into the possible manipulation of money-market auctions held at the start of the financial crisis and whether its officials were involved, a media report said today.
	The months-old probe is being conducted by the lawyer who led the Bank's investigation into the rigging of forex markets, Anthony Grabiner, and he has so far interviewed about ten Bank staff, the Financial Times said.
	The Bank said it would not provide a "running commentary" into any investigations but confirmed no action had been taken or was being considered against any of its employees.
	"If the bank were conducting an investigation or review of any of its activities, as it does from time to time, it would be wholly inappropriate to provide a running commentary via the press," a spokesman told AFP.
	"I can tell you that no actions have been taken or are currently being contemplated against any employee of the Bank."
	When the financial crisis hit in 2007 and 2008, 

Bank of England 'probes money-market rigging'

Somalia's Shebab Islamists today claimed responsibility for a deadly bus attack in neighbouring Kenya in which gunmen slaughtered 28 non-Muslim passengers.
	A spokesman for the Islamists said the attack was in revenge for raids that Kenyan security forces carried out over the past week on mosques in the port city of Mombasa.
	"The Mujahedeen successfully carried out an operation near Mandera early this morning, which resulted in the perishing of 28 crusaders, as a revenge for the crimes committed by the Kenyan crusaders against our Muslim brethren in Mombasa," Ali Mohamud Rage said in a statement sent to AFP.
	The bus attack came after a week that saw one person shot dead and more than 350 people arrested as Kenyan security forces carried out raids on mosques in the port city of Mombasa, looking for arms and Shebab sympathisers.
	Rage said the Shebab "resolved not to leave these crimes unpunished."
	The raids have raised tensions in a city already hit by a string of bombings and ...

Shebab Islamists claim responsibility for Kenya's bus attack

US Vice President Joe Biden will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today aiming to ease strains over the crisis in Syria and persuade Turkey to step up its support for the coalition against Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
	The trip to Istanbul by Biden, the highest ranking US official to visit Turkey since Erdogan won election as president after over a decade as prime minister, comes amid unusual tensions in the traditionally strong relationship between the two NATO allies.
	Washington is frustrated by the relatively limited role played by Turkey in the fight against IS jihadists who have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria right up to the Turkish border.
	Turkey in turn is upset that its contribution in hosting 1.6 million refugees from the Syrian conflict has gone relatively unrecognised and is wary of supporting the Kurdish fighters battling IS.
	Biden personally stung Erdogan last month by suggesting his policies in supporting Islamist rebel forces in Syria had helped ...

Biden meets Erdogan seeking to ease strains on Syria

Italian police placed 12 doctors under house arrest on suspicion of promoting baby milk formula over breastfeeding in exchange for kickbacks including luxury holidays.
	The doctors had been bribed by several companies to prescribe baby formula for rewards worth thousands of euros, including iPhones, televisions, cruises and trips to the United States, India and Paris, the police said yesterday.
	Five sales representatives were also placed under house arrest.
	Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said there were "no adjectives to describe the seriousness of the sort of behaviour" revealed by the year-long investigation.
	It was difficult to believe pediatricians had gone "against the ethics of their profession, against unanimous scientific opinions and against the indications of the health ministry in convincing mothers to use powdered milk formula in place of mother's milk," she said.
	Among those in handcuffs were two chief hospital pediatricians, the police said.

Italy arrests doctors in baby milk bribes scandal

Russia has 7,500 troops in the east of the country, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting government troops for months, Ukraine's defence minister said.
	"Unfortunately, the stabilisation of the situation in the east of Ukraine does not depend only on us," Stepan Poltorak said in a statement posted on the ministry's website today.
	"The presence of 7,500 representatives of Russian armed forces in Ukraine destabilises the situation and prevents us from stabilising it."
	Cash-strapped Ukraine also plans to "increase the strength of the armed forces" and boost levels of arms and equipment, Poltorak added.
	He pledged this would take place "in the nearest time" but did not give a more specific timeframe.
	Ukraine's new coalition government declared joining NATO a priority Friday in a move which is likely to provoke fresh anger from Russia.

Kiev says Russia has 7,500 troops in Ukraine

A former police chief in Cocula, the Mexican town where witnesses say 43 missing students were massacred, was arrested for allegedly participating in handing the young men over to a criminal gang, prosecutors has said.
	Cesar Nava Gonzalez was arrested on November 16, the statement said yesterday, calling the former official a "member of the Guerreros Unidos criminal organization."
	The teacher college students' disappearance and presumed slaughter has infuriated Mexicans fed up with corruption, impunity and a drug war that has left more than 100,000 people dead or missing since 2006.
	Lawyer Vidulfo Rosales, who represents the parents of the missing students, said the families were told yesterday of the latest arrest at a briefing with officials.
	The students were taken on September 26, after the mayor of the city of Iguala allegedly ordered police to confront students, sparking a night of violence that also left six people dead.
	Members of the Guerreros Unidos drug gang have told .

Mexico ex-police official arrested in student abductions

Indonesia's new President Joko Widodo caused a stir this weekend by opting to fly economy class to watch his son's high school graduation in Singapore, drawing both praise and criticism online.
	Skipping the usual heavy security protocol for heads of state, Widodo and his wife Iriana queued for check-in at Jakarta airport like ordinary passengers before taking their economy seats.
	Widodo is known for his common touch, and his family have maintained a modest lifestyle since he became leader of Southeast Asia's biggest economy last month.
	The presence of the president, known by his nickname Jokowi, caused a buzz at Jakarta's airport as passengers shouted and clamoured to shake his hand, with some taking selfies on their phones.
	Some, though, thought it was a publicity stunt.
	"Why should he go through the metal detector, join the queue, etc? Sir, stop polishing your image, just act natural," Rangga Aditya commented on news portal Detik.Com.
	Harry Azet tweeted: "Living a fake life is 

Indonesia's new president causes a buzz by flying economy

Bahrainis went to the polls today for the first legislative elections since a 2011 uprising, but the vote is being boycotted by the Shiite opposition that led Gulf kingdom's pro-democracy movement.
	The electorate of almost 350,000 is being called to choose 40 deputies, with Sunnis making up most of the 266 candidates.
	The polls are being contested without a compromise in sight between authorities in the Sunni-ruled monarchy and the opposition.
	Al-Wefaq, the main opposition group, has dismissed the electoral process as a "farce" and warned that failure by the kingdom's rulers to loosen their grip on power could trigger a surge in violence.
	The opposition's month-long uprising in early 2011 was crushed by the authorities.
	The political rivals have struggled to bury their differences through a so-called "national dialogue" that fell apart despite several rounds of negotiations.
	Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) and are due to close at 8:00 pm. Municipal elections are ...

Voting underway in Bahrain amid Shiite opposition boycott

For a player who had just endured his worst ever Davis Cup defeat, Roger Federer sounded surprisingly upbeat.
     Clobbered 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 by fiery Frenchman Gael Monfils, the 33-year-old Swiss champion opted to dismiss the downsides and ponder the positives.
     Sidelined by a bad back for the five days leading into his first rubber in a Davis Cup final, Federer said he was listening to his body as Monfils bombarded him from all angles.
     "From my side, I mean, as the match went on, I just started to loosen up," he said.
     "I guess I needed to hit 30 big serves, I needed to slide, I needed to be in defense, I needed to play offensive tennis, get information quickly.
     "He did well to get the lead, then he was able to stretch the lead early in the second set.
     "I think that's when I finally -- because I wasn't playing for the score so much, I was playing to get back into the match, I had the info I was looking for -- started to relax a little bit and started to feel ...

Federer bloodied but not bowed after Davis Cup shocker

Honours were shared between France and Switzerland in the Davis Cup final in Lille on a day when Roger Federer suffered his worst ever defeat in the tournament.
     The 17-time Grand Slam champion, playing in his first Davis Cup final at the age of 33, was clobbered 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 by flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils.
     It was just the second time that Federer had lost a Davis Cup singles rubber in straight sets -- the other coming in his debut as an untested teenager in 1999 against Gianluca Pozzi of Italy.
     Earlier, Stan Wawrinka had given the Swiss favourites a 1-0 lead by outplaying French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
     In both matches, the top ranking players lost to the number twos in straightforward fashion.
     But if Wawrinka's demolition of Tsonga could hardly be classed as an upset, the Swiss being ranked fourth in the world to Tsonga's 12th, Federer's humiliation at the hands of Monfils was stunning.
     Federer took a 8-2 winning head-to ..

Federer flops but Swiss stay level with France

A Spanish sports court backed Zinedine Zidane's appeal against a three month ban from coaching Real Madrid's reserve team over his disputed qualifications.
     Spain's football federation imposed the ban at the end of October, arguing the former France midfielder did not have the right licence to coach in Spain.
     Real appealed and the three-time World Footballer of the Year was allowed to continue coaching while the Court of Arbitration for Sport considered the case.
     Zidane's assistant Santiago Sanchez, who was also sanctioned by the Spanish federation, the RFEF, was also cleared to continue his duties while the case was considered.
     Real Madrid initially went to the RFEF appeal committee but when that was rejected, the 10-time European champions turned to the Court of Arbitration.
     "The appeal was accepted. This annuls the resolution from the appeals committee of the RFEF," a spokesman for the court of Arbitration for Sport told AFP.
     Real insisted that Zidane ..

Zidane wins appeal against coaching ban

Afghan women's rights campaigner Shukria Barakzai speaks in a tired whisper as she recovers in hospital from an assassination attempt that nearly killed her a week ago, but her message is strong and clear.
	"I don't want the women of Afghanistan to be scared," she told AFP at her bedside in Kabul.
	"I am waiting for my recovery and I will go back (to work). And this time I will work even harder than before.
	"This attack was an attack on all women in Afghanistan -- this is not only on me."
	Barakzai, a 41-year-old member of parliament, staggered from the wrecked remains of her car after it was hit by a suicide bomber on a main road near the parliament last Sunday.
	She was still carrying her mobile phone and handbags as she was led away to safety, and she appeared to have not been seriously injured.
	But the huge impact of the blast, which killed three nearby civilians, took its toll and she is being treated for shock as well as for burns on her left hand.
	Barakzai is one of the most 

Female Afghan MP injured but defiant after suicide attack

France's pole vault world record holder Renaud Lavillenie and New Zealand's unstoppable shot-putter Valerie Adams were named the IAAF's World Athletes of the Year in Monaco.
     Lavillenie, who set the new world record of 6.16m in Donetsk on February 15, succeeds sprint star Usain Bolt as the best athlete of the year and is the first French winner since 1988.
     "There can't have been a better year than 2014 and now I have the acknowledgement of the athletics family," said 28-year-old Lavillenie, who is also the reigning Olympic champion.
     Adams, who has won 56 successive events, said it was rare for field events to muscle out the "glamour" events such as sprinting.
     "(This is) for me, my family, my country and all women shot-putters," said double Olympic champion and four-time world champion Adams.
     Friday's awards marked the first time that field event athletes had won both accolades and was also the first time that a male pole vaulter or a female thrower had won the .

Lavillenie, Adams named athletes of 2014

Ecuador has guaranteed political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for "as long as necessary," one day after he lost an appeal against a Swedish warrant for his arrest.
	Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuador embassy in London for two years to avoid extradition to Sweden, is wanted for questioning there over alleged sex crimes.
	On Thursday he lost his claim that the detention order be set aside.
	Quito reiterates "that the asylum granted to Julian Assange is valid and reaffirms its intention to continue protecting him as long as necessary, until he is in a safe place," Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
	Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about accusations of rape and sexual molestation brought against him by two women in their 30s when he visited the country in 2010. He denies the claims.
	Assange had called on Swedish prosecutors to travel to London to question him or, alternatively, to do so by video link, but the appeal .

Assange welcome in Ecuador embassy 'as long as necessary'

The head of the UN Ebola mission has warned that the world was "far, far away" from beating back the outbreak and said a huge increase in aid was still needed to fight Ebola on the ground in Africa.
	"There is a long battle ahead of us," Anthony Banbury told the UN Security Council yesterday which met two months after it declared the outbreak a threat to world security.
	Fighting the epidemic "is going to require a tremendous increase in resources on the ground, in a dispersed geographic area," said Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) by videoconference.
	While recognising some progress, Banbury said international efforts had yet to gain the upper hand on the epidemic, with a new outbreak in Mali, where UNMEER will set up operations.
	"We are far, far away from ending this crisis," he declared.
	Recent data has shown a decline in cases in Liberia, the worst-hit country, and Guinea, but last week, 533 new cases were reported in Sierra Leone -- the ...

UN warns Ebola still far from over

Hackers left a small Mexican town penniless after breaking into its bank accounts and stealing more than USD 500,000, officials have said.
	The theft took place on November 11, when 33 transfers were made from six accounts that the eastern town of Ursulo Galvan had in the Mexican branch of Spain's Banco Santander, the town treasurer said yesterday.
	"To state clearly, they left us without one cent," Mayor Cesar Dominguez said.
	Officials in the town of 26,000 blamed errors in the bank's security system. Bank representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.

Hackers empty Mexican town's coffers

At least nine people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east where Ugandan rebels have recently staged bloody attacks, a top official has said.
	"Nine bodies have been sent to the morgue. The bodies were found deep inside the forest," Julien Paluku, the governor of the restive Nord-Kivu province, said yesterday.
	"We are carrying out searches to see if there are any other bodies" in the forest, located in the north of the province between the towns of Beni and Mbau, he said.
	The victims were killed on Thursday.
	According to the Civil Society of Nord-Kivu, an NGO based in Beni, the deaths were part of new "carnage" perpetrated by Ugandan rebels. It put the toll at 50, citing a survivor but this information could not be independently verified.
	Rebels from Uganda's ADF (Allied Democratic Forces)have been active in the mountainous border region between the two countries since 1995 after being driven out of Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni.
	They have been ...

At least nine killed in DR Congo's restive east

The United Nations has adopted the first-ever resolution calling on governments to stop child marriages, despite misgivings from countries who had hoped to include sex education as key to preventing the practice.
	About 15 million girls worldwide become child brides each year and globally, more than 700 million women were married before the age of 18.
	Unless action is taken, some 1.2 billion girls will be married by 2050, says the Girls Not Brides coalition of non-governmental organisations.
	Niger, Bangladesh and India have high rates of child marriages, but Zara Rapoport from the child rights group Plan said forced marriages are also prevalent in immigrant communities in developed countries.
	The resolution presented by Canada and Zambia urges all states to enact laws to prevent and end forced marriages for girls, and links child marriages to development and poverty.
	But Britain took the floor at the General Assembly's rights committee to express disappointment on behalf of some ..

UN moves to prevent child marriage

Iran nuclear talks moved up a gear tonight as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's foreign minister stayed on in Vienna to try and break a deadlock days before a deadline.
	Kerry had been set to leave Vienna and sources had said Mohammed Javad Zarif was considering returning to Tehran, but both remained in the Austrian capital.
	"Kerry has delayed his departure (for Paris)... In order to continue consultations" with Zarif, Kerry's spokesperson Jen Psaki said before the two men went into a meeting lasting over two hours.
	"We have not yet determined when we will depart, but will stay in Vienna overnight."
	Zarif, whose possible trip back to Iran for "consultations" had suggested possible progress, said that world powers made "no significant propositions worth returning to Tehran with".
	Iran and the six powers -- the US, China, Russia, Britain, France plus Germany (P5+1) -- have been negotiating intensively since February to turn an interim accord reached with Iran a year ago ...

AFP

AFP

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