The United States has voiced concerns to Myanmar on proposed restrictions on interfaith marriage amid growing worries about actions that target minority Muslims.
	The State Department said it raised concerns "at the highest levels" of Myanmar's government, which is considering a ban on marriages across religious lines amid a surge of Buddhist nationalism since the country launched democratic reforms.
	"The United States opposes any measure that would criminalise interfaith marriages. Such a step would be inconsistent with the government's efforts to promote tolerance and respect for human rights," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement late yesterday in response to reporters' questions.
	Authorities in Myanmar have proposed a variety of restrictive measures seen as targeting the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority who are not considered citizens by the government. Anti-Muslim violence has left around 250 people dead in the last two years.
	The United Nations ...

US raises concern to Myanmar on interfaith marriage

PTI Automatic

Once the tear gas had settled and the red-clad protesters had fled, the Sao Paulo man stuck his head out the window and shouted a message encapsulating the divide troubling Brazil on kick-off day: "Today there will be a Cup!"
     The protesters' slogan that "There won't be a Cup" has dogged Brazil for the past year, marring preparations for the opening match in Sao Paulo's shiny new -- if chronically delayed and over-budget -- Corinthians Arena at 5:00 pm (2000 GMT) today.
     Brazil's ambivalence toward the World Cup was on full display as the country geared up for the game, the sea of green and yellow in some areas contrasting with the clashes between police and protesters in Sao Paulo and fears of more nationwide.
     In cities across the country, many morning commuters proudly wore the number 10 jersey of star striker Neymar or decked themselves out in the colors of the flag, whether with green-and-yellow shirts, dresses, skirts or flowers in their hair.
     In Rio de Janeiro, 

Protest clashes mar divided Brazil's World Cup party

Russian gas giant Gazprom said today that it would lodge a counterclaim against Ukraine's gas firm if taken to court, in a sign that Moscow was not backing down in their acrimonious energy dispute.
	"Gazprom would lodge a counterclaim against Ukraine's Naftogaz with the Stockholm arbitration court," said Gazprom chief Alexei Miller.
	The Russian and Ukrainian energy companies have been locked in a fresh energy dispute since Moscow nearly doubled the price Kiev pays for natural gas in the wake of the February ouster of Ukraine's Russian-backed president.
	Moscow has threatened to cut gas supplies if Kiev does not pay its debt in full, but has offered to reduce the price demanded by 20 per cent to USD 385 per 1,000 cubic metres.
	Ukraine has refused to accept Russia's latest offer, saying the price was still unfair, and threatened to take Gazprom to arbitration court.
	Miller today accused the Ukrainian company of intransigence and unwillingness to come to a compromise.
	"From the very .

Gazprom says to lodge counterclaim against Ukraine

Russia said it would submit a new draft resolution on Ukraine at the UN Security Council toay, saying it saw no progress in Kiev's efforts to defuse the crisis in the separatist east.
	Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, current president of the Council, told reporters he would submit the document after consultations on the situation in Iraq.
	"In this resolution we would like to draw attention to the need for Ukraine to start implementing the OSCE chairman's 'road map' prepared on the basis of the April 17 Geneva agreement," Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
	"This is a very important issue because according to our estimates, there have been attempts to depart from the balanced and just nature of those principles which have been stipulated in the 'road map', and (there have been) attempts to promote some unilateral plans which would not take into account the interests of Ukraine's southeast," he said.
	Currently chaired by Swiss President Didier ...

Russia to submit draft Ukraine resolution at UN

Twitter's chief operating officer Ali Rowghani announced he was leaving his post today, amid concerns about sluggish growth at the popular messaging service.
	Rowghani announced the move in a tweet, saying, "Goodbye Twitter. It's been an amazing ride, and I will cherish the memories."
	Twitter, in a regulatory filing, said Rowghani "will continue to be a Twitter employee and act as a strategic advisor to the CEO" and that the company would not hire a replacement.
	"All of Mr. Rowghani's operating responsibilities will be assumed by other members of the Twitter management team."
	The move comes amid market skepticism about Twitter's ability to boost its growth around the world and deliver profits.
	"This is the third, and arguably the most surprising, of recent top management changes at Twitter," said Paul Ausick at 24/7 Wall Street,
	"Former vice president of consumer product, Michael Sippey, took an advisory role in January, and Twitter's senior vice president of engineering, Chris ..

Key Twitter executive Rowghani quits job

Southeast Asia has become the world's hotspot for pirate attacks after an international clampdown slashed the number of hijackings off the coast of war-torn Somalia, the UN said today.
	Last year 28 boats were attacked in the western Indian Ocean but none taken captive in the region, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) said in a report.
	That compares to January 2011, when Somali pirates held 736 hostages and 32 boats, some onshore and others on their vessels.
	"There has been a significant reduction in the number of pirate attacks during 2013, to the extent one can claim they have almost stopped," UNITAR said after its five-year study.
	Pirate attacks in the Horn of Africa spiralled from the early 2000s, with pirates hijacking cargo ships and taking crew prisoners for months and even years.
	Much of that was down to the international fleet that has started to patrol the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and many merchant vessels have started keeping armed ...

Southeast Asia hub of global pirate attacks: UN

The political middle ground is shrinking and the partisan gulf in Washington and the rest of America is getting wider, according to extensive findings unveiled today by Pew Research Centre.
	Growing ideological uniformity on both sides is leading an increasing number of Americans to see followers of the other party as a "threat to the nation's well-being," the report said.
	Dislike of people on the opposite side of the political spectrum has grown, Pew said, with about one third of far-right and far-left Americans saying they would be unhappy if an immediate family member married someone of a different ideological persuasion.
	The study tracks "a rising tide of mutual antipathy." While 16 per cent of consistent Democrats saw Republicans as "very unfavourable" in 1994, that figure has risen to 38 per cent today, while consistent Republicans' similar views of Democrats have soared, from 17 per cent in 1994 to 43 per cent today.
	"The overall share of Americans who express consistently ..

US most polarised in decades: research

Iraqi forces launched at least four air strikes on militants occupying ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's palace compound in the city of Tikrit today, witnesses said.
	It was not immediately clear whether the strikes against the militants, who took the city a day before, were launched by helicopters or planes.
	The sprawling compound in central Tikrit was one of several around the country where Saddam once received foreign guests and dignitaries.
	A major offensive by militants, spearheaded by jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has overrun all of one province, major areas of two others and part of a fourth since it began on Monday night.
	Tikrit was the second provincial capital to fall to the offensive, following the northern city of Mosul, where it began.

Iraq air strikes hit Tikrit palace compound: witnesses

Pakistan cricketer Azhar Mahmood has been honoured by a leading Anglo-Asian charity set up at the suggestion of Britain's Prince Charles.
     All-rounder Mahmood has become an official ambassador of the British Asian Trust, the first Pakistani cricketer to be given such an appointment.
     He joins fellow cricketers in India's Rahul Dravid and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan in supporting the work of the Trust, which was set up at the suggestion of Prince Charles -- the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and heir to the British throne -- in 2007 to help disadvantaged people across South Asia.
     "Supporting charitable projects has always been important to me, wherever I have played," said Mahmood in a statement.
     "But it is through the British Asian Trust that I am looking forward to getting involved in the very best work being done across South Asia, tackling the most difficult issues, and achieving incredible things," added Mahmood, who has played for team right across the ...

Charity inspired by Prince Charles honours Pakistan's Mahmood

Hurricane Cristina strengthened today into a powerful category four storm, but remained well off Mexico's Pacific coast, US forecasters said.
	At 1230 GMT, Cristina had maximum sustained winds of nearly 230 kilometres per hour and was centred 402.34 kilometres southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
	The storm was moving toward the northwest at around eight miles per hour, according to the Miami-based NHC.
	Classification of a hurricane's strength is based on the one-to-five Saffir-Simpson scale, with five denoting the most intense winds.
	Although the storm is not near land, swells caused by Cristina have hit parts of the southwestern coast of Mexico and could cause life-threatening surf and rip tides, the NHC said.

Cristina strengthens to category four hurricane: NHC

Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed today that Australia would be the "most dependable friend" of the United States despite disagreements with President Barack Obama on climate change.
	Abbott -- a conservative who has called the science behind climate change "absolute crap" -- is holding his first talks at the White House a week after Obama unveiled his most ambitious plans yet to reduce carbon emissions blamed for the planet's rising temperatures.
	Ahead of his talks, Abbott saluted the historically tight US-Australia alliance, even as he welcomed the rise of China.
	"I am confident that the coming century will indeed be the Asian century, but only if America is there too to keep the peace and enforce the rules," Abbott told business leaders at the US Chamber of Commerce.
	"Undoubtedly, America will have more important friends. Occasionally, America will have more useful friends. But know this -- America will never have a more dependable friend than Australia," he said.
	Obama has ...

Australia PM vows to be 'most dependable friend' to US

England kept Sri Lanka at bay after losing dangerman Ian Bell in the first Test at Lord's today.
     England, after losing the toss, were 195 for four at tea on the first day with Bell having fallen early in the second session for 56.
     But Joe Root and debutant Mooen Ali, both 43 not out, repelled Sri Lanka with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand so far worth 75.
     England had struggled to 98 for three at lunch after debutant opener Sam Robson, captain Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance had all fallen cheaply in the morning session.
     But Bell, in his 99th Test, was unbeaten on 41 and looking in excellent touch. Shortly after lunch, he drove left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for six to complete a 69-ball fifty also including seven fours.
     But he was out soon afterwards when, hitting across the line, he was adjudged leg before to seamer Shaminda Eranga although Sri Lanka had to challenge Australian umpire Paul Reiffel's original not out decision before Bell was finally on his ...

England hold firm after Bell loss

Fighting between mainly Muslim ex-rebels and the largely Christian "anti-balaka" militia has killed at least 22 people in eastern Central African Republic, security officials said today.
	"At least 22 people have been killed and more than 30 were wounded in clashes that broke out last Monday and Tuesday" in a village outside of the central town of Bambari, a source in the local gendarmerie told AFP, asking not to be named.
	He said the fighting was between former rebels of the Seleka alliance backed by armed ethnic Fulani and the mainly Christian militia.
	"We have also counted 127 homes burned by the ex-Seleka and armed Fulani. Other people were kidnapped and taken to Bambari by the latter, who on Tuesday publicly executed two men," the source added.
	The French defence ministry, which has deployed 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the strife-torn and deeply poor former colony, also reported "fighting" between the ex-Seleka and anti-balaka vigilantes near Bambari on June 6 and 10.
	"In ...

At least 22 killed in fighting in east of C Africa: police

The head of China's Taiwan affairs office is to make his first-ever visit to the island, Taiwanese officials announced today, in a further sign of warming ties between the mainland and its former bitter rival.
	Zhang Zhijun, director of China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, will visit Taiwan in late June to meet with his Taiwanese counterpart Wang Yu-chi, the island's China policy decision-making body said.
	"The Mainland Affairs Council hopes the visit will help facilitate official interaction between the two sides and enable the mainland authorities to better understand how Taiwan people look at the cross-strait relationship," council spokeswoman Wu Mei-hung said.
	Zhang will not visit Taipei on the landmark four-day visit, reflecting a trip to China by Taiwan's Wang in February, who avoided visiting the capital because of political sensitivities.
	China still considers Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though the island has ...

China's Taiwan policy chief to make first visit to island

UEFA president Michel Platini withdrew his support from FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter today, plunging world football into open warfare.
     "I am supporting him no longer, it's finished," said Platini. "He knows it, I told him. I think FIFA needs a new breath of fresh air."
	Platini, who himself had to come out last week and deny he had been pressured by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to vote for Qatar in the controversial and scandal-tainted bid race for the 2022 World Cup, said he agreed with his fellow UEFA members that it was time for 78-year-old Blatter, who has been in power since 1998, to call it a day when his mandate ends next year.
	"I share the European position," said 58-year-old Platini. "A new mandate for him would not be good for football. But he is a person one has to respect and he has all my respect."
    	Blatter, who has been under pressure over the controversy-plagued 2022 Qatar World Cup, had declared to the FIFA Congress in Sao Paulo on Wednesday that .

Blatter loses Platini support

Nuwan Pradeep struck twice as a revamped England struggled against Sri Lanka on the opening morning of the first Test at Lord's today.
     England, after losing the toss, were 98 for three at lunch in their first Test since suffering a 281-run defeat by Australia in Sydney that condemned them to a 5-0 Ashes series loss in January.
     Pradeep had done the bulk of the damage with two wickets for 35 runs in nine overs.
	England were left looking to Ian Bell to dig them out of a hole, with the experienced batsman 41 not out in his 99th Test. Joe Root was unbeaten on six.
	Although the sunny blue skies above Lord's suggested ideal batting conditions, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews elected to field first on a greener-looking than usual Lord's pitch.
	Mathews's decision yielded a quick reward as England lost both their openers inside the first half hour.
     Australia-born Sam Robson, one of three debutants in the England side and playing on his Middlesex home ground, fell for one when 

Praeep double rocks England in first Test

Russia said today it saw no progress by Ukraine in efforts to defuse the crisis in the separatist east and called for a probe into the ex-Soviet country's alleged use of banned weapons.
	"The lack of any progress whatsoever in efforts to stop the violence and halt military operations... Is causing increasing concern," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.
	"Reports about the use by Ukraine's armed forces of incendiary bombs and other banned non-selective weapons are a cause for special concern," he added, quoted by Russian news agencies. "These reports should be verified as soon as possible.

Russia says 'no progress whatsoever'in defusing Ukraine crisis

At least seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the central Syrian city of Homs today, Syrian state media reported.
	"Seven killed and others injured according to a first toll in a terrorist car bomb explosion in Wadi Dahab in Homs," state television said.
	The blast was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, which said the neighbourhood is majority Alawite -- the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
	In May, Syrian government forces retook control of almost all of Homs, once dubbed the "capital of the revolution," after a deal allowing the withdrawal of rebel fighters trapped under siege.
	Alawite districts and areas under regime control in Homs have come under attack, including with car bombs, in recent weeks.
	On May 25, 12 people were killed in a twin car bomb attack in the city's Zahra neighbourhood, just days after a similar attack there killed 100 people.
	Those attacks were claimed by Al-Nusra Front, the ...

Car bomb kills 7 in Syria's Homs: state media

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that the spectacular seizure of Iraqi cities by advancing jihadist fighters was a clear sign of the "total failure" of the US-led invasion.
	"The events in Iraq illustrate the total failure of the adventure involving the United States and Britain," Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying, referring to the 2003 invasion that led to the toppling of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
	"The unity of Iraq is at risk."
	"We are very worried by what is happening in Iraq. We warned long ago that the adventure undertaken by the Americans and the British would not end well."
	"We stand in solidarity with the Iraqi leadership, the Iraqi people who should restore peace and security in their country but actions of our Western partners cause a huge amount of questions."
	Fighters from the Sunni Muslim Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have spearheaded a major offencive that began late Monday, overrunning several provinces. Today they ...

Iraq unrest shows 'total' failure of US-led invasion: Russia

Russia accused Ukraine today of using "prohibited weapons" during its attempts to seize back control of the separatist stronghold city of Slavyansk, charges denied by Kiev.
	The Russian foreign ministry's human rights ombudsman's comments came shortly after Moscow state media reported the use of incendiary bombs by Kiev's forces in the blockaded eastern city.
	"Ukrainian defence forces and nationalists are using prohibited weapons against Slavyansk civilians, firing on refugees and killing children," Russian ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov tweeted.
	"Kiev's humanitarian crimes against (Ukraine's) southeastern residents are multiplying. They must be investigated and the guilty punished," he wrote.
	Slavyansk, an industrial city of 120,000, has been at the epicentre of Ukraine's two-month offencive against pro-Russian insurgents in the eastern rustbelt of the ex-Soviet state.
	Ukraine's health ministry said the battles have claimed the lives 270 rebels, federal soldiers and ...

Russia accuses Ukraine of using banned weapons

Seven Bangladeshi sailors, held hostage by Somali pirates for almost four years, finally returned home today, saying it was "unbelievable" to be alive and describing their ordeal as "like hell."
	The sailors, who had been held in dire conditions and suffered beatings, flew into the Bangladeshi capital after the foreign ministry said they were freed last week after lengthy negotiations.
	"It's unbelievable that I am still alive and free. I want to see my family," Abul Kashem, 46, one of sailors, told reporters at Dhaka airport.
	"Every day in captivity was like hell. We were not given proper food. They used to torture us on almost every day for ransom," Kashem said.
	Although Bangladesh said they were freed, other officials have said they were among 11 sailors mostly from Asia who escaped last week and were taken to safety in Kenya.
	The group "sneaked out a window" in their pirate prison to escape their captors, before being rescued by local security forces, a British mediator who ...

AFP

AFP

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