A punter staked USD 670,000 today on Scotland voting against independence in the forthcoming referendum, in what is believed to be the largest political bet ever made in Britain, the bookmaker said.
	The middle-aged man, from the English county of Surrey near London, placed the bet at odds of 1/4, meaning he stands to make a profit of 100,000 pounds if Scotland votes to stay in the United Kingdom on September 18.
	"As far as we can ascertain, this is the biggest political bet ever struck," said Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for national bookmaker William Hill, which took the wager at one of its London branches.
	Sharpe did not name the punter but said he did not have a Scottish accent.
	The previous record for a political wager was a 200,000 pounds bet, also laid on a "No" vote but earlier in the campaign, the bookmaker said.
	The latest polling data compiled by the Financial Times found 48 per cent of Scotland's four million voters are against independence, compared to 35 per cent in ...

Biggest UK political wager laid on Scottish 'no' vote

PTI Automatic

Lithuania slapped a USD 48.4 million fine on Russian fuels giant Gazprom today over its moves to block competition in this ex-Soviet Baltic EU state.
	The fine comes as the European Commission is poised to complete an anti-trust probe targeting Gazprom over concerns the Russian energy giant was hindering competition across central and eastern Europe.
	Lithuanian competition authorities imposed their fine after finding that Gazprom had illegally blocked the country's Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba electrical utility from concluding a swap deal with another supplier for cheaper gas in 2013-2015.
	The move "led to negative consequences for Lithuanian electricity and heat consumers," the authority said in a statement on Tuesday.
	Lithuania acquired majority control over its gas and power utilities in May, part of a strategy aimed at breaking Russian giant Gazprom's monopoly on gas supplies.
	The country of three million still imports all of its natural gas from Russia.
	Taking control of the ..

Lithuania fines Gazprom in antitrust case

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday launched a four-day summit on ending rape in war, calling for an end to the "culture of impunity" and more prosecutions.
	US Secretary of State John Kerry, who will attend the conference in London on Friday, said the delegates from 117 countries wanted to "relegate sexual violence to the annals of history".
	The summit is the fruit of a two-year campaign by UN special envoy Jolie and Hague, who have visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and Bosnia to meet victims of rape during conflict.
	As she opened the conference, Jolie said she and Hague had discussed a woman they met in Bosnia, who was still too ashamed to tell her son that she had been raped.
	"This day is for her," said Jolie. "We believe it truly is a summit like no other."
	Standing next to her, Hague told reporters: "This will be the greatest concentration of effort, of discussion and decision ever seen in combating sexual violence in ...

Angelina Jolie launches fight against wartime rape

Hong Kong customs have seized USD 1 million worth of illegal ivory hidden in luggage on a flight bound for Cambodia, officials said today.
	The 790-kilogramme cargo was found in 32 separate pieces of baggage en route from Angola.
	Customs official Ng King-hong said that while large seizures of ivory were often made at Hong Kong's container port, it was unusual for such a large consignment of tusks to be carried by air.
	He said that the plane, which was in transit, would not normally have been subject to inspection by Hong Kong customs, but mechanical problems meant the baggage hold was unloaded and checked.
	"They definitely wanted to skip Hong Kong. But unfortunately their flight broke down," he said.
	Fifteen Vietnamese smugglers aged from 20 to 54 were arrested, Ng said.
	Hong Kong has one of the busiest container terminals and airports in the world and often sees seizures of banned products.
	Tusk seizures have risen steadily since 2009, reaching a record 8,041 kilogrammes in ...

Hong Kong customs make USD 1m ivory bust

New Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe today said that he wanted to turn international cricket's whipping boys into match-winners at home and abroad as he took up one of the toughest jobs in the game.
     The Sri Lankan, who previously coached the Sydney Thunder Twenty20 team, has taken over from Australian Shane Jurgensen and his first assignment is this Sunday with the start of a three-match ODI series against India.
     Jurgensen quit in April after presiding over a disastrous run at home, which saw Bangladesh thrashed by Sri Lanka in a limited-over series and humbled in the Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20 despite being hosts.
     The former opening batsman is the ninth foreigner to coach Bangladesh since it gained Test status in 2000, a period in which it has won just four out of 83 Test matches and has been defeated 68 times.
     Hathurusinghe, who has been handed a two-year contract, told reporters that he was targeting an improvement in all departments.
     "There ...

New Bangla coach Hathurasinghe confident of a turnaround

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said today his sanctions hit country would try to secure a deal in negotiations with world powers on its long-running nuclear dispute.
	"Iran will do its best for a final deal with the P5+1," made up of the five permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, Rouhani told a business forum in Ankara through translated remarks.
	His comments came as Tehran and Washington began a second day of talks in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme, which the West suspects masks military objectives.
	"Iran is ready to sit at the negotiating table for a solution" to the nuclear dispute, as well as "unfair sanctions" imposed by the West, Rouhani said.
	"Iran has taken this step with the Geneva deal," he said, referring to a temporary deal struck in November between Tehran and world powers aimed at slowing the country's nuclear development programme in exchange for lifting some sanctions.
	A deadline of July 20 ..

Iran 'will do its best' to secure nuclear deal: Rouhani

A French Mirage 2000D fighter jet used to patrol the skies over Mali crashed in neighbouring Niger due to a technical glitch, the army said today.
	The two crew members ejected and survived uninjured.
	The Mirage was flying back last evening from a mission in Mali, where the French army has been fighting jihadist groups, and crashed half-way between Gao in Mali's restive north and the Niger capital Niamey, where France has a military base.
	"The crew was forced to eject following a technical failure," said French military spokesman Gilles Jaron.
	"The pilot and navigator were retrieved safe and sound."
	The plane, which was worth tens of millions of dollars, is one of six fighter jets being used by the French army in the region.
	France sent troops to Mali in January 2013 to combat Islamist groups who had seized control of much of the vast desert north of the country. Around 1,600 French troops are still engaged in operations there.

French Mirage fighter jet crashes in Niger

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay expressed alarm today at the rise in extremist, racist rhetoric in Europe, warning that anti-immigrant language can spark serious rights abuses.
	"I am disturbed by the recent increase across the political spectrum in several states in Western Europe of a discourse rooted in anti-immigrant and racist sentiment and religious intolerance," Pillay told diplomats as she opened a UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
	Following the stunning gains by eurosceptic, anti-immigrant and xenophobic parties in last month's European Parliament elections, she said politicians who have made a range of disturbing statements will figure among EU lawmakers.
	"The new European parliament will include a German party leader who has said: 'Europe is the continent of white people and it should remain that way'," Pillay said, referring to Udo Voigt of the extremist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).
	The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, making her last ...

UN rights chief warns over rise of 'racist' politics in EU

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped at least 20 young mothers near a town in northeast Nigeria where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted nearly two months ago, sources said today.
	There were conflicting reports of how many women were abducted from the nomadic settlement near Chibok in Borno state, with one local leader putting the number as high as 40.
	But the latest kidnappings, which happened on Saturday in and around the village of Garkin Fulani, eight kilometres (five miles) from Chibok, were the latest in a spate in the area.
	The abduction of 276 schoolgirls on April 14 was Boko Haram's most daring kidnapping in its five-year insurgency. It attracted worldwide attention and prompted an international rescue effort.
	"Available information revealed that the gunmen came around noon (1100 GMT) and abducted 20 women and three young men left to keep watch on the village," said Alhaji Tar, of a local vigilante group.
	"All the males in the settlement were away in the bush with .

At least 20 young mothers abducted in NE Nigeria: sources

Temperamental Italian striker Mario Balotelli ensured headlines of the positive sort today announcing on his Twitter account he is to marry his girlfriend the Belgian model Fanny Neguesha.
     The 23-year-old AC Milan star -- who is in Brazil with his country's World Cup squad -- also posted a photograph on his Instagram account showing the beach in Rio de Janeiro where he proposed to his sweetheart.
    	"She said yes... The most important yes in my life. That was the place of my question! I Love you and happy birthday too ! Je t'aime my WIFE," tweeted Balotelli both in Italian and English.
	Neguesha, born in Belgium of an Italian father and a mother of Congolese-Rwandan-Egyptian extraction, posted on Instagram a photograph of the diamond engagement ring in the shape of a star that Balotelli gave her.
     "Tonight, I said the most important yes of my Life. That was the best present for my birthday! I love you first and unique husband."
     Neither the date nor the place where they 

Balotelli set to marry model girlfriend

Two bombs exploded near a funeral procession in the Iraqi city of Baquba today, killing 20 people, police and a doctor said.
	The blasts in the capital of Diyala province, 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Baghdad, also wounded 28 people, the sources said.
	Mourners were carrying the body of a teacher who was shot dead the previous night to a cemetery when the blasts occurred.
	Militants frequently attack events and places where crowds of people gather, including funerals, weddings, mosques, markets and cafes, in an attempt to cause maximum casualties.
	The Baquba blasts came as militants seized control the entire northern province of Nineveh, including its capital Mosul.
	Militants have launched major operations in Nineveh, Anbar, Diyala, Salaheddin and Baghdad provinces since Thursday, killing scores of people and highlighting both their long reach and the weakness of Iraq's security forces.
	Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were ...

Bombs at Iraq funeral procession kill 20: police

FIFA Sepp Blatter hit back at critics of football's governing body ahead of its annual congress today claiming that racism is behind corruption accusations against Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.
     The accusations that Qatar paid for votes when FIFA chose Qatar in 2020 will be discussed at the two-day Congress, the embattled 78-year-old Swiss official said.
    	The growing scandal has threatened to taint the opening of the latest World Cup in Sao Paulo on Thursday.
     FIFA faces mounting pressure as five of its six major sponsors have called for a thorough investigation of the allegations largely made by the British media.
	Blatter, who is set to tell the Congress that he will stand for a fifth four-year term, told a meeting of the African Football Confederation (CAF) that there were sinister motivations behind the campaign.
	Blatter hit out at the "storm against FIFA" over the 2022 World Cup and the "discrimination and racism" at the heart of the attacks. He said the allegations ...

Blatter says racism behind Qatar corruption charges

The highly-charged trial of 15 crew members from South Korea's ferry disaster began today to shouts of "murderers" from victims' relatives who called for the defendants to be executed.
	With divers still searching the submerged vessel for bodies and emotions sky-high less than two months after the tragedy, there are concerns over how fair the trial in the southern city of Gwangju will be.
	The Sewol ferry was carrying 476 passengers - including 325 high school students - when it capsized and sank on April 16.
	So far 292 have been confirmed dead, with 12 still unaccounted for.
	Captain Lee Joon-Seok and three senior crew members are accused of "homicide through wilful negligence" which carries the death penalty.
	Eleven other members of the crew are being tried on lesser charges of criminal negligence.
	Wearing numbered prison uniforms, handcuffed and with their arms bound to their waists with rope, the defendants were brought to the courthouse well before the trial began.
	They ...

Murder trial opens for S Korea ferry captain and crew

Christians, Muslims and Jews, all praying under the same roof - that's the groundbreaking project of a pastor, a rabbi and an imam in Berlin.
	Still a sand-strewn vacant construction site, St Peter's Square in the centre of the German capital will - God willing - by 2018 host a building that's so unusual it doesn't have an official term.
	Not a church, nor a synagogue, or a mosque as such, but a bit of all three, the centre known currently as a "House of Prayer and Learning" will be unlike any other religious venue in the world, its initiators say.
	The aim of the USD 60-million project, whose fundraising was recently launched but has been several years in the making, is not only to show the importance of multi-faith dialogue but to mirror multi-cultural Berlin.
	"It seemed to us that there was a very strong desire for the peaceful coming together of the religions," said Roland Stolte, one of two Protestant representatives on the board of the association behind the project.
	Not by ...

Berlin prayer house unites Jews, Christians, Muslims

When Afghan taxi driver Sara Bahai has male passengers in her cab, she takes the chance to lobby them on female rights - and she hopes the country's next president will also listen to her arguments.
	Bahai has been driving the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city for 10 years, during which Afghanistan has experienced huge changes, including limited improvements in the lives of many women after the harsh years of Taliban rule.
	Now, ahead of the Saturday's run-off election, she says the new president must push ahead with reforms in the face of opposition from Islamists who seek to reverse gains as the US-led intervention winds down this year.
	"Sometimes I argue with male passengers all the journey to convince them a woman driving a taxi isn't a bad or un-Islamic thing," Bahai, who is thought to have been Afghanistan's first-ever female taxi driver, told AFP.
	"Women should be given bigger roles, they should be given seats as ministers. And female teachers should be paid more to help female .

Female Afghan cabbie meters out election advice

Authorities in western Bangladesh pleaded with football fans Tuesday to remove tens of thousands of Brazilian and Argentinian flags from their rooftops as World Cup fever grips the normally cricket-mad nation.
     Ahead of Thursday's big kick-off in Brazil, many Bangladeshi towns and cities have been turned into seas of either yellow and green or blue and white in a reflection of the huge support for the South American giants.
    	But Mustafizur Rahman, government administrator of Jessore district, which is home to 2.7 million people, said the mass display of support for the tournament's two favourites was disrespectful to Bangladesh's own flag.
     "With the World Cup knocking at the door, we have become a nation of Argentina and Brazil. Everywhere you see flags of Argentina and Brazil are on almost every rooftop," he told AFP.
     "We don't mind people wearing jerseys of their favourite teams or use billboards or banners. But it does not look good when flags of foreign nations ..

Bangladesh red-cards World Cup flags

Russia launched military manoeuvres on its westernmost edge today, a day after NATO began war games near the Russian border that Moscow labelled "an act of aggression," amid simmering East-West tensions over Ukraine.
	The Russian defense ministry said military drills involving the Baltic Sea fleet, the air force and paratroopers were under way in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave sandwiched between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
	"The manoeuvres are taking place just as the international games Saber Strike-2014 and Baltops-2014 began in Europe," the defense ministry said.
	"The number of personnel involved in the Kaliningrad manoeuvres as well as defense ministry hardware are comparable with the number of personnel, weapons and military equipment involved in the drills conducted by NATO member countries on the border."
	The Western military alliance yesterday launched one of its largest military manoeuvres in the ex-Soviet Baltic states since tensions with Moscow spiked over ..

Russia in fresh war games to counter NATO drills

NATO today launched an investigation into the deaths of five soldiers in southern Afghanistan as local officials blamed a "friendly fire" error by a coalition air strike.
	The deaths in the restive province of Zabul were the worst single incident for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since five British soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash on April 26.
	The most recent major "friendly fire" incident was in April when five Afghan soldiers were killed in an air strike in the eastern province of Logar, provoking fury from the Afghan government.
	"I can confirm that five foreign troops were killed as a result of their own bombardment in Arghandab district," Ghulam Sakhi Roghlewani, police chief of Zabul province, told AFP after yesterday's deaths.
	Mohsin Khan, spokesman for the Afghan army's 205 division, which is deployed in Zabul, also said it was a friendly fire incident, adding that one Afghan soldier was killed.
	"Our forces were jointly engaged in fighting .

5 NATO soldiers killed by 'friendly fire': Afghan officials

Violent storms killed at least six people in western Germany overnight, felling trees and snarling road and rail traffic, authorities said today.
	Three people died in Duesseldorf when a towering poplar tree whipped by wind, hail and rain fell on a garden shed where they had sought shelter late yesterday, the fire brigade reported.
	Another three people were killed in the same accident, two of them seriously.
	Falling trees also killed cyclists in Cologne and Krefeld, while a 49-year-old man in Essen collapsed during clean-up efforts and later died.
	Rail company Deutsche Bahn reported "serious disturbances" to its train schedule as routes were obstructed by storm debris.
	Meanwhile several flights were hit by delays or cancelled at Duesseldorf airport.
	The storms came on the heels of record heat over the long Pentecost weekend and were sweeping toward the northeast of the country today.

Freak storms in Germany kill at least six: police

Ukraine's week of tough negotiations with Russia, aimed at ending a separatist insurgency and averting a gas cut-off, got off to a rocky start as a round of gas talks broke up early today without a deal.
	The meetings in Brussels and Kiev are the first challenges for new Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has vowed dialogue with Moscow to try to prevent the bitterly divided former Soviet state from splitting.
	After seven hours, a marathon round of EU-brokered gas talks in Brussels broke up, but was set to resume later today or tomorrow.
	"All points of the deal were negotiated, and discussions will resume," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said after the talks ended in the small hours of today morning, adding that parties would now consult with their respective governments.
	Washington expressed hope "significant progress" could be achieved with the flurry of diplomacy, including a meeting between Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
	The ...

Ukraine, Russia in crisis talks on gas, insurgency

A total of 38 people died in ethnic violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend, many massacred when a church was set ablaze, the government said today.
	The killings took place overnight Friday in Mutarule, about 50 kilometres south of Bukavu, the capital of Sud-Kivu province.
	Earlier, local sources said the toll was at least 30 men, women and children, and that most of the victims were ethnic Bafuliru.
	The violence was sparked by the theft of livestock which resulted in retaliation "that led to carnage, causing the deaths of 38 people," said an official statement issued after an extraordinary meeting of government ministers.
	"Fifteen of the victims of this massacre by an armed group were burnt alive in a fire... Lit deliberately by unidentified assailants in a church. The government strongly condemns this crime and does not intend to let it go unpunished," the statement continued.
	Local sources said Saturday that 14 women, 10 children and a soldier were among 

AFP

AFP

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