South Korea's ruling party breathed a sigh of relief today after a better-than-expected showing in local elections, which was seen as a referendum on President Park Geun-Hye's handling of the April ferry disaster that killed about 300 people.

S Korea's ruling party avoids ferry backlash in local polls

Press Trust of India

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his special training regimen aimed at getting over leg injuries that threaten his participation in Portugal's World Cup opener.
     As on Tuesday, the Portuguese superstar and injured teammate Raul Meireles, continued to work separately from the bulk of the squad training at the New York Jets' facility in Florham Park near New York.
     Ronaldo looked relaxed and smiled for the cameras at the state-of-the-at training center of the NFL's Jets, where he jogged around a playing field.
     Defender Pepe, Ronaldo's Real Madrid teammate who is also injured, did not attend the training session but remained at the team hotel pursuing his rehabilitation program, officials said.
     "Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul Meireles carried out the programs pre-established by the medical department for their injuries, specific treatments and rehabilitation exercises on the field," the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said on it's website.
     On Tuesday, the federation ...

Ronaldo racing against clock for World Cup fitness

PTI Automatic

Lewis Hamilton will seek to regain the lead in this year's drivers world championship this weekend when he returns to one of his favourite circuits for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.
     The 29-year-old Briton, who this week declared he had made his peace with Mercedes team-mate and world title rival Nico Rosberg following a tempestuous weekend in Monte Carlo, claimed his maiden Formula One pole and victory in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
     He added further victories in 2010 and 2012 and finished third at the tight and demanding Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last year, confirmation that his fast reflexive and instinctive driving is well suited to the bumpy and unforgiving street track.
     According to Hamilton, his long friendship with German Rosberg has not been damaged seriously by their fall-out at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the Englishman suggested his team-mate had deliberately gone off-track in qualifying to gain an unfair advantage.
     In a brief statement on Twitter, he .

Hamilton returns to circuit where it all began

Sao Paulo subway workers announced an open-ended strike amid fresh protests Wednesday, hitting World Cup preparations as Brazil defended itself against criticism over chronic delays and soaring costs.
     The Sao Paulo metro is the main transport link to the economic capital's World Cup host stadium, which will host the opening ceremony and kick-off match on June 12, and the strike could pose a massive logistical headache for organisers.
     Workers decided to strike from midnight Thursday after negotiations on a salary increase fell through. They rejected an offer of 8.7 percent, insisting on at least 10 percent, said the president of their union, Altino Melo dos Prazeres.
     "If there's money for the Itaquerao (the nickname of host stadium Corinthians Arena) and the World Cup, how is it they don't have any money for public transport?" said Prazeres, quoted by newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo.
     The strike will affect 4.5 million daily passengers and could unleash commuter ...

Brazil World Cup preparations hit by Sao Paulo subway strike

Spanish World Cup winner David Villa will play a guest stint at newly branded Melbourne City for Australia's A-League next season, the club said today.
     Villa, unveiled by Major League Soccer club New York City as its inaugural player this week, will take the field for Melbourne between October and December this year prior to the start of the American season.
     The 32-year-old, who joined New York after helping Atletico Madrid win the Spanish league title, is his country's all-time top scorer with 56 goals and will play for the world champions at his third World Cup in Brazil this month.
     Villa, who will play against the Socceroos in Group B at the World Cup, said he was excited about playing club football in Australia.
     "It's very good for me in every sense," he said in a statement.
     "From a football point of view it's the opportunity to play in a new league in a different country, and of course it will be ideal for me to get some competitive football in the period 

Spain's Villa signs guest stint with Melbourne City

Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised nations said today they were deeply concerned by tensions in the East and South China Sea.
	The G7 leaders meeting in Brussels warned against any use of force in the area, where the United States has warned Beijing over increasing territorial assertiveness.
	"We are deeply concerned by tensions in the East and South China Sea," the leaders said in a statement at the end of a first day of talks in the Belgian capital.
	"We oppose any unilateral attempt by any party to assert its territorial or maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force."
	The statement, which did not mention any country by name, called on all countries to follow international law in resolving competing claims.
	Japan nationalised the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which China also claims and calls the Diaoyus, in 2012, setting off a tense confrontation with Beijing.
	China is also locked in territorial disputes, in the South China Sea, which ..

G7 concerned by Asian maritime tensions

Children of divorced parents may be at higher risk of being overweight or obese than those whose parents are married, a Norwegian study said today.
	The tendency was higher among boys than girls, said the report, which nevertheless cautioned it was too early to draw a direct, causal link, as other factors may be to blame.
	Researchers used height, weight and waist circumference data from more than 3,000 pupils attending 127 schools across Norway, which they compared to their parents' marital status -- married, never-married, co-habiting, single, separated or divorced.
	About one in five children overall were overweight, which is generally considered to mean a height-to-weight ratio or BMI of 25 or over, and one in 10 obese with a BMI of 30 and up, they reported in the online medical journal BMJ Open.
	Children of divorced parents "were 54 per cent more likely to be overweight/obese and 89 percent more likely to be obese," when compared to children whose parents were still married, the 

Divorce may be linked to obesity in kids: study

The United States has selected career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis as its new top diplomat in Havana, a State Department official has said.
	DeLaurentis, who has previously worked as a diplomat in Havana, Bogota and at the United Nations, will lead the US Interests Section in the Cuban capital, a de facto embassy.
	The United States and Cuba do not have full diplomatic relations, but rather interests sections in their respective capitals.
	Washington has had an economic embargo on Cuba -- the only Communist-ruled country in the Americas -- since 1962.
	DeLaurentis succeeds John Caulfield in the post. Caulfield is due to complete his assignment in July.
	US-Cuban ties, poor for more than five decades, were further strained after an American contractor was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba in 2011 for allegedly distributing communications equipment as a USAID contractor.
	Havana has suggested it could release Alan Gross, 65, if Washington frees the remaining "Cuban Five" ...

US sends a new top diplomatic envoy to Cuba

Torture methods used during internment of Irish nationalists at the height of the Northern Irish Troubles were sanctioned by the British government minister, an Irish television documentary has claimed.
	In 1971, as violence intensified in the sectarian conflict, internment - or imprisonment without trial - was introduced by the British state as they tried to bring order to the province.
	Hundreds of Catholic nationalists were brought to detention camps at army bases. Twelve men, who became known as the Hooded Men, were selected for 'deep interrogation'.
	The men were subjected to five techniques of deprivation: hooding, wall standing in stress positions for hours, sleep deprivation, water and food deprivation and subjection to noise, according to the report.
	"I was stripped naked, given a pair of army overalls and taken in my bare feet to a room and placed in the search position,"  one of the men, Gerard McKerr told 'Torture Files' on RTE television.
	"I was concerned that their ...

Torture in Northen Ireland sanctioned by minister: report

Russian President Vladimir Putin waded into US politics describing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- and possible 2016 presidential candidate -- as "weak" in some sarcastic comments about women.
	In an interview with French television, Putin was asked about Clinton's recent remarks that the Russian leader was trying to redraw the boundaries in eastern Europe just like Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s.
	"It's better not to argue with women," Putin replied, adding: "But Mrs. Clinton has never been too graceful in her statements."
	Putin remarked that he met Clinton when she was the US top diplomat "and had cordial conversations at various international events. I think even in this case we could reach an agreement".
	But as the Russian leader has come under fire in the West for his aggressive policies in Ukraine and Moscow's annexation of Crimea, he did not hide that he found Clinton's Hitler-like comments extreme.
	"When people push boundaries too far, it's not because they are .

Putin calls Hillary Clinton a 'weak' woman

Canada's attorney general has unveiled a law that makes it legal to sell sex to individuals but illegal to buy it, after the high court struck down an anti-prostitution law.
	The new law switches the focus of criminal charges from sellers of sex to potential buyers, and prohibits advertising sexual services.
	"We're targeting Johns and pimps, those that treat sexual services as a commodity," Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay said yesterday.
	He said the measure will endeavor to protect communities as well as vulnerable people, "and recognises the inherent dangers associated with prostitution."
	Under the law, penalties will range from a USD 1,000 fine to 14 years in prison.
	The Supreme Court in December struck down key provisions of the original law that effectively criminalise prostitution, saying that they endangered prostitutes.
	But the high court stayed its unanimous decision for one year to allow Parliament to consider whether or not to impose other limits on ..

Canada unveils new prostitution law

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to meet Ukraine's new president at this week's D-Day commemorations in France.
	In an interview with French television station TF1 and radio Europe1 aired here today, the Russian leader also delivered a withering attack on US attempts to isolate his country over the Ukraine crisis.
	Asked if he would meet and shake hands with Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko in Normandy on Friday if that could be organised, Putin replied: "I don't plan to avoid anyone."
	He added: "There will be other guests, and I'm not going to avoid any of them. I will talk with all of them."
	Putin also issued a scathing dismissal of US claims that they have evidence of Russian military interference in Ukraine.
	"Proof? Let's see it!" he said. "The entire world remembers the US secretary of state demonstrating the evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, waving around some test tube with washing powder in the UN Security Council.
	"Eventually, .

Putin says ready to meet new Ukraine President, taunts US

A wave of attacks across Iraq, including twin car bombs in an ethnically mixed tinderbox city, killed 32 people today as a year-long surge of violence showed no signs of a let-up.
	More than 100 people were also wounded in the violence, in and around Baghdad, as well as in Salaheddin, Kirkuk, Diyala and Babil provinces, all afflicted by regular bloodshed.
	The attacks came a day after a suicide bomber killed a key anti-Qaeda leader battling militants in the conflict-hit province of Anbar.
	In today's deadliest incident, two vehicles rigged with explosives went off in the centre of Kirkuk, killing eight people and wounding nine, said the provincial health chief.
	Kirkuk, an oil-rich ethnically diverse city, lies at the centre of territory that Iraqi Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its three-province autonomous region over the objections of the central government in Baghdad.
	No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni militants frequently detonate bombs in 

Iraq attacks kill 32

Heavily armed gunmen raided four villages in northeast Nigeria leaving scores dead and sending survivors fleeing the attacks blamed on Boko Haram, a local lawmaker and residents said today.
	The gunmen dressed as soldiers arrived in all-terrain vehicles and on motorcycles and attacked Goshe, Attagara, Agapalwa and Aganjara in the Gwoza district of Borno state, late yesterday.
	"There were deadly attacks on these villages by Boko Haram insurgents who killed a large number of people and destroyed homes," lawmaker Peter Biye, who represents the area in Nigeria's lower chamber of parliament, told AFP.
	"We are still trying to compile a toll of the dead as people on the ground are still counting the number of casualties."
	Many residents fled across the border into neighbouring Cameroon, as soldiers were deployed to fight the Islamists, who took over at least seven villages, Biye added.
	"Boko Haram have hoisted their flags in at least seven villages in the area which they now claim to be .

Scores killed in Boko Haram village raids: local official

Hillary Clinton, on the cusp of a possible White House bid, says in an interview that she has "moved on" from the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that consumed the last two years of her husband's presidency.
	Clinton spoke to People Magazine, which made her its cover story in editions to hit newsstands on Friday.
	In excerpts of the wide-ranging interview released today, the former secretary of state brushed aside any discussion of the former White House intern, whose escapades with then-President Bill Clinton helped lead to his impeachment.
	"I'm not going to comment on what did and didn't happen. I think everybody needs to look to the future,"  Clinton told People, adding "I've moved on."
	Lewinsky, 40, for her part told Vanity Fair magazine in an article published last month that she too is ready to put behind her the  scandal that has dominated her life.
	The affair came to light in the fall of 1998, nearly crashing the Clinton presidency and leading to his impeachment by the US House 

Clinton says she's 'moved on' from Lewinsky scandal

Queen Elizabeth II rode to the opening of parliament today in a brand new Australian-built state coach that encapsulates nearly a thousand years of British history.
	Crafted over nearly a decade, the gilded Diamond Jubilee State Coach is only the second new horse-drawn state carriage to be built in more than 100 years.
	It contains wood from king Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, and Isaac Newton's apple tree, which inspired him to form his theory of gravity.
	The coach is covered in more than 400 books of gold leaf and despite the overcast London skies today, brightly caught the eye as it was drawn to the Palace of Westminster by six horses.
	The 88-year-old sovereign and her 92-year-old husband Prince Philip seemingly enjoyed the ride, the monarch smiling as she arrived and needing no help getting out of the carriage.
	The carriage is almost five and a half metres (yards) long, more than three metres high and weighs more than three tonnes.
	The coach was made .

Queen's new state coach encapsulates British history

Burundi announced today that it would expel a United Nations official, the second to be thrown out of the central African nation in as many months.
	Authorities said the UN officer, a Kenyan national, had been caught trying to board a plane while carrying ammunition, although the incident comes amid mounting tensions between the UN bureau in the country and the Burundian government.
	"The airport services found two magazines with 15 bullets as he was about to get on a plane. He argued that he had forgotten about them, but one doesn't make a mistake about this kind of thing," Burundi's foreign minister, Laurent Kavakure, told AFP.
	"This will not hurt our relations with the UN, which are fine," he added. An official said the munitions were found on May 25 and the agent was given 48 hours to leave the country.
	There was no official comment from the UN office. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused local authorities of "taking revenge over the leak".
	The incident ...

Burundi expels second UN official

When a deadly avalanche hit Mount Everest last April, reporters made a beeline for 90-year-old Elizabeth Hawley, the woman Edmund Hillary once called "the Sherlock Holmes of the mountaineering world".
	The ice avalanche struck a group of Nepalese guides early on April 18. By 1 pm, nine people had been killed and the toll would eventually rise to 16, making it the worst disaster in the mountain's history.
	More than 50 years after the Kathmandu-based mountaineering expert began chronicling the triumphs and tragedies on the roof of the world, recording deaths remains a struggle.
	"It's the hardest part...It's just very sad", Hawley said, as she recalled a busy day spent fielding calls from journalists and going through drawers containing her life's work -- folders filled with thousands of pages charting every significant Himalayan ascent.
	The April 18 avalanche spurred a debate over the risks undertaken by sherpas on behalf of foreign clients and eventually led to a virtual shutdown of 

The 'Sherlock Holmes' of Himalayan mountaineering

A wave of attacks across Iraq, including twin car bombs in an ethnically mixed tinderbox city, killed 21 people today as a year-long surge of violence showed no signs of a let-up.
	Nearly 50 people were also wounded in the violence, in and around Baghdad, as well as in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces to its north, all afflicted by near-daily bloodshed.
	The attacks came a day after a suicide bomber killed a key anti-Qaeda leader battling militants in the conflict-hit province of Anbar.
	In today's deadliest incident, two vehicles rigged with explosives went off in the centre of Kirkuk, killing eight people and wounding nine, said provincial health chief Sabah Mohammed.
	Kirkuk, an oil-rich ethnically diverse city, lies at the centre of a swathe of territory that Iraqi Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its three-province autonomous region over the objections of the central government in Baghdad.
	No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Sunni militants ...

Iraq attacks kill 21

An Australian study has blamed feral cats for the extinction of native mammals and warns 100 species are under threat from the creatures that inhabited the homes of early British settlers.
	The Action Plan for Australian Mammals, compiled over three years, found a higher than previously known rate of mammal extinction, co-author John Woinarski of Charles Darwin University said today.
	Woinarski told AFP Australia's mammal extinction rate was the highest in the world, with more than 10 percent of species -- 29 mammal fauna -- wiped out since Europeans settled the country two centuries ago.
	"At least one, and probably two, Australian mammals have been made extinct in the last decade, and if current trends continue many of the 55 threatened species will disappear within our life times," he said, adding that even once-widespread animals such as the koala were in "serious decline".
	"If we had to choose one key action to conserve Australia's biodiversity it would be the control or ...

Feral cats behind extinction of unique Aussie mammals: study

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to seek Chinese funding to build a deep sea port in the Bay of Bengal when she visits Beijing later this week, officials said today.
	   The proposed port on Sonadia Island off Bangladesh's southeast coast would cost billions of dollars, but Bangladeshi newspapers have reported that Hasina hopes Beijing will pay part of the bill if a Chinese firm wins the contract.
	   The country's foreign ministry said the port would feature in the bilateral discussions when Hasina travels to China on Friday on a six-day visit.
	   "During the tour the two nations may discuss Chinese assistance for the Sonadia Deep Sea Port," Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali told journalists on Wednesday at a briefing two days ahead of Hasina's departure for Beijing.
	   Another senior official in the prime minister's office confirmed that the port project was expected to feature in discussions although he wouldn't say whether any kind of deal would be signed.
	   The ..

AFP

AFP

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