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 ..

Bangladesh to seek Chinese help to build deep sea port

PTI Automatic

Indonesia said today it will deport 20 foreign teachers, including an Indian, working at a prestigious international school over immigration violations after allegations that a child was sexually abused by cleaning staff sparked an outcry.
	The teachers, from the Jakarta International School, are of various nationalities, including American, Australian and British, senior immigration official Maryoto Sumadi told AFP.
	"Of the 26 teachers we investigated, 20 had committed immigration violations and will be deported," he said, explaining they were doing work that differed from their official job descriptions given to authorities.
	The decision follows a scandal sparked in April by the alleged sexual assault of a six-year-old boy by cleaners in toilets at the school, which is a favourite with the capital's expatriates and wealthy Indonesians.
	The crisis escalated when a second child came forward claiming to have been abused, and it emerged an American teacher who used to work at the ...

Indonesia to deport foreign teachers after abuse scandal

Russia's gas giant Gazprom said today it was giving Ukraine an extra day to start paying for gas ahead of time or risk a cut in its supply.
	"On the request of Ukrainian side, the deadline for regulating the problems on payments has been postponed to June 10 because June 9 is a public holiday in Ukraine," Gazprom said in a statement.
	The announcement came after chief executive Alexei Miller held talks with the head of Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolev, in Berlin.
	Gazprom had earlier postponed the deadline from June 3 to 9 after Kiev made an initial payment of $786 million to cover outstanding bills.
	Moscow hiked the amount that Ukraine must pay for its gas to USD 500 per 1,000 cubic metres, the highest price of any of Gazprom's clients in Europe, after the ouster in February of Ukraine's Kremlin-backed president.
	Russian gas transiting through Ukraine amounts to around 15 per cent of gas consumed by the European Union.

Gazprom delays Ukraine gas deadline to June 10

The British government announced proposals today to bring in pooled pensions and back controversial fracking plans as Queen Elizabeth II opened the final session of parliament before the 2015 general election.
	The Queen's Speech set out the final batch of legislation proposed by Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative- Liberal Democrat coalition ahead of the May polls.
	But they set out just 11 new bills - the second-lowest number in two decades - leading the Labour opposition to claim it was a "zombie government" that has run out of ideas on which the two coalition partners can agree.
	The state opening of parliament, one of Britain's set-piece occasions, sees the monarch spell out her government's plans for the year ahead in a ceremony filled with tradition and pomp.
	Wearing the Imperial State Crown and an ermine robe, the 88-year-old queen summoned both houses of parliament to the throne.
	"My lords and members of the House of Commons, my government's legislative programme ...

Britain targets fracking and pensions in Queen's Speech

A 35-year-old woman has been detained in Finland after the bodies of five apparently stillborn babies were found in the basement of a block of flats, police said today.
	They made the grim discovery after being called out to investigate a "strong smell" emanating from the bowels of the building in Oulu, northwest Finland.
	The woman turned herself in and said the bodies were those of three stillborn babies she had given birth to between five and 10 years ago, a police statement said.
	She was unable to explain the discrepancy in the number of bodies.
	Police said the precise age of the infants could not be established, but they appeared to be "foetuses nearing maturity whose death dates back several years".
	The woman reportedly told investigators that she gave birth to the babies at home and without any help. She also said she had moved into the building "recently", prompting speculation that she may have moved the bodies.
	Seppo Leinonen, a police officer interviewed on public ...

Finnish police find bodies of five babies in cellar

Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted Egypt's first freely-elected leader, will be sworn in as president on Sunday after he overwhelmingly won last week's election, state media reported.
	The electoral commission yesterday said Sisi won 96.91 per cent of the vote with a turnout of 47.5 per cent, nearly one year after he overthrew Islamist Mohamed Morsi.
	His crushing victory over sole rival, leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi, had never been in doubt, with many lauding the retired field marshal as a hero for ending Morsi's year of divisive rule 11 months ago.
	Sisi will be sworn in on Sunday before the general assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court, state news agency MENA reported today, quoting Maher Sami, deputy head of the court.
	The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by interim president Adly Mansour, prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab and his cabinet, Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb of Egypt's key Muslim institution, Al-Azhar, Coptic Pope Tawadros II, and other political .

Sisi to be sworn in as Egypt president Sunday

A rocket hit the Libyan government's head offices, where new Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig was to hold a cabinet meeting, causing damage but no casualties, an official said today.
	The projectile struck the third floor of the building near central Tripoli overnight, and an aide told reporters that Miitig was not in his office at the time.
	Despite the attack, Miitig travelled to his offices today to hold a meeting with his ministers, an AFP journalist said.
	Miitig, an independent backed by Islamists, had convened his first cabinet meeting on Monday despite the objections of outgoing premier Abdullah al-Thani, who refused to recognise his government.
	Thani said he would wait for the judiciary to decide whether to hand over power, citing appeals lodged by lawmakers over Miitig's election in early May in a chaotic vote at Libya's interim parliament.
	State buildings in Libya are regularly targeted by rival militias. The central government in Tripoli has struggled to impose its authority .

Rocket hits Libya government head office

An artist has created a living replica of Vincent van Gogh's famously severed ear for an exhibition, a German museum said today.
	Diemut Strebe, who specialises in artworks using biological material, collaborated with scientists to reconstruct the Dutch master's ear using DNA from a relative and 3D printers.
	"The ear is grown from tissue-engineered cartilage using computer imaging technology, and is identical in shape to van Gogh's ear," said Dominika Szope, spokeswoman for the ZKM Centre for Art and Media in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe.
	The team used cartilage cells donated by Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great-grandson of van Gogh's brother Theo.
	Szope said the ear on display was made up of live cells as well as engineered components, creating a "living art-piece" entitled "Sugababe".
	It explores the implications of genetic reproduction for the essence of the individual.
	Visitors can speak to the ear using a microphone and the sound, once it has passed through the nutrient 

Living replica of van Gogh's ear on display in Germany

Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi remains the world's most valuable footballer, even though his crown slipped this season, a market study showed today.
     In its annual report on the player market, the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory put Messi's value at 216 million euros ($294 million).
	Even though Messi's lower performance levels slashed 19 million euros from his market value, he was still worth almost twice as much as arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, second in the ranking on 114 million euros.
	CIES said that Messi's higher value was mainly related to his younger age -- he turns 27 this month, while Portuguese icon Ronaldo is already 29.
    	Ronaldo's heroics this season with Champions League winners Real Madrid meanwhile saw his market value climb by four million euros.
	The study also showed that Real Madrid did the worst deal -- in market terms -- for a single player when they spent a record 100 million euros to sign Welshman Gareth Bale from London club ...

Messi world's most valuable player, study shows

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said today its website had been hacked.
	The OSCE said it did not know who was behind the attack, which consisted of thousands of simultaneous requests to load the website being launched from different locations.
	OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatovic called the attack "unacceptable", and said there were "forces set in motion trying to limit freedom of expression."
	The organisation has emerged as a key player in attempts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, where it has been the target of a number of kidnappings by separatists. It currently has nearly 300 civilian observers deployed in the country.
	It was formed in the 1970s as a forum for East-West dialogue during the Cold War. It now has 57-member states, including the United States, Canada, Russia, Mongolia and others throughout Europe.

Hackers target OSCE website

Ten people died today after a minibus carrying 16 passengers plunged into a mountain gorge in Russia's North Caucasus, rescue officials said.
	"According to preliminary information, there are seven children and three adults among the dead. Six more including three children were injured," an official at the Dagestan emergency medicine centre told Interfax news agency.
	The minibus was driving along a mountain road in Dagestan's western Tsuntinsky district today morning when the driver stopped to clear a rockfall on the road, an interior ministry official in the Dagestan region, Isamagomed Sultanov, told Interfax.
	"The driver and one of the passengers got out to clear the road. At that moment the bus and the passengers were swept away by a new rockfall," Sultanov said.
	The bus fell from a height of around 40 metres (130 feet) into a river swollen by heavy rain, Interfax reported.

10 dead after Russian bus plunges into gorge

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today slammed as "unacceptable" arguments that Britain should leave the European Union if it refuses to back down in a dispute over a top job.
	Merkel told parliament that while she was aware of London's objections to her favoured candidate to become the EU Commission's next president, former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, she hoped the dispute would not come to a head.
	"I don't share these reservations but I must say just as clearly that I consider it grossly irresponsible, and actually unacceptable, how nonchalantly some say that it doesn't matter whether Britain agrees or not, or even whether Britain remains an EU member or not," she said.
	Merkel said she was "anything but indifferent" about London's future in the bloc, saying that while Britain had clearly gained from its membership, the EU has benefited as well.
	"Yes, Britain is not a compliant partner," she said.
	"(But) despite all the differences, Germany and Britain share values and 

Merkel blasts 'unacceptable' attacks on Britain over Juncker

Spain's new king-in-waiting, Prince Felipe, urged Spaniards to unite to achieve a better future today in his first public remarks since King Juan Carlos announced his abdication.
	The tall, 46-year-old former Olympic yachtsman will take the crown as the nation struggles with a towering 26-per cent jobless rate and as the northeastern region of Catalonia fights for the right to hold an independence referendum in November.
	"In difficult periods such as these we are going through, experience in history shows us that only by uniting our desires, putting the common good ahead of individual interests and promoting the initiative, curiosity and creativity of each person, can we manage to advance to better scenarios," Felipe said.
	"This is the spirit that everyone - institutional heads, social and economic agents, organisations and citizens - should have so as to decisively confront the future and broaden the field of hope that opens up before us."
	Felipe, wearing a navy-blue suit, ...

Spain's future king Felipe urges nation to unite

The EU said today it was "deeply concerned" about the threat of a new nuclear test by North Korea, which has stepped up activity at one of its main test sites.
	Pyongyang said earlier this year that it did not rule out a fourth nuclear test, to counter what it described as US provocations in Asia.
	Satellite imagery also confirmed continued activity at North Korea's main nuclear test site of Punggye-ri that was consistent with preparations for an atomic detonation.
	Construction work meanwhile continues at the light water reactor at Yongbyon, which was initially shut down in July 2007 but which Pyongyang said last year it would restart to bolster its atomic arsenal.
	"The EU is deeply concerned about reports that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) may be preparing the fourth nuclear test," EU states said in a joint statement to a meeting of the UN watchdog IAEA's board of governors in Vienna.
	"All these activities clearly show that the DPRK is further developing its ...

EU 'deeply concerned' by threat of North Korea nuclear test

Bombings and shootings killed 16 people in Iraq today, as a year-long surge in violence that has fuelled fears of a slide back into all-out conflict showed no let-up.
	Nearly 50 people were also wounded in the attacks which struck in and around Baghdad, and in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces to its north, medical and security officials said.
	In the capital, a car bomb killed four people in a shopping area of the Sunni-majority northern neighbourhood of Saba Abkar, while a policeman was shot dead in another Sunni-dominated district in the south.
	On Baghdad's northern outskirts, two policemen were killed by a roadside bomb.
	At least a half-dozen bombs in various towns and cities in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces left nine more people dead.
	They included a truck blown up by a suicide bomber, a corpse booby-trapped with explosives, and a roadside bomb near a school.
	Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-7 when Iraq was gripped by a brutal Sunni-Shiite  sectarian war ..

Iraq attacks kill 16

The United States today welcomed Iran's recent efforts to alleviate concerns about its nuclear programme, but urged it to increase the pace of cooperation.
	A recent report by the UN atomic watchdog IAEA found Iran was sticking to its agreements with the agency and implementing all newly agreed measures, even addressing matters related to bomb-making for the first time in six years.
	"You can't see steps taking place and say it's not sufficient, those are good steps," the US delegate to the IAEA, Ambassador Joseph Macmanus, told journalists today on the sidelines of an IAEA board of governors meeting.
	"This is a long stairway to climb and each step is progress."
	Addressing member states earlier, Macmanus however highlighted that Iran's engagement was "long overdue," according to a copy of his address.
	"It is only a first step," he said of Iran's compliance with recent agreements, urging "accelerated progress" and "full cooperation" on other issues, including the scaling-down of ...

US welcomes 'good steps' by Iran on nuclear drive

President Barack Obama today condemned Russia's "dark tactics" and bullying in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin hit back at American "aggression," as new venom deepened the worst US-Russia clash in decades.
	Obama met Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko in Warsaw and promised years of US support, then blasted Russia and vowed to protect ex-Soviet states in NATO in a hawkish speech marking 25 years of Polish democracy.
	"How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th century to define this new century?" Obama asked, as he adopted the mantle of 'leader of the West' worn by previous presidents during the Cold War.
	"As we've been reminded by Russia's aggression in Ukraine, our free nations cannot be complacent in pursuit of the vision we share - a Europe that is whole and free and at peace," said Obama who spoke behind bullet proof glass in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw - a rebuilt symbol of Polish triumph over the destruction and tyranny of the 20th century.
	Obama will .

Obama and Putin spar as rebels battle in Ukraine

Italy's financial police today placed the mayor of Venice under house arrest in a sweeping corruption investigation into a multi-billion-euro flood barrier project to save the island city from rising sea levels.
	Prosecutors accused mayor Giorgio Orsoni of benefiting from illegal party financing linked to the embezzlement of public funds for the project, which began in 2003 but has been badly delayed and is now set to be completed in 2016.
	Orsoni's lawyers said the charge was "hardly credible."
	Nine other politicians and business leaders were placed under house arrest and 25 more have been jailed in a fraud investigation involving around 100 people in total including a retired top police general.
	Prosecutors have also requested the arrest of two lawmakers - former culture minister Giancarlo Galan and European Parliament member Lia Sartori - both from former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party.
	The police said they had traced some USD 27 million in ...

Mayor arrested in Venice flood barrier fraud probe

Germany's federal prosecutor said today he had opened an investigation over alleged snooping by the US National Security Agency (NSA) on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.
	"I informed parliament's legal affairs committee that I have started a preliminary investigation over tapping of a mobile phone of the chancellor," Harald Range said.
	The long-anticipated probe, which follows an explosive allegations last year that US spies had eavesdropped on Merkel's mobile in the past, is against unnamed persons, Range said after addressing the committee.
	However he said he had decided against opening an investigation into claims of wider NSA surveillance against German citizens.
	The move may again strain Berlin's ties with Washington that both countries' leaders have been at pains to restore following the reports of sweeping NSA spying on Internet and phone communications overseas, which Merkel has described as "grave".
	Data-sensitive Germans reacted with outrage to the accusations by 

Germany opens criminal probe over Merkel phone tapping

US President Barack Obama today condemned the "dark tactics" and "aggression" of Russia in Ukraine after meeting Kiev's president-elect Petro Poroshenko and promising him years of US support.
	Adopting the mantle of 'leader of the West' Obama hailed Poland for building a thriving democracy 25 years after elections which fractured communism as part of a European tour dedicated to bolstering NATO defences and resolve.
	He said the country's long struggle against occupation and tyranny was mirrored in the plight of Ukraine a quarter century later which showed freedom was still under threat.
	"We will not accept Russia's occupation of Crimea or its violations of Ukraine's sovereignty," Obama said, just over an hour after meeting Poroshenko in Warsaw, ahead of his own expected encounter with President Vladimir Putin in France on Friday.
	"Our free nations will stand united so that further Russian provocations will only mean more isolation and costs for Russia.
	"Because after investing so .

Obama condemns Russian 'dark tactics' and 'aggression'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was on course today to claim a sweeping victory in an election held amid raging conflict that Washington called a "disgrace".
	Results are not expected to be announced before tomorrow but a landslide win for Assad over two little-known challengers is not in doubt.
	There was no election yesterday in the roughly 60 per cent of the country outside government control, including large areas of second city Aleppo.
	And in government-held areas, voters had to brave a rebel bombardment that killed 24 people nationwide on polling day, a monitoring group said.
	But state media trumpeted a big turnout which they said prompted polls to be kept open until midnight - five hours later than scheduled.
	Pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said "millions" had voted, "defying terrorism and its mortars, rockets, car bombs and suicide attackers, to prove the legitimacy of President Bashar al-Assad for a new term that will last until 2021."
	It put turnout at 70 per cent in .

AFP

AFP

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