Global finance officials are urging Greece to reach a deal with its creditors and avoid a catastrophic default that would stagger a world economy still emerging from recession.
	US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said a Greek default would "create immediate hardship" for that country and damage the world economy. Lew's comments came in a speech Saturday to the steering committee of the 188-nation International Monetary Fund.
	The policy committees of the IMF and the World Bank were wrapping up their spring meetings. Their discussions focused on ways to boost global growth and deal with threats such as a possible Greek default and potential market volatility once the Federal Reserve begins to raise US interest rates.
	Greece is in negotiations with the IMF and European authorities to receive the final 7.2 billion euro (USD 7.8 billion) installment of its financial bailout. Creditors are demanding that Greece produce a credible overhaul before releasing the money.
	The country has relied ..

US Treasury secretary urges Greece to reach debt deal

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A Texas veterinarian has been fired from her job and authorities are looking into whether animal cruelty charges should be pursued against her after she's shown in a Facebook posting holding what she says is a feral cat that she killed with a bow and arrow.
	Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes says the image is disturbing and it's the "kind of stuff that shouldn't happen in our society."
	He says the results of his department's investigation will be turned over to the county's district attorney for possible charges.
	The veterinarian, identified as Kristen Lindsey, was fired yesterday from her job at a clinic in Brenham, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Houston.
	She could not be reached for comment on today.

Texas veterinarian fired, being investigated for cat death

The hugely popular game "Angry Birds" is showing Earth Day some love this year.
	Game developers at Rovio Entertainment are announcing plans today to create an in-game experience about climate change. The game will debut in September to coincide with the UN General Assembly as world leaders discuss sustainability goals.
	The Finnish game developers are also creating an Earth Day level in "Angry Birds" to debut Wednesday on the official Earth Day.
	Blanca Juti of Rovio says the game company wanted to raise awareness in a fun way and make people think about climate change. Last year, they teamed up with Prince William's United for Wildlife to create a conservation-related game. That drew 10 million game sessions.
	"Angry Birds" has been downloaded 2.8 billion times worldwide.

Earth Day aims to reach millions with 'Angry Birds' game

A Bangladeshi garment industry leader today guardedly welcomed Italian retailer Benetton's pledge of more than USD 1 million to victims of a factory collapse that killed over 1,100 people two years ago, saying it had come late but was appreciated.
	Shahidullah Azim, a vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the pledge would help the UN-sponsored compensation fund reach its commitment to provide USD 30 million to the survivors of the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster.
	"It has come late, but we appreciate it," Azim said. "It will help us fulfill our commitment to the victims."
	The Benetton Group announced yesterday that it would provide USD 1.1 million for compensation to the survivors of the collapse. The retail giant was among 29 brands that were connected to the factories housed at the complex.
	Rana Plaza, an illegally built, multistoried building located outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh's ..

Bangladesh guardedly welcomes Benetton factory victim pledge

Just as Congress is hitting something of a bipartisan stride on such issues as Medicare, Iran and trade, President Barack Obama and his White House team have decided to go after their Republican critics, picking fights and scornfully calling them out by name.
	In just the past week, the president and his spokesman have targeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Sens. John McCain and Charles Grassley, on topics from climate change to the Iran nuclear deal.
	On Friday, he used a news conference to deliver to senators a testy lecture about the delayed confirmation of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.
	This is a White House unleashed, forgoing niceties for the kind of blunt talk some of Obama's allies have been demanding for some time. But the rhetoric carries risks of sounding peevish and signals that a president who once ran on the promise of changing the tone in Washington has fully embraced its political combat.
	Obama on Friday decried the long wait Lynch ...

With 2 years left, Obama getting tough on critics

A motorcycle-riding suicide bomber attacked a bank branch today in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 people in a deadly attack the country's president said was claimed by the Islamic State group.
	The attack marks a major escalation in the country's fight against an affiliate of the extremist group that now holds a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared caliphate.
	It also comes as Afghan security forces fight against the Taliban after US and NATO forces ended their combat mission in the country at the start of the year, yet another challenge for the war-ravaged nation.
	The attack in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, targeted a crowd of soldiers and civilians gathered outside the bank to receive their monthly salaries.
	The blast killed at least 35 people and wounded 125, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Hours after the attack, President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Islamic State group for the bombing.
	"In the horrific ...

Afghan suicide bombing blamed on Islamic State kills 35

Iraqi ground forces secured the perimeter around the country's biggest oil refinery today and entered the vast complex amid heavy clashes with Islamic State militants, said a senior Iraqi military official.
	Abdel-Wahab al-Saadi, the top military commander in Iraq's Salahuddin province, said ground forces entered the Beiji oil refinery today, days after a number of IS militants carried out a large-scale attack and briefly took over a small part of the complex.
	"It is another victory achieved by Iraqi security forces that are growing confident in the war against the terrorists," al-Saadi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
	The refinery has remained under government control, but the militants had been surrounding the entire complex preventing access by Iraqi forces.
	A day earlier, Iraqi soldiers, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and Shiite and Sunni militias dubbed the Popular Mobilisation Forces, gained control of the towns of al-Malha and al-Mazraah, located 3 .

Iraqi official: Ground forces enter Iraq's biggest refinery

Mobs in South Africa attacked shops owned by immigrants in a poor area of Johannesburg early today following similar violence in another part of the country that killed six people, according to media reports.
	There was a heavy police presence in Alexandra township after rioters looted some shops, burned tires and built street barricades overnight. The report says police fired rubber bullets in an attempt to stop the unrest, news outlet eNCA reported.
	Several shops and cars owned by immigrants were torched in downtown Johannesburg in recent days.
	Attacks on immigrants, many of them from other African countries, in and around the coastal city of Durban have subsided after the deaths of six people there, police said.
	Some 112 people were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal province, which includes Durban, during the riots there, according to authorities.
	Some South Africans have accused immigrants of taking jobs and opportunities away from them in a country with high unemployment.
	The ...

Anti-immigrant violence in South Africa spreads

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani harshly criticised Saudi Arabia today, warning that the Saudi royal family in Riyadh will harvest the hatred it is sowing in Yemen through its airstrike campaign.
	Since March 26, the Saudi-led coalition has been attacking Shiite rebels known as Houthis and allied fighters loyal to Yemen's ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
	Iran supports the rebels but denies providing any military support.
	Addressing an army parade in Tehran, in a speech broadcast live on state TV Saturday, Rouhani said killing civilians in Yemen will bring neither power nor pride for Saudi Arabia.
	"What does bombing the innocent ... Yemeni people mean? What goals are you pursuing? Will killing children bring power to you? You planted the seeds of hatred in this region and you will see the response sooner or later," Rouhani said.
	"Don't bomb children, elderly men and women in Yemen. Attacking the oppressed will bring disgrace ... For the aggressors."
	Iran's Supreme Leader ...

Rouhani says Saudis will harvest hatred in Yemen

President Juan Manual Santos delivered a sharp rebuke to Colombia's largest rebel group, calling on its leaders to set a deadline to reach a peace deal following this week's slaughter of 11 soldiers while they were sleeping.
	Santos didn't propose any cutoff date to conclude peace talks taking place the last two years in Cuba between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. But he warned the guerrillas that the country's patience is wearing thin
	"Don't be deaf to us Colombians who are clamoring that the time to end the war has come. Time limits to negotiations need to be put in place," he said yesterday in remarks at a reception for visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
	Earlier in the day, Santos attended a memorial for the 11 soldiers, the majority from poor families, who were killed Tuesday during a midnight FARC attack in a rural hamlet in southwestern Colombia.
	The attack came as a shock to normally battle-hardened Colombians because it occurred ..

Colombia's president wants rebels to set deadline for peace

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group launched his harshest criticism yet of Saudi Arabia today, blaming the kingdom for the spread of extremist ideology in the Muslim world and the killing of civilians in Yemen.
	Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of supporters at a rally in southern Beirut organized in support of Yemen's Shiite rebels that Saudi-led airstrikes targeting them have not led to victory.
	Since March 26, the Saudi-led coalition has been pounding the rebels known as Houthis and allied fighters loyal to Yemen's ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
	Nasrallah said that the kingdom will soon realize that "the only choice left" is a ground operation in Yemen a "ground invasion will be costly and will end with a defeat." Both the Houthis and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.
	Nasrallah called on the Muslim world to pressure the Saudis to end the airstrikes and work for a political solution in Yemen.
	However, he said no solution will restore Western-backed President .

Hezbollah blames Saudi Arabia for spread of extremism

Finance officials from the world's major economies are searching for the right mix of policies to bolster a still-weak global recovery nearly six years after the Great Recession while confronting a range of new threats from a soaring US dollar to a big drop in oil prices.
	The financial officials from the Group of 20 nations were also expressing concerns about potential market instability once the Federal Reserve starts increasing a key interest rate which has been at a record low near zero since late 2008.
	The discussions were being held among finance ministers and central bank presidents of the G-20, composed of traditional economic powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany and emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil.
	Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen were representing the United States at the meetings, which began with a dinner yesterday and were to conclude with a news conference today afternoon. Deputy Prime Minister Ali ...

G-20 finance officials confronting global weakness

Iraqi officials said today they believe that government forces killed Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the former deputy of Saddam Hussein who for over a decade was the top fugitive from the ousted regime and became an underground figure involved in Sunni insurgencies, most recently allying with Islamic State militants.
	It was not the first time Iraqi officials have claimed to have killed or captured al-Douri, who was the "king of clubs" in the deck of playing cards issued to help American troops identify key regime fugitives after the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam.
	DNA tests were underway to confirm whether a body recovered from fighting around the city of Tikrit was al-Douri's.
	Reports of al-Douri's death came as Iraqi forces are trying to push back Islamic State group fighters in Salahuddin province, where Tikrit is located. Government troops took back several towns near the country's largest oil refinery at Beiji in the province, officials said.
	Further north, a large car bomb ...

Iraqi officials say Saddam deputy believed killed

A former US Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others like him, a year after an avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides stopped him at the base camp.
	Former Staff Sgt Charlie Linville, 29, from Boise, Idaho, is using a specially designed metal foot outfitted with a climbing boot and another one with crampons in his quest to conquer the 8,850-metre summit next month.
	"My message is anything is possible. It is just not me being an amputee, but anyone sitting on the couch around the world that has problems you can overcome life, it is just how determined you are," Linville said in Kathmandu today, on his way to Tibet in neighbouring China, from where he will set out on Everest.
	He was an explosives expert serving in Afghanistan in 2011, when he went to investigate an explosion that wounded his colleague. He was hit by another explosive device and seriously wounded, and two years ..

Ex-Marine amputee begins 2nd attempt to scale Everest

Chinese authorities and state media say two terrorism suspects have been killed near the Chinese-Vietnamese border after an intense clash with armed forces.
	A man who answered the call at Guangxi Public Security Bureau today confirmed that two people were killed but refused to give more details or his name.
	The official China National Radio says authorities spotted multiple terrorism suspects in the border city of Dongxing on Friday morning and attempted to arrest them.
	CNR says two suspects fled but were killed when they were ferreted out.
	Neither the police official nor the news reports say why the two were thought to be terrorists. The World Uyghur Congress says they were likely members of China's ethnic Uighur minority who were leaving China illegally to escape ethnic repression.

China kills 2 alleged terror suspects near Vietnam border

A North Carolina community college is closing for the weekend because of a bomb threat, days after the campus was rocked by a slaying involving a self-avowed neo-Nazi
	Wayne Community College officials closed the Goldsboro campus at 10 am today and cancelled weekend classes and activities.
	Goldsboro police spokeswoman Kim Best says the closing is in reaction to a telephoned bomb threat. She had no other details.
	The school was evacuated today after the campus print shop supervisor was shot to death.
	Welding student Kenneth Morgan Stancil III is charged with killing Ron Lane. A North Carolina judge told Stancil on Thursday he could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.
	Stancil says he's a neo-Nazi who hates gay people. Lane was gay and fired Stancil last month.

Days after killing, bomb threat closes US university

Iraqi officials say they believe government forces have killed Saddam Hussein's former deputy who later allied himself with Islamic State militants - Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri.
	Al-Douri was known as the "king of clubs" in the deck of playing cards issued to help US troops identify key members of Saddam's regime.
	Salahuddin province Governor Raed al-Jabouri says soldiers and allied Shiite militiamen killed al-Douri early today in an operation east of the city of Tikrit.
	A graphic photo issued by the government purports to be of al-Douri's corpse.
	Senior regional commander, Gen. Haider al-Basri, told Iraqi state TV that al-Douri and nine bodyguards were killed by gunshots while riding in a convoy. DNA tests are underway to confirm the identity of the body.
	Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces have gained full control over a contested area south of the country's largest oil refinery today as part of ongoing operations to secure the rest of Salahuddin province following the recapturing of ..

Iraqi officials say Saddam deputy killed near Tikrit

A death-defying raccoon has caused a sensation in Toronto for climbing a crane about 213 metres up a downtown skyscraper.
	Social media was a-buzz with a photo of the furry adventurer peering from between the metallic rungs of a crane 58 stories high.
	The photo was snapped by crane operator Rob MacFarlane who has a popular Twitter stream that showcases photos of the city from high above.
	MacFarlane says it's not the first time he's seen evidence of raccoons high on the crane.
	MacFarlane said the critter calmly climbed back down the crane yesterday morning after he yelled at it to leave.

Adventurous raccoon makes 58-story climb up Toronto crane

Iraqi authorities say bombings targeting public places and pro-government Sunni fighters have killed 12 people around the capital, Baghdad.
	Police officials say a bomb blast on a commercial street Friday killed 4 people and wounded nine others in Baghdad's southeastern New Baghdad district.
	Also, a bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Baghdad's Dora neighbourhood, killing three shoppers. Another bomb blast near a cafe killed three people in the capital's southeastern suburbs.
	Police say a roadside bomb exploded near a patrol of Sahwa fighters in southern Baghdad, killing two members. The Sunni Sahwa fighters joined forces with US troops at the height of the Iraq insurgency to fight Sunni militants.
	Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorised to release the information.

Officials say bombs kill 12 people in Iraq

Several shops and cars owned by foreigners were torched in downtown Johannesburg overnight in continued anti-immigrant attacks but another city that had seen the worst violence was calm.
	Police spokesman Col. Jay Naicker said no violence was reported in the coastal city of Durban, where the violence began.
	In a Johannesburg suburb, foreigners afraid to return to their homes took refuge in a community center.
	In neighboring Zimbabwe, police were involved in minor clashes with dozens of protesters demonstrating at the South African Embassy against the anti-immigrant attacks.
	Protesters handed over a petition to embassy officials demanding an end to the violence in South Africa.

Some foreign-owned shops and cars torched in Johannesburg

Thailand's constitution drafters have submitted the draft of a new national charter to an advisory council for review, nearly a year after the military took power from an elected government.
	The military abolished an earlier constitution after the May 22 coup, and the government operates under a temporary charter. The junta later picked the drafters and a 250-member National Reform Council to help write a new constitution.
	Constitution Drafting Committee spokesman Lertrat Rattanavanich says he hopes the new constitution will move the country past cycles of political conflicts.
	However, critics say the charter is aimed at preventing a political comeback by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in 2006.
	The drafting committee will later submit the draft to the junta and the Cabinet for separate reviews.

AP

AP

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