Nigeria's counter-insurgency spokesman says the military is focusing on a northeastern forest where officials believe more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped a year ago are being held.
	Information director Mike Omeri told reporters today that the outgoing government of President Goodluck Jonathan "remains resolute in finding and returning them to their homes."
	Parents and community leaders dismissed the statement as political nonsense. They said their information indicates the girls were moved from Sambisa Forest within weeks of their abduction.
	President-elect Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday he would not make any promises about the girls because their whereabouts remain unknown.
	Jonathan's administration and the military have made misleading statements about the girls snatched from a school in Chibok town on April 14-15 in a mass abduction by Boko Haram that outraged the world.

Nigerian military focus on area abducted girls believed held

PTI Automatic

Egypt's government today ordered the army's corps of engineers to demolish the headquarters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak's now-defunct party, a towering structure on the Nile which was torched by protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his rule.
	The government decided to demolish the National Democratic Party's headquarters nearly a year ago, but the fate of the site -- prime real-estate alongside the city's central Tahrir Square -- has been a source of contention.
	The Antiquities Ministry says the land belongs to the adjacent Egyptian Museum, home to the country's Pharaonic treasures.
	The Cairo governorate has also claimed the land. Government spokesman Hossam Qawish said Wednesday's decision only concerns the demolition of the building, not the fate of the land. He said the timing of the demolition is a technical decision.

Egypt to destroy torched building of Mubarak's party

Some 2,200 Romanian, US, British and Moldovan troops will take part in military exercises in Romania, close to the Ukrainian border, beginning this week.
	"Wind Spring 15" will start tomorrow and continue until April 30 at two locations in eastern Romania: the Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase near the Black Sea port of Constanta and the Smardan shooting range.
	Defense Minister Mircea Dusa said today that Romania will stage more than 340 exercises this year, many jointly organized with NATO and partners from the European Union.
	Today, Romanian soldiers tested their readiness at Smardan, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Bucharest, and went through a practice run ahead of the two weeks of exercises.
	Dusa said the exercises are part of a plan approved at NATO's 2014 summit to reinforce the eastern flank of NATO and the EU, which border Ukraine.
	"We will permanently rotate troops on this flank," he told reporters in Smardan.
	He noted the presence of a US destroyer in Constanta and ..

Romanian, US, British troops stage NATO-planned exercises

Colombia's army says 10 soldiers were killed and 20 injured in an apparent attack by leftist rebels that could jeopardize the future of peace talks.
	The army's third division says in a statement that soldiers were on a routine patrol in the volatile southwestern department of Cauca when they were ambushed yesterday by a guerrilla unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
	President Juan Manuel Santos offered his condolences to the family members of the victims and said via Twitter that, "This is precisely why we want to end the war."
	Rebel negotiators in Cuba pledged in December to observe a unilateral ceasefire to promote peace talks taking place on the communist-led island. The government has responded by suspending all aerial attacks on guerrilla encampments.

10 soldiers killed by apparent rebel attack in Colombia

Adding to angry comments about the Pope Francis' description of the Ottoman-era killing of Armenians as genocide, Turkey's prime minister said today that the pontiff has joined "an evil front" plotting against Turkey.
	Ahmet Davutoglu made the comments at an event in Ankara outlining the ruling party's platform for June parliamentary elections and presenting its candidates. He called the pope's description of the killings of an estimated 1.5 million
	Armenians as "the first genocide of the 20th century" unjust. Turkey responded to the pope's words Sunday by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican.
	Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as genocide
	Turkey, however, has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide. It has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognising the massacres as ...

Turkish PM says pope joined 'evil front' against Turkey

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday dismissed pressure from the US Congress over a preliminary deal on Iran's nuclear program, saying that Tehran is dealing with world powers not American lawmakers.
	In a speech to tens of thousands of Iranians in the northern city of Rasht, Rouhani said his nation is pursuing a "dignified" agreement with the six-member group the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
	Rouhani's remarks were an apparent reaction to developments yesterday in Washington, where President Barack Obama bowed to pressure from Republicans and Democrats and agreed to sign compromise legislation empowering Congress to reject a final nuclear deal with Iran.
	The legislation is now expected to sail through both houses of Congress but it is unclear how it will affect the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.
	Tehran and world powers reached a framework agreement on the deal earlier this month. The deal, which is to be finalized by June 30, is meant to ...

Iran's Rouhani dismisses US Congress pressure over nuke deal

Australia's biggest supermarket chain today apologised and pulled down a website that has been widely criticised of commercialising the centenary of the country's Veterans' Day.
	Woolworths, which brands itself as "The Fresh Food People," launched the website "Fresh in Our Memories" late yesterday to commemorate ANZAC Day on April 25.
	ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which was part of a disastrous British-led ground invasion of Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula on April 25, 1915.
	The anniversary of the start of the nine-month campaign by the multinational British Empire force in World War I has become a major national day for both Australians and New Zealanders.
	Woolworths invited customers to upload photographs of veterans on the website. The images were displayed with the slogan "Fresh in Our Memories," the Woolworths logo and "Lest We Forget. ANZAC 1915 - 2015." The campaign immediately drew strong criticism on social media.
	Veterans Affairs Minister ...

Australian supermarket shuts website in Veterans' Day furor

Secretary of State John Kerry says he is still confident that the US administration can conclude a nuclear deal with Iran after President Barack Obama agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject an agreement.
	Kerry joined his counterparts from the Group of Seven industrial powers at a meeting in northern Germany on the gathering's second day after meeting lawmakers in Washington.
	The G-7 meeting's host, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Wednesday ministers will discuss the situation in the US, which has "a certain influence" on whether a deal with Iran can be achieved by a June 30 deadline.
	Kerry said: "We are confident about our ability for the president to negotiate an agreement, and to do so with the ability to make the world safer.

Kerry: still confident US can conclude Iran nuclear deal

Pope Francis' finance minister is on the move, literally.
	Four months after he raised eyebrows by taking up residence in the Vatican bank, Cardinal George Pell is moving out and into the permanent offices of his new economy secretariat.
	The move coincides with a major reorganization of the Vatican's financial structures ordered by Pope Francis as part of his reform of the Vatican's administration. It also removes any impression of Pell's direct authority over the bank, which is governed by a separate commission of cardinals who report to the pope.
	Francis tapped the straight-talking Australian to bring order and efficiency to the Vatican's complicated finances.
	Pell has promised a new era of transparency, budgeting accountability and internationally accepted accounting standards, and has been given broad oversight powers.
	But he has ruffled feathers within the Vatican, and some saw his decision to move into the vacant, spacious presidents' office of the Vatican bank as a symbolic 

Pope's finance czar moves out of Vatican bank

The Pentagon said today it would exhume and try to identify the remains of nearly 400 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma sank in the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
	The ship capsized after being hit by nine torpedoes during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. Altogether, 429 sailors and Marines onboard were killed. Only 35 were identified in the years immediately after.
	Hundreds were buried as unknowns at cemeteries in Hawaii. In 1950, they were reburied as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific inside a volcanic crater in Honolulu.
	The military is acting now, more than 70 years after the men died, because advances in forensic science and technology as well as genealogical help from family members have made it possible to identify more remains, said Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency spokeswoman.
	Officials plan to begin the work in three to six weeks, Morgan said. They aim to identify the remains of up to 388 servicemen within ...

Pentagon plans to identify hundreds killed in Pearl Harbor

The head of the United Nations mission to Central African Republic is urging donors to contribute more than USD 20 million to finance elections in the conflict-wracked country this summer and millions more to help its impoverished people.
	Gaye told the UN Security Council yesterday that the transition in the country, which exploded into sectarian violence in December 2013, has reached "a critical stage."
	He said the electoral process is facing challenges including registering people displaced by the fighting as well as refugees who fled to neighboring countries.
	Gaye said about 50,000 people have been newly displaced since January.
	According to UN estimates in January, nearly 440,000 people were displaced inside the country while some 190,000 had sought asylum across its borders.

UN urges donors to fund Central African Republic elections

A wave of attacks in and around Baghdad today killed at least 28 people as Iraqi security forces repelled an attack by the extremist Islamic State group on the country's largest oil refinery, officials said.
	The attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with President Barack Obama in Washington and appealed for greater support from the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against IS militants who captured a third of both Iraq and neighboring Syria in a blitz last year.
	Obama pledged USD 200 million in US humanitarian aid to Iraq to help those displaced by Islamic State attacks an offer of assistance that appeared to fall short of the Iraqi prime minister's request for greater military support.
	The Islamic State group and other Sunni extremists carry out near-daily attacks targeting Iraq's security forces and the country's Shiite majority.
	The deadliest of today's attacks came at night, when a car bomb explosion at a commercial street killed eight people, ...

Attacks kill 28 civilians in and around Baghdad

Canada is sending 200 military trainers to Ukraine, joining the US and Britain an effort to bolster the country's forces against Russian aggression.
	Defense Minister Jason Kenney said about 150 trainers will be housed at a NATO training center in Yavoriv, near the Polish border. He said the troops will be more than 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) away from the conflict zone.
	"It could not be further away. It is very close to the Polish border in extreme west of Ukraine," Kenney said.
	The Canadians will join US and British soldiers early this summer, and the mission will last until March 31, 2017.
	Britain is sending up to 75 military trainers to provide instruction and training in military intelligence, logistics and battlefield medical procedures. The US has committed 800 troops to train three battalions in western Ukraine.
	Kenney said the move comes after a request from the government of Ukraine. Kenney said it sends Russian President Vladimir Putin a message of resolution and ...

Canada to join US effort to train Ukrainian troops

Israel's prime minister says he has spoken to Russia's president to convey his displeasure over Russia's decision to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
	Benjamin Netanyahu's office says he spoke with Vladimir Putin today to protest Russia's planned delivery of advanced S-300 air defense missile systems to the Islamic Republic.
	Israeli military officials consider the Russian arming of Iran an additional obstacle before any potential military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
	Netanyahu says he told Putin the move would only increase Iran's aggression in the region and undermine security in the Middle East.
	Israel says the Russian announcement is a direct result of the international community's framework nuclear deal with Iran. Israel vehemently opposes any deal with Iran that does not dismantle the military capability of its nuclear program.

Israel's leader speaks to Putin over Russia missiles to Iran

Street battles and air raids are driving ever more Yemenis from their homes, the United Nations said today, as the worsening conflict forced the country's liquefied natural gas company to shut down production.
	From Geneva, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that estimates show over 121,000 people had been displaced inside Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition airstrike campaign targeting Shiite rebels began on March 26, with nearly half that number concentrated in the northwest.
	"Humanitarian partners are providing assistance including water, sanitation and health services but the response is constrained by continued high insecurity due to airstrikes and fighting on the ground," spokesman Jens Laerke said.
	The figures were released just as the UN Security Council adopted a resolution placing an arms embargo on the leaders of the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their key allies, ordering them to end the violence and return to UN brokered ...

Yemen displaced, refugees rise as conflict worsens

At least five people in South Africa have died in attacks on immigrant-owned shops and hundreds of people have fled their homes since last week, authorities said today as they struggled to stem one of the worst outbreaks of violence in years against foreigners, many of them from other African countries.
	Most of the recent unrest occurred in and around the coastal city of Durban, where police said two foreigners and three South Africans were killed.
	The dead included a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly shot during looting last night and died at a hospital, police Col Jay Naicker said. Some 34 people have been arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms and other crimes in the last two days, he said.
	"Police are deployed and in high alert in most of the areas where there are foreign nationals," Naicker said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
	Despite the increased police presence, authorities are hard-pressed to stop unrest that recalls similar violence in South ...

South African looters target foreign-owned shops, 5 killed

In a direct challenge to the White House, a Senate committee is to vote on a bill that would give Congress a chance to weigh in on any final nuclear agreement that can be reached with Iran.
	Despite a veto threat from President Barack Obama, there is strong bipartisan support for Congress to have a say in any deal that the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany are able to negotiate to keep Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for easing sanctions.
	The White House doesn't want Congress to take any action that could upset the delicate negotiations that are supposed to wrap up with a final agreement by the end of June.
	Republican Sen Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a vote is likely today, possibly on a new version that was still being crafted last night.
	The committee vote is a step toward a full Senate vote. The bill would also have to be approved by the House.
	A new version would be an attempt to make ..

Senate committee to vote on controversial Iran bill

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a policeman manning a checkpoint just outside Cairo.
	Another two policemen were wounded in the shooting early today in Shibeen al-Qanatar, north of the capital, MENA quotes a security official as saying.
	Attacks on security forces spiked following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi amid mass protests against him.
	The attacks have mainly occurred in the northern Sinai Peninsula. At least 14 people, mostly soldiers and police, were killed in attacks there on Sunday.
	Maj Gen Magdy el-Shalaqani meanwhile said explosives struck electrical pylons on the outskirts of Cairo, cutting power to a complex housing most of Egypt's private TV stations and briefly taking them off the air.

Gunmen on motorcycle kill Egyptian policeman

Hillary Rodham Clinton is making her 2016 presidential campaign debut in Iowa at a small-town gathering, part of a concerted effort to tamp down big expectations and hold personal "conversations" with voters.
	Clinton, seeking to become America's first female president, announced her candidacy in a video posted online Sunday and left by van on a trip from her New York home to Iowa, the Midwestern state whose caucuses kick off the long, state-by-state nomination contest.
	She was touring a community college and holding a round-table discussion with students and teachers today in the town of Monticello.
	"I won't take anything for granted. I'm going to work my heart out to earn every single vote," Clinton said in a fundraising email to supporters yesterday.
	The former first lady, US senator and secretary of state appears unlikely to face a formidable Democratic opponent in the primary campaign, unlike in 2008 when she lost the nomination to Barack Obama.
	Should she win the nomination, 

Clinton starts White House campaign with small-town meetings

Allan Donald has left as South Africa's bowling coach after four years with the team.
     Donald said today it was the right time to move on following last month's World Cup, where South Africa lost in the semifinals.
     Donald joined as bowling coach under former head coach Gary Kirsten in 2011. The 48-year-old former fast bowler played 72 Tests and took 330 wickets, fourth on the list of South African wicket-takers.
     He is currently working as bowling coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
     Cricket South Africa said it had not yet appointed a replacement. South Africa's next assignment is a Test and limited overs tour of Bangladesh in July, before home series against New Zealand and England later this year.

Allan Donald quits as South Africa bowling coach

News reports say an Asiana Airlines plane skidded off a runway after landing in western Japan and about 20 passengers received minor injuries.
	Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the accident today forced the closure of Hiroshima airport.
	It said the Airbus 320 plane was carrying 74 passengers and seven crewmembers from Seoul, South Korea. It said they were evacuated using escape chutes, and no was seriously injured.
	The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Reports said the airport informed fire officials that part of the aircraft touched the runway during the landing, causing some sparks.
	No other details were immediately available. An Asiana Airlines flight crashed two years ago as it approached San Francisco's airport in an accident that killed three teenagers and injured nearly 200 others.

AP

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