Marco Rubio, the young Florida senator who has been a favorite of the conservative tea party movement, today took on Hillary Rodham Clinton in his first words as a presidential candidate.
	Rubio, 43, told top donors he is running for the Republican nomination because the 2016 race for the White House should be about the future, not the past. A Cuban- American serving his first term as senator, Rubio also said he feels "uniquely qualified" to pitch his Republican Party as one that will defend the American Dream.
	Rubio's presidential announcement comes a day after Clinton announced her bid for the Democratic nomination and as the former secretary of state is traveling to early voting state Iowa on her first trip as a candidate.
	That's likely to rob some attention from Rubio's splash into the race. But Rubio saw an opportunity to cast the presidential contest as one between a fresh face representing a new generation of leadership and a long-familiar figure harking back to the 1990s ...

Senator Marco Rubio tells donors he is running for White House

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French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is calling for the government to be granted emergency surveillance powers in case of an exceptional threat.
	In a speech in Parliament, Valls urged a new intelligence bill for extraordinary measures that would be used only "in case of major crisis affecting the citizens' security."
	The law would allow intelligence services to use surveillance powers without submitting a request to an independent nine-person panel, as normally required.
	Lawmakers today started debating a bill aimed at legalizing broad surveillance of terrorism suspects, three months after the deadly Paris attacks. The proposal caused an outcry from some privacy advocates, human rights groups and the Paris bar association, despite the government's efforts to distance itself from US-style mass surveillance.

France's govt wants emergency surveillance powers

A Prague court has handed a 30 month prison sentence to a Russian who forced a passenger plane to make an emergency landing by claiming he was carrying a bomb.
	Yevgeny Dagayev, who has changed his surname to Rotshtein, tried to break into the cockpit of the Aeroflot Airbus A320 from Moscow to Geneva in the 2006 incident.
	Apparently drunk, he demanded a change of route to Cairo but was subdued by people on board, and the plane made an emergency landing in Prague, authorities said.
	No explosives were found. Spokeswoman Marketa Puci confirmed today's ruling by the Municipal Court.
	The 40-year-old Rotshtein, who pleaded not guilty, still can appeal. Last year, he was extradited from Britain to face trial in the Czech Republic.

Russian sentenced in Prague over plane emergency landing

A legal fight against the Federal Communications Commission's new Internet traffic rules has begun.
	The rules were voted on in February and uphold the principle of net neutrality that online content be allowed to load at the same speed. They forbid paid fast lanes favoring some content and say broadband providers can't slow Web traffic or block content.
	They were published today in the government's Federal Register and would go into effect on June 12 if a court doesn't block them.
	The United States Telecom Association, an industry group that represents companies including AT&T and Verizon, says it has filed suit against the rules in the US Court of Appeals for District of Columbia.

USTelecom files suit against government's new Internet rules

China's trade contracted in March by an expectedly wide margin, adding to expectations Beijing will launch new stimulus to shore up weakening growth in the world's second-largest economy.
	Exports fell 15 per cent compared with a year earlier to USD 144.6 billion following a 20.5 per cent contraction the previous month, customs data showed today. Imports declined 12.7 percent to USD 141.5 billion.
	The decline fueled fears economic growth in the first three months of this year, due to be reported this week, fell further after declining to 7.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2015.
	The weakness "represents not only monthly volatility but also further weakness in foreign trade, adding uncertainties to economic recovery," said Citigroup economist Minggao Shen in a report.
	The economy has cooled steadily as communist leaders try to steer China to more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption and reduce reliance on trade and investment. Last year's full-year growth of 7.4 per ...

China's trade shrinks in sign of economic weakness

Iran suspended all umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia today amid growing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, state television reported.
	Iran's Culture Ministry made the decision over alleged abuse suffered by two male Iranian pilgrims traveling through Saudi's Jeddah airport in March trying to return home, the station reported.
	Culture Ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi told state TV that the pilgrimage would be suspended until the Saudi government "applies a strong attitude" to the case. He also said "capital punishment" should apply to the case, without offering details about it.
	The alleged abuse, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed, sparked unauthorized protests at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday. Public anger has grown over the incident, with President Hassan Rouhani ordering an investigation and Iran's Foreign Ministry summoning a Saudi diplomat over it.
	But what actually happened remains unclear. Today, a representative of Iran's top ..

Iran suspends pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia amid spat

An official says one person is dead and a North Carolina community college campus is on lockdown as authorities search for a man with a gun.
	Kim Best, spokeswoman for the city of Goldsboro, says there is one victim in the campus shooting at Wayne County Community College. She says that person is dead but did not give any other details.
	Best says the shooter is not in custody. She would not say whether the shooter was still on campus.
	Wayne County assistant operations manager Daniel Wiggins says the 911 emergency dispatch service received a call about 8 am of an active shooter on campus.
	Authorities are searching the area for a white malel with a goatee and a tattoo over his eye. Wiggins says he doesn't know what type of firearm is involved.

1 dead in shooting at North Carolina college: Official

Iraq's prime minister says his country needs greater support from the international coalition so it can "finish" the Islamic State group.
	Haider al-Abadi says the "marked increase" in airstrikes, weapons deliveries and training has helped roll back the extremist group, but that more is required to rid Iraq of it once and for all.
	His comments to journalists came today as he boarded a flight to Washington where he will meet President Barack Obama.
	Al-Abadi says Iraq's relationship with neighboring Iran is "very balanced" and that those at odds with Iran should not "throw their problems on us."
	Both the United States and Iran are helping Iraq battle the Islamic State group, but insist they are not coordinating their actions on the battlefield.

Iraq's premier says more support needed to 'finish' IS

Fighting has picked up in eastern Ukraine, after more than a month of relative calm, as diplomats gathered in Berlin today to discuss the Ukraine crisis.
	Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said yesterday that its mission observed an intense clash with the use of tanks and heavy artillery as well as grenade launchers and mortars in the north of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
	On Sunday alone, the OSCE recorded at least 1,166 explosions, caused mainly by artillery and mortar shell strikes in northern Donetsk as well as on its outskirts including the airport, now obliterated by fighting.
	The OSCE also reported intense mortar fire outside the village of Shyrokyne by the Azov Sea but said its representatives were repeatedly barred from accessing the village on Sunday.
Mortar fire was also heard at night and today in central Donetsk.
	Rebel officials as well as Ukrainian and Russian colonels in charge of monitoring the cease-fire went early Monday ...

Fighting picks up in war-torn eastern Ukraine

The children's drawings show men with guns, a coffin, a car exploding. One picture has stick-like figures of eight siblings missed by their teenage sister.
	The disturbing images come from some of an estimated 800,000 children forced from the homes by Boko Haram extremists, according to a UNICEF report published today.
	It says the number of refugee children has doubled in the past year, making them about half of all the 1.5 million Nigerians made homeless in the Islamic uprising.
	"Children have become deliberate targets, often subjected to extreme violence - from sexual abuse and forced marriage to kidnappings and brutal killings," the report says. "Children have also become weapons, made to fight alongside armed groups and at times used as human bombs."
	The number of children absent from primary school in Nigeria has increased from 8 million in 2007 to 10.5 million- the highest figure in the world, it says. Boko Haram has targeted schools, destroying or severely damaging more than 

800,000 children forced from homes in Boko Haram violence

The heiress of the fashion and perfume house Nina Ricci was sentenced today to a year in prison and ordered to pay heavy fines and back taxes for having hidden millions of euros in HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland.
	The ruling was the first involving a famous name in the so-called Swissleaks scandal, in which a former HSBC employee gave authorities thousands of names of suspected tax evaders. Other trials are expected to follow.
	A Paris court convicted Arlette Ricci, 73, granddaughter of designer Nina Ricci, of tax evasion and money laundering and sentenced her to three years in prison, with two of them suspended. The court ordered a 1 million euro (USD 1.1 million) fine and the confiscation of two properties worth 4 million euros.
	Ricci's lawyer Jean-Marc Fedida told reporters that he is deciding whether to appeal, and that he might instead ask a judge to let her serve the prison term under less strict conditions, such as partial liberty or wearing an electronic bracelet.
	In a ...

Nina Ricci heir convicted of tax fraud after HSBC leaks

Iran suspended all trips by pilgrims to Saudi Arabia today amid growing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, state television reported.
	Iran's Culture Ministry made the decision over alleged abuse suffered by two male Iranian pilgrims travelling through Saudi's Jeddah airport in March trying to return home, the station reported.
	Culture Ministry spokesman Hossein Nooshabadi told state TV that the minor Haj would be suspended until the Saudi government "applies a strong attitude" to the case.
	He also said "capital punishment" should apply to the case, without offering details about it.
	The alleged abuse, details of which have not publicly discussed, sparked unauthorised protests at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday.
	Public anger has grown over the incident, with President Hassan Rouhani ordering an investigation and Iran's Foreign Ministry summoning a Saudi diplomat over it.
	But what actually happened remains unclear. Today, a representative of Iran's top leader ..

Report: Iran suspends Haj trips to Saudi Arabia amid spat

A car bomb parked near an outdoor market in a busy commercial area in Baghdad killed at least 10 civilians today, Iraqi officials said.
	The pick-up truck, loaded with vegetables and fruits, was parked in the southwestern, Shiite-dominated Amil neighborhood, a police officer said. The explosion also wounded at least 25 civilians and damaged about 20 cars, he added.
	A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
	The attack comes as Iraqi government forces and allied Shiite and Sunni fighters, backed by airstrikes from the US-led international coalition, are battling Islamic State militants to retake key cities and territory in northern and western Iraq.
	In its blitz last year, the extremist group captured large swaths of land in the country's north and west, along with nearly a third of neighboring Syria. The IS offensive plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 US ...

Car bombing kills at least 10 civilians in Bagdad

China and the US are boosting cooperation in sending home suspected criminals amid a Chinese drive to ferret out corrupt officials who have fled abroad.
	The Department of Homeland Security says the sides agreed to streamline the process for identifying and returning fugitives and illegal immigrants. That came during US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson's visit to Beijing last week.
	A department news release yesterday said that the sides would share more information on cases and provide regular updates. The two countries have no extradition treaty.
	China says almost 700 fugitives suspected of economic crimes have been returned home under a pair of transnational operations codenamed "Fox Hunt" and "Sky Net."
	Beijing provided more than 100 names of wanted fugitives to the U.S. Last year, but offered little supporting information.

China, US to boost cooperation on repatriating fugitives

Taliban fighters swarmed over Afghan army posts in the country's northeast, killing at least 18 soldiers and beheading some in a major attack to mark the start of the country's summer fighting season, authorities said today.
	The assault marks a grim first summer battle for Afghan forces, now fighting largely alone after the U.S. And NATO ended their combat mission in the country at the start of this year. The attack in Badakhshan's Jurm district happened Friday, though officials only offered details about it days later as they pledged to investigate the apparent rout.
	Some 250 Taliban fighters overran the posts, said Gul Mohammad Bidar, the province's deputy governor. Ahmad Nawid Froutan, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the attack killed 18 soldiers, with eight of their bodies beheaded. He said Afghan troops killed 19 Taliban fighters, eight of them foreigners, and that the insurgents fled after reinforcements arrived to the area.
	The Defense Ministry said earlier ...

Taliban attack kills 18 Afghan soldiers; some beheaded

Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates say migrant laborers set multiple vehicles on fire during a weekend protest at a construction site in the north of the country following the death of one of their co-workers.
	The National and Khaleej Times dailies were among the papers reporting the incident today. They say the protest happened Saturday in the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah after a worker fell to his death from the fifth floor of a building under construction.
	Police say the death was an apparent suicide. Electrical generators and fuel tanks were also torched in the protest. No injuries were reported.
	The Emirates is home to millions of low-paid migrant laborers. A group of South Asian workers last month staged a rare protest in Dubai over a pay dispute.

Laborers in Emirates set fire to vehicles in rare protest

Guenter Grass, the Nobel-winning German writer who gave voice to the generation that came of age during the horrors of the Nazi era but later ran into controversy over his own World War II past and stance toward Israel, has died. He was 87.
	Matthias Wegner, spokesman for the Steidl publishing house, confirmed that Grass died today morning in a Luebeck hospital.
	Grass was lauded by Germans for helping to revive their culture in the aftermath of World War II and helping to give voice and support to democratic discourse in the postwar nation.
	Yet he provoked the ire of many in 2006 when he revealed in his memoir "Skinning the Onion" that, as a teenager, he had served in the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of Adolf Hitler's notorious paramilitary organization.
	In 2012, Grass drew sharp criticism at home and was declared persona non grata by Israel after publishing a prose poem, "What Must Be Said," in which he criticized what he described as Western hypocrisy over Israel's nuclear program ..

German Nobel laureate Guenter Grass dies at age 87

Out-of-control agricultural fires have killed at least 15 people, injured hundreds more and destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 homes in Siberia, authorities said today.
	The fires were started in Khakassia, a region in southeastern Siberia, by farmers burning the grass in their fields, but spread quickly because of strong winds.
	"This fire would not have happened if people were not playing with matches," Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Chupriyan said in a statement.
	"And it wasn't children, but adults." Chupriyan said dozens of homes burn down in Russia every year because of farmers burning the grass.
	The local health ministry said on Monday that 15 people including a child have been confirmed dead and 393 people were injured.
	The fires have left 5,000 people homeless and it will take about 5 billion rubles (USD 94 million) to rebuild housing in the area, the region's chief, Viktor Zimin said in televised comments.
	By early morning the fires in all 38 villages in 

Siberian fires sweep through villages, kill 15

A small earthquake was felt across a wide area of Los Angeles today, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
	The magnitude-3.5 quake struck at 9:17 pm, the US Geological Survey said.
	Los Angeles city and county fire departments said there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
	A USGS website for citizen reports of quake intensity showed tremors were felt from the San Fernando Valley to Simi Valley north of Los Angeles down to the Long Beach area.

Magnitude-3.5 quake felt across Los Angeles area

A Lamborghini that was part of an exotic car racing attraction at Walt Disney World crashed into a guardrail, killing a passenger and injuring the driver, police said.
	The attraction lets racecar fans be drivers or passengers in luxurious cars such as Lamborghinis, Porsches or Ferraris. It wasn't immediately clear if the driver was a track employee or a customer. The driver was hospitalized with minor injuries.
	The passenger was a 36-year-old man.
	Their names were not immediately released.
	The Lamborghini crashed yesterday when the driver lost control on the course at the Exotic Driving Experience, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
	A Disney spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone call.
	At the track, customers pay anywhere from USD 200 to almost USD 400 to drive five or six laps around a track with a professional driving instructor in the passenger seat offering advice, according to the Exotic Driving Experience's website.
	The track is operated by Petty Holdings, which has .

At Disney racecar attraction, Lamborghini crashes, kills 1

A Jamaican teenager has been detained in Suriname on suspicion of being a would-be militant hoping to join Islamic extremists.
	In a statement, Suriname's police force says the 16-year-old was denied entry after arriving at the country's main airport on Saturday.
	Police say the boy was trying to fly to the Netherlands and then to Turkey. They say a regional intelligence service informed them that the Jamaican hoped to slip into Syria to join Islamic State militants.
	Suriname police say the teen has been flown back to Jamaica.
	Jamaica's national security ministry did not immediately provide comment.
	Last month, Jamaica insisted there was "no evidence" of Jamaicans joining terrorist groups after a US general identified the island as one of the regional nations producing a flow of 100 would-be militants.

AP

AP

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