About 80 faith leaders from around the US have signed a letter to President Barack Obama urging the government to stop detaining immigrant families, while high-ranking clerics visiting a Texas detention facility criticized the practice.
	The US government opened the detention centers, including two in Texas, in response to the tens of thousands of immigrants who crossed the US-Mexico border last summer. Most were women with children or unaccompanied minors from Central America.
	In their letter, released yesterday, Christian and Jewish clerics decried the policy of detaining mothers and children as "inappropriate and unjust." Detention is harmful to children, they said, and leaves the mothers with diminished access to the legal system.
	"These families are not a threat to our communities they pose no risk to our safety and have committed no crimes. They themselves are fleeing real forms of terror, with a majority having valid asylum claims," the clerics wrote.
	Archbishop Gustavo ...

Clerics urge US to end family detention of immigrants

PTI Automatic

France's foreign minister has said his country will propose a UN Security Council resolution in the coming weeks that could present a framework for negotiations toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
	Laurent Fabius yesterday said "there is no other solution" but said he doesn't know what the United States, Israel's top ally, will agree to.
	The minister spoke to reporters at UN headquarters before leaving for the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland.
	"France will be part and parcel in proposing a resolution in the UN," he said. He said discussions with partners will begin in the days ahead.
	The UN's top Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, challenged the Security Council on Thursday to lead the way on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying it should present a framework for talks that "may be the only way to preserve the goal of a two-state solution."
	France had put off a previous attempt at a council resolution to wait for the results of Israel's election earlier this month. ...

France says will propose UN Security Council draft on Israel

Russia plans to eliminate Ukraine as an independent state and could spark a new offensive in the east to achieve that aim, Ukraine's Prime Minister has said.
	Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk yesterday said Russia was uninterested in de-escalating Ukraine's conflict with separatist forces, despite its commitment to maintain a peace deal made in February.
	Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of being directly involved in the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine which has left over 6,000 dead in the last year. Moscow denies that charge. The warring sides are poised in a delicate truce that is largely holding, despite sporadic skirmishes along the 450-kilometer front line.
	The cease-fire agreement reached in February requires both Ukraine government and rebel forces to pull back their heavy weapons. It also envisions Ukraine granting its rebellious eastern territories some measure of self-rule.
	Yatsenyuk told the AP in an English-language interview that the agreement was a bad but ...

Ukraine PM: Russia could spark new offensive

The UN human rights chief told the Security Council that in a "most terrible irony," the Islamic State group may be more accepting of the ethnic diversity of its members than some states are about ethnic differences among their own citizens.
	Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the first human rights chief from the Muslim and Arab worlds, yesterday spoke as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius chaired a special meeting on the abuses in the Middle East on ethnic and religious grounds.
	Both said the Security Council should refer the situations in Iraq and Syria to the International Criminal Court.
	Fabius later told reporters that the Islamic State group itself, "these criminals," should be referred to the ICC.
	Zeid called the Islamic State group "an abomination" but also criticized states in the Middle East and elsewhere for overlooking abuses, attacking civil society and letting fanaticism flourish. "If we attend to minority rights only after the slaughter has begun, then we have already ...

France calls for Islamic State to be referred to ICC

A former police officer in Alabama has been charged with violating the civil rights of an Indian man who was injured during a violent confrontation, authorities said today.
	Former police officer Eric Sloan Parker is charged with using unreasonable force that left Sureshbhai Patel partially paralyzed. The 57-year-old from the western Indian state of Gujarat doesn't speak English. He was slammed face-first to the ground in the Feb 6 confrontation, which was captured on video.
	Alabama Gov Robert Bentley previously apologised to the Indian government for the treatment of Patel, calling it a case of "excessive force."
	Parker will plead not guilty, defence attorney Robert Tuten said.
	"We are shocked, disappointed and overwhelmed by all the ways Eric Parker is coming under attack," Tuten said in an email. "However, we are looking forward to seeing the indictment and having our day in court."
	Police treatment of minorities has become a big issue in the United States over the past year, ..

US charges ex-cop in confrontation with Indian man

US resistance to a Chinese-led Asian regional bank has left it isolated among its Asian and European allies and given some heft to China's frequent complaints that Washington wants to contain its rise as a world power.
	South Korea, one of America's closest friends in Asia, announced yesterday it will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, which is intended to help finance construction of roads and other infrastructure.
	Beijing has pledged to put up most of the initial USD 50 billion in capital for the bank, which is expected to be set up by year's end.
	The US has expressed concern the new bank will allow looser lending standards for the environment, laboUr rights and financial transparency, undercutting the World Bank, where the US has the most clout, and the Asian Development Bank, where it is the second-largest shareholder after Japan.
	But since Britain broke with Washington two weeks ago and announced it was signing up for the AIIB, the floodgates have opened. .

US isolated as allies line up to join China-led bank

Google is teaming up with Johnson & Johnson to build robots that can help surgeons in the operating room.
	The alliance announced this week dovetails with two of Google's initiatives beyond its main business of Internet search and advertising. Google has been investing in medical research aimed at extending lives and in robotic technology that can free up humans to do other things.
	The companies will try to engineer robotic technology that will reduce patient trauma and accelerate post-surgery healing.
	Google will work with Ethicon, a medical device company owned by Johnson & Johnson.
	Financial terms of the deal aren't being disclosed. Johnson & Johnson's innovation center in California negotiated the partnership with Google, which is based in Mountain View, California.

Google, Johnson & Johnson team up to build robot surgeons

Lufthansa could face "unlimited" compensation claims for the crash that killed 150 people in the French alps and it would be difficult, even counterproductive, for the German carrier to try to avoid liability, experts said today.
	Under a treaty governing deaths and injuries aboard international flights, airlines are required to compensate relatives of victims for proven damages of up to a limit currently set at about USD 157,000 regardless of what caused the crash.
	But higher compensation is possible if a carrier is held liable.
	"So more or less you will have unlimited financial damage," said Marco Abate, a German aviation lawyer. To avoid liability, a carrier has to prove that the crash wasn't due to "negligence or other wrongful act" by its employees, according to Article 21 of the 1999 Montreal Convention.
	That would be a difficult argument to make when a pilot intentionally crashes a plane into a mountain, and one that Lufthansa would likely avoid as it could further damage ...

German airline could face 'unlimited' damages for Alps crash

American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko blast off early Saturday to begin a year away from Earth.
	Gennady Padalka of Russia also is to be aboard the Soyuz space capsule; he is scheduled for the standard six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station.
	The trip is NASA's first stab at a one-year spaceflight, anticipating Mars expeditions that would last two to three years.
	The Soyuz sets off from Russia's manned space launch facility on the steppes of Kazakhstan and docks with the space station hours later.
	Kelly's identical twin Mark, a retired astronaut, agreed to take part in many of the same medical experiments as his orbiting sibling to help scientists see how a body in space compares with its genetic double on Earth.

Astronauts to blast off for 1-year trip to space station

France's highest administrative court is allowing journalists to see files regarding former President Nicolas Sarkozy's winning presidential campaign in 2007, which is suspected of having received illegal funding from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
	France's Council of State on Friday asked the commission in charge of controlling the campaign funds to release details of its written exchanges with Sarkozy and his treasurer, according to a law guaranteeing free access to administrative documents.
	The investigative news website Mediapart had initially sought the files. The commission refused, and Mediapart appealed the decision.
	Sarkozy, who is eyeing the 2017 presidential race for a comeback, last year was handed preliminary charges in an investigation into allegations that he took USD 54.5 million in illegal campaign funds from the late Libyan leader. He has denied any wrongdoing.
	Sarkozy had an up-and-down relationship with Gadhafi.
	Early in his five-year tenure, Sarkozy .

French court OKs media access to Sarkozy's campaign files

Zayn Malik says he worries that he's let One Direction fans down by leaving the world-conquering boy band, but couldn't carry on in a role that made him unhappy.
	Malik quit the group this week, saying he wanted "to be a normal 22-year-old." He had earlier pulled out of One Direction's world tour, citing stress.
	He told Friday's edition of Britain's Sun newspaper that "I did try to do something that I wasn't happy doing for a while" to keep fans happy.
	"I only ever tried to do it for the fans, and it was only ever for them," he said.
	He said he felt upset that "I may have let them down in some sort of way."
	"It's not that I've turned my back on them or anything, it's just that I can't do that anymore because it's not real to me," he said.
	And he said his bandmates had been "really supportive" of his decision.
	One Direction formed in 2010 after five teenagers  Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Malik auditioned individually for the British TV talent show ..

Zayn Malik says he worries he's let fans down by leaving 1D

Rio de Janeiro's hotel bed shortage was eased today, as online home share startup Airbnb inked a deal to be the official "alternative accommodations" sponsor of the 2016 Olympic games.
	The deal, which saw Airbnb pay an undisclosed amount to local Olympic organizers, means official Olympic sites will feature a link to Airbnb's site and encourage spectators traveling to Rio for the games to use the service to rent space in private homes and apartments.
	This marked the first time the Olympics has had an alternative accommodations sponsor, said officials with the local organizing committee.
	Rio's notoriously poor hotel infrastructure has been long been considered a critical issue. When the city won the Olympic bid in 2009, it had just half the 40,000 beds required for the games. Since then, new infrastructure has been built, and the city now has the 42,000 spots needed to house members of the "Olympic family," including athletes and their entourages, the media and sponsors.
	Airbnb's ..

Airbnb becomes sponsor of 2016 Olympics in Rio

Al-Shabab militants blasted their way into a Mogadishu hotel and took positions inside, exchanging fire with security forces seeking to regain control of the facility late today, a Somali police official said.
	At least four gunmen had trapped an unknown number of people inside the building, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press.
	Al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group that has carried out many attacks here, claimed responsibility for the assault on the Maka Al-Mukarramah hotel, which is popular with Somali government officials and foreigners.
	The attack started when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car at the gate of the hotel. Gunmen then quickly moved in, according to Hussein, who said he had counted at least nine bodies at the scene.
	The death toll is likely to rise as the security forces attempt to regain control of the hotel.
	It remained unclear who was being targeted by the militants and how many civilians were inside the hotel when ..

At least 9 dead as militants attack hotel in Somali capital

Police say a 2-year-old boy found a handgun on a bed and shot himself in the leg while his mother and her boyfriend were showering.
	Investigators say the toddler took the .45-caliber gun from an upstairs bedroom at the boyfriend's Pennsylvania home Thursday and played with it on a downstairs couch as he watched cartoons.
	Police say the bullet lodged in the boy's back. They say he was conscious and talking before surgery to repair damage to organs. Police say he'll undergo surgery Friday to remove the bullet.
	No charges have been filed. Police are investigating.

US toddler finds gun, shoots self in leg while adults shower

Romanian prosecutors investigating an alleged bribery scheme have questioned the former finance minister about the origins of 100 paintings, including three works by Pablo Picasso.
	Prosecutors questioned Darius Valcov on Friday, saying the paintings had been hidden by four of his friends. The works have been sent to art experts for evaluation. Valcov, under house arrest since Thursday, declined to comment.
	Among the paintings are works by Romanian painters Corneliu Baba and Nicolae Grigorescu as well as sketches by Picasso and works by Renoir and Andy Warhol, some of which had been purchased for him by an art dealer at two Bucharest auction houses, prosecutors said.
	Prosecutors said Valcov was an art collector who wanted to conceal the origin of money dishonestly gained. He resigned March 15 after prosecutors charged him with taking USD 2.1 million in bribes when he was the mayor of a small town in exchange for awarding contracts to a local businessman.
	Valcov hid a Renoir ...

Romania questions ex-minister over 3 Picassos, 100 paintings

About 1,000 workers have been fired following an illegal strike that halted construction at an already delayed but much needed power plant in South Africa, a spokesman for the state-owned power utility said on today.
	Even more workers may be dismissed as a result of an investigation into the illegal strike staged by more than 3,000 workers that began Wednesday, said Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe. The illegal strike led to a day and half's work lost at Medupi, one of three new power plants expected to end rolling blackouts in South Africa.
	The workers were demanding bonuses and an end to layoffs, according to a statement by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. They were also demanding improved conditions at subsidized accommodation near the plant.
	The workers who were fired were already on a final written warning for previous illegal strikes, when they took part in this week's strike, said Phasiwe.
	"They were given their marching orders," the spokesman said. The ...

About 1,000 workers fired from South African power plant

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car at the gate of a hotel popular with government officials in Mogadishu on today afternoon, local police said.
	Gunfire could be heard inside the Maka-Mukarramah Hotel, but it was not clear if any gunmen had managed to penetrate the hotel's gate, said Somali police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. He said there was no information yet on casualties and it was not clear who was being targeted.
	The Somali militant group al-Shabab routinely carries out suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks in Mogadishu, the seat of Somalia's Western-backed government.
	The militants have continued to launch attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from their bases in the seaside city in 2011.

Gunfire, blast as militants attack hotel in Somali capital

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan urged his nation to vote peacefully and accept the results of Saturday's presidential elections, which analysts say will be the most tightly contested in the history of Africa's richest nation and its largest democracy.
	"No political ambition can justify violence or the shedding of the blood of our people," Jonathan, who is running for re-election, said Friday in a televised broadcast.
	In a country steeped in a history of coups, bloodshed caused by politics, ethnicity, land disputes and, lately, the Boko Haram Islamic uprising, the election is important as Africa's most populous nation consolidates its democracy.
	"It's just healthy that they approach this as an exercise of the rights of Nigerians to choose their government and not as a war," the UN Secretary General's special envoy to West Africa, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, told The Associated Press in an interview.
	Nigeria's political landscape was transformed when the main opposition parties ...

Nigerian leader urges peaceful vote as elections loom

Syrian President Bashar Assad rejected allegations that his military had used barrel bombs or chlorine gas against opposition-held areas, calling the accusations "malicious propaganda."
	In an interview with CBS News, the Syrian leader also said that he would be "open to a dialogue with the United States, but that it must be "based on mutual respect." CBS has published excerpts of the interview online.
	The Syrian opposition and activists say government helicopters dropped bombs containing chlorine gas on the town of Sarmin in northwestern Syria's Idlib province on March 16, killing six people.
	Videos posted online showed people struggling to breathe, and the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said symptoms described by medics in contact with the group clearly indicate the presence of chlorine poisoning.
	Assad dismissed the accusations, saying "this is part of the 	malicious propaganda against Syria" and suggesting the rebels were behind the alleged ...

Syria's Assad calls chemical attack allegations 'propaganda'

A woman accused of cutting the unborn baby from an expectant mother's belly in Colorado will not face murder charges in the gruesome attack that revived the highly charged debate over when a fetus can legally be considered a human being.
	Prosecutors did not explain the decision yesterday or reveal what charges will be filed in the attack that killed the unborn baby girl.
	The mother, who was about eight months pregnant, survived and left the hospital on Wednesday.
	Dynel Lane, 34, lured Michelle Wilkins, 26, to her home on March 18 with an ad on Craigslist selling baby clothes, investigators say. Inside, Lane stabbed Wilkins and removed the child, police say.
	Lane had told her family she was pregnant, and when her husband came home early from work to meet her for a prenatal appointment, he found the infant in a bathtub, authorities said.
	Lane said she had a miscarriage, and he took them to the hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead.
	Catherine Olguin, a spokeswoman for the ...

Death of baby cut from womb doesn't lead to murder charge

BMW is recalling nearly 49,000 motorcycles in the US and Canada because flanges that hold the rear wheel can crack if bolts are too tight.
	The recall covers multiple models including the 2005 to 2010 R1200 GS and R1200 RT, and the 2006 to 2010 R1200 GS Adventure.
	BMW says if bolts that hold the rear wheels to a flange are over-tightened, the flange can crack. If that happens, the bolts can loosen and the wheel may not stay secured to the bike.
	The problem was discovered after a 2004 motorcycle crashed in Spain last August. BMW says the rider and passenger were bruised and scraped.
	The recall is expected to begin April 21. Dealers will replace the aluminum flange with a steel one at no cost to owners.

AP

AP

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