A crowded double-decker passenger ferry capsized in northwestern Myanmar after being slammed by huge waves, killing 33 people and leaving at least a dozen missing, officials said today.
	Rescuers pulled 167 survivors from the sea and brought them to safety after the Aung Tagun 3 went down near Myebon in Rakhine state yesterday, said Myanmar Red Cross Disaster Management chief Maung Maung Khin. He said many of the survivors were sent back to their homes.
	Thirty-three people were confirmed dead and search and rescue teams were looking for about a dozen still missing, Maung Maung Khin said. Myanmar's Ministry of Information had reported earlier that around 50 passengers were missing, but the Rakhine state government said later that the exact numbers were unclear.
	The government-run ferry left from the coastal town of Kyaukphyu at about 8:30 pm yesterday. It had traveled around 80 kilometers (50 miles) northward when it hit rough seas, the government said.
	Boat accidents due to ...

Myanmar ferry capsizes; 33 dead, at least a dozen missing

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The US has failed to live up to its promises to help Iraq fight Islamic State extremists, unlike the "unconditional" assistance being given by Iran, the commander of Iraq's powerful Shiite militias alleged yesterday.
	In a battlefield interview near Tikrit, where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the militants of the so-called Islamic State, commander Hadi al-Amiri criticized those who "kiss the hands of the Americans and get nothing in return."
	Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time Wednesday from the north and south.
	Yesterday, they waged fierce battles to secure the northern neighborhood of Qadisiyya and lobbed mortar shells and rockets into the city center, still in the hands of IS militants. Iraqi military officials have said they expect to reach central Tikrit in two to three days.
	The Iranian-backed Shiite militias have played a crucial role in regaining territory from the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group, supporting Iraq's 

Iraq militia leader hails Iran's 'unconditional' support

A serious forest fire spread quickly on Chile's coast and threatened to reach the nearby port cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar.
	The fire began in the afternoon yesterday and flames were spread quickly by high winds blowing toward the Pacific, leading authorities to declare a state of emergency for both cities.
	Deputy Interior Secretary Mahmud Aleuy said that about 4,500 people in six neighborhoods had been evacuated as flames advanced nearby and that an additional 10,000 might need to be moved.
	Aleuy said some buildings had been burned but the extent of damage had not yet been determined.
	Chile suffered its worst urban fire in the same general area a year ago.
	In April, a raging blaze that started as a forest fire leaped from hilltop to hilltop in Valparaiso, killing 15 people, injuring more than 500 and destroying more than 2,900 homes.

Chile forest fire rages near Valparaiso, thousands evacuated

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are preparing for a major storm that may become a typhoon.
	Tropical Storm Bavi was expected to make its closest approach between tomorrow night and Monday morning, the Guam newspaper Pacific Daily News reported.
	The storm was located 1335.76 km east of Guam as of Saturday morning local time, the National Weather Service said. It was moving west toward the Mariana Islands with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
	The agency has issued a typhoon watch for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan. This means winds of 73 mph or greater are possible within the next 48 hours.
	The storm has doubled its speed since Thursday and is expected to intensify in the next few days.
	Bruce Williams, Guam's Department of Education safety coordinator, said officials would decide by tomorrow evening whether schools will be closed on Monday.
	Guam Waterworks Authority advised residents to do their laundry and stock up on water as early as possible this weekend in the event the 

Tropical Storm Bavi heading for Guam, Northern Marianas

An extremely powerful cyclone blew over islands in the Pacific's Vanuatu archipelago after a westward change of course put populated areas directly in the path of its destructive 270 kilometre-per-hour winds, according to relief workers.
	The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a release late yesterday there were unconfirmed reports of deaths in Vanuatu's northeastern islands after Cyclone Pam moved off its expected track.
	The Category 5 cyclone had average wind speeds of up to 270 kph (168 mph), with gusts up to 340 kph (210 mph), according to the office. It said the periphery of the eye of the storm had passed over islands that are home to several thousand people and was expected to hit or come close to the island of Efate, home to the capital, Port Vila.
	Located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii, Vanuatu has a population of 267,000 spread over 65 islands. About 47,000 people live in the capital. The tiny Pacific island nation has ...

Small Pacific nation of Vanuatu hit by powerful cyclone

North Korea has test-fired seven short-range missiles into the sea, South Korean officials today said, in the latest such launches during ongoing South Korea-US military drills.
	The surface-to-air missiles launched late Thursday flew into waters off the country's eastern coast, said a South Korean defense official who requested anonymity because of official policy.
	A South Korean Joint Chief of Staff officer, who also did not want to be named citing office rules, said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the missile tests, but he refused to say how he obtained the information.
	Kim occasionally guides his military's weapons tests, according to Pyongyang's state media.
	North Korea routinely tests missiles, rockets and artillery but the latest launches came as the country reacts angrily to annual springtime military drills between South Korea and the U.S. Pyongyang says the drills are aimed at preparing to topple its government, though Seoul and Washington say they are purely ...

North Korea fires missiles into sea again, South says

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says President Barack Obama is to blame for the police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri, and other disturbing events because he sets the tone for the nation.
	Giuliani spoke yesterday on WNYM-AM's "The Answer" with host John Gambling. Giuliani says Obama isn't addressing the "enormous amount of crime" being committed by blacks. The White House declined to comment Friday on Giuliani's remarks.
	Giuliani also says Obama should say the kinds of things comedian Bill Cosby used to say before he was accused of sexual assault, which Cosby denies. Cosby often exhorted black people to focus on education and parenting.
	Giuliani drew criticism last month for questioning Obama's love of country. He said Thursday he considers Obama a good family man.

Giuliani blames Obama for Ferguson shootings, other unrest

A knife-carrying US Army veteran who scaled a White House fence and dashed into the executive mansion before being caught pleaded guilty today in connection with the case.
	Omar Gonzalez pleaded guilty to entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon and assaulting, resisting or impeding a Secret Service officer.
	The September 19 incident in which Gonzalez was able to breach White House security preceded the disclosure of other serious Secret Service breaches in security for President Barack Obama and ultimately led to Julia Pierson's resignation as director of the agency after 18 months on the job.
	President Barack Obama, the first lady and their daughters were not home when Gonzalez got inside the mansion, though Obama and his daughters had just left the White House aboard a helicopter on their way to Camp David, the presidential retreat near Washington.
	After Gonzalez's arrest, investigators found hundreds of rounds of ...

White House fence jumper pleads guilty to 2 charges

Three men accused in a plot to travel from the US to Syria to join forces with the Islamic State group pleaded not guilty today to terrorism charges in federal court.
	Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Abror Habibov, 30 were indicted this week on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy and travel document fraud. Federal officials say Juraboev and Saidakhmetov had tickets to travel to Turkey but were really going to Syria.
	Saidakhmetov was arrested at Kennedy Airport late last month, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, authorities said.
	Juraboev had a ticket to travel to Istanbul this month, federal prosecutors said. Habibov was arrested in Florida and extradited to New York this week. He is accused of helping Saidakhmetov with his travel arrangements after Saidakhmetov's mother took his passport. The mother appeared in court, weeping, but did not comment.
	Saidakhmetov's ...

3 plead not guilty in NYC to Islamic State group terror plot

The Obama administration said today it expects that as a matter of course, the UN Security Council would endorse any final nuclear agreement reached between world powers and Iran.
	The State Department said if a comprehensive accord is struck by a June 30 deadline, it would be forwarded to the Security Council for its approval. All five permanent members of the council Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States along with Germany are currently racing to complete the outlines of a deal with Iran by the end of this month. They have set the end of June as the deadline for a full agreement.
	"We would anticipate that, if we're able to reach a joint comprehensive Plan of Action between the P5+1 and Iran, an endorsement vote would be held by the UN Security Council," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. She added that such a step should not be "a surprise" because of who is negotiating the agreement.
	A Security Council vote on a resolution to endorse a possible deal would 

US sees UN Security Council endorsing Iran nuke deal

A video that appears to show a man helping three British schoolgirls on their way to join the Islamic State group in Syria was released today by a Turkish news channel.
	A Haber television said that the video was filmed in Gaziantep on Turkey's border with Syria by the man, who was later detained by Turkish authorities.
	A Turkish government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, confirmed the video came from the police but didn't elaborate on the content.
	Turkish authorities said the man was working for the intelligence service of a country that is part of the anti-IS coalition, but did not publicly name the country. On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the man was a Syrian citizen.
	In the video, a man speaking in English appears to tell the British girls that they will be in Syria within an hour.
	The three girls identified by British authorities as Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15 ...

Video seems to show 3 UK girls before they went to Syria

Bosnian police say they have arrested four men suspected of building an explosive device intended for a terrorist attack in an unspecified Scandinavian country.
	Three suspects were arrested at the border while trying to leave Bosnia with the explosive device in the trunk of their car, while a fourth was simultaneously arrested in Sarajevo, police said today.
	The arrests were the result of a coordinated operation also involving officials from Netherlands and Sweden.
	The four suspects, including one Swedish and three Bosnian nationals, are suspected of having built the bomb in Bosnia after receiving "a request" from Scandinavia.

4 arrested in Bosnia for Scandinavia terror attack plans

A report led by the Great Manchester Police today criticized its own officers for failing to recognize the scale of child sex abuse in a northern town and putting too much emphasis on the credibility of the victims.
	The report looked into how officers handled the abuse scandal in Rochdale, where dozens of young girls were believed to be groomed and trafficked for sex by a network of men.
	Allegations of abuse were first reported in 2008, but it wasn't until months later that police opened investigations.
	Nine men of Pakistani and Afghan heritage were eventually jailed in 2012 for crimes including rape and trafficking. One victim was just 13.
	Former detective Margaret Oliver, who had resigned to protest the handling of the scandal, said similar crimes are still continuing in Rochdale and elsewhere in Britain.
	"It is a nationwide problem and there is still an overwhelming desire to conceal the truth," she told the BBC.
	"This was an opportunity, which has been missed again, to bring 

Report: UK police failed in handling child sex abuse scandal

Two men with ties to one of the three gunmen who terrorized Paris were handed preliminary terrorism charges today, the Paris prosecutor said, describing hundreds of texts, regular meetings and DNA recovered from a stun gun among the belongings at a bloodied kosher supermarket.
	The two men, identified as Amar R. And Said M., were given preliminary charges for participation in a terrorist group with the intent to commit crime.
	Prosecutors said Amar R., a jailhouse acquaintance of Paris terrorist Amedy Coulibaly, had exchanged more than 600 texts with Coulibaly from September to January and met him on Jan. 5 and Jan 6. That was just a day before two brothers killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris on Jan. 7 and before Coulibaly shot dead a policewoman on Jan. 8 and killed four of his hostages on Jan. 9 at a Paris kosher grocery store.
	DNA from Said M. Was recovered from a stun gun in Coulibaly's belongings at the market, the prosecutor said. Said M. And Amar 

2 charged over links to Paris gunman, evidence includes DNA

Sitting in his office while students stroll by under leafy shade trees and rickshaws tut-tut on a nearby road, Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya thinks back to a tumultuous time decades ago when his country was violently split in two: the partition of India.
	His father hurried home one day, telling his young son they had to gather up their money and jewelry and leave their Muslim neighbourhood immediately for an uncle's house across town.
	"The day we moved...That area was attacked, and many were killed and injured but we had left about two hours before," Zakariya said, recalling the violence-plagued months leading up to partition.
	The family later left Amritsar for good, taking only the valuables they could carry, joining other families on packed trains to Lahore.
	The retired professor of Urdu literature in his mid-70s spoke from his office at Punjab University in Lahore, just 50 kilometres from the Indian city of Amritsar. He was relaying his life history to a volunteer from The 1947 ...

Project aims to record stories from survivors of India split

Queen Elizabeth II joined veterans in a solemn service today as Britain commemorated the end of its combat operations in Afghanistan.
	Prince William, his pregnant wife Kate, and Prince Harry -- who served two tours during the conflict -- also attended the ceremony at London's St Paul's Cathedral to remember the war dead.
	Britain was part of a US-led coalition that fought the Taliban in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Almost 150,000 Britons served in the conflict, and 453 died.
	"Today is a moment for us to say thank you: Thank you to all who served, whatever your role," Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury said during the service.
	Britain formally ended its 13-year campaign in Afghanistan in October, when the last British combat troops were airlifted from Camp Bastion in Helmand province, Britain's main base in the country.
	A few hundred soldiers remain in advisory roles to help the Afghan army.
	Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told the BBC that the ...

Queen marks end of UK's 13 years in Afghanistan

Beijing police say five women activists have been criminally detained for planning to put up anti-sexual harassment posters in three Chinese cities, the lawyer of one of the women said today.
	Lawyer Wang Qiushi, who represents activist Wei Tingting, said police told lawyers representing the women that they have been accused of creating a disturbance. Wang said it wasn't clear when the women were formally detained, which is a legal step before being tried in court, but police first informed him of the development on Monday.
	He said if convicted of creating a disturbance, the women could be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
	Lawyer Yan Xin, who met with his client Li Tingting on Thursday, said she received a written notice dated Sunday informing of her formal detention and laying out the accusation against her.
	Wang said he had not yet been allowed to meet with his client and had not seen any written notice of her detention. Beijing police did not respond to a request seeking 

5 women's rights activists formally detained in China

An American healthcare worker who contracted Ebola while volunteering in a Sierra Leone treatment unit arrived safely at the National Institutes of Health's hospital in Maryland, officials announced today.
	The patient's condition was still being evaluated after being flown in isolation from Sierra Leone on a chartered plane and admitted at 4:44 a.M., NIH officials said in a statement. The patient's name, age and gender were not released.
	The patient is the 11th person with Ebola to be treated in the US and the second admitted to the NIH Clinical Center. It has one of the few containment facilities nationwide set up to treat Ebola patients.
	The center's Special Clinical Studies Unit is staffed by specialists in infectious disease and critical care and is designed to prevent the spread of highly contagious viruses, including Ebola. Previously, an American nurse was treated there after she contracted Ebola while caring for a patient in a Dallas hospital. The nurse, Nina Pham, survived 

American who contracted Ebola arrives at US hospital

The head of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said today the government will offer investors 18 projects worth around USD 40 billion to create a new industrial and logistical zone along the strategic waterway.
	The creation of the zone is the second leg of an ambitious program to develop the canal. Egypt is already rushing to deepen the waterway and build a second branch to allow two-way traffic, an expansion officials say will be finished by August.
	Mohab Mameesh, the head of the authority, told The Associated Press the aim is to increase the role of the waterway in international trade and increase its benefits to the country's damaged economy.
	The projects will be promoted to potential investors at an international conference that opened in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh today.
	"We had not used this position (of the Canal) the best way," he told AP. "The Suez Canal will turn God willing from a waterway to a train for the growth of Egyptian economy."
	The government aims to more ..

Suez Canal head says zone development can bring in billions

A German court has ruled that a prominent anti-vaccination advocate must pay a doctor 100,000 euros (USD 105,720) in prize money he had promised to anyone who could prove measles is a virus.
	Biologist Stefan Lanka made the offer on his website in 2011, but rejected the six scientific studies Dr David Bardens provided as proof.
	Lanka argued during the Ravensburg district court hearing that measles "is a psychosomatic illness," the local Suedkurier newspaper reported.
	But court spokesman Matthias Geiser told The Associated Press today the judges disagreed after hearing more than three hours of arguments and expert testimony.
	"The court had no doubt about the existence of the measles virus," it said in a statement.
	Lanka told the Suedkurier he would appeal, but Geiser said he had not yet.

German court orders vaccination cynic to pay for virus proof

The last polls just days before Israel's election have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trailing behind the dovish opposition.
	Poll results in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper today gave the Zionist Union, comprised of labour and a centre-left party, 26 seats over 21 for Netanyahu's Likud.
	It polled 1,032 people with a margin of error of 2.5 percent. Other polls had similar results.
	The election is widely seen as a vote of confidence in Netanyahu, whose campaign mainly focuses on security. But after years of rapidly increasing living costs, many Israelis are turning to dovish and centrist parties that focus on social and economic issues.
	Netanyahu showed concern over the decline in local media this week.
	Dan Meridor, a former leading Likud politician, told Yediot he will not vote for Netanyahu.

AP

AP

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