The Maldives' parliament has overwhelmingly voted the country's first democratically elected president as the speaker of the house.
Mohamed Nasheed received 67 votes from among 87 members. His rival received 17 votes past midnight Tuesday.
The speaker also has a role in the Judicial Services Commission that regulates the Supreme Court, and is third in line should the positions of the president and vice president become vacant.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party has swept the parliamentary elections, winning 65 out of 87 seats. Last year, Solih defeated strongman Yameen Abdul Gayoom in the presidential vote.
The elections paved the way for Nasheed's return home after years in exile. Nasheed, a former pro-democracy activist was elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago in 2008, ending a 30-year autocratic government. He resigned in 2012 amid public upheaval over his decision to arrest a senior judge.
He lost the 2013 presidential election to Yameen, and 

Maldives ex-president elected parliament speaker

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Fuelled by the pain of their failed Premier League title bid, Liverpool's stars admit they are desperate to win the club's sixth European Cup when they face Tottenham in Saturday's Champions League final.
Jurgen Klopp's side will be motivated by a burning sense of injustice in the all-Premier League clash at the Wanda Metropolitano.
A win against Tottenham in Madrid would give Liverpool their first Champions League crown since Rafael Benitez's underdogs stunned AC Milan in 2005 with one of the all-time great comebacks.
From their first European Cup coronation against Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977 to hard-fought wins over Bruges, Real Madrid and Roma in 1978, 1981 and 1984, all of Liverpool's continental final victories have a special place in the hearts of their fans.
But the 'Miracle of Istanbul' will forever be etched in Liverpool history as arguably the club's most memorable moment in the competition.
Nothing will surpass that incredible night at the Ataturk Stadium when Steven .

Six appeal: Euro glory would ease Premier pain for Liverpool

Minjee Lee will bid to end Australia's 13-year wait for a major at the US Women's Open on Thursday as she targets a maiden victory that could vault her to the top of the world rankings.
The 23-year-old from Perth heads into this week's second major of 2019 fresh from her fifth LPGA Tour victory, a dazzling four-shot win at the Los Angeles Open last month.
That triumph saw Lee move up to second in the world rankings, and within striking distance of South Korea's world number one Ko Jin-young.  A victory at the Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina this week would see Lee supplant Ko at the top of the rankings.
It would also earn Lee the largest winner's cheque in the history of women's golf after the United States Golf Association confirmed this week that the champion will pocket a prize of $1 million.
Lee heads into the tournament after a remarkably consistent start to the season which has yielded five top 10 finishes including her win in Los Angeles in April.
She will tee off .

Lee eyes top spot, end to Aussie drought at US Women's Open

Schools and public places in Dubai are being readied to celebrate the 5th International Yoga Day, which has become an important annual event on the sports calender of the emirate.
The day every year is observed on June 21 since its inception in 2015 in India after it was declared unanimously as the International Yoga Day by the United Nations.
Dubai has become one of the leading centres of yoga in the world, hosting a number of events throughout the year and across the emirate.
Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, recently met Vipul, Consul General of India in Dubai, to discuss preparations for the event.
They agreed to organize the main event at Zabeel Park and invite all government entities and private institutions to participate in the celebrations.
We are proud that Dubai was the first city in the world to organize events to mark the International Day of Yoga in 2015 and we are pleased to see the growth since across the world, said Hareb.
We have seen big, ...

Dubai prepares for International Yoga Day

The build-up to the Europa League final has been marred by the controversy surrounding UEFA's choice of venue, but it is now time for the football to do the talking as familiar foes Chelsea and Arsenal prepare to do battle in the unfamiliar setting of Baku on Wednesday.
Two and a half weeks after the Premier League season ended, here is a London derby exported almost 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometres) to Azerbaijan's capital, by the Caspian Sea.
It is the first leg in a week of European finals dominated by England, with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur contesting the Champions League showpiece in Madrid on Saturday.
However, there will not be much of an English atmosphere at the Baku Olympic Stadium when the match kicks off at 2300 local time (1900GMT), with reportedly only around 6,000 tickets sold by the clubs in a ground which holds almost 70,000.
The distances and costs involved and the difficulty in getting to Baku have prevented more fans from travelling, while Arsenal are also ...

Arsenal and Chelsea ready for Europa League battle in distant Baku

Thousands, including Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, are expected to throng Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral Wednesday to mourn the giant of the sport, Niki Lauda, who died on May 20 at the age of 70.
The body of the three-time world champion, clad in a race suit, will be laid out in a closed casket topped with his race helmet in the centre of the cathedral from 08:00 to 12:00 local time (06:00 GMT to 10:00 GMT) followed by a public mass and a private funeral.
It will be the first time a sports star has been laid out in the cathedral, an honour previously accorded to prominent personalities such the archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Franz Koenig, and the former crown prince of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, Otto von Habsburg.
Austrian media have reported Hamilton will attend, together with other Formula One heavyweights such as Bernie Ecclestone and Mercedes chief Toto Wolff, to mourn Lauda, who won the drivers' world championship in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and in 1984 with 

Thousands expected in Vienna to pay respects to F1 legend Lauda

The US Treasury again found that neither China nor any other trading partners was manipulating its currency, according to the semi-annual report.
But Treasury called on the Asian economic giant to avoid allowing the renminbi to weaken persistently.
While the report released on Tuesday said "direct intervention by the People's Bank of China in the last year has been limited," Treasury said in a statement that it "continues to urge China to take the necessary steps to avoid a persistently weak currency."
The closely watched report broadened the field of its scrutiny for potential currency manipulation, since a weak currency makes exports to the United States more competitive and could undermine Washington's current efforts to cut a soaring global trade imbalance.
Beginning with this report, the Treasury is assessing all US trading partners with annual trade surpluses in goods of more than USD 40 billion.
Based on trade in 2019, that standard covered 21 countries with nearly USD 3.5 ...

US Treasury again says China is not manipulating currency

Nine children were among at least 21 civilians killed in regime attacks on Syria's northwest, a jihadist stronghold that has come under intensified bombardment in the past month, a monitor said.
The strikes, some of which hit a hospital, followed two days of increased bombing by Damascus and its Russian ally on jihadist-dominated Idlib province and parts of neighbouring regions.
Regime bombardment on the area Sunday and Monday killed a total of 31 civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Tuesday's strikes on a busy street in the village of Kafr Halab, on the western edge of Aleppo province, killed at least nine civilians, according to the monitor.
An AFP photographer said the bodies of the victims were torn apart and several stores lining the side of the road were destroyed.
The street was crowded with people out and about before breaking the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.
A hospital in the Idlib town of ...

Civilian toll mounts as Syria regime pounds jihadist bastion

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is visiting the Middle East, the White House has said, signalling a fresh push on a long promised but yet to be delivered peace plan for the region.
The trip comes amid a flurry of other administration moves to shore up alliances with Arab allies against Iran and the deployment of warships and bombers to the region.
Kushner is accompanied by Jason Greenblatt, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, and Brian Hook, the special US representative for Iran, the White House said on Tuesday.
They "will travel from May 27 to May 31 to Rabat, Amman and Jerusalem," a White House official said on condition of anonymity.
The pair shared an iftar dinner - the traditional meal to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - with Morocco's King Mohammed VI, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
"Thank you to His Majesty for a special evening and for sharing your wisdom," ...

Kushner visits Middle East to press US peace plan

A panel of politicians from Canada and several other nations has criticised Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg for ignoring subpoenas to appear at a hearing on protecting privacy and democracies online.
The panel also on Tuesday adopted a motion to serve the pair with a formal summons to appear before the Canadian parliament's ethics committee should they ever travel to Canada.
"Together, we represent over 402 million citizens," said Bob Zimmer, chair of Canada's privacy and ethics committee, which is hosting the meeting.
"Mark Zuckerberg's unwillingness to appear before us and give personal testimony is further evidence that his public comments about working with lawmakers rings hollow." Although Zuckerberg and Sandberg were no-shows, Facebook's policy directors Kevin Chan and Neil Potts did appear and faced a grilling.
The international committee on big data, privacy and democracy is holding hearings this week in Ottawa to consider ways to prevent social media abuses ...

Canada panel slams Zuckerberg, Sandberg for hearing no-show

US Vice President Mike Pence has urged the Supreme Court to take up a case about abortions based on sex, race or potential disability of the fetus, after the high court sidestepped the issue.
While serving as governor of Indiana, Pence had signed into law a ban on so-called "selective" abortions. A lower court struck it down, and earlier Tuesday, the US Supreme Court opted not to weigh in until lower courts do so.
Pence's office released a statement saying it remained "hopeful that at a later date the Supreme Court will review one of numerous state laws across the US that bar abortion based on sex, race, or disability."
"Countries across the globe prohibit selective abortion - and the United States should do the same," said the statement from Pence's press secretary Alyssa Farah on Tuesday.
Pence's remarks follow moves by legislatures in several Republican-led states to restrict access to abortion in a bid to eventually challenge the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs Wade, which .

Pence calls on US Supreme Court to take up 'selective' abortion

India is a "great ally" of America and the US will continue to work closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Trump administration has said, asserting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was looking forward to have a "robust discussion" with his Indian counterpart on a wide range of issues.
State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters during an off-camera news conference here on Tuesday that the US was confident in the fairness and integrity of the just-concluded general elections in India.
The Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Pompeo, congratulated Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party on the spectacular electoral victory in the Lok Sabha elections whose results were declared on May 23.
"We, of course, will work closely with Modi, as we have many times," Ortagus told reporters in response to a question.
"We're confident in the fairness and integrity of the elections, and I think that Secretary Pompeo will have a ...

US will work closely with "great ally" India: Trump administration

Non-Resident Indians living in the US overwhelmingly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election in the recently-concluded general elections and gave a near-perfect score to the Ministry of External Affairs for addressing their issues, according to a survey.
The survey, carried out by the US-based public and international policy platform Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), states that as many a 93.9 per cent of the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) living in the US supported the re-election of Modi as prime minister.
In the opinion poll held early this month, the questions were mostly based on the Modi-led government's performance on various programmes, aspects and issues.
The survey found that NRIs voted highest (95.5 per cent) on the performance of the Ministry of External Affairs in handling their issues.
As many as 92 per cent of the NRIs feel that India is better respected now than before 2014. Over 93 per cent believe that the Modi government has done ...

NRIs in US support PM Modi's re-election, give thumbs up to MEA's performance: survey

Activists and lawmakers in Argentina have relaunched a bid to legalise abortion with a new bill before Congress and a major demonstration planned, resuming a battle that has divided the homeland of Pope Francis ahead of October's general election.
Last year, a bill to decriminalise abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy was narrowly adopted by the Chamber of Deputies but defeated in the Senate, under strong pressure from the still-powerful Catholic Church.
The new bill is being put forward by 15 lawmakers from a range of parties, including President Mauricio Macri's ruling center-right Cambiemos coalition and left-wing opposition parties.
Thousands of women planned to hold a major demonstration outside the Congress building in central Buenos Aires to mark the revival of their campaign, hoping for a better ending than they experienced last year.
Victoria Tesoriero, leader of the Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion, said activists would keep the pressure on ...

Activists in Argentina launch new bid to legalize abortion

MacKenzie Bezos, soon-to-be ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has promised to donate half her fortune to charity, joining the ranks of the world's ultra-wealthy philanthropists, the Giving Pledge has announced.
The charitable organisation, founded in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, listed MacKenzie Bezos, an American, among 19 new signatories of the pledge from China, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Britain.
She instantly became one of the world's wealthiest individuals in April, gaining a net worth estimated at USD36 billion after finalising the terms of her divorce with Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man.
"In addition to whatever assets life has nurtured in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share," MacKenzie Bezos said in a letter announcing that she was joining the pledge on Tuesday.
"My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won't wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is ...

After mega-divorce, MacKenzie Bezos joins billionaire philanthropist club

Canadian lawmakers have voted to serve a summons on Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg that would compel them to appear before them the next time either visits Canada.
The decision comes after Zuckerberg and Sandberg failed to appear before the international grand committee on big data, privacy and democracy, which is being hosted by Canada's parliament this week, despite being called on to testify.
The panel of international politicians is examining the role of tech giants in safeguarding privacy and democratic rights.
New Democrat lawmaker Charlie Angus said Tuesday the Facebook executives were showing disrespect to legislators around the world. Conservative lawmaker Bob Zimmer called it "abhorrent." Zimmer said if they refuse to appear they will be held in contempt. It was unclear what consequences that might have.

Canadian lawmakers blast Facebook's execs for snub

Former Gurkha soldier Nirmal Purja remains on target to conquer the world's 14 highest mountains in a record-breaking seven months despite death-defying queues on the biggest peak of them all.
Waiting for more than seven hours last week to get to the top of Everest and then back to the safety of his camp -- in a pile-up that he documented in a photo that has gone viral -- injected doubts into Purja's minute-by-minute strategy.
"My plan was to climb Everest and Lhotse as fast as possible, breaking my own previous record but that day, I was stuck in traffic," Purja told AFP back in the comfort of Kathmandu.
In 2017, the ex-British special forces member climbed the two mountains in a record 10 hour and 15 minutes.
"I sat four hours on the way up and three and half hours on the way down and that kind of made me (worry) like I won't be able to achieve the record," he said.
In the end, the phenomenal 35-year-old climber completed the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) Everest, Lhotse at 8,516 metres 

Everest logjam fails to thwart climber's record 14-peak bid

Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday urged whoever succeeds her to get Britain out of the EU quickly but with a deal, as she met the bloc's leaders just days after announcing her resignation.
May looked relaxed and smiled for the cameras as she arrived at a Brussels summit, the first one in many months that did not require her to wrangle with European colleagues over Brexit.
They met to begin discussing filling the bloc's top job, a task complicated by European Parliament elections that shook up traditional alliances.  May said that despite her announcement last Friday that she will quit, and Britain's impending exit from the bloc, she will play a "constructive role".
And she had a message for her Conservative party colleagues vying to replace her back home, many of whom have raised the prospect of a potentially damaging "no deal" Brexit.
"They will have to find a way of addressing very strongly held views on both sides of this issue and to do that and to get a majority in parliament 

In Brussels, May urges successor to seek Brexit deal

A Saudi Arabian cargo ship arrived at a port in southern France on Tuesday to pick up munitions, according to an investigative website, rekindling criticism of weapons sales to the Middle Eastern  nation which rights groups say are being used in the devastating war in Yemen.
The shipment was revealed by the Disclose website, whose reporting on a similar shipment of French weapons earlier this month led to pressure that prompted Riyadh to renounce loading the weapons.
Disclose said the new shipment involved munitions for French Caesar cannons that would be loaded at the Mediterranean port of Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille.
"We are checking this out," Defence Minister Florence Parly told lawmakers in Parliament who assailed the government for allowing the weapons sales.  "And if this is indeed the case, would it be surprising? No, because we have an accord with Saudi Arabia," she said.
But a representative in France for the Saudi shipping company involved denied any plans for a weapons ...

New criticism over French arms shipments to Saudi Arabia

The first civil trial that could end up holding a drug company responsible for the US opioid epidemic began Tuesday in Oklahoma, in a landmark case that might impact thousands of others like it.
The bench trial pits the state of Oklahoma against Johnson & Johnson. Two other drug companies named in the lawsuit settled ahead of the trial.
Oklahoma has accused the three drug makers of deceptively marketing addictive opioid painkillers, hyping their effectiveness and downplaying the risks of addiction.
The lawsuit is the first of many of its kind to go to trial, and seen as an important test of whether drug companies can be held accountable in court for an addiction epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter in opening statements accused Johnson & Johnson of being motivated by greed in embarking on "a cynical, deceitful multimillion-dollar brainwashing campaign" to sell opioids as a "magic drug." "It's time to hold them ...

Landmark US opioid trial begins in Oklahoma

Across France, activists have been taking down official portraits of President Emmanuel Macron to protest what they consider his "inaction" against climate change.
Now they face up to 10 years in prison.
The first of several trials targeting the activists opened Tuesday in the eastern town of Bourg-en-Bresse. Some 300 activists showed up to support the six defendants, chanting "We're all portrait removers!" The six are accused of "group theft by deceit" and face potential prison terms and substantial fines for taking down Macron's official presidential portrait from town halls around the country.
They should escape jail time, however. Prosecutor Eric Sandjivy has requested fines of 2,000 euros  against five of them for charges of theft and refusal to provide DNA samples. The other one, charged with theft, faces a 1,000 euro fine. The verdict from Tuesday's trial will be announced June 12.
Greenpeace France President Jean Francois Julliard defended the activists, saying that the civil .

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