10 lakh Yaba pills seized in Chittagong

Bangladesh Coast Guards arrested two men and seized 10 lakh pieces of Yaba tablet conducting two separate drives at Anwara in Chittagong on Tuesday.
The arrestees were identified as Doyal Krishno, 40, son of Gopal Krishno, hailing from Sitakundo, and Md Hossain, 45, son of Md Ali, hailing from Teknaf, reports United News of Bangladesh.
Dickson Chowdhury of Coast Guard (East zone) said on secret information, a team of the force conducted a drive in Gohira coastal area of the upazila on Monday midnight and arrested the duo along with 50,000 pieces of Yaba tablet.
Based on information from them, the team conducted another drive in Parki beach area and challenged a boat early in the morning.
Sensing danger, the passengers fled leaving the boat behind.
Later, the coast guards seized 9.50 lakh Yaba pills from the boat.
The seized tablets will be worth around Tk 50 crore.

Kenya track federation HQ under police protection

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The headquarters of the Kenyan track and field federation is under police guard because of fears that an athletes' group might again take over the premises in protest. Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei says the federation called in police to help secure its HQ this week. Tuwei says he also fears the group will try and disrupt the Kenyan national championships, which start Friday. Athletes linked to the Professional Athletes Association of Kenya occupied the federation building for two days in November in protest at alleged corruption by officials. The PAAK says the federation has not honored an agreement they made to end that standoff last year. Among its grievances, the PAAK says there have not been proper elections to replace four senior officials currently under investigation for corruption.

GOP senators attack top Democrat for defense bill delay

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans angrily denounced the Senate's top Democrat Wednesday for delaying debate on defense policy legislation, calling Sen. Harry Reid's leadership "cancerous" and saying he was holding up the $602 billion bill to preserve his "sad, sorry legacy." Reid also came under fire for saying the bill was crafted "behind closed doors and in secret sessions" by the Armed Services Committee chairman, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. Reid said senators needed more time to examine the more than 1,600-page bill before being asked to vote on it. The criticism turned personal when Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Reid was delaying the bill only to preserve his "sad, sorry legacy." Cotton, who served on active duty as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan before being elected to Congress, said Reid's accusation that McCain wrote the bill in secret was "outrageous slander." "The happy by-product of fewer days in session in the Senate is that this institution will be cursed less with his cancerous leadership," Cotton said of Reid in a verbal assault unusual for a chamber that reveres decorum. McCain said all 12 Democrats on the Armed Services Committee voted two weeks ago in favor of reporting the bill to the full Senate. He also said lawmakers have had ample time to review the legislation. But Reid, a Nevada Democrat, refused to budge, which means the Senate's consideration of the bill may now be delayed until early June when the Senate returns from a weeklong break. He also raised objections to McCain's plan to seek an increase of as much as $18 billion in defense spending, saying that domestic programs also are in dire need of more money. "Republicans refuse to provide the needed funding to fight the Zika virus, to stop the plague of opioid abuse, to help repair the drinking water of Flint, Michigan, or to provide additional funding for local law enforcement, our intelligence agencies, and our first responders," Reid said. "That's just wrong." Overall, the defense policy bill the Senate will take up provides $602 billion in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 for the Defense Department and nuclear weapons programs managed by the Energy Department. The legislative package prohibits the Obama administration from transferring detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, requires women to register for a potential military draft, and proposes numerous changes to the military health system to improve the quality of care. McCain and other senators said they also will seek to preserve a program that issues visas to Afghan civilians who assisted the American-led coalition as interpreters, firefighters and construction workers so they can resettle in the United States. The top U.S. officer in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John Nicholson, has warned that these workers are viewed as traitors by the Taliban for siding with the coalition and are in danger of being harmed or killed if Congress cancels the visa program. But critics of the program have said it could cost as much as $446 million over the next 10 years and could lead to an exodus of talented, educated Afghans from a country in need of their skills.

Bourgue inspired by Muhammad Ali at French Open

PARIS (AP) — A video of Muhammad Ali fired up French wild-card entry Mathias Bourgue before he took on Andy Murray at the French Open. The 22-year-old French player ranked 164th led 2-1 in sets before bowing out 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday. He said his coach Olivier Malcor made him watch footage featuring Ali just before entering the Philippe Chatrier court. "And he said, "When I box, I want to box in front of a big crowd'," Bourgue told a press conference. "It was very emotional. I think I entered the court with the right mindset. Even if I was a bit tense in the first set. I felt good." ___ 8:00 p.m. Milos Raonic faced little resistance as he posted a 50th Grand Slam match win on Wednesday at the French Open. The eighth-seeded Canadian advanced to the third round for the fourth time on the Parisian red clay with a clinical 6-1, 7-6 (0), 6-1 win over 58th-ranked Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Raonic did not face a single break point and made only 17 unforced errors.

What to know about long lines at airport security

NEW YORK (AP) — Fliers should brace for long waits at airport security over the holiday weekend. In recent weeks, some major airports saw wait times exceeding 90 minutes at peak hours, and passengers missed flights waiting to get through security. There have been encouraging developments in the last few days. After Chicago officials threatened to privatize security at the city's two big airports, the Transportation Security Administration moved dozens of part-time screeners to full-time and brought in more canine units to sniff passengers for explosives. Waits at Chicago's O'Hare Airport — one of the most delay-plagued in the nation — have shrunk to around 15 minutes, according to an American Airlines spokeswoman. A Baltimore attorney tweeted Tuesday that he got through the expedited security line there in 10 minutes. The deluge of photos posted on social media sites with the #iHateTheWait hashtag slowed to a trickle. Still, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the average wait time nationally is about 30 minutes and about five minutes for expedited PreCheck lines. And that is before the unofficial start of summer. Here's a look at the problem and what travelers should expect. Q: Why have the waits been so long? A: More people are flying, thanks to a mix of a strong economy, more flights and lower fares. At the same time, the Transportation Security Administration needs more screeners. The TSA and Congress cut the number of screeners by 10 percent on expectations that an expedited screening program called PreCheck would speed up the lines. However, not enough people enrolled. The TSA had been randomly placing passengers into the faster PreCheck lanes under a program dubbed "managed inclusion," but that stopped in the fall after government auditors found lapses in security. Q: Will there be long lines for my flight? A: Right now it's hard to tell. The airline industry has criticized the TSA for a lack of up-to-date information — you can readily find information on highway traffic delays but not delays in airport security lines. A TSA spokesman says the agency will post current wait times by mid-June. The worst waits have been at the largest airports during peak hours. But during slower hours, the TSA staffs fewer lanes and that might cause backups. The TSA suggests passengers arrive at least two hours before domestic flights but some in the airline industry are now saying to allow even more time. Q: What is the government doing about it? A: Congress agreed to shift forward $34 million in TSA funding, allowing the agency to pay overtime to its existing staff and hire an extra 768 screeners by June 15. But there is no grand plan to return staffing to former levels. Some passengers can still randomly be placed in PreCheck based on their age or if an explosive-detecting dogs first screen them, but those are small numbers. The TSA is relocating screeners and canine teams to the 20 busiest airports, such as Chicago's O'Hare. Q: What are the airlines doing to help? A: American Airlines and United Airlines all say they are spending $4 million each to bring in contract employees who can take over non-screening chores such as handling bins and managing lines, freeing up TSA agents to focus on screening. A spokesman says Delta Air Lines will spend between $3 million and $4 million and is also redesigning two checkpoint lanes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to speed things up before Memorial Day. Q: What can I do to speed up the line? A: Don't carry a bag on the plane if you can avoid it. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told a congressional hearing Wednesday that the large volume of carry-on bags has put extra pressure on screeners. Whether carrying on a bag or not, each passenger should have their ID and boarding pass ready. Before reaching the X-ray machine, empty your pockets and place your keys, cellphone, change and any metallic jewelry into your carry-on bag. Wearing slip-on, slip-off shoes also helps. Q: What if I miss my flight? A: For now, airlines have been finding space for them on later flights. But on the busiest travel days there are very few empty seats to accommodate anybody who misses a flight.

New cloud formation discovery may lessen warming forecast

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new discovery about how clouds form may scale back some of the more dire predictions about temperature increases caused by man-made global warming. That's because it implies that a key assumption for making such predictions is a bit off. "What this will do is slightly reduce and sharpen the projections for temperature during the 21st century," said researcher Jasper Kirkby. Nonetheless, he added, "We are definitely warming the planet." Kirkby works at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva. He is the lead author of one of three studies on the topic released Wednesday by the journals Nature and Science. Essentially, the work reveals a previously unknown natural process that in a complex way creates atmospheric particles around which clouds form. The most common source of particles is air pollution, usually sulfuric acid from the burning of fossil fuels. There are also natural sources, but they have been considered far less important for cloud formation. The new work shows that a combination of cosmic rays from space and gases emitted by trees also creates particles, and then clouds, without man-made pollution. The scientists witnessed this in a cloud simulation chamber and from a Swiss mountaintop observatory more than two miles high (3.5 kilometers). "This process is only effective in pristine environments and there are very, very few pristine environments left on Earth," Kirkby said. Nowadays, the process is overwhelmed by pollution particles. To a layman, the significance of this for predictions of global warming may appear a bit, um, cloudy. But here's how it works: The computer models used to make those predictions require making assumptions about what conditions were like before industrialization, when the widespread burning of coal, oil and gas began pumping greenhouse gases into the air. Clouds are an important factor in this because they cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space. Nobody knows just how cloudy skies were in the old days. Scientists have figured there were far fewer clouds than now, Kirkby said. But the discovery of a new natural route to cloud formation suggests that cloud cover was in fact greater than scientists had assumed. If so, the way these simulations work, it would mean that greenhouse gases haven't been quite as potent in producing warming so far as scientists thought. So, ton for ton, they may not be quite as potent in producing future warming either. Kirkby said it's too soon to tell how much less warming the new study implies. Other recent studies found flaws in climate forecasts because of uncertainty about clouds that would increase, not decrease, possible warming in the future. A better understanding of clouds is good, but much more work is needed before scientists dial down warming estimates for the future, said Yale scientist Trude Storelvmo and NASA climate scientist Kate Marvel, who didn't participate in the new work.

Kurdish rebel car bombing kills 3: Turkish official

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish official says a car bombing by Kurdish rebels against a gendarmerie station near the Syrian border has killed three people. The official said the attack in the town of Midyat, in Mardin province, killed two government-employed village guards and a junior officer. The station chief was seriously wounded. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. A cease-fire between the sides collapsed last summer leading to a surge of violence, including PKK bomb attacks against police and military personnel and large-scale military operations to flush out the rebels. Turkish warplanes regularly raid PKK bases in northern Iraq.

Little-known extremist cleric chosen to lead Afghan Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A little-known extremist cleric was chosen Wednesday to be the new leader of the Afghan Taliban, just days after a U.S. drone strike killed his predecessor. But within hours of the Taliban's announcement that the group's council of leaders had unanimously selected Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, opposition to him emerged — a sign that rifts within the insurgency could widen and possibly drive the Taliban further from peace talks with the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban called on all Muslims to support Akhundzada as a matter of religious obligation and declared three days of official mourning for Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, who was slain Saturday by a U.S. drone in Pakistan. The announcement came as a suicide bomber struck a minibus carrying court employees in Kabul, killing at least 11 people, an official said. The Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack. Afghan government officials took the opportunity of Akhundzada's ascension to again offer direct negotiations aimed at ending the Taliban's 15-year insurgency. Both Kabul and Washington considered Mansour to be an obstacle to the peace process. The office of President Ashraf Ghani said the latest developments brought the Taliban "yet another opportunity to end and renounce violence, lay down their arms, and resume a normal and peaceful life." Deputy presidential spokesman Zafar Hashemi said if the Taliban decide against joining the peace process, "they will face the fate of their leadership." Hours after the Taliban's statement on their new leader was made to the media, the head of a main dissident faction that broke away last year to protest Mansour's elevation said the group would not accept Akhundzada either. The breakaway faction, led by Mullah Mohammad Rasool, did not appear to object so much to Akhundzada as to the closed and undemocratic manner of the selection process by the council, which is believed to have met in Pakistan. Rasool's splinter group is based in western Afghanistan near the border with Iran, and has fought fierce battles in the south with Mansour loyalists. Rasool's deputy, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, said the faction would not accept Akhundzada's leadership for the same reason they rejected Mansour: He was elected by a small clique of Pakistan-based insiders with little input from the rank-and-file or field commanders in Afghanistan. "For us, the issue with Mullah Akhtar Mansour and this Haibatullah is the same," Niazi said. "We were not against Mullah Akhtar Mansour but the way he was selected, and yet again they sit together and choose one another. ... We will not accept him as a new leader until and unless all religious scholars and tribal elders sit together and appoint a new leader." Akhundzada, believed to be in his 50s, is a religious scholar who was the Taliban's chief justice before his appointment as a deputy to Mansour. He is known for public statements justifying the Taliban's extremist tactics and their war against the Afghan government. His views are regarded as hawkish, and he is expected to continue the aggressive style of Mansour, who refused offers to negotiate with the Kabul government and launched a series of bold attacks during his brief and divisive rule. Akhundzada is regarded as a convincing orator and was close to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, who consulted with him on religious matters. A member of the Noorzai tribe, Akhundzada comes from a line of religious scholars and heads a string of madrassas, or religious schools, across Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. Pakistani authorities have long been accused by both Kabul and Washington of giving shelter and support to some Taliban leaders — an accusation that Islamabad denies. The insurgents have been fighting to overthrow the Kabul government since 2001, when their own Islamic regime was removed by the U.S. invasion. Mansour officially became leader of the Taliban last summer, when the 2013 death of Mullah Omar was revealed, but he is believed to have run the movement in Mullah Omar's name. The revelation of Mansour's apparent deception led to widespread mistrust among senior Taliban commanders, with several factions breaking away and fighting Mansour loyalists in Afghanistan's poppy-growing southern Taliban heartland. Senior Taliban figures had hoped Mansour's death and Akhundzada's ascension could help heal some of those rifts. A former foreign minister under the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Ghous, told The Associated Press that Akhundzada was well-respected inside the movement and choosing him as leader was "a very wise decision." The Taliban statement also said two new deputies to Akhundzada have been appointed — both of whom had earlier been considered to be among the main contenders for the top job. One of them is Sirajuddin Haqqani, who was also one of Mansour's deputies and who leads the notorious Haqqani network — the faction behind some of the most ferocious attacks in Afghanistan since 2001. The other is the son of Mullah Omar, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, who controls the Taliban military commissions for 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Akhundzada's appointment came as a surprise to some, including Ghous, who said that despite not being a top contender but a "third candidate," the new leader would rise above any personal animosity or conflict that might have arisen had either Haqqani or Yaqoub been chosen.

SA coach Domingo backs 'champion' Steyn to get back to best

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa coach Russell Domingo called Dale Steyn a "champion" bowler on Wednesday and backed the pacer to return to top form. Domingo was speaking as South Africa's squad prepared to depart for a triangular limited-overs series in the Caribbean without their No. 1 quick bowler. Steyn struggled with a series of injuries over the last 12 months and was rested for the tour by South Africa. Instead, he will get some match practice with Twenty20 stints for Glamorgan and in the Caribbean Premier League. Steyn's fitness struggles raised concerns last season in South Africa that, at 32, he might be approaching the end of his career. He'll turn 33 next month. "Dale Steyn is a champion bowler, he just hasn't played too much recently," Domingo said. "Often with players like Dale, when you write them off, that's when they become the most dangerous." Steyn's latest injury, a right shoulder problem, forced him to miss most of the home test series loss to England at the start of the year. He played only two games in the World Twenty20, when he appeared to be missing his usual menace and hadn't fully recovered from the injury to his bowling arm. South Africa's decision to rest Steyn for the triangular series against West Indies and Australia is part of a plan to keep him fresh for the upcoming test season. South Africa hosts New Zealand in August and then tours Australia for three tests in November. Steyn has 406 test wickets and is closing in on Shaun Pollock's South African record of 421. He could pass the mark this season. South Africa also has a new fast-bowling star to fall back on. Domingo said there would now be a temptation to play 21-year-old speedster Kagiso Rabada in every game and every series the Proteas play. "We need to be very careful about that," Domingo said. The coach also had an interesting take on the importance of being the top-ranked test team after South Africa was knocked off No. 1 with that defeat to England. "When you're number one, it's important. When you're not, it's not," Domingo said. South Africa won't have Steyn in the Caribbean but will have captain AB de Villiers following some sensational batting performances in the IPL. De Villiers is expected to join the South African squad after Sunday's IPL final and before the Proteas' first game against West Indies in Guyana next Friday.

Church slaying families accept pursuit of death penalty

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Several family members of the nine people gunned down at a historic black church in Charleston say they support decisions by state and federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the man charged in the slayings. Steve Hurd, whose wife, Cynthia, was among those killed June 17 during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, said he won't be at peace until Dylann Roof is put to death. "What would give me full closure would be if I were the one who pushed the plunger on the lethal injection, or if I were the one to pull the switch on the electric chair or if I was the one to open the valve on the gas chamber," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. When "Roof's body is cold, sleeping in the ground — that's closure." Roof, 22, faces nine counts of murder in state court and hate crimes and other charges in federal court. The killings reignited discussions about race relations and led to the removal of a Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse. Roof, who is white, had previously posed for photos with a rebel flag. This week, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that federal prosecutors would seek the death penalty. South Carolina Solicitor Scarlett Wilson announced her decision in September. Roof's state trial is scheduled for next year. No date has been set for his federal trial. When Roof faced a judge last summer, family members of the victims told him they forgave him for his alleged crimes. Their expressions of grace and sympathy, in the face of their own monumental pain, moved many. "As we said in Bible Study, we enjoyed you," said Felicia Sanders, whose son Tywanza was killed. "But may God have mercy on your soul." In a statement released through Roof's lawyer at the time, his family said they had been "touched by the moving words ... offering God's forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering." Both state and federal prosecutors have spent time consulting with relatives of the shooting victims over the pursuit of the death penalty, and Roof's federal attorneys have said their client would be willing to plead guilty if the maximum punishment weren't on the table. Due in part to problems in obtaining lethal injection drugs, no one has been executed in South Carolina since 2011. The federal government hasn't put anyone to death since 2003. "There is no room in our society for hatred and racism," Hurd's brother Malcolm Graham said. "I support the attorney general's decision to seek the death penalty. I believe he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." On Wednesday, a portrait was set to unveiled in the South Carolina Senate to remember Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor at Emanuel who was killed in the attack. Pinckney had been a state senator since 2001.

Paris auction house defends divisive sale of tribal items

PARIS (AP) — A Paris auction house has defended its practices as within the law after Native American leaders in Washington protested its latest plan to sell off part of their tribal history, getting bi-partisan support. Hundreds of religious tribal items and art objects are going up for bidding Monday at EVE auction house, including sacred Hopi objects that resemble masks and are considered to be living beings by the tribe. EVE director Alain Leroy told The Associated Press on Wednesday that "all the items proposed are of legal trade" and that "the public auction process allows the different tribes to acquire their past, and that is exactly what some tribes prefer to do, seeking efficiency and discretion." U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of Native American ceremonial items hold no weight in France.

Hacker who exposed Hillary Clinton's email server pleads guilty

WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) - A Romanian computer hacker who revealed the existence of a private email server used by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state pleaded guilty to hacking-related offenses on Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department said. Marcel Lazar, who used the alias "Guccifer," entered his guilty plea before Judge James Cacheris in U.S. District Court, Alexandria, Virginia, the department said in a statement. Sentencing was set for Sept. 1. In recent media interviews, Lazar claimed he had easily hacked into Clinton's controversial private email server. But the Justice Department statement did not confirm this claim, and a law enforcement official said investigators did not find evidence to support the claim.

Giant Chile telescope moves ahead with signing of construction contract

SANTIAGO, May 25 (Reuters): An Italian consortium that includes Astaldi Spa, Cimolai and subcontractor EIE secured a 400 million euro ($450 million) contract to design, manufacture and assemble the telescope and its protective dome, said the ESO, which is funding the project. The instrument, dubbed the European Extremely Large Telescope, will cost 1.1 billion euros to get up and running, Roberto Tamai told reporters on a conference call. With a main mirror 39 meters (128 ft) in diameter, it will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world, providing images around 15 times sharper than those of the Hubble space telescope, the ESO said. Ground and road preparation is already complete for the E-ELT, which will be situated on a remote mountain top in Chile's Atacama Desert, the site of numerous telescopes, many attracted by the Atacama's clear skies. Part of an expected next generation of massive telescopes, it should, when complete, be sensitive enough to detect Earth-sized planets orbiting distant systems and even their atmospheres - which could reveal whether they contain essential life biomarkers such as oxygen. It will also help astronomers answer questions such as when the first galaxies formed and how fast the universe is expanding. Although the main construction and operations are now fully funded, some of the later performance enhancements to the telescope will require further funding that has yet to be secured because of delays over the expected membership of Brazil.

Russian banker accused by U.S. of spy role gets 2-1/2 years prison

NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) - A Russian banker whom U.S. prosecutors say was involved with a Cold War-era spy ring operating in New York City that sought to collect economic and other intelligence was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison on Wednesday. Evgeny Buryakov, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan after pleading guilty in March to having conspired to act improperly as an agent for the Russian government. Buryakov had worked at Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank. He was arrested in January 2015 as U.S. authorities unveiled charges against him and two other Russians, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy.

Two board members of Vatican bank quit after management dispute

VATICAN CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - Two board members of the Vatican bank have quit following a disagreement over how the institute should be run, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Wednesday. The resignation of the two highly experienced bankers, Italian Carlo Salvatori and German Clemens Boersig, raises questions about efforts to modernise the scandal-plagued bank, which is called the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). Reforming the IOR has been one of the most sensitive issues tackled by Pope Francis as he has sought to overhaul the complex, opaque Vatican administration, and the Church played down the abrupt departure of the two board members. "This reflects a divergence of opinion over the management of the institute, but that is normal. It is an unusual place," said Lombardi, without giving further details. Salvatori and Boersig were not immediately available for comment. However, a source with knowledge of the workings of IOR, who declined to be named, said there was frustration at the slow pace of change within the organisation over the past two years. The two bankers were part of a six-strong lay board that was appointed in 2014, the year after Pope Francis was elected with a mandate to make the Vatican administration transparent. The board members had a five-year mandate and were tasked with defining a new strategy for the bank, which had been accused of helping its clients to launder money and evade taxes. "The two board members made a competent and qualified contribution in this important phase for the stability and integrity of the Institute," a brief Vatican statement said. Earlier this month, IOR Chairman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu said a drive to tighten financial governance had made it "impossible to launder money" at the bank. Before joining the IOR board, Salvatori had held numerous high-rank positions in the Italian banking industry, including as CEO of Banca Intesa and chairman of Unicredit. Boersig was a former chairman of Deutsche Bank.

Former Canadian PM Harper to leave politics, reports say

OTTAWA, May 25 (Reuters) - Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will leave politics later this year, possibly to join U.S. private equity firm KKR, according to domestic media reports. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported that Harper, who was Canada's prime minister for nearly 10 years, has had offers of work from several U.S. companies, including KKR. Harper stepped down as leader of the Conservatives last October after the party was defeated by the Liberals, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Harper was re-elected as a member of parliament for a riding in Calgary, but will resign his seat before parliament comes back from its summer break in the fall, according to media reports. KKR declined to comment. Harper did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Globe and Mail newspaper, which first reported that Harper would step down, said he was also looking at establishing a foreign policy institute.

AFD leader Frauke Petry under investigation for perjury

BERLIN, May 25 (Reuters) - Frauke Petry, leader of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD), is under investigation over accusations of perjury, the public prosecutor's office in Dresden said. Petry, her party buoyed by the arrival of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants in Germany last year, is accused of lying under oath to the state electoral committee in Saxony at the end of 2015 over party financing. Petry and fellow AfD member Carsten Huetter reportedly gave differing accounts of Petry's knowledge of donations which the AfD demanded of its candidates in advance of state elections in 2014, according to André Schollbach, a Left Party politician who has filed a report against the AfD leader. Petry denies the accusations, but has welcomed the investigation, which she hopes will show the weakness of the claims and "end media speculation", her spokesman Markus Frohnmaier said. The party has no lawmakers in the federal parliament in Berlin but has members in half of Germany's 16 regional state assemblies and threatens to erode support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling conservatives. AfD party deputy Alexander Gauland said the investigation should have no impact on Petry as long as no charges are brought against her.

AC Milan Striker M'baye Niang Suffers Car Accident

AC Milan striker M'baye Niang was involved in a car accident on Saturday night, but claimed Monday it was a minor incident in which he had been merely a passenger, reports AFP.

Earlier that evening he had helped Milan beat Torino 1-0 at home in lashing and relentless rain.

"I and my driver are both in good health. The car was aquaplaning, there was more fear than harm. Ready for the rest of the season with Milan, Forza Milan," the Frenchman, who does not have a driving licence, wrote on Twitter.

Previously, Sky Sport had reported that he would be out for two months with ankle and shoulder injuries, and that he had taken a breathalyser test, which proved negative.

In February 2014, when he was with Montpellier, Niang was given an 18 month suspended sentence for a road accident involving a Ferrari.

The player had fled and denied the charges, before spending four days in custody. The court cancelled his driving licence and banned him from the roads for three years.

The 21-year-old has had a breakthrough few months at the San Siro and has scored eight goals and provided five assists in 20 games in all competitions this season.

Nanny Arrested for Beheading Young Girl in Moscow

Moscow police on Monday arrested a nanny for beheading a young girl in her care, with witnesses saying the black-clad woman was carrying a severed head and threatening to "blow everyone up", reports AFP.

The agitated woman, who was reportedly shouting "Allahu Akbar", was spotted pacing up and down outside a metro station in the northwestern part of the Russian capital, witness Alyona Kuratova told Dozhd TV, saying she was holding the head by its hair.

"I saw that it was indeed a head," she told the independent channel. "Maybe it was a child's head as they started whispering in the street."

She described scenes of chaos as police cars and ambulances began arriving at the scene, with several people yelling: "terror attack, terror attack."

"The woman was going back and forth," Kuratova said.

"She yelled something."

The witness said she could not make out what the woman shouted but some media reported that she yelled "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greatest" -- and threatened to blow herself up.

LifeNews, a news service known for its close ties to law enforcement agencies, said that when police approached her for a document check, she pulled the head out of her bag and started yelling that she had killed a child.

Footage broadcast by Russian television showed several men approaching and overpowering the woman. As she fell down, an object she carried around rolled along the ground.

Russian investigators said a nanny had been detained after the body of a child aged three or four years with "signs of violent death" was found on Monday in an apartment in northwest Moscow after a fire was extinguished there.

"According to preliminary information, the child's nanny -- a native of one of the Central Asian countries, born in 1977 -- waited until the parents left the apartment with their elder child and, guided by unknown motives, killed the little one, set the apartment on fire and left the scene," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

State news agency TASS, citing a source, said: "The child's body was without the head. According to a preliminary version, the nanny carried away the head."

- 'Monstrous and inexplicable' -

Investigators said the woman was detained and a criminal probe opened. They said the suspect would undergo a psychiatric examination to establish whether she "understands the meaning of her actions and behaviour."

The Investigative Committee did not provide further details.

Interfax news agency, citing a law enforcement source, identified the woman as 38-year-old Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a native of ex-Soviet majority-Muslim Uzbekistan.

The mother of the slain girl was taken away by an ambulance in a state of unconsciousness, state Zvezda television channel said.

"Monstrous and inexplicable," Russia's children's rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said on Twitter, urging parents to carefully check on the mental state of nannies when they are hired.

"Papers from the narcologist and psychiatrist should be obligatory when you hire a nanny," he said.

Hong Kong booksellers confess to 'illegal book trading'

Four Hong Kong booksellers known for titles critical of Beijing, who have been detained in China in a case that shocked their home city, have confessed on television to smuggling books into the mainland, reports AFP.

In individual interviews broadcast on Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV channel late Sunday, the sombre foursome -- who are under criminal investigation in China -- admitted to participating what they said was a banned trade.

Their case has heightened fears of increasing mainland Chinese interference in semi-autonomous Hong Kong and sparked international protests.

"This way (of publishing) is not permitted by relevant Chinese authorities," said bookseller Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, who failed to return to Hong Kong from a holiday in Thailand in October.

He said the booksellers had "explored ways to circumvent official inspections in China", including changing the books' covers or concealing them in bags.

The men all worked for the Mighty Current publishing house in Hong Kong, which produced salacious titles about political intrigue and love affairs at the highest levels of Chinese politics.

Gui had already appeared on television in China in January confessing involvement in a fatal driving accident years ago.

In their first appearance since they were detained, fellow booksellers Cheung Chi-ping, Lui Por and Lam Wing-kee blamed the company's illegal book trade on Gui.

A tearful Cheung added that he was "willing to face punishment in accordance with the law".

Cheung, Lui and Lam were last seen in southern mainland cities before disappearing in October.

Chinese authorities confirmed earlier this month they were under investigation.

Mainland Chinese news outlet Paper.cn said Cheung, Lui and Lam may "return to Hong Kong in the near future" on bail pending trial because they "confessed with good attitudes", citing information from law enforcers.

The report added that since October 2014, 4,000 illegal books had been mailed to 380 mainland buyers by the company.

- 'Serious breach' -

A fifth bookseller from the company who also disappeared, Lee Bo, met Hong Kong police and immigration officials at a guesthouse on the mainland Monday, according to a Hong Kong police statement.

Lee's case sparked the biggest backlash as he disappeared in December in Hong Kong itself, where mainland law enforcers are banned from operating. There was no immigration record of his departure from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police have long been seeking access to check claims in letters he purportedly wrote, that he was on the mainland voluntarily "assisting" with investigations.

Britain said in February it believed Lee, a British passport-holder, had been "involuntarily removed to the mainland" in what it called a "serious breach" of an agreement with Beijing before the city was handed back to China in 1997.

That agreement safeguards free speech and other freedoms in the city for 50 years but there are fears they are under threat as China seeks to stamp its authority on the territory.

The European Parliament has called for all five to be immediately released.

Police said Lee told them he returned to the mainland "by his own means voluntarily" and was not abducted, but he refused to disclose details.

He told police he was "free and safe" and assisting an investigation "into a case relating to a person surnamed Gui" and would return to Hong Kong when the matter was resolved.

Lee said he did not need help from the Hong Kong government but asked police not to disclose where he was staying.

Police in their statement said they would continue to follow up on the case and were seeking more information from mainland police about Gui and the three others.

Swedish growth fires in 2015; smaller rises for Denmark, Finland

Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 4.1 percent in 2015, a sharp increase from a year earlier, while Denmark managed a rise of 1.2 percent and Finland posted a small but unexpected rise of 0.4 percent, official figures showed Monday, reports AFP.

Swedish exports helped drive a fourth-quarter increase of 4.5 percent, Statistics Sweden said, beating analysts' forecasts.

"This is the fifth quarter with a steady rise," the Swedish national statistics office said.

Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, had forecast overall growth of 3.7 percent for 2015, after it rose by 2.1 percent in 2014.

The Swedish economy was supported by strong investment which increased by 7.3 percent in 2015, including export growth of 5.9 percent and robust household consumption.

"As for GDP components, all underlying components surprised on the upside in Q4 ... underlining that growth is broad based," said Andreas Wallstrom, chief analyst at Nordea Bank.

"Public consumption was probably lifted as a result of the influx of refugees. The immigrant situation will probably boost government consumption and GDP also in the coming quarters," he said.

Earlier this month, the Swedish central bank cut its key interest rate by 15 basis points to an all-time low of -0.5 percent, citing the risk of slowing inflation and falling confidence in its monetary policy.

Bolstered by household demand advancing 2.1 percent year on year, Danish growth was marginally ahead of its 1.0 rise for 2014 although the third quarter showed a 0.1 percent fall, ending a run of eight straight quarterly rises.

Statistics Denmark indicated growth of 0.5 percent was needed each quarter to hit 1.2 percent for 2016 as a whole but warned that was an ambitious target as "quarterly growth of 0.5 percent is above the quarterly average for the past 15 years" -- a period which notably saw virtual stagnation between 2010 and 2013.

Meanwhile in Finland, GDP grew by 0.4 percent in 2015 year-on-year, after its third year of recession, according to Finland's National Statistical Institute.

After three years of consecutive GDP decline, the Central Bank of Finland had expected a further contraction in 2015 of 0.1 percent.

In addition to its ageing population and the decline of two of its main industries, paper and electronics, Finland has suffered from the economic crisis in Russia.

In the fourth quarter of last year, it nevertheless benefited from a small rise in exports compared to the previous quarter and household consumption increased by 0.2 percent compared to the previous three months.

Across the Baltic Sea, former Soviet republic Latvia reported its GDP rose 2.7 percent in 2015 following 2.4 percent for 2014, the year the country of two million joined the eurozone, albeit down on 4.1 percent for 2013 and 5.0 in 2012.

India pledges billions for farmers in 'populist' budget

AFP (NEW DELHI, Feb 29, 2016): The India's government promised billions of dollars to help struggling farmers and boost the rural economy as it unveiled its annual budget on Monday, looking to kickstart growth and bolster its flagging popularity.

India is now the world's fastest-growing major economy. But two years of drought and a failure to create jobs for a burgeoning young population has left millions of rural residents struggling and led to deadly protests in recent weeks.

The government came to power nearly two years ago promising to transform India's economic fortunes. But it has been hampered by the global economic slowdown and a failure to push much-needed reforms through parliament.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged the challenges as he presented the budget in parliament, but said he had a "vision to transform India".

"We have a desire to provide socio-economic security to every Indian, especially the farmers, the poor and the vulnerable," he said.

"We have a dream to see a more prosperous India and a vision to transform India."

Jaitley pledged to spend 359 billion rupees ($5.2 billion) on doubling the income of India's estimated 120 million farmers over the next five years through measures including a crop insurance scheme and better access to markets.

The vast farming sector is suffering after two years of weak monsoon rains, and from high inflation.

The budget outlined plans to raise credit available to farmers to nine trillion rupees for 2016-17, and pledged to ensure all the country's villages have electricity within two years.

The government will increase spending on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which guarantees 100 days of employment on public works each year for any household that requests it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously called the scheme a "living monument" to the "failures" of the previous Congress-led government.

- Stalled reforms -

Analyst Samir Saran said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was "responding to the political reality" before state elections this year and next.

"The BJP has to lay greater emphasis on social policy, it has to deliver a more populist budget," said Saran, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank.

The BJP needs to perform well in those elections in order to push stalled economic reforms through the national parliament's upper house, where it lacks a majority.

These include Modi's flagship plan to introduce a national Goods and Services Tax to replace myriad complex state and national levies seen as deterring much-needed investment.

India is considered a relative bright spot in the world economy, but feeble global demand has caused its exports to shrink for 14 months and investment remains weak.

The opposition Congress party dismissed the budget as "a wasted opportunity".

"What is the one big takeaway for the average citizen? It is that there is no big idea," said Congress spokesman P. Chidambaram.

The main Sensex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed down 0.66 percent after the budget, which included a hefty 23 percent pay rise for millions of civil servants and a pension scheme for retired soldiers.

The two schemes will add billions of dollars to the government's spending bill over the next year, but Jaitley said it would stick to its ambitious target to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2016-17.

The government plans to counter big spending pledges with double-digit increases in tax collection -- with plans to bring more people into the tax net, raise levies on cigarettes and SUVs and increase an income surcharge on the super-rich.

Jaitley also pledged to spend 2.21 trillion rupees on improvements to roads and other infrastructure.

The government will also inject 250 billion rupees into public-sector banks, which are weighed down by bad loans.

Despite a major push to boost manufacturing, farming remains by far the biggest employer in India.

Earlier in February the Jats, traditionally a farming caste, sparked riots in northern India to press demands for better access to government jobs and education. They say they are struggling to make a living.

The BJP performed poorly in elections in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar last year and faces polls in other major farming states this year and next.

Syria task force to meet to shore up fragile truce

AFP (DAMASCUS, Feb 29, 2016): An international task force was to meet on Monday in a bid to shore up Syria's fragile ceasefire, as the United Nations scrambled to deliver aid to thousands of besieged civilians.

The task force, co-chaired by Moscow and Washington, was to meet on Monday at 1400 GMT to evaluate allegations of a range of breaches, a Western diplomat said.

At the weekend, key regime backer Russia traded accusations with the main opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee, over truce violations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday that the allegations "must all of course be verified," but that his government "would be vigilant about (the truce's) concrete application."

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said there been some incidents but the ceasefire was generally holding.

"As of now I can tell you that by and large the cessation of hostilities is holding even though we have experienced some incidents," he told reporters in Geneva.

The truce, which was in its third day on Monday, is meant to open the way for aid to the more than 480,000 Syrians living in areas besieged by government forces, rebels or jihadists.

UN humanitarian coordinator Yacoub El Hillo said the world body hoped to take advantage of the relative calm to distribute supplies to 154,000 people living in besieged areas over the next five days.

An convoy carrying sanitation supplies and blankets was due to head to the town of Moadamiyet al-Sham, surrounded by regime forces south of Damascus, on Monday, a UN source told AFP.

Pressure was building to relieve civilians under siege after the UN's human rights chief said thousands could die of hunger.

"The deliberatestarvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said, warning that "thousands of people risk starving to death".

The flow of much-needed assistance could also create a more favourable backdrop for peace talks that collapsed in acrimony in early February.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura aims to relaunch negotiations on March 7 if the ceasefire lasts and more aid is delivered.

The main opposition grouping Sunday described the ceasefire as "positive" but lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations and foreign governments about breaches.

"We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable," said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee.

Meslet said the opposition would like to see the truce "last forever" but that the United States was responsible for preventing violations.

- 'We went out and played' -

An HNC letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused the Syrian regime and its allies of committing two dozen truce violations that had killed 29 people and wounded dozens.

The HNC has said it has been kept in the dark about the truce's monitoring mechanism.

The ceasefire does not apply to territory held by the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

Government forces recaptured a key supply route near Aleppo city on Monday from IS in clashes that killed 26 pro-regime fighters and 14 IS militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russia, which has waged a five-month bombing campaign to support President Bashar al-Assad, accused "moderate" rebels and jihadists of nine ceasefire violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the main mechanisms for implementing the truce were now in place.

"We knew ahead of time that this would not be easy," he told reporters.

In Aleppo, the Observatory reported some rebel rocket fire on government-held neighbourhoods early on Monday but no casualties.

"Our teachers used to forbid us from going out to the school yard because of the air strikes but today we went out and played," said Ranim, a 10-year-old pupil at a primary school in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr.

- 'Inevitable' setbacks -

The Observatory reported nine Russian air strikes on a town in the central province of Hama early on Monday but had no immediate word on any casualties.

It said seven civilians were killed in Russian strikes on Sunday on a town in Aleppo province where Al-Nusra has a presence.

Washington urged patience from all sides to give the truce a chance to firm up.

"Setbacks are inevitable," a senior US administration official said.

"Even under the best of circumstances, we don't expect the violence to end immediately. In fact, we are certain that there will continue to be fighting, in part because of organisations like ISIL (Islamic State) and Al-Nusra."

There has been no let-up in the US-led air campaign against IS since the truce went into effect.

The coalition said that on Sunday it carried out 12 strikes against the jihadists in Syria, four of them around the town of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border where IS has been attempting to regain territory from US-backed Kurdish forces.

Photo: Beautiful Rose

Picture: Cobbler talking on mobile phone in Dhaka

A cobbler is seen talking on his mobile phone in Dhaka on January 8, 2016.

Picture: Vendor talking on mobile phone in Dhaka

A vendor is seen talking on his mobile phone in Dhaka on January 8, 2016.

Picture: Man talking on mobile phone by shop owner (Purana Paltan)

The owner of a shop is seen talking on his mobile phone at Purana Paltan in Dhaka on January 8, 2016.