As Islamic State pushes on Iraq's Ramadi, 2000 families flee

BAGHDAD: Clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants pressing their offensive for Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province, has forced more than 2,000 families to flee from their homes in the area, an Iraqi official said Thursday.

The Sunni militants' push on Ramadi, launched Wednesday when the Islamic State group captured three villages on the city's eastern outskirts, has become the most significant threat so far to the provincial capital of Anbar.

It is seen as an attempt by IS to stage a counteroffensive after suffering a major blow earlier this month when Iraqi troops routed the group from Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown.

Sattar Nowruz, from the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, said that the over 2,000 families that fled Ramadi were in a ``difficult situation'' and have settled in southern and western Baghdad suburbs.

Tents, food and other aid are being sent to them, he said. The ministry is also assessing the situation with the provincial government in order ``to provide the displaced people, who are undergoing difficult conditions, with better services and help,'' Nowruz added.

On Thursday, sporadic clashes were still underway, according to security officials in Ramadi. The center of the city has been firmly in the hands of Baghdad government forces, though some of the far suburbs and outskirts had fallen to the Islamic State, which last year captured large swaths of territory in western and northern Iraq, along with about a third of neighboring Syria. That blitz stunned the Baghdad government and pushed the country into its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops.

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes were backing the Iraqi troops in Ramadi on Thursday and were targeting the three villages Sjariyah, Albu-Ghanim and Soufiya captured Wednesday by the extremists, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media.

They described Ramadi as a ghost town with empty streets and closed shops after most of the residents had deserted it.

Ramadi and the city of Fallujah to the east, roughly half-way on the road to Baghdad, were major al-Qaida strongholds during the eight-year U.S.-led invasion, and fighting in Anbar was especially costly for Americans troops. Many of the militants were eventually forced to flee Iraq or go into hiding in the latter years.

In January 2014, Fallujah was the first major Iraqi city seized by the Islamic State group.

On a visit to Washington, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday made no mention of the events in Ramadi, speaking instead optimistically about gaining Sunni tribal fighter participation in the government's battle against the Islamic State group and saying that about 5,000 tribal fighters in Anbar had signed up and received light weapons.

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Chinese president to visit Pakistan, hammer out $46-billion deal

ISLAMABAD: Chinese President Xi Jinping will launch energy and infrastructure projects worth $46 billion on a visit to Pakistan next week as China cements links with its old ally and generates opportunities for firms hit by slack growth at home.

Also being finalized is a long-discussed plan to sell Pakistan eight Chinese submarines. The deal, worth between $4 billion and $5 billion, according to media reports, may be among those signed on the trip.

Xi will visit next Monday and Tuesday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

READ ALSO: Lakhvi affair to affect Modi visit to China, Xi visit to Pakistan

Commercial and defence ties are drawing together the two countries, which share a remote border and long-standing mistrust of their increasingly powerful neighbour, India, and many Western nations.

"China treats us as a friend, an ally, a partner and above all an equal — not how the Americans and others do," said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Pakistan parliament's defence committee.

Pakistan and China often boast of being "iron brothers" and two-way trade grew to $10 billion last year from $4 billion in 2007, Pakistani data shows.

Xi's trip is expected to focus on a Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, a planned $46 billion network of roads, railways and energy projects linking Pakistan's deepwater Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea with China's far-western Xinjiang region.

It would shorten the route for China's energy imports, bypassing the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, a bottleneck at risk of blockade in wartime.

If the submarine deal is signed, China may also offer Pakistan concessions on building a refuelling and mechanical station in Gwadar, a defence analyst said.

China's own submarines could use the station to extend their range in the Indian Ocean.

"China is thinking in terms of a maritime silk road now, something to connect the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean," said a Pakistani defence official, who declined to be identified.

For Pakistan, the corridor is a cheap way to develop its violence-plagued and poverty-stricken Baluchistan province, home to Gwadar.

China has promised to invest about $34 billion in energy projects and nearly $12 billion in infrastructure.

Xi is also likely to raise fears that Muslim separatists from Xinjiang are linking up with Pakistani militants, and he could also push for closer efforts for a more stable Afghanistan.

"One of China's top priorities on this trip will be to discuss Xinjiang," said a Western diplomat in Beijing. "China is very worried about the security situation there."

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Alice from Wonderland- The new fashion icon

LONDON: The world has found a new fashion icon - Alice from Wonderland.

The year 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the first publication of one of the most-loved children's books, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

British curators have now reinvented her as the fashion icon saying she strongly influenced the way people dressed and inspired designers and stylists the world over.

To mark the anniversary, the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood has brought together garments, photographs, rare editions and illustrations to show Alice as both a follower of fashion and a trendsetter.

Using book cover designs by Vivienne Westwood and Japanese Lolita clothing, The Alice Look is showing how Alice has always embraced contemporary style.

The display culminates with a new commission by Josie Smith, pattern-cutter who will make fashion literally out of fiction, producing a 3-D version of Alice's Wonderland outfit using fabric printed with text from the book.

Exhibition curator Dr Kiera Vaclavik told TOI in an interview "At first Alice followed fashion rather than influencing it directly. As new editions of the books were produced, her look was updated to reflect contemporary trends. But in the 20th century, Alice also began to emerge as a style icon. Almost 150 years after the first publication of Wonderland, she is still widely imitated by children and adults, including countless celebrities. In addition, Alice is a reference point and source of inspiration for leading designers, stylists and photographers".

So what are the specific fashion trends Alice started?

Dr Vaclavik added "In the 1930s, hairbands began to be referred to as Alice bands and this name has remained ever since. Today, Carroll's heroine adorns a wide array of clothing and accessories. Her look has inspired specific garments and fabric collections, as well as fashion shows, design projects, shoots, advertising campaigns and department store windows throughout the world".

"I first became interested in Alice and fashion during my doctoral research and it became clear to me that fashion's love affair with Alice was an international phenomenon and I find that fascinating, especially because Carroll himself wrote virtually nothing about his heroine's appearance in the Alice books. She is a fashion icon now more than ever".

"In the 19th century, Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett and the works of Kate Greenaway both sparked fashion crazes not dissimilar to the Potter mania which swept the world in recent years. All of these, though, have been relatively short lived. What makes Alice special, and indeed unique, is the fact that she is still shaping the way people dress across the world, a century and a half after she first appeared," Dr Vaclavik added to TOI. ? On May 9, a one-day conference will be held at the Museum exploring Alice as both follower of fashion and trend-setter, with papers spanning the century and half since the publication of Wonderland. It will look closely at what Alice wears and what this can tell us about her, and at some of the diverse practices of dressing as Alice in different parts of the world.

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Kerry: still confident US can conclude Iran nuclear deal

LUEBECK (GERMANY) : US secretary of state John Kerry said Wednesday he is confident that the US administration can conclude a nuclear deal with Iran after president Barack Obama agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject an agreement.

Kerry joined his counterparts from the Group of Seven industrial powers at a meeting in northern Germany on the gathering's second day, flying in overnight after discussing Iran with lawmakers in Washington.

''Yesterday there was a compromise reached in Washington regarding congressional input,'' Kerry told reporters in the Baltic Sea port of Luebeck. ''We are confident about our ability for the president to negotiate an agreement, and to do so with the ability to make the world safer.''

Kerry said the challenge of finishing the negotiations with Iran over the next 2{ months would loom large over the G-7 meeting.

Its host, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said ministers would discuss the deal between the US administration and Congress, which he said would have ''a certain influence'' on whether a deal with Iran can be achieved by a June 30 deadline.

Steinmeier said other topics would include conflicts in the Middle East, prospects for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, efforts to combat the Islamic State group, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the impact of climate change on political stability in Africa and Asia, and the ongoing fighting in Ukraine.

''The weather in international politics is quite stormy,'' he said. ''The conflict in eastern Ukraine is only two hours away from here.''

Steinmeier said the G-7's top diplomats would also issue a statement on maritime security, noting that Luebeck was plagued by pirates until the Hanseatic League _ an alliance of northern European trading cities _ cracked down on the raiders some 600 years ago.

Although Russia was ejected from what was the G-8 last year over its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Steinmeier praised Moscow for what he called its ''constructive attitude'' in not blocking a UN Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo on Houthi rebel leaders in Yemen.

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Egypt, Saudi mull military exercise amid Yemen airstrikes

CAIRO: Egypt and Saudi Arabia are considering whether to hold joint military exercises in the kingdom as airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition pounded Shia rebels in Yemen on Wednesday.

The airstrikes targeting Yemeni rebels known as Houthis began on March 26 in an effort to halt their advance across the Arab world's poorest country. Hundreds have been killed and over 121,000 have been displaced amid the turmoil.

The Houthis have captured Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and forced Western- and Gulf-backed president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country.

A statement late Tuesday from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's office after he met Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman said they had agreed to form a commission to investigate whether to hold ''a major strategic exercise'' in the kingdom involving Egyptian, Saudi and other Gulf forces.

The statement gave no further details about the exercise. Egypt, a member of the anti-Houthi coalition, has said in the past that it would send ground forces into Yemen if the military deemed it necessary. The coalition says operations are still in the air phase but that all options remain on the table.

Shia powerhouse Iran has helped the Houthis with aid and political support but they both deny Tehran is arming the rebels, an assertion made by Hadi, the Saudis and the United States.

In Iran, president Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia over the airstrikes, accusing them of colluding with the US and seeking to dominate the region.

''Why are you dropping bombs on innocent people in Yemen by employing donated aircrafts from the US?'' he said in a speech broadcast on state television. ''Why are you destroying all the infrastructure of a weak country?''

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Iraq's Yazidis, haunted by war, mark a New Year

LALISH(IRAQ): Only miles from the front lines of the war against the Islamic State group, thousands of Iraq's besieged Yazidis lit candles at their most revered shrine to mark the start of their New Year, which began Wednesday.

Traditionally, members of this ancient sect leave colored eggs outside their homes for New Year in the belief it helps God identify them, but countless of Yazidis fled their towns as the Islamic State group rampaged through northern Iraq last year. The extremists kidnapped thousands of Yazidis, killing men and enslaving and raping women.

Their plight sparked the US to form a coalition in August and begin launching airstrikes against the militants, which continue even now. But some Yazidis remain refugees in their own lands, fearful of the future.

Thousands of Yazidis gathered Tuesday night at their sect's holiest shrine in Lalish, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul. They lit candles and torches that bathed their faces, tired yet joyous, in soft orange light.

''According to our traditions, we firstly wish the best to other nations, then we ask God to give every human being a decent life,'' said Luqman Soleiman, 45, a teacher at Lalish's temple.

However, he said the New Year would offer no solace for the Islamic State group, referring to it by the derogatory Arabic acronym Daesh.

''This poison, which is called Daesh, will be eliminated from everywhere, all around the world and the ideology of Daesh will evaporate from people's mind, because their ideas are not suitable for human beings,'' he said.

Hanifa Alias, a displaced woman now living at a camp in Dohuk, counted herself lucky to be surrounded by family, though she acknowledged the sorrow that remained even at this joyous time.

''We're all together, but still, home is better,'' she said.

Here is an Associated Press gallery of photographs of Yazidis in Iraq gathering to celebrate the New Year.

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Islamic State militants target Moroccan embassy in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya: A Libyan official says a bomb placed in a garbage bin targeted the Moroccan Embassy in the capital, Tripoli. There were no casualties in the attack, which was claimed by Libya's Islamic State affiliate.

Security spokesman Essam al-Naas says the bomb went off early Monday. Morocco condemned the attack and called for an investigation.

Libya's branch of the Islamic State group said in a statement on its Twitter account that ''soldiers of the caliphate'' targeted the building but gave no motive. It also posted several photographs of the embassy, including one of an empty street at night and another showing flames caused by the explosion.

The same group claimed responsibility for an attack on the South Korean Embassy in Tripoli early on Sunday, which killed one guard and one passer-by.

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Hillary hits the road after declaring run for White House

WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton-spotting is the hottest activity in the US and world media right now after one of America's most recognizable people, who has been the First Lady, a New York Senator, and Secretary of State, hit the road after declaring on Sunday that she is in the running for President in 2016.

The star candidate, who in her three-decades of intensely public life has already racked up a with a resume and cachet rarely found in presumptive presidential race nominees, is headed to Iowa. It is an early voting state that is traditionally the starting point for those campaigning for party nomination. She has two scheduled events on Monday in the so-called Hawkeye state, and she can be certain she will get both hawk-eyed scrutiny and hawkish attention despite her efforts to kickstart her campaign in a low-key manner.

READ ALSO: Hillary Clinton takes White House bid on the road

That strategy included releasing a 138-second video on Sunday declaring her Presidential bid that is being minutely analyzed even as she jumped into a van with aides - rather than into a flashy GulfStream jet or a ritzy campaign bus trailed by endless media - for the 1046 mile road trip. The effort appeared to be to present herself as an ordinary, against-odds candidate connecting with ordinary people instead of the odds-on political insider that she is.

Indeed, first reports from the road, even as the hack pack revved up vehicles to chase her down, showed her chatting up people in gas stations and eateries along the way. She isn't driving herself; she said in interview last year that she hasn't sat behind the steering wheel since 1996 when the Secret Service forbade her form driving when she was the First Lady.

Back in political parlors and the country's living rooms and kitchen tables, the video was being viewed and reviewed for substance and sincerity.

It is an unusual political ad, showing an assortment of Americans, including many minorities, talking about their hopes and aspirations as they undertake new challenges in their quotidian lives - getting ready for a job, to go to college, to have baby, to start a new business etc. Hillary Clinton does not even appear in the video till about 90 seconds into an ad that could till that point be mistaken for insurance or soap or a medication commercial.

''I'm getting ready to do something, too--I'm running for President,'' Hillary Clinton declares when she finally pops up. ''Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times. But the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. Everyday Americans need a champion and I want to be that champion,'' she says.

''I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time. And I hope you'll join me on this journey,'' she concludes amid a collage of happy, optimistic people going about their lives.

How much the words and the sentiment will resonate will take some time to assess. Aside from being an easily recognizable face whose track record is full laid out (both an advantage and a disadvantage), Clinton leads most polls for the Democratic nomination with few early challengers; she even leads any potential face-off with major Republican nominees such as Jeb Bush.

But 18 months is an eternity in politics, and as America's most promising female presidential candidate ever launched her campaign, opposition attack dogs were already being let loose. From rabid, intemperate, conspiratorial attacks on social media to more reasoned arguments in informed debates, her political adversaries began chipping away at her record.

''Americans need a president they can trust and voters do not trust Hillary Clinton,'' Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. ''Over decades as a Washington insider, Clinton has left a trail '​​ofsecrecy, scandal, and failed policies that can't be erased from voters.'

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ISIS releases video, warns US of another 9/11 like attack

NEWYORK: Isis has released a video which states there is now "no safety for any American on the globe'" and that there will be another 9/11-style attack against the US.

The film features gruesome beheading scenes and clips of Isis forces in combat, in an attempt at displaying the strength of the Caliphate.

The 11 minute long video, titled 'We Will Burn America', was dated 10 March.

This is not the first Isis video aimed at the US - a video threatening to behead Barack Obama and turn the US into a Muslim province emerged online in January.

(The geographical position of America will not protect it, video says.)
The video's subtitles read: 'America thinks it's safe because of the geographical location.

'Thus you see it invades the Muslim lands, and it thinks that the army of the Jihad won't reach in their lands.

'But the dream of the American to have safety became a mirage. Today there is no safety for any American on the globe.'

It continued: 'But today, it's time for payback. By the grace of Allah, today the mujahideen are much more stronger and they have more rescources. Thus they are able to burn United States again.'

In addition to several mass beheadings, the death of U.S. journalist James Foley, and the burning of Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh, were shown.

The video also features the killings carried out by French-born gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, in Paris earlier this year, and Canadian Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's 2014 attack on the Canadian Parliament.

The Iraqi government is said to have last week regained control of the city of Tikrit from Isis forces, following a month long siege.

Isis also recently destroyed the Assyrian archaeological sites of Nimrud and Hatra and has since executed 300 people in response to an attempt by Iraq to liberate the Anbar region from Isis occupation.

The Caliphate expanded its foothold in Libya in February and March of this year.

Egyptian air strikes later rained down on their Libyan strong-holds, killing 64 militants, following the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Isis.

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Seven bodies found inside pickle factory in Pakistan

KARACHI: At least seven persons, including wner of a pickle factory, were found dead today in a chemical tank of the same plant here in Pakistan, police said.

"Seven bodies have been found inside a chemical tank at a factory in Korangi Industrial area," said Deputy Inspector-General Muneer Sheikh.

The men had been identified as the owner of the pickle factory, Mehtab, and six workers, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Junaid Sheikh.

Rescue workers said they acted upon receiving information about the presence of several bodies inside the factory, the News reported.

It was unclear if the men had fallen inside the tank or had been dumped there.

However, it appeared from initial investigation that one of the men had tripped over into the tank, while the other men fell while trying to save him, Sheikh said.

He said that police was carrying out further investigation to confirm out how the incident took place.

Seemi Jamali, head of emergency at the Jinnah Hospital where the bodies were taken, said it appeared that the men had died from suffocation, but the cause of death could only be confirmed following postmortem.

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Turkey summons Vatican ambassador over pope's genocide comment

ANKARA: Turkey has summoned the Vatican's ambassador in Ankara over the pope's comments describing the massacre of Armenians a century ago as "genocide", a senior official told Reuters on Sunday.

Turkey, which has yet to make an official statement on Pope Francis' comments, summoned the ambassador to protest over the description of the events as "genocide", the official said, declining to be identified.

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

READ ALSO: Pope calls Armenian slaughter '1st genocide of 20th century'

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Video: Islamic State group destroys ancient ruins of Nimrud

BAGHDAD: Islamic State militants hammered, bulldozed and ultimately blew up parts of the ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, destroying a site dating back to the 13th century BC, an online militant video purportedly shows.

The destruction at Nimrud, located near the militant-held city of Mosul, follows other attacks on antiquity carried out by the group now holding a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.

The attacks have horrified archaeologists and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who last month called the destruction at Nimrud "a war crime."

The seven-minute video, posted late Saturday, shows bearded militants using sledgehammers, jackhammers and saws to take down huge alabaster reliefs depicting Assyrian kings and deities.

A bulldozer brings down walls, while militants fill barrels with explosives and later destroy three separate areas of the site in massive explosions.

"God has honoured us in the Islamic State to remove all of these idols and statutes worshipped instead of Allah in the past days," one militant says in the video. Another militant vows that "whenever we seize a piece of land, we will remove signs of idolatry and spread monotheism."

ISIS militants destroy ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud. (Video grab courtesy Twitter)
The militants have been destroying ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violate their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, including the ancient Iraqi city of Hatra, a Unesco World Heritage site.

Authorities also believe they've sold others on the black market to fund their atrocities.

Some of the figures in the video released Saturday at Nimrud appeared to have rebar, ribbed bars of steels designed to reinforce concrete that are a technique of modern building.

An Iraqi antiquities ministry official, speaking today on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorised to talk to journalists, said all the items at Nimrud were authentic. In March, both Iraqi and UN officials warned the site had been looted and damaged.

ISIS militants destroy ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud. (Video grab courtesy Twitter)
The video conformed to other Associated Press reporting about the militants' attack.

The Assyrians first rose around 2,500 BC and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day Iran.

They left dozens of palaces and temples decorated with huge reliefs mainly depicting their kings' military campaigns and conquests, hunting lions and making sacrifices to the gods. Their main hallmark was the colossal winged man-headed lions or bulls, protective deities put at the entrances of palaces and temples weighing about 10-30 tons each.

Located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, Nimrud, or Kalhu, was founded in the 13th century BC.

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Former Maldivian defence minister jailed for 10 years

MALE: A former Maldivian defence minister has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of detaining a senior judge, the same case in which ex-president Mohamed Nasheed has also been jailed under an anti-terrorism law.

Tholhath Ibrahim was sentenced by the Criminal Court last night after three judges presiding over the case unanimously agreed to prosecution's allegations.

The prosecution raised its charges against Ibrahim for his involvement in the arrest and detention of Criminal Court's controversial chief judge Abdulla Mohamed in 2012 for 22 days.

At a previous hearing during the trial, Tholhath said Nasheed had ordered the arrest of the judge.

The judges said given witness testimonies and Tholhath's own statement his involvement in Abdulla's detention in an island used for military training was clear, Haveeru online reported.

The prosecution further said Tholhath used the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) as a cover, but stressed the institution itself was absolved.

Ibrahim was Nasheed's defence minister at the time of the judge's arrest.

Nasheed, who had accused the judge of political bias and corruption, is currently serving a 13-year jail sentence over the same incident.

The imprisonment of Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the Maldives, has drawn widespread international criticism, including from the US, the EU and rights groups.

Nasheed resigned in 2012 after weeks of public protests over the judge's arrest.

The following year Nasheed lost to Yameen Abdul Gayoom, whose half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had ruled the country for nearly 30 years.

Nasheed's supporters allege the case is politically motivated and aimed at ending his political career.

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Bangladesh to hang top Islamist for 1971 massacre

Bangladesh is set to hang a top Islamist leader on Saturday for overseeing a massacre during the nation's 1971 independence war, officials said, after he refused to seek clemency from the president.

Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, the third most senior figure in the Islamist opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, is due to be executed on Saturday night after his hanging was postponed at the last minute.

No official reason was given for the delay on Friday, but junior home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the 62-year-old will soon be executed in the capital's main jail.

"The hanging of Kamaruzzaman... will take place today (Saturday)," Khan said in remarks published by the mass circulation Bengali daily Prothom Alo.

Kamaruzzaman was convicted of abduction, torture and mass murder as one of the leaders of a pro-Pakistan militia that killed thousands of people during Bangladesh's war of independence.

The United Nations on Wednesday urged Bangladesh against carrying out the sentence, saying his trial did not meet "fair international" standards.

But a police chief, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP by text message that the execution would go ahead at 10:01pm local time (1601 GMT).

Twenty-one members of Kamaruzzaman's family, including his wife and son, visited him in prison on Saturday afternoon.

"The jail authorities asked the family to meet him. It's an indication that he may be executed tonight," his lawyer Shishir Manir told AFP.

Khan told reporters Kamaruzzaman had decided not to seek mercy from the president when two magistrates visited him in jail, and time for any more appeals had now run out.

"He did not want to file a mercy petition," the junior minister told local online news portal bdnews24.com.

The execution comes after the country's highest court rejected Kamaruzzaman's final legal appeal on Monday, upholding the original death sentence handed down to him by a controversial domestic war crimes court in May 2013.

Kamaruzzaman was convicted of abduction, torture and mass murder, including a slaughter in a remote northern hamlet that has since become known as the "Village of Widows".

Prosecutors said he presided over the massacre of at least 120 unarmed farmers who were lined up and gunned down in the remote northern village of Sohagpur in the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan.

The nine-month conflict, one of the bloodiest in world history, led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh from what was then East Pakistan.

Three women who lost their husbands testified against him in one of the most emotive of all the war crimes trials.

If the execution is carried out, Kamaruzzaman would become the second Islamist so far hanged for war crimes in Bangladesh, though several others have been handed death sentences.

Jamaat, the nation's largest Islamist party, is an ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose leader Khaleda Zia is trying to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government.

Jamaat's members have been accused of being behind a number of deadly firebomb attacks since the start of the year, including on buses. The violence in the last three months left at least 120 people dead.

Jamaat and the BNP have previously charged that the war crimes trials are mainly aimed at silencing Hasina's opponents rather than delivering justice.

Hasina's government says the trials -- which lack any international oversight -- are needed to heal the wounds of the conflict.

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Obama, Castro poised for landmark talks

PANAMA CITY: Hours after shaking hands, US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro head into historic talks in Panama today in their efforts to bury decades of animosity.

Taking their bid to restore diplomatic ties to a new level, Obama and Castro will have a discussion on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, according to US officials.

The two leaders already said hello late yesterday, greeting each other and shaking hands -- a gesture rich in symbolism -- as UN chief Ban Ki-moon and other leaders looked on, before the 35-nation summit's inauguration.

They shook hands only once before, at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013.

The face-to-face talks will be the climax of their surprise announcement on December 17 that, after 18 months of secret negotiations, they would seek to normalise relations between the United States and Cuba that broke off in 1961.

The last time US and Cuban leaders met was in 1956, three years before Fidel Castro came to power.

"We're in new territory here," said senior Obama advisor Ben Rhodes, referring to the flurry of diplomacy that included Thursday the first meeting between US and Cuban foreign ministers since 1958.

"This is not just about two leaders sitting down together," he said, citing Obama's decision to ease trade and travel restrictions with communist Cuba.

"It's about fundamentally changing how the United States engages Cuba -- its government, its people, its civil society."

The format of the meeting has yet to be confirmed, but Rhodes said the two leaders would likely talk about the negotiations to restore diplomatic ties as well as lingering disagreements.

"As we move toward the process of normalisation, we'll have our differences, government to government, with Cuba on many issues," Obama told a regional civil society forum on Friday. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Cuba has demanded to be removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism before embassies can reopen, noting that this has blocked the country's access to bank credit.

The White House indicated that Obama was not yet ready to decide whether to remove Havana from the blacklist, but that it could not rule out an announcement in Panama.

"The potential removal from the list will represent the current US-Cuba relationship becoming more pragmatic," said Diego Moya-Ocampos, Americas analyst at US consultancy IHS Country Risk.

"This is a limited but significant step," he said. "But overall engagement will still be limited by the US embargo."

Obama has urged the US Congress to lift the embargo on Cuba, which was imposed in 1962, barring most trade with the island as well as tourism.

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PM Modi: India values Unesco but progress won’t be judged by cold statistics

PARIS: "UNESCO's initiatives to preserve the world's cultural heritage, including in India are inspiring," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his opening speech in its 70th anniversary year. "I feel specially privileged to visit this great institution in its anniversary year," he said during his speech at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Earlier, the Prime Minister, who is currently on the first leg of his three-nation, nine-day tour, on Friday arrived at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) headquarters at Place de Fontenoy, Paris, to address the august gathering.

READ ALSO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Paris

Upon his arrival, he was greeted by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, with whom he shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Later, he paid floral tributes at the bronze statue of spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo, before departing for his address.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Highlights of Prime Minister Modi's speech at UNESCO.

- Our collective goal is to seek a prosperous future for our world in which every nation has a voice, every human has a life of dignity. No organisation serves that cause more than UNESCO.

- India values the worth of UNESCO and cherishes the partnership.

- Our world is and will remain a better place because of the United Nations.

-We shall judge our progress not just by cold statistics of growth, but by the warm glow of belief and hope on human faces.

-We launched the most ambitious program for skill development in remotest villages.

-I recall Mahatma Gandhi's message to UNESCO calling for urgent action to address needs of education to secure lasting peace.

READ ALSO: Nuclear to form a big part of Modi's visits

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Modi in Paris: India values Unesco but progress won’t be judged by cold statistics

PARIS: "UNESCO's initiatives to preserve the world's cultural heritage, including in India are inspiring," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his opening speech in its 70th anniversary year. "I feel specially privileged to visit this great institution in its anniversary year," he said during his speech at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Earlier, the Prime Minister, who is currently on the first leg of his three-nation, nine-day tour, on Friday arrived at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) headquarters at Place de Fontenoy, Paris, to address the august gathering.

READ ALSO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Paris

Upon his arrival, he was greeted by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, with whom he shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Later, he paid floral tributes at the bronze statue of spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo, before departing for his address.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Highlights of Prime Minister Modi's speech at UNESCO.

- Our collective goal is to seek a prosperous future for our world in which every nation has a voice, every human has a life of dignity. No organisation serves that cause more than UNESCO.

- India values the worth of UNESCO and cherishes the partnership.

- Our world is and will remain a better place because of the United Nations.

-We shall judge our progress not just by cold statistics of growth, but by the warm glow of belief and hope on human faces.

-We launched the most ambitious program for skill development in remotest villages.

-I recall Mahatma Gandhi's message to UNESCO calling for urgent action to address needs of education to secure lasting peace.

READ ALSO: Nuclear to form a big part of Modi's visits

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PLO says no to military action in Syria's embattled Yarmouk

RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Palestine Liberation Organization said it will not be drawn into military action in an embattled Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, rejecting claims that Palestinians would join Syrian troops in driving Islamic State militants from the camp.

The PLO statement, issued late Thursday, contradicted comments earlier in the day by the PLO envoy to Damascus, Ahmad Majdalani, that Palestinian groups are ready to join forces with the Syrian government to expel IS fighters from the Yarmouk camp.

His comments ran counter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' long-standing position that Palestinians should stay out of the Syria conflict. It was not immediately clear why Majdalani, sent by Abbas to Damascus to deal with the Yarmouk crisis, came out in support of Palestinian military involvement in Syria.

Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior PLO official, said on Friday that negotiating safe passage for Yarmouk's besieged residents and for humanitarian supplies is preferable to military action.

''We know that if the (Syrian) army, with its planes and tanks, would interfere, this would mean the complete destruction of the camp,'' he said.

Islamic State fighters overran much of Yarmouk last week, establishing a foothold in the Syrian capital for the first time. The incursion is the latest trial for Yarmouk's estimated 18,000 remaining residents, who have already suffered through a devastating, two-year government siege, starvation and disease.

Reporters visiting Yarmouk on a government-escorted tour on Thursday saw blown-out buildings at the camp's northern entrance that were nothing but empty shells. In its dusty and deserted streets, a few sheep foraged in the rubble.

A Syrian government official has said driving IS out of Yarmouk by force is a top priority and the only option. Majdalani said Thursday after meeting with Syrian officials that a military campaign by Syrian troops and Palestinian factions ''will start soon.''

However, the PLO later said that ``we refuse to be drawn into any armed campaign, whatever its nature or cover.''

''We call for resorting to other means to spare the blood of our people and prevent more destruction and displacement for the Palestinians'' in Yarmouk, the statement said.

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Palestinians back joint Yarmuk operation with Syria army: PLO

DAMASCUS: A group of 14 Palestinian factions said on Thursday they backed a joint military operation with the Syrian government to expel Islamic State group jihadists from the Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus.

After a meeting of the factions in the Syrian capital, Palestine Liberation Organisation official Ahmed Majdalani said the groups supported a coordinated military effort in the camp.

The factions support "a security solution that will be carried out in partnership with the Syrian state and will have as its priority maintaining the security of citizens," he said.

"We agreed that there would be permanent cooperation with the Syrian leadership and the formation of a joint operations room with Syrian government forces and the Palestinian factions that have a significant presence in the camp or around it."

Majdalani added that Palestinian forces would work in an "integrated" fashion "with the Syrian state to clear the camp of terrorists."

But it was unclear whether that position was shared by the Palestinian fighters on the ground inside the camp.

The key Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis group fighting IS inside Yarmuk was not present at the meeting and could not be reached for comment.

The group is opposed to the Syrian government and has cooperated with rebel fighters against IS jihadists inside Yarmuk since the extremist organization entered the camp on April 1.

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Man behind US police shooting video reveals what wasn't shown in the footage

The witness hailed as a hero for capturing the shooting of Walter Scott on camera has come forward to speak publicly about the incident for the first time.

Identified by NBC News as Feidin Santana, the man whose video made headlines around the world described the "emotional" moment he handed his vital evidence over to the Scott family.

Santana's video showed 33-year-old officer Michael Slager shooting Scott in the back as he runs away, and the witness said he only came forward when the police's version of events - that Scott had seized control of the officer's Taser - appeared in the media.

Lawyers for the Scott family have said Santana's eyewitness evidence will be central to the prosecution of officer Slager, who has been fired from the police force in North Charleston, Carolina and charged with murder.

Speaking to NBC News, he described what you don't see in the video: "There was a struggle, they were down on the floor before I started recording.

"I remember the police [officer] had control of the situation. He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser," Santana said.

"I heard the sound of the Taser - Scott had been Tased before I started recording."

Santana said that as soon as Slager started shooting Scott in the back he "knew right away that I had something in my hands".

He handed the evidence over to Scott's family, whose lawyers in turn gave it to prosecutors and the media. Describing the moment he showed it to the family, Santana said: "Their reaction to me was very emotional.

"[Before handing it over] I thought about his [Scott's] position, I thought about their situation... If I were to have a family member who that would happen [to], I would like to know the truth."

The Scott family's lawyer L Chris Stewart said on Wednesday that Santana would be speaking to a press conference at some point, and said his actions "should be respected throughout this country".

"We have to really recognise the strength and fortitude and fearlessness that it took to come forward when you know you just filmed a police officer murder somebody," Stewart told reporters. "That's the kind of person that needs to be duplicated."

Asked if he was happy that his bravery led to Officer Slager's arrest, Santana told NBC: "It's not something that anyone can feel happy about, but he made a bad decision, and in life you pay for your decisions."

Meanwhile, an online fundraising appeal on behalf of the officer has sparked further controversy for the Charleston community.

Raising $300 as of Thursday morning, the Michael T Slager Support Fund has received more than 100 comments, many of them critical.

The majority of the donations have been made anonymously, and the person who set it up under the name R Owens has defended it, writing: "I've seen many negative reactions to this fund raiser but remember, Ofc Michael Slager deserves a competent defense no matter what the court of popular opinion says about his actions. This is still America."

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Iran's Khamenei says no guarantee of final nuclear deal

TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that last week's hard-won framework accord with world powers was no guarantee of a final nuclear deal and that much work remained.

And President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic republic would not sign any final agreement unless "all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the same day".

"What has been done so far does not guarantee an agreement, nor its contents, nor even that the negotiations will continue to the end," said Khamenei, who has the final word on all matters of state, according to his official website.

After a week of gruelling last-ditch negotiations, Tehran and the six powers agreed on April 2 on the framework of a deal to be finalised by the end of June reining in Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

"Everything is in the detail, it may be that the other side, which is unfair, wants to limit our country in the details," Khamenei said, in his first comments on the deal.

Playing down expectations of a deal after the interim accord — which sparked celebrations in the streets of Iranian cities — Khamenei said he had not taken any position until now as "there is nothing to take a stance on".

"Officials say that nothing has been done yet and there is nothing binding. I am neither for nor against."

Under the outline text agreed in the Swiss city of Lausanne between Tehran and the so-called P5+1 powers — the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia plus Germany — Iran must significantly reduce its number of centrifuges in exchange for a suspension of sanctions.

The outline was a major breakthrough in a 12-year international crisis over Iran's nuclear programme.

"I have always supported and still support the Iranian negotiating team," Khamenei said.

"I welcome any agreement that protects the interests and greatness of the nation, but having no agreement is more honourable than an agreement in which the interests and greatness of the nation is damaged."

He said that retaining a civil nuclear industry in any agreement was vital for Iran's future development.

"The nuclear industry is a necessity, for energy production, for desalination, and in the fields of medicine, agriculture and other sectors," he said.

In a potential obstacle to any final deal, Rouhani said his country wanted sanctions lifted on the day of the implementation of any agreement.

"We will not sign any agreements unless on the first day of the implementation of the deal all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the same day," he said.

The pace at which the sanctions will be lifted is one of the outstanding issues that still has to be agreed in the final accord.

Western governments, which have imposed their own sanctions over and above those adopted by the United Nations, have been pushing for it to happen only gradually.

"In return for Iran's future cooperation, we and our international partners will provide relief in phases from the sanctions that have impacted Iran's economy," US secretary of state John Kerry said last week.

Rouhani, who was speaking on Iran's National Nuclear Technology Day, reiterated that his government remained determined to develop its civil nuclear programme.

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IS frees more than 200 Yazidis in Iraq: Kurd officer

BAGHDAD: The Islamic State group released more than 200 Yazidis on Wednesday after holding them for eight months, an Iraqi Kurdish security official said, the latest mass release of captives by the extremists.

Gen. Hiwa Abdullah, a peshmerga commander in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said most of the freed 216 prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. He added that about 40 children are among those released, while the rest were elderly.

No reason was given for the release of the prisoners who were originally abducted from the area around Sinjar in the country's north. The handover took place in Himera just southwest of Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

The freed Yazidis were taken away by ambulances and buses to receive treatment and care.

Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled in August when the Islamic State group captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. But hundreds were taken captive by the group, with some Yazidi women forced into slavery, according to international rights groups and Iraqi officials.

In January, the Islamic State group released some 200 Yazidi prisoners as well. At the time, Kurdish military officials said they believed the extremists released the prisoners as they were too much of a burden.

The Islamic State group, targeting in U.S.-led airstrikes and by Iraqi ground forces, still holds about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. The U.S. launched the airstrikes and humanitarian aid drops in Iraq on Aug. 8, partly in response to the Yazidi crisis.

The Sunni militant group views Yazidis and Shiite Muslims as apostates deserving of death, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax. The group has massacred hundreds of captive soldiers and tribal fighters who have risen up against it in Syria and Iraq, and has publicized the killings in sleek online photos and videos.

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Toll from 'IS car bombs' in Syria's Aleppo rises to 32

BEIRUT: The toll from two alleged Islamic State group car bombings overnight of rebels in Syria's Aleppo province has risen to at least 32 people, a monitor said on Wednesday.

Three local commanders were killed in one of the attacks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, describing the incidents as an apparent IS attempt to expand in the northern province.

One bomb hit a base in the village of Hawar Kilis, near the Turkish border, killing at least 23 rebels, the Britain-based Observatory said.

The second targeted a joint rebel office in the town of Marea and killed nine, including the three commanders.

An earlier report gave an overall toll of 27. The Observatory said the commanders were from the conservative Jabhat Shamiya and Jaish al-Mujahideen groups and Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's local affiliate, which confirmed the death of its commander on its official Twitter accounts.

"Abu Maria, Al-Nusra Front's emir (leader) in Marea, northern Aleppo, was martyred after being targeted by a car bomb by the (Islamic) State group," Al-Nusra said.

The Observatory said clashes erupted between rebels from local groups and IS fighters in and around Marea after the attack there, though they had subsided by Wednesday morning.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the attacks appeared to be a bid by IS to "expand their reach" in Aleppo province, where the group already has considerable power.

Marea and Hawar Kilis are both under the control of groups opposed to IS.

Despite sharing a similar ideology, Al-Nusra and IS are at odds in fronts across most of Syria, and while rebel groups have battled IS, they cooperate with Al-Nusra in many places.

Marea and Hawar Kilis lie north of the provincial capital, Aleppo city, the country's onetime economic powerhouse, which has been devastated by the civil war.

More than 215,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests, which spiralled into war after a regime crackdown.

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Islamic State group releases 216 Yazidi prisoners in Iraq

BAGHDAD: The Islamic State group released more than 200 Yazidis on Wednesday after holding them for eight months, an Iraqi Kurdish security official said, the latest mass release of captives by the extremists.

Gen. Hiwa Abdullah, a peshmerga commander in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said most of the freed 216 prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. He added that about 40 children are among those released, while the rest were elderly.

No reason was given for the release of the prisoners who were originally abducted from the area around Sinjar in the country's north. The handover took place in Himera just southwest of Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

The freed Yazidis were taken away by ambulances and buses to receive treatment and care.

Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled in August when the Islamic State group captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. But hundreds were taken captive by the group, with some Yazidi women forced into slavery, according to international rights groups and Iraqi officials.

In January, the Islamic State group released some 200 Yazidi prisoners as well. At the time, Kurdish military officials said they believed the extremists released the prisoners as they were too much of a burden.

The Islamic State group, targeting in U.S.-led airstrikes and by Iraqi ground forces, still holds about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. The U.S. launched the airstrikes and humanitarian aid drops in Iraq on Aug. 8, partly in response to the Yazidi crisis.

The Sunni militant group views Yazidis and Shiite Muslims as apostates deserving of death, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax. The group has massacred hundreds of captive soldiers and tribal fighters who have risen up against it in Syria and Iraq, and has publicized the killings in sleek online photos and videos.

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20 Muslim bodies in Hong Kong plead for 'peace' amid reports of ISIS hiring

BEIJING: More than 20 Muslim organizations in Hong Kong have jointly released an open letter calling for religious tolerance and solidarity. The "peace letter" comes amid reports that ISIS is recruiting Muslim migrants working in the city.

"We request everyone not to judge the religion by the actions of a few, rather judge it by its original scriptures and sources. There are bad apples in every basket," the letter said. It expressed concern over verbal abuse heaped on Indonesian workers after the media carried reports of ISIS recruitment.

A Chinese anti-terrorism expert has said the Islamic State or ISIS might target Hong Kong as a base for recruiting and transporting jihadists. He cited the city's vast population of Muslim domestic workers and the easy connectivity with Indonesia among the reasons.

Hong Kong is a convenient destination with easy connections with Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, which have significant Muslim populations and threats of infiltration by ISIS, Yang Nu, an anti-terrorism professor at Lanzhou University in northwest China's Gansu province, told the Hong Kong-based Oriental Press Group.

The city also has a visa exemption arrangement with Turkey making it easy for residents to head to the Middle East. It would also be difficult to control and monitor those who return to Hong Kong after having fought with or trained with Islamic State, he said.

Hong Kong's local media said an Indonesian man and his pregnant wife recently left the city after burrowing funds from friends saying he was going to Syria. Romlah Rosedah, head of the Indonesian Migrant Muslim Alliance, told the local media that she has heard of such rumors but she had no personal contact with the suspects.

Chinese police have earlier caught Muslim Ughurs from the disturbed Xinjiang province trying to take a flight to Turkey using fake Turkish passports from Shanghai. The government is worried because Ughurs, who speak a Turkic language, have a strong affinity towards Turkey.

There have been reports that Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong were given handouts which had been published by ISIS members last month. One of the flyers carried the photography of four women in black veils holding an ISIS flag.

The Oriental Press Group the photograph was taken at a recreation club in Hong Kong's New Territories, and is now being distributed over the social media.

Hong Kong authorities recently refused entry to an Indonesian student on the suspicion that might be an ISIS supporter, the local media said. They also refused entry to two Muslim clerics on suspicion that they had ties with terrorist organizations, and practiced exorcitism.

A Hong Kong police spokesperson said there is currently no specific intelligence suggesting that the city was a terrorist target, but the authorities are stepping up anti-terrorism watch in collaboration with other intelligence agencies.

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Singapore boy warned for posting fake report of Lee's death

SINGAPORE: Singapore police on Tuesday issued a "stern warning" to a boy here, who posted a fake statement online about the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew five days before his demise.

The minor student who is below 16 years, identified as Z had circulated a photograph online, purportedly from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) website, announcing the death of Lee on March 18, five days before he died in a hospital at the age of 91 of severe pneumonia.

The hoax message had prompted American broadcaster CNN and China's CCTV to put up erroneous tweets that Lee had died on March 18, which they withdrew later.

Lee, Singapore's founding Prime Minister, passed away on March 23.

"The stern warning was administered in front of his parents. His identity has not been disclosed. The decision was taken after careful consideration of all relevant factors including Z's personal circumstances and readiness to accept responsibility, said the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) in a statement.

The police have completed investigations into the case. "The culprit is a male Singaporean student below 16 years of age," the police said in a statement.

The young person was located by the police and interviewed. No hacking or unauthorised access of the PMO's took place, the statement added.

"Crucially, Z never intended his 'hoax' message to be widely disseminated. Z asserts he created the image because he was frustrated with the frequent rumours about the demise of Mr Lee. Z wanted to demonstrate to his friends how easy it was for a hoax to be perpetuated," it added.

"Z shared the image with his friends. Within two minutes thereafter, he informed his friends the image was not an actual photo, but by then, the image had been forwarded by one or more of the original recipients," the AGC said.

"Z has been extremely contrite and deeply regrets the inconvenience and embarrassment his conduct has caused. He had cooperated fully with the police and explained the circumstances that led to his creation of the photograph," it added.

Lee is widely credited with transforming Singapore from an impoverished third-world nation into an advanced first- world economy within just a generation, shaping the city- state's present status as a global financial and commercial hub. He was cremated on March 29 after a week of national mourning.

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Iran to discuss Yemen crisis with Pakistan, Oman

TEHRAN: Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarf will tour Pakistan and Oman to convey Iran's deep concern about the humanitarian plight in Yemen due to the Saudi-led air raids, foreign ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said on Tuesday.

The Saudi Air Force perpetrated crimes against humanity and war crimes in war-torn Yemen by indiscriminate bombardment of civilian targets killing scores, state run news agency IRNA reported.

Afkham said the foreign minister on Wednesday morning would leave Tehran for Muscat to exchange views with Omani officials about the humanitarian plight in Yemen and the regional developments.

She said that Zarif's visit to Pakistan has been in the foreign ministry agenda for a month and after Muscat, he will leave for Islamabad on Wednesday afternoon.

The visit will be in the framework of strengthening bilateral relations, surveying the regional and international developments, and boosting Iran-Pakistan border security, Afkham added.

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Hungry sea lion pulls man holding fish off boat in California

A man was injured on Sunday after he was pulled into the water by a sea lion that jumped from the water at a San Diego marina and grabbed a fish he was holding, authorities said.

The sea lion jumped onto the railing of a boat at the Hyatt Mission Bay Marina and snatched a fish being held by a man on the boat, said San Diego Fire Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson.

The man was pulled into the water for about 15 seconds, Swanson said, and was brought to a hospital where he was treated for cuts on his arm and hand.

Media, citing witnesses including lifeguards, reported the man was posing for a photo with the large fish when the incident occurred.

California sea lions, many of them pups, have been washing ashore stranded and hungry in record numbers in recent months.

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Hungry sea lion pulls man holding fish off boat in California

A man was injured on Sunday after he was pulled into the water by a sea lion that jumped from the water at a San Diego marina and grabbed a fish he was holding, authorities said.

The sea lion jumped onto the railing of a boat at the Hyatt Mission Bay Marina and snatched a fish being held by a man on the boat, said San Diego Fire Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson.

The man was pulled into the water for about 15 seconds, Swanson said, and was brought to a hospital where he was treated for cuts on his arm and hand.

Media, citing witnesses including lifeguards, reported the man was posing for a photo with the large fish when the incident occurred.

California sea lions, many of them pups, have been washing ashore stranded and hungry in record numbers in recent months.

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Male panda refuses sex in live show on China TV

BEIJING: A Chinese TV channel which promised audiences a live show on panda sex failed to meet the expectations as the male panda developed "stage fright" in the middle of the act.

The iPanda channel of China Network TV showed the 50-minute encounter in association with the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas. It said the channel was organizing the "match making for lonely pandas", which runs from March to May, with the purpose of demystifying the process of panda breeding.

The move came in the wake of research reports suggesting that pandas are losing interest in sex, and this has resulted in extremely low rate of births. A video of the event showed a fairly interested female panda making loving advances, and trying to hold the male in body lock. But each time, the male managed to escape while showing some hostility towards the female.

The 50-minute show took place at the Bifengxia Panda Centre in Sichuan province.

The Xinhua news agency said the male panda named Wu Gang "couldn't rise to the occasion" because he was not in the mood. But the female, named Lin Bing, was displaying "signs of being in heat".

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African leaders to hold Boko Haram summit on April 8

ABUJA: Leaders of central and west African states will hold a summit on April 8 to try to draw up a joint strategy against the threat posed by Boko Haram militants, a statement from organizers said on Sunday.

The meeting in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, is being jointly organized by the economic community of west African states and the economic community of Central African states.

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Turkish president to visit Iran despite tensions

TEHRAN: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit Iran on Tuesday despite a war of words between the neighbouring countries over conflicts from Syria to Yemen, Tehran confirmed.

There had been calls from Iranian conservatives for the visit to be cancelled after Erodgan accused Shia Tehran of backing "terrorist" rebels in the face of an air campaign in Yemen led by its Sunni arch rival Riyadh.

But the foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday that the scheduled state visit would go ahead.

It will be Erodgan's second official visit to Iran. In January 2014, he visited as Prime Minister.

It comes hot on the heels of a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that has aroused commercial ambitions around the world in the expectation of an easing of international sanctions.

Turkey is the key backer of rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iran is his main regional supporter.

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Kenya in Easter mourning for massacre victims

NAIROBI: Kenya on Sunday began three days of national mourning for the 148 people, mostly students, massacred by Somalia's al-Shabaab jihadists at a university in Garissa.

Easter church services throughout Kenya included prayers for the victims of Thursday's attack, with flags also at half mast.

Although President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to retaliate "in the severest way possible", there have also been calls for national unity.

READ ALSO: Kenya declares 3 days of mourning for varsity massacre

Kenyatta said people's "justified anger" should not lead to "the victimization of anyone" — a clear reference to Kenya's large Muslim and ethnic Somali minorities.

A survivor of an attack by al-Shabaab on a university campus in Garissa, northern Kenya is comforted by a colleague after arriving in Nairobi, on April 4, 2015. (AFP photo)

Authorities meanwhile announced that they had identified one of the four dead Shabaab gunmen as an ethnic-Somali and Kenyan national who was a A-grade pupil and law graduate — highlighting the al-Qaida-linked Shabaab's ability to recruit within Kenya.

READ ALSO: Al-Shabaab vows to make Kenya 'run red with blood'

Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said it was "critical that parents whose children go missing or show tendencies of having been exposed to violent extremism report to authorities".

The militants attacked the university at dawn, and lined up non-Muslim students for execution in what Kenyatta described as a "barbaric medieval slaughter".

A woman prays during the service at the Our Lady of Consolation Church, which was attacked with grenades by militants almost three years ago, in Garissa, Kenya, on April 5, 2015. (AP photo)

The massacre, Kenya's deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.

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Obama presses case for Iran nuclear deal in weekly address

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama assured Americans on Saturday that a newly negotiated framework for a nuclear pact with Iran was a "good deal" as he sought public support for a diplomatic breakthrough that many in Congress oppose.

A day after placing calls to top US lawmakers to urge support for the agreement, Obama pressed his case that the deal would ensure Washington's longtime foe would not be able to build a nuclear weapon.

"It's a good deal, a deal that meets our core objectives, including strict limitations on Iran's program and cutting off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, broadcast on Saturday.

"This deal denies Iran the plutonium necessary to build a bomb. It shuts down Iran's path to a bomb using enriched uranium," he said.

The White House hopes support from the US public for its negotiating efforts will help sway skeptical lawmakers. The president and administration officials will be engaged in a difficult sales pitch in the coming weeks and months.

Obama completed calls to John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, by Friday afternoon, the White House said.

In his address, the president noted that the deal would commit Iran to inspections and transparency for many years.

"This is a long-term deal, with strict limits on Iran's program for more than a decade and unprecedented transparency measures that will last for 20 years or more," he said.

The framework, which was agreed on Thursday after eight days of talks between Iran and six world powers in Switzerland, clears the way for a final agreement to allay Western fears that Iran could build an atomic bomb. It would include lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in return.

Negotiators will seek to seal a final deal by the end of June. Obama noted that it could still come apart.

"Success is not guaranteed," he said. "But today we have an historic opportunity to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in Iran, and to do so peacefully, with the international community firmly behind us."

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Islamic State takes 90 per cent of Damascus refugee camp

BEIRUT: Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

The hardline group's offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometres from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp. Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.

"The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame," UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.

"Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake," he said.

The Islamic State on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.

Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Islamic State and al-Qaida's official Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 percent of the camp, it said.

Islamic State rules swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is the target of a US-led campaign of air strikes.

Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011. The has killed 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Government officials could not be reached for comment. Syria's state news agency SANA said terrorists in the camp had prevented aid from reaching civilians. It added the army had encircled Yarmouk.

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Iran eases ban on women attending sports matches

DUBAI: Iran has partially lifted a ban on women attending men's sports matches, the deputy sports minister said on Saturday, days after a court pardoned an Iranian-British woman who had been jailed for protesting against the law.

Iran's Islamic law bars women from watching men playing sports. In January, the government said it would allow foreign women to attend men's matches, but Iranian women were still forbidden from doing so.

The new policy for women and families will come into effect during this Iranian year, Abdolhamid Ahmadi was cited as saying by state news agency IRNA. The Iranian calendar year ends in March 2016.

However, Ahmadi said some matches would remain off-limits.

"Of course, in some areas of sport families are not interested in attending nor is there a possibility for them to attend," he said.

Last week, the court of appeal pardoned Ghoncheh Ghavami, an Iranian-British national who had been arrested in June outside a stadium, where she and others were demanding that women be allowed in to watch a men's volleyball match.

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Saudi king hopes final Iran deal will boost security

RIYADH: Saudi King Salman told US President Barack Obama that he hoped a final nuclear deal between world powers and Iran would strengthen regional and world security, official media said.

In a phone call with Obama on Thursday, Salman "expressed his hope that a final binding deal would be reached to reinforce the stability and security of the region and the world," the SPA news agency said.

A framework agreement aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear drive was clinched Thursday after marathon talks in Switzerland.

It marked a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and the West, which has long feared Tehran wants to build an atomic bomb.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, the foremost Shiite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East, have had troubled relations in recent years after taking different sides in the Syrian civil war.

Relations have been further strained by the conflict raging in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has waged more than a week of air strikes against Iran-backed Shia rebels.

Obama said Thursday he had invited Gulf leaders to a spring summit at Camp David to discuss security cooperation in the region.

Saudi Arabia fears that if too much of Iran's nuclear programme is left intact it will still have the ability to obtain an atomic bomb, and there are concerns that Riyadh could seek its own nuclear capability.

The kingdom's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, warned last month that "whatever comes out of these talks, we will want the same," specifically uranium enrichment capability.

If an agreement is seen as too weak, Saudi Arabia will try to find a way to counter-balance it, a Western diplomat said.

"They will certainly seek a way of balancing what would be seen as an advantage on the Iranian side," said the diplomat, asking for anonymity.

Saudi Arabia would first ask for "security assurances" from the United States and other major powers who negotiated with Iran.

If that did not work, the kingdom could seek its own deal with nuclear-armed Pakistan, a longtime ally of Riyadh, the diplomat said.

Another Gulf nation, Oman, on Friday welcomed the "historic" agreement reached in Lausanne.

A statement from the foreign ministry in Muscat said that a final deal, to be reached by June 30, should open "a new era for more regional and international security and stability".

Unlike other Gulf monarchies, Oman enjoys good relations with Iran, which enabled it to play a key mediating role between the West and Tehran over the nuclear programme.

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Syria says 15,000 antiquities at risk in militia-run Idlib

DAMASCUS: Around 15,000 antiquities locked away in safes around the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib are at risk of being sold on the black market, the head of antiquities and museums Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters on Friday.

The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other insurgents took the provincial capital on Saturday for the first time in the four-year conflict against President Bashar al-Assad.

"What has happened in Idlib is a true disaster. The worst catastrophe that has happened until now against the culture of Syria," Abdulkarim said.

The 15,000 antiquities were crafted throughout Syria's rich history, stretching back millennia. Pottery and statues are kept around the city, including in the main museum, Abdulkarim said.

"The armed groups kicked out the employees of the museum," he said, adding that Syria's treasures could be smuggled and sold abroad in neighbouring Turkey.

Syria is a cultural treasure trove and home to six Unesco World Heritage sites. Four of these sites, including Palmyra and the Crusader castle Crac des Chevaliers, have been used for military purposes, the United Nations says.

Damascus estimates that more than 1,500 items may have been stolen from museums in Raqqa, a city in northeastern Syria now controlled by Islamic State militants, and Deir Atiyah in northern Damascus.

When the government controlled Idlib, the 15,000 antiquities were stored in a safe area to preserve and protect them, Abdulkarim said.

The UN Security Council in February also banned all trade in antiquities from the war-torn country, where 220,000 people have been killed.

As jihadists who adhere to a hardline school of Islam have grown in power, they present a new threat to Syria's heritage. Shrines and tombs in areas under their control have been targeted and destroyed as idolatrous symbols.

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Iraq PM orders arrest of vandals in Tikrit

BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi forces to oppose vandalism in the city of Tikrit, retaken from the Islamic State group this week, and arrest those responsible, his office said on Friday.

Security and military forces were ordered to "deal with cases of vandalism" carried out by "gangs" seeking to tarnish the achievements of government forces and allied paramilitaries, a statement said.

Abadi also called on "forces located in Tikrit to arrest everyone who carries out such acts, and preserve properties and facilities in Salaheddin province," of which Tikrit is the capital.

The statement did specify what prompted the orders, but militiamen have spray painted the names of their groups on homes, shops and other buildings, and also looted clothing and toiletries from shops.

Policemen from the rapid response forces have written graffiti on walls in Tikrit as well.

Militiamen have also admitted to intentionally burning houses in other recaptured areas that were believed to have been used by IS or to belong to its supporters.

A number of homes and businesses were burning in Tikrit earlier this week, though at least some of the fires were apparently related to efforts to clear the city of bombs.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric who is revered by millions, called on security forces and allied paramilitaries to "preserve and guard citizens' properties in areas that have been liberated."

Doing so is a "religious and national and moral duty," Sistani said in remarks read by his representative at Friday prayers in Karbala.

Additionally, "it has an important role in encouraging those who have not yet decided to participate in liberating their areas to decide to participate," he said.

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15 soldiers, 2 civilians killed in Egypt attacks

CAIRO: At least 15 soldiers and two civilians were killed today in separate attacks by Islamic militants in Egypt's restive North Sinai governorate, the deadliest clashes in the recent months.

The attacks took place in the wee hours after militants stormed some army checkpoints in Al-Arish and Sheikh Zwayed cities in North Sinai, prompting security forces to retaliate in which 15 militants were killed and as many soldiers found dead, Egyptian army said in a statement.

Two civilians were also killed while 19 others sustained injuries in the attack, it added.

The militants attacked the checkpoints with rocket- propelled grenades and heavy weapons, local media quoted security sources as saying, adding that the army has launched airstrike following the attacks.

The security forces have closed the Rafah-Al-Arish international road for vehicles following the attack in search for the militants.

The injured were transferred to a nearby military hospital for treatment.

Egypt's Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Over 500 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.

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Islamists seize Christian hostages in Kenya university attack; at least 15 killed

GARISSA (Kenya): Al Shabaab gunmen on Thursday seized Christian hostages at a Kenya university near the border with Somalia, in an pre-dawn attack that killed at least 15 people and wounded scores more.

A spokesman for Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shabaab, told AFP the group was behind the early morning assault on the university in Garissa and had taken non-Muslims hostage.

"When our men arrived, they released the Muslims. We are holding others hostage," said Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, without giving numbers.

He said those seized were Christians and added that "our people are still there, they are fighting and their mission is to kill those who are against the Shabaab."

"Kenya is at war with Somalia," Rage said, referring to the thousands of Kenyan troops in Somalia as part of an African Union military mission.

Gunfire could still be heard sporadically six hours after the attack began, as Kenya's interior ministry said the "attackers have been cornered in one hostel."

READ ALSO: New Shebab attack in northeast Kenya kills four

Kenya's interior ministry also said "one suspected terrorist" had been arrested attempting "to flee scene".

At least 15 people have been killed, according to a police source and media reports, while Kenya's official National Disaster Operation Centre said a further 65 had been injured, many suffering from gunshot wounds.

Students of the Garissa University College take shelter in a vehicle after fleeing from the attack by gunmen in Garissa. (AP Photo)
The Kenya Red Cross, which is leading the medical response to the attack, said there were "an unknown number of student hostages" and that "50 students have been safely freed".

Rage did not give details of casualties but said "there are very many."

The town of Garissa is around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Somalia and has in the past been targeted by militants from the Shabaab.

"Gunmen forced their way into Garissa University by shooting at the guards manning the main gate at around 5:30 am," said Kenya Police Chief Joseph Boinet. "The gunmen shot indiscriminately while inside the university compound."

READ ALSO: Obama to finally visit fatherland Kenya as president

The sprawling campus, on the outskirts of the garrison town, has both teaching areas as well as residential blocks.

The university has several hundred students from different parts of Kenya. The number of teachers and students trapped inside the campus was unclear as gunfire and explosions were heard coming from the site.

"Police... engaged the gunmen in a fierce shootout, however the attackers retreated and gained entry into one of the hostels," Boinet said, adding that reinforcements had arrived and were "flushing out the gunmen."

Students gather and watch from a distance outside the Garissa University College after the attack by gunmen. (AP Photo)
Attack ongoing

A witness, Ahmed Nur, said he saw the bodies of two university guards, shot by the attackers.

Kenya Red Cross, quoting local health officials, said that 30 people had been taken to hospital, "the majority" with gunshot wounds.

Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathisers of Somalia's Shabaab Islamist fighters and sometimes aimed at police targets, since the army crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to attack Islamist bases.

A series of foreign travel warnings in response to the threat have crippled Kenya's economically important tourism industry. On Wednesday, just hours before the attack in Garissa began, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenya "is safe as any country in the world".

Kenya's government has been under fire since the September 2013 Shabaab attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at least 67 people were killed in a siege involving just four gunmen and which lasted four days.

In June and July last year Shabaab gunmen killed close to 100 people in a series of attacks on the town of Mpeketoni and nearby villages.

Local residents donate blood at Garissa hospital on April 2, 2015. (AP Photo)
In November Shabaab claimed responsibility for holding up a bus outside Mandera town, separating passengers according to religion and murdering 28 non-Muslims. Ten days later 36 non-Muslim quarry workers were also massacred in the area.

Students in Garissa on Thursday reported seeing up to four masked gunmen entering the university compound before dawn.

The area surrounding the university was sealed off by the Kenya security forces and the army called in.

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Second black box found at Germanwings crash site

MARSEILLE: The second black box from the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps last week has been found after a nine-day search, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Authorities are hoping to unearth more clues about the disaster from the black box after the first voice recorder suggested that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the plane into a mountain.

The second black box records technical flight data that could provide vital insights into the final moments of Flight 4U9525 before it crashed last Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board.

The first black box, found the same day as the crash, recorded conversations between Lubitz and the pilot and showed that the 27-year-old German was alone at the time of the crash.

He apparently took advantage of the captain's brief absence to lock him out and set the plane on a deadly descent into the Alps.

The plane smashed into the mountains at a speed of 700 kilometres (430 miles) an hour, instantly killing all 150 people on board -- half of them German and more than 50 from Spain.

According to prosecutors, the voice recorder suggested that the passengers were unaware of what was going to happen to them until the very last seconds, when screams were heard.

Rescue workers have since been sifting through the wreckage for days trying to identify body parts and victims via their DNA.

The search for evidence has been hampered by the extremely difficult mountain terrain as well as the force of the crash.

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IS seizes most of Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus: PLO

DAMASCUS: Militants from the Islamic State jihadist group seized control of most of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus Wednesday, a local Palestinian official told AFP.

"Fighters from IS launched an assault this morning on Yarmuk and they took over the majority of the camp," said Anwar Abdel Hadi, director of political affairs for the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Damascus.

Fighting was continuing inside the camp, he said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said IS was in control of a "large part" of the camp after fighting with Palestinian groups also opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Yarmuk was once a thriving neighbourhood home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and Syrians but has been caught up in the country's fighting and besieged by regime forces for more than a year.

Only about 18,000 residents are estimated to remain in the camp after many fled the fighting.

Syrian rebels had withdrawn from the camp in February 2014 under a deal that left only Palestinian anti-regime groups inside.

The siege has caused significant shortages of food, water and drugs inside the camp.

IS, which has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, has fought not only against the Assad regime but also against other rebel groups as it seeks to expand the territory under its control.

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US targets overseas cyber attackers with new sanctions program

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Wednesday launched the first-ever sanctions program to financially punish individuals and groups outside the United States that are engaged in malicious cyber attacks.

US President Barack, in an executive order, declared such activities a "national emergency" and allowed the US Treasury to freeze the assets and bar other financial transactions of entities engaged in cyber attacks.

Under the program, first reported by the Washington Post, cyber attackers or those who conduct commercial espionage in cyberspace can be listed on the official sanctions list of specially designated nationals, a deterrent long-sought by the cyber community.

The move, which the paper said has been in development for two years, comes after a string of high-profile cyber attacks ranging from corporate hacks targeting Target, Home Depot and other retailers, to an attack on Sony and other data breaches.

Subjecting cyber criminals, companies that benefit from commercial espionage and even foreign intelligence operatives, to tough financial sanctions could have a "momentous" effect in deterring the growing number of cyber attacks seen daily on US networks, said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer of Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity firm.

"Today, the White House is making yet another huge leap forward in the effort to raise the cost to our cyber adversaries and establish a more effective deterrent framework to punish actors engaged in serious intentional destructive or disruptive attacks," Alperovitch wrote in a blog posted on the company's website.

The executive order gives the administration the same sanctions tools it now deploys to address other threats - including crises in the Middle East and Russia's aggression in Ukraine - and makes them available for less visible cyber threats.

The program could prompt a strong reaction from China. Cybersecurity has been a significant irritant in US-China ties, with US investigators saying hackers backed by the Chinese government have been behind attacks on US companies, and China rejecting the charges.

Obama has moved cybersecurity toward the top of his 2015 agenda after recent breaches, and last month, the Central Intelligence Agency announced a major overhaul aimed in part at sharpening its focus on cyber operations.

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