Tradisional Sabah Borneo

MANILA;
The Philippine president said he would
appeal for mercy for a Filipina who is
due  to be executed in Indonesia in two
two days time.

President Benigno Aquino said he would
take the opportunity to seek clemency for
Mary Jane Veloso ,who is due to be put
to death soon while in Malaysia for a
regional summit this week.

Veloso  30,a single mother of two young
boys is among eight foreigners who are

due to face the firing squad in the high
security Indonesian orison Island of
Nusakambangan,

The Philippines government has said
it is not losing hope  and activist groups
intend to stage protests for her,

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti
drugs law in the world ,In January ,Jakarta
executed six drug convicts including
five foreigners ,sparking international
outrage,
AFP

UNITED STATE;

United Nation chief Ban Ki moon appeal
to Indonesia to spare from impending
execution a group of no death row drug
convicts,most of them foreigners,

The secretary General appeals to the
government of Indonesia to refrain from
carrying out the execution as announced
of to prisoners on death row for alleged
drug related crimes a spokesman for Ban
said.

Earliar ,Indonesia said it had officially
notified foreign national convicted of drug
crimes-- from Australia,Brazil, Nigeria and
the Philippines --that they will be executed.

A Frenchman was granted a temporary reprieve
after Paris stepped up pressure on Jakarta
An Indonesia is the 10' being sent to the gallows

Drug related offences generally are not considered
to fall under the category of most serous crimes,
He appeal to Indonesia President Jolo Widodo
to consider banning capital punishment.

The foreign drug convicts have all lost appeals
for clemency from Widodo,who argues that
Indonesia is fighting a drugs emergency,

They are expected to be put to death by firing
squad in a matter of days AFP

SUNGAI PETANI:

The deadly tsunami that devasted several
areas in the country,including Kota Kuala
Muda ,near here had left an unforgettable
memory and remained as a lesson tol learn
among those involved,especially those who
lost their love one,

It was God's will No  saw it coming ,said a
resident of Kampong Tepi Sungai ,Yaacob
Ismail 58 when met by Bernam,
Yaacob is one of the victim whose
house was hit by the tsunami and whose
paralysed mother in -law,Siti Aminah,
who was in her 60's was killed during
the mishap

Reiterating the whole incident ,Yaacob said
there were three house owners holding a feast
that day the first feast when the five wave hit the
village,

Traumarised by the incident Yaacob said
it took him over a month to overcome his
fear to return home and that the incident
had taught  him to be more careful and
prepared to face untoward incident,
That was a story  that happen 10 years ago
,BERNAM,

LANGKAWI:

The view of the limestone walls and mangrove
forest at the Kilim Geoforest Park itself will
mesmerise  anyone visiting the place and the
avian heritage there,adds to the beauty of the
nature there,

Langkawi boasts fort 42 mangrove species.
Kilimis among the unique mangrove ecosytems
of the region as the mangrove trees grow on
limestone'

"The beauty of Langkawi 's landscape is it
geological diversity ,that include the limestone
mangrove forest that is the home of the eagles
and kingfishers"said OthmanAyeb

BERNAMA PHOTO>>

LANGKAWI<

The day was getting hotter,yet no one
lamented of the heat or the lethargy and
continued the joueney along Sungai
Kulim the river located northeast of
Langkawi,

Some of them came from as far as China
or Philippinse and were there for the
weekend to admire Langkawi 's avian
heritage.If you want to know some of
the Langkawi 's LEGENDA,
SHARE"HERE COME THE STORY,

BELGRADE:

Prime  Minister Aleksandar Vucic will on
Wednesday become the first Serbian
government head to visit Albania ,aiming
to improve the fragile relations between the
two Balkan nations.

His visit comes six months after that of Albania's
Prime Minister Edi Rama to Belgrade-- the firet
visit to Serbia by a Tirana government head for
68 years,
 

Relation between Serbians and Albanaians
are straned over the question of Kosovo a
territory with an enthnic Albanian majority
that declared independance from Serbia in 2008
with the support of the United States,but remains
un-recognised by Belgrade and its ally Russia
as well as others

Bilateral tensions have also been fuelled  by
claims of the ethnic Albanian minority in Serbia
for more autonomy or even a unfication with
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority,


Vucic said he was looking forward to the visist
with optimism,stressing that the differences could
only be solve through dialogue.

For Serbian analyst Dusan Janji "the improvement of
relations between Tirana and  Belgrade is the key for
the stability in the Balkans"

A war between Serbian armed forces and pro-
independence guerrilla movement in Kosovo in
1998-1999 was followed  by a NATO bombing
campaign  to stop the crackdown of late president
Slobodan  Milosevic's  regime against ethnic Albanian
population.

Serbia has ever since denounced what it claims
to be a Tirana-sponsored "Great Albanian "project,
although both Albanian and Kosovo authorities
assure that no such plan exists,

Last November ,during  his visit to Belgrade <Rama
called on Vucic to recognise  the reality of Kosovo
independence,provoking angry responses from his
host and the Serbian public,

AFP

 BAMAKO

Militants on opened fire on two Bangladeshi
peacekeepers in Mali's Bamako on Monday
the second attack within days in the capital
of what is considered the most dangerous UN
mission in the world.

One of peacekeepers, both ranked as privates
died n the scene and the other was rushed
immediately to hospital with bullet wounds
after the ambush on their SUV, Bangladesh
army spokesman  Nur Islam said tuesday,

It is regularly  targeted by militants in the
north and while attacks in the capital are rare
,Monday 's ambush came just five days after
a militant opened fire on a UN residence in
the city's Faso Kanu neighbourhood.

The unidentified gunman shot and wounded
a civilian guard and hurled two grenades which
failed to explode in the early hours of Wednesday
last week but no troops were hurt.

The country's northern desert has been plagued
by violence by jihadist groups that seized control
of the region from Tuareg rebels before being
routed by a French -led international intervention
that began in 2013.

Despite  elections after the French operation,
the country remains deeply divided and the
north has been an upsurge in attacks by pro-
government militants and the Tuareg -led
rebellion known as the CMA.

The France's defence  ministry announced last
week special forces had killed Amada  Ag Hamao  
,known as "Abdelkrim the Tuareg",who claimed
the kidnapping and murder of two French jurnalists
in Mali 2013.

He was a leader of an Al Qaeda in the Islamic
Magdhreb (AQIM) battalion and a former
lieutenant of Abdelhamid  Abou Zeid ,one of the
AQIM commanders killed fighting the French army
in the northern Mali in February 2013'AFP

 HYDERABAD:INDIA;

BAGDAD

Iraq forces closed in on Ramadi Tuesday
and lunched an operation aimed at cutting
off the jihadists in Anbar provnce before
a major offensive to retake the city.

Ten days after the Islamic State group's
shock capture of the capital of Iraq's largest
province ,a spokesman said ,the latest
operation was only a preparatory move
before an assault on  Ramadi.

The Hashed al- Shaabi is an umbrella
group for mostly Shiite militia and volunteers
which the government called in after the
Islamic State group captured Ramadi
on May 17

The  Hashed said 4,000 men were heading
to the northern edge of  Ramadi,Prime
Minister Haider al Abadi  and his US allies
had  been reluctan to deploy Iran-backed
Shiite militia in Anbar,a predominantly
Sunni province,

Anbar's province capital  Ramadi had
reisisted  IS assaults for more than a year
but fell earlier this month after a massive
jihadist offensive and a chaotic retreat
by securities.forces

The Islamic State group controls most of
Anbar,a huge province which borders
territory also under its control in neighbouring
Syria.

Pockets of government control include some
eastern areas near the capital the city of Haditha
parts of the town of Al Bagdhdadi and the
Al Asaad air base ,where hundreds of Us
military advisers are stationsed.

"The Iraqi security forces and Hashed al-
Shaabi have now cut off all supply routes
for IS in Ramadifrom the south"provincial
council  member Arkan Khalaf al-Tarmuz
said.

Over the past week IS is likely to have built
up its defense by ragging much of Ramadi
with explosives,the jihadist group's weapon
of choice.

Washington on Monday moved to appease
Baghdad after Iraq's leadership reacted
angrily to comments by the Pentagon chief
accusing Iraq forces of lacking the  will
to fight"

Asthon Carter's remarks to the CNN news
channel were widely perceived as unfair in
Iraq,where some forces have put up valiant
resistance to IS assaults   AFP

BEIJING;
China said Tuesday it would project
its military power further beyond its
sea borders and more as sertively in the
defending the construction of artifcial
islands which sparked cocern in
Washingtn..

The People 's Liberation Army navey
will put greater emphasis on open seas
protection rather than offshore waters,or

defence "alone ,the state Council
cabinet said in a white paper.
At the same time the air force will
shift focus "from territorial air defence
to both defence and offence" it said

The army will increase its global mobility
and artillery forces will strengthen capabilities
for medium and long range precision strikes"
It added,

The paper was release with China and the
US at loggerhead over Beijing's rapid island
building in contested parts of the South China
Sea,which the country claims almost
in its entirety,

China on Friday declared that its military
"drove away" a US surveillance aircraft
flying near the artificial islands after US
media witnessed a tense radio exchange.

AFP

LAGOS :

Nigerian airlines grounded flights
and  radio stations were silenced
as a months-long fuel shortage
aggravated by striking oil tanker
drivers worsened in Africa's biggest
oil producer.

Vehicles also grounded ,Normally
bustling roads in Lagos ,a metropolis
of 20 million,were half -empty and
gas  stations  closed Saturday,one
station owner said he had fuel but
strikers are threatening to set fire to
any stations selling it
He insisted on anonymity  for fear of
reprisals,

Police were arresting back marketers
selling fuel at  roadsides at four times
the regulated 87naira a litre

Chaos reigned at bus stations where
vehicles stood idle and at Lagos "Muratala
Muhammad International Airport as one
flight after another was cancelled

Passengers said that Air France and
Kenya Airways flights diverted to Dakar
Senegal and Cotonou,Benin, to refuel
on their way to Paris an Nairobi because
no fuel was available in Lagos this week

Nigeria produces more than 2million barrels
of petroleum a day but imports refined fuel
because it dose not have enough functioning
refineries. It regularly suffers fuel shortages
but nothing as severe as the current country
wide crisis.

The crisis started weeks before the March
29 elections,with oil  suppliers hit by
tightened credit lines amid halved international
oil prices,slump in the naira curency,and
unpaid government debts the suppliers
claimed amount to nearly$1 billion.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

A militant video released Sunday purtported
to show a Chinese tourist kidnapped by
Taliban -allied fighters in Pakistan a year
ago asking for  his government to help him
be released.

A militant known to belong to a Taliban
splinter group called  Jaish al-Hadeed ,or
"The Contingent of Steel"gave the video to
The Associated Press.

While it could not be independently verified
by the AP,the man in the video resembled
other known photographs of Hong Xudong
kidnapped in March 2014.

In the  video,the man identified as Hong asks
for the Chinese government to honor hi
kidnappers ransom demands,without  ever
stating themChinese officials and state media
did not immediately  comment on the video.

Official at the Chinese Embassy in Isamabad
could not be reached for comment.

Hong went missing after entering Pakistan
from neighbouring India in April 2014
He was abducted May the 19 in the town of
Daraban on the outskirts of the Dera  Ismail
Khan district ,which borders Pakistan 's lawless
tribal regions, a haven for militants,,Police
only found his passport ,bicycle and belongings,
AFP

TOKYO;

Thousands of demonstrators form a human
chain around Japan's parliament in Tokyo
Sunday  ,protesting the planned construction
of a new US airbase on the southern Island
of Okinawa.

The protesters who organisers said numbered
about 15,000,surrounded the parliament
building ,holding banners reading "No to
Henoko"in the latest rally against the
conttoversal base.

Henoko is a small caostal area on Okinawa,
where Tokyo and Washington pan to relocate
 the existing Futenma military facility currently
situated in built-up Ginowan

Okinawa is home to more than half of the
47,000 US service  personal stationed in
Japan as part of a defence alliance ,a
proportion many islanders say is too high.

The plan to move Futenma ,first mooted
in 1996 has become the focus of anger among
locals ,who insist it should  be shuttered and t
a replacement built else where in Japan or overseas.

Both Tokyo and Washington have repeatedly
backed the plan,with Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe last month insisting it was "the only solution"

The protestors  on Sunday also expressed
opposition to Washington's scheduled deployment
of CV22 Osprey  aircraft at US Yokota
Air Base in Tokyo

SHANGHAI:

Heavy rain which caused mudslides
and flooding in southern and central
China has left at least 35 people dead
and another 13 missing ,the official
Xinhua news agency reported Sunday.

Torrential rain the worst for 40 years
in some parts of the country ,has hit at
least  six province ,according to state
media and government

But relief could be on the way for some
of the areas as China 's National Mete-o
rological Center said the downpour would
start to weaken on Sunday

The Southwest province of  Guizhou is
among the worst affected with 11  people
dead and eight missing as of Friday ,the
gpvernment's ministry of civil affairs said
in a separate statement ,Fujian province
lost five people to mudslide and four to
drowning due to  the downpours with another
two missing the ministry said.

And inJiangxi  province five died from
buildings collapsing ,two in mudslides
and one by a lightning strike it said.

In July last year a single mudslide triggered
by days of heavy rain killed at least 14 people
in two villages in the southwestern province
of Yunnan.
AFP

 BEIRUT:
The christian who make up 35 percent
of Lebanon 's population---are divided
evenly  among the two groupings ,
Since  the withdrawal of Syrian troops
in 2005 ,Lebanon 's fractious  political
parties have been unable to organise
regular and independent presidential
elections.

In2008,a seven -month presidential
vacancy ended only after Qatar's intervention
which led the bickering parties to belatedly
agree on Sleiman as head of state.

Analysts say increasing regional tensions
make a similar arrangement unlikely
today ,however,

Having a regional struggle that is sectarian
oriented  does not help Lebanon reach a
consensus among its three sectarian groups
"Salamey said

As conflicts between political rivals Saudi
Arabia and Iran play themselves out in Iraq,
Yemen and Syria ,Lebanon political class
sits and waits, Artash said.

Syria's war is the most divisive for Lebanon,
which hosts  more than one million Syrian
refugess and regularly faces spillover violence
from across the border,

That conflict has deepened sectarian faultlines
between Lebanon's Sunnis and Shiites strengthening
ties between se
sectarian groups and their sponsor states
the Sunnis with Saudi Arabia and Turkey,
and the Shiites  with Iran Salamey said.

Lebanon 's own politician admit that their
domestic politics are inextricably tied to
foreign powers.
Ayyub Hmayed from  the rival March 8
camp said "Sadly we have got used to having
foreign  powers    with influence over us
It seem we are still waiting for this while
the foreign powers are busy elsewhere".

The deep political rifts that have prevented
the election of a president have also hindered
other state  institutions
In the absence of the head of state,presidential
powers are constitutionally transferred to the
cabinet,but this is itself divided and struggling
to operate

Parliament  is also rife  with discord that it
has been unable to hold legislative sessions
since Sleiman 's term ended -except for a
single vote to extend its  own mandate

"There are agreements with outside powers
 for over $1 billion that Lebanon is at risk
of losing  if parliament does not approve
 the funds"said parliamentary media official
Mohammad Ballout
AFP

TOKYO;

A Japanese man turned himself into
authorities after trying to flush the
ashes of his "hated" wife down a
supermarket toilet ,reports and polce
said Sunday,

The 68 year -old man told police  he
dumped his wife ashes into the toilet
bowl at a Tokyo supermarket immediately
after she was cremated last  month.

Police were alerted after the ashes ,and
 bone frangments including a human chin
,were discovered ,but at a lose to explain
them until the man handed himself in,
the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

He had felt growing resentment  towards
his spouse over the years of their unhappy
marriage according to the daily.

"I had amounting  against her ",the man
whose name was not disclosed  was quoted
as saying ,"Life was such a pain before
she died "His wife died at age of 64 following
an illness,

Prosecutors are now considering whether
to lay charges of abandoning a human body
as ashes can only be scattered in approved
locations a Tokyo police spokesman told
AFP

BEIRUT

Every few weeks fr the past year,
Lebanon's parliament has met
exchanged pleasantries ,and made
the same announcement that it has
again been unable to elect a president.

Pluralistic but divided Lebanon  has
now been without a head of state for
12 months ,the longest time the post
has been vacant since the devastating
civil war ended in 1990.

But analysts say that regional conflicts,
particularly the raging war in neighbouring
Syria ,make a presidential election in
Lebanon unlikely in the near future.

"As long as the region is in constant
turmoil,as we are experiencing now ..
Lebanon  will have a difficult time agreeing
on a president",said Imad Salamey ,professor
of political science at the Lebanese American
University in Beirut.

Sahar  Atrash, analyst at the international
Crisis Group ,said that Lebanon ,which
is influenced heavily by regional power
houses,Iran and  Saudi Arabia,"is not a
priority "for now.

"Today ,the regional sponsors are -waging
direct wars and proxy wars ,and the regional
issues are much bigger than meeting to elect
a president for Lebanon she said.

Since Michel Sleiman's term in office ended
on May 25,2014 parliament --which is
responsible for electing the president --has
failed 23 times to meet the two-thirds quorum
required to hold an electoral session.

Since independence ,Lebanon 's leadership
post have been distributed among its largest
religious sects; Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslim
and Christian ,for whom the presidency is reserved,

With the onset of the Syrian regime 's tutelage
over Lebanon in 1990, the head of the state
--whose powers had largely been weakened
was elected with specific orders from Damascus.


Today the country 's political class is split into
two coalitions; March 8,which includes the
powerful Shiite movement  Hezbollah and
supports the Syrian  regime ,and March  14
led by Sunni former premier ,Saad Hariri
and  bolstered by the West and Saudi Arabia.

AFP

GUIYANG;

All 16 people trapped in a collapse building
in southwest China'sGuizhou Province were
found dead on Saturday  afternoon ,local
authorities confirmed.

The accident happened at 11.30 am Wednesday
,when nine -story building in central Guiyang,
home to 114 residents ,collapsed..China's  Xinhua
news agency reported that a total of 98 were
confirmed safe as of Wednesday evening.

More  than hundred firefighters and soldiers
combed the rubble to find the missing people.

The last three bodies were retrieved from the
debris as of 12.52 pm Saturday authorities said.

A rain triggered landslide is believed to have
caused the incident ,said Guiyang city government.

HANOI:

United Nation chief Ban Kimoon said
that saving the lives of migrants stranded
at sea in  southeast Asia should be a top
priority as the  region battles with an exodus
of  boat people fleeing persecution and
poverty.

The UN Secretary General said he hoped
regional nations would tackle the "root causes"
of the current exodus at an upcoming conference
in Thailand  later this month.

"But when people are drifting on the sea ,how
we can search and rescue them and provide
life saving humanitarian assistance ,that is a
top priority at this time ",he told reporter
during a visit to Hanoi.

Ban said he had been in recent discussion with
regional leaders in Thailland, Malaysia and
Myanmar and urged a "very clear addressing
of the root causes of this issue,why people
are fleeing",

Ban's  comments come as Myanmar face growing
international pressure to address its treatment
of the country 's 13 million Rohingya minority
muslims

The widespread persecution of the impoverished
community in the western Rakhine states is one
of the primary causes for the current regional
exodus ,along side growing numbers trying to
escape poverty in neighbouring  Bangladesh.

Most migrants aimfor Malaysia and Indonesia
through dangerous and lucrative smuggling
networks that criss-cross the region.

Ban also called on counties who receive migrants
"not to send them back to a dangerous circumstance
or situation",
Thailand  has organised a regional conference
in Bangkok on May to address the CRISIS.
AFP

BEIJING;

An Italian histaorian 's theory that Mona Lisa
might be a Chinese slave and Leonardo da
Vinci's mother --making the 15 th century
polymath half -Chinese sent online commentors
into a frenzy Wednesday.

Anglo Paratico ,a Hong Kong -based historian
and novelist from Italy,told the south China
Morning post ,On the back of Mona Lisa,there
is Chinese landscape and even her face looks
Chinese.

Chinese web users expressed  astonishment and
disbelief Wednesday ,posting dozen of parodies
of the painting ,with faces from Chinese comedians
to British actor Rowan Atkison grafted over her
delicate features

Little is known about Caterina ,the mother of the
artist ,writer ,mathematician and inventor ,and
the identity of the sitter for the portrait hanging
in Paris  ' Louvre museum has long been a matter
of debate ,Paratico ,who is finishing a book entitle
 Leanardo de Vinci ;a Chinese scholar  lost in
Renaissance Italy ,cited Austrian neurologist Sigmund
Freud's1910 assumption that the painting was
inspired by the artist's mother,

"One wealthy client of  Leanardo's father had
a save  called Caterina ,After 1452 Leanardo
's date of birth ,she disappeared from the documents'
he told the paper.The evidence for a Chinese
connection appears to be slight ,with Paratico
saying he was sure "up toa point"that de Vanci's
mother was from the Orient.
To make her an oriental from Chinese,we need
to use a deductive method "he added.
AFP

BEIRUT

Jihadists from the Islamic state group
were locked in fierce battles with Syrian
government forces on the northern and
eastern edges of ancient Palmyra a monitor
said,

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said fighting was  raging near security
buildings in northern Palmyra including
the regime's local state security branch
and close to the city's notorious prison
in the east.

The Jihadist offensive on the world heritage
sitePalmyra began on May 13 and has since
left more than 350 people dead.

Mohammad an activist originally from Palmyra
,told AFP that the city was suffering from
water shortages and  intermittent electricity.

"A large number of people from the  city 's
north have been displaced into other neigh-
bourhoods Some are sleeping in the streets
he said.Antiquities official fear that IS wants
to destroy Palmyra 's pre-Islamic cultural
treasures,which include colonnaded streets
and ancient citadels.

In Idlib,a regime air raid on the opposition
controlled village Darkush left at least 22 civlians
dead .Darkush lies on the Syrian Turkish border,
just 50 kilometer northwest of Ariha ,one of the
last remaining regime bastions in Idlib  province.

Also on Tuesday ,a rebels coalition including
Al Qaeda 's Syria branch seized control of the
Al-Mastumah camp,the largest military base
in Idlib,

According to the Observatory and Syria's state
television ,a teacher was killed  and at least 20
students wounded when mortar rounds landed
on their school in Damascus.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with peaceful
anti government demonstrations,but has evolved
into complex war that has left more than 220,000
people dead,AFP

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies  for 8
executioners Tuesday after beheading
nearly as many people since the start of
the year as it did in the whole of 2014,


The civil service ministry said that no
qualifications were necessary and that
applicants  would be  exempted from the
usual enterance exams,

It said that as well as beheadings the successful
candidates would be expected to carry out
amputations ordered by the courts under the
kingdom 's strict version of  Islamic sharia law,

Most executions are carried out by beheading
,but a few are carried out by firing squad stoning
or crucifixion,

last year Saudi Arabia execute 67 people ,according
to an AFP tally ,ranking  it third in the world for
use of the death penalty,

Already this year it has just 5 people  to death  
in what human right group Amnesty International
has described as a macabre spike"

AFP

ANKARA

Police have arrested three men after over
the shooting of a 19 year old Turkish
woman who had been competing in a
national television song contest ,local
media reported ,Tuesday,

Murlu Kaya ,who is from the conservative
region of Diyarbakir  in the Kurdish majority
southeast of Turkey ,remained in a critical
condition in hospital after she was shot in
the head on Monday,


The three men later arrested  by police included
her 26 year-old boyfriend Veysi E,the Dogan
news agency said,

Veysi reportedly rejected the accusation against
him while admitting to being opposed to Murlu
Kaya's participation on the show,

Kaya had been appearing on the Turkish TV
talent show "Sesi Cok Guzel"
Turkish press reports said the woman had
previously received death threats for appearing
on the show

The Posta news paper had reported earlier this
week ,before the attack ,that Kaya had been
threatened from within her own  family for
going to Istanbul to take part in the contest,

Kaya was shot while she was at her home in
the Ergani district of Diyarbakir province,
Dogan reported and is now in intensive care
in Diyarbakir,

Report said  she was shot by  an assailant who
fired a bullet from the garden through the back
window into the house.

Kaya had been mentored by Sibel Can ,one
of Turkey's best known folk pop  singers who
has been a household name for decades,

The attack on Kaya  comes at a time of
intensifying anger in Turkey over the extent
of violence against women,with hundreds f
wives killed by their husbands every year,
AFP

CANNES(FRANCE)

The new name Hollywood is going to for
a female action lead is Emily Blunt a British
actress who is a short hops has established
herself  as a tough-yet  vulnerable heroine
able to hold her own against big male star
The 32 year-old got the attention of Hollywood
with her leading role in "Young Victoria"
playing  the 19th century British Queen,

The last year audiences saw her as a steely
sci-fi worrior  in Edge of Tomorrow ,teaching
Tom  Cruise how  to fight endless waves of
invading aliens,Her leading turn as an FBI
agent learning just how dirtily the US is fighting
its war on drugs in Sicario which premiered at
the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday has cemented
her appeal as someone who can credibly pull off
action and drama at the same time,

As a  teen ,she turned her passion for acting
into a stage career, then move  into period
series for British television In 2010 she played
"The Wolfman "opposite Benico Del Toro and
Anthony Hopkins Although the werewolf  movie
was panned,she was courted for a couple of
marvel superhero movies but turned down the
role because of scheduling  conflicts,


Blunt plays  the divorced Kate with a quiet
resolution a solid performance which should
help lift the British actress into more serious
roles',wrote industry magazine Screen International,

In the meantime Blunt is  completing filming
on The Huntsman"a sequel to the 2012 fairy tale
drama "Snow White and the Huntsman"
and voicing an animation called "Animal Crackers"
alongside Sylvester  Stallone and Lan McKellen,
AFP

DUBAI

Malek Jandali may only have been alive
for  four decades but the award-winning
composer insists he feels ancient,having
revived some of the oldest melodies from
his war -torn Syrian homeland,

"I'm 8000 years old"said the pianist,in the
middle of a world tour he hopes will spread
"peace and  freedom "three years after  leaving
Syria just as war was tearing it apart,

A winner of the 2014 Global Music Award
gold medal,Jandali  has for years sought to
uncover ancient melodies  for modern audiences
but says he is now composition and for the land
of his upbringing ,

Born  in Germany Jandali grew up in the central
Syrian city of Homs ,once dubbed the "Capital
of the revolution"by activists before winning
a schoolarship  to study in the US,
Soon after Syria's uprising started in March 2011
the 42 year old pianist and  composer preformed
at a demonstration in front of the White House,

His initiative prompted pro-regime armed groups
to attack his elderly parents in their home in Homs,
They later fled to the United States,Jandali said it
was this attack that helped him discover,
"The soft power of music",

Jandali is aware  that music alone can do little
to alter the situation on the ground,but it's raising
much needed humanitarian aid much needed
awareness,

His latest album Syrian Symphony "inspired
by the chants of the Syrian people' during their
protests  against the President Bashar  al Assad
's regime,

Although he is accompanied by Syrian oud player
Abdulrahim Alsiadi and US cellist Laura Metcalf
,Jandali still
omplains about restriction imposed due to the
political climate at some venues,AFP

KAMPALA:

Bouncing and  grinding ,singer Jemimah
Kansiime's music video was a hit among
her Uganda fans ,but not for conservative
who say it broke a tough new anti  pron-
ography law,

The 21 year-old singer,who uses the stage
name "Panadol wa Basajja" literally "medicine
for men"has already spent  five weeks in jail
after her arrest for a music video that gives
a lingering and generous focus on wet and
soapy buttocks ,Now she faces up to 10 years
in jail if found guilty in the first full trial
under the law--in which took effect in February
2014 ,that critics such as Human Right Watch
argue so loosely defines  pornography it has
encouraged public attacks on women wearing
skimpy clothing ,

Critics  say it is  part of a growing anti- liberal
movement including tough laws against homo
sexsuals   in Uganda where religious -driven
conservatism appears to be on  the rise and where
US evangelical preachers rather than pop stars
like Kansiime often receive rock star welcomes,

She made the video that has placed her in hot
water last year for her song Nkulinze"orI am
waiting for you,
It has proved popular and the video has been
watched over 140,000 times on youtube,
But Kansiime  said she never  dreams that
writhing in her underwear was breaking  the
law,She and her then manager Didi  Muchwa
Mugisha were arrested  in November,

In  his continued crackdown on pornography
Lokodo has this year ordered police to  arrest
men who procure prosititutes  and  described
a popular local television dating show as
prostitution ,

Local media reported that he also confronted
Uganda's youngest MP when she walked into
parliament in  short skirt,
AFP

WASHINGTON:

Marlon  Brando played one in a movie
The Rolling Stone hired some as concert
bodyguards Today a top American TV
show stars them

 Bikers -and the  roaring rolling leather
clad motorcycle gangs they form are quin
tessential  figures of American lore
But  these  days along with that born-to
be wild spirit that emerged in the second
half the 20th century as a counter-culture
scream,come crimes like weapons and
drug trafficking,So the spasms of violence
when gangs clash,as they did over the
weekend in Waco, Texas

Members f as many as five gang turned
a restaurant and parking lot into a veritable
war zone as they fought with knives chains
clubs and guns, Nine were killed and 170
were arrested,

A group of  gangs had arranged to meet at
the restaurant and an uninvited  one showed
up,Among other possible  initial triggers
t the violence,a   gang member apparently
had his foot run over  in the parking ot,
Sergeant Patrick Swanton aWaco police
spokesman said Tuesday,

The Justice Department uses the term outlaw
motorcycle gangs  to single out ones that
use their clubs as vehicles to commit crime
such as drug and weapons trafficking and
cross- border drug smuggling,

Perhaps the  best known of the gangs, is
the Hell's Angels,in addition to drugs is
also involved in assault extortion ,money
laundering and homicide ,the Justice
Department  says,
AFP

 IRAQ
Last remain of  Iraq Army flee Ramadi
as IS takeover'
The Western Iraq city on Sunday fell to
the Islamic State of  Syria the militants
relentlessly bombarbed the capital
of Anbar

The  infamous black flag of Islamic
State now flies in Dophina Square in
downtown Ramadi  The militants overran
the city this weekend,defeating the Iraq
Army and leaving 500 people dead and
fleeing 8000 people,

BEIJING;
China dispatched a 62-member search
and rescue team for  Nepal where a massive
7.8 magnitude earthquake has  killed thousand
people ,the official news agency Xinhua reported


The group including six  dogs and carrying
rescue and medical equipment ,was set to reach
the capital Kathmandu by midday to carry out
humanitarian rescue "the  report said

Forty of the rescues on board the chartered flight
were from the 38' group Army of the People
Liberation Army,

Governments around the world have offered
support to Nepal after the deadly quake last
Saturday,the impoverished Himalayan nation's
worst disaster in more than 80 years
AFP

NOUAKCHOTT;
The jihadist group of notorious one-eyed
Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmkhtar
has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State
organisation according to an audio recording
broadcasted by private Mauritanian agency
Al- Akhbar.

Belmokhotar's Al-murabitoun group was linked
to Al Qaeda,but one of  its leading members
said in the  recording that it was now aligning
itself  with the IS organishation

The Mauritanian news agency which reguary
statements by jihadists said it had identified
the voice in  the audio as the of Sahraoui and
that he was now the new leader of the group.

AFP was unable to obtain immediate confirmation
from the source.
In the recording ,Sahraoui also called on "all
jihadist movements to pledge allegiance to
Baghdadi  self proclaimed caliph of IS in order
to peak with one voice"

Al-Murabitoun 's decision to align with the
ISgroup came  just two months after a similar
move by Boko Haram,the jihadist militants
wreaking havoc in northern Nigeria.

IS  sprang to worldwide  prominence in June
last year when it overran large parts of Iraq
and Syria declaring  a calihate in the territory
under its control.

Several local jihadist  groups quickly affifiated
themselves ,and IS has since received pledges
of fealty from extremist outfits from as far
afield as  algeria Afghanistan and Indonesia

GOMA(DR CONGO)

Twenty three people have  been killed in  two
new massacres blamed on  Ugandan rebels in
the  restless east of the Democratic Republic
of Congo a regional official told AFP on  Thursday.

The killing are the latest blamed on the rebels
of the Allied Democratic  Forces ADF  ,who
are accused  of  murdering  more than 300 people
in seven months of massacres in and around the
major trading  hub of Beni in DR Congo 's
North Kivu  province'.

The latest massacres occurred near the town
of Mbau  ,not  far  from Beni ,regional
administrator Amisi Kalonda told AFP  by
telephone

Muslim rebels of the ADFlunched  an insurgency
in neighbouring  Uganda against President
Yoweri  Museveni in the mid 1990s  and later
established  bases on the Congolese side of the
border.

The security situation in the region has dramatically
deteriorated since last week with  five killed
near Beni on Monday and seven killed in a
similar massacres on Friday ,

Beni which a population of  half  a million
has been paralysed  by the protest action with
hundreds residents marching through the  streets
n Tuesday chanting solgans against authorities
before being dispersed by police.

AFP

WASHINTON:

The United States Thursday offered to help
Pakistan investigate a deadly Karachi bus
attack which left 44 Shiite  Ismailis dead ,
in the first assault  in the country claimed
by the Islamic State group

Pistol -wielding gunmen in Pakistan's biggest
city stormed the bus carrying members of the
Shiite Ismaili minority on Wednesday

The claims  by the Sunni Islamic State(IS)
militants,posted on Twiter,are likely to raise
fears over the Middle East based jihadists
growing influence  after they announce in
January the creation of a branch in what
they caed "Khorasan province "encompassing
Pakistan and parts of surrounding country.

Kerry condemned what he called a "heinous"
adding  the American people of Pakistan
"Make no mistake"There is more strength
far in the respect and solidarity that we feel
towards one another than there could ever
be in any terrorist attack"he added in a
statement.

Kerry offered his condolence  to the victims
and their families as well as the Aga Khan,
who has led the Ismaili community in investing
in so many important development and education
projects not only in Pakistan but around the world.

Kerry was taking part Thursday in a summit
at a Camp David Gulf leaders called by President
Barack Obama in part to coordinate efforts to
combat IS which has captured large areas of
Iraq and Syria,AFP

KATHMANDU:

Nepal's army discvered Friday the
wreckage of aUS military helicopter
that went  missing with eight people
on board  in the earthquake devastated
country near the Chinese border ,with fears
of no survivors ,official said.

Major General Binoj Basnet said the
helicopter which disappeared on Tuesday
while delivering aid in mountainous areas
had been located in a remote forest around
70 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu,

Basnet said troops  had reached the crash
site on foot and two helicopters  had managed
and in the mountainous region after strong
winds had kept them circling the wreckaged

Defence  Secretary Ishwori  Paudel told AFP
that three charred bodies had been discovered
in the wreckage but Nepal's home minister
spokesman and Basnet  said they could  not
confirm the  findings,
AFP

NEWCASTLE;

John Carver expects to learn if he has
been successful in his bid  to earn the
job of Newcastle head coach on a
permanent basis within 4 hours of
their final game of the season..


 The  50 year old insists he remains in pole
position to upgrade his  four  months interim
status ,despite winning just two of  his 18
games in charge to leave  the club's Premier
League future in the balance.

Newcastle can clinch safety with victory
already relegated QPR on Saturday,
allied to Hull City failing to with at Tottenham

His side have  taken one point from the last
27 in the wake  of  an-eight -game losing
streak,but Carver hopes by leading his
hometown club to safety he will head -off
competition from a string of  names to have
been inked with the post vacated at St James
Park by Alan Pardew  midway through the
season.

Newcastle  finish their campaign at  home
to West Ham a week on Sunday ,and Carver
said ,There have  been no talks because
I've been focused  on the  games.
But  I go away on holiday the Wednesday
after the  season finishes 's and I'd like to
know where I am by then.
AFP

MONTREAL:

The  World  Anti Dopng  Agency has
acknowledged  that a French documentary
did  raise questions" about the  ability of
athletes to take micro -doses of banned
substance and escape detection under
biological passport rules.

A week ago Wada criticised the documentary
on French TV network France 2 Wada director
general David  Howman said at the time the
study "dose no accurately follow the athletes,
Biological passport guidelines.

Wada back off Tuesday  and  said the  documentary
indicated  athletes could take "minimal amounts
of  performance enhancing  substances  without
testing positive.

In a statement,Wada says "We are very
alert to micro-dosing ";it is an issue that
we are exploring  in the  great detail with
s from across the anti-doping community,

In the documentary eight athletes were given
micro-doses  of EFO human growth
hormones and  blood transfusion ---AP

ROME:

Swiss world number two Roger Federer
survived a late  fightback by Kevin Anderson
Thursday to book his place in the quarter
final and a possible last four match -up
with Rafael Nadal at the Italian Open.

Federer ,bidding  to win his  first tittle on
the red clay of the Foro Italico ,swept
Anderson aside 6-3 in  the first set and
looked to be heading to an easy win on
Centre Court before the 15th seeded
South African launched a  late fight-back.

Anderson stubbornly saved two match point
in the second set  before Federer  sealed the
win 7-5 to book at last eight clash with
Tomas Berdych who ended the hopes of
local hope Fabio Fognini in a thrilling
contest won 6-3-3 6,7-4,(7/2) by the Czech.

Nadal came  into the event looking to make
amends for his defeat to Murray in the final
of the Madrid Masters last week ,when the
Scot  took his victory streak to remarkable
10 win out  of 10 on clay this season.

Murray's hopes of continuing his stunning
form on what is  not his favourite surface
were kept in check by a bout of fatigue
which forced the Scot ,the world number
three ,to pull out prior to his third round
match -up with Belgian David Goffin.

Goffin will now meet David Ferrer after
the Spaniard beat countryman Guillermo
Garcia -Lopez 6-1,6-3.

CHARLOTTE

Robert Streb fired a seven-under 65 on
Thureday to take a one shot lead in the
USPGA Tours' $71 million Wells Fargo
Championship at Quail Hollow.

Streb ,seeking to add a second US tour
tiltte  to the McGladrey Classic trophy
he lifted in October ,had even birdies
without a bogey in the morning round
that stood up to all after noon challenges.

Patrick reed,playing  alongside  world number
one Rory Mcllroy had eight birdies grabbing
a share of the  lead before  his second bogey
of the day at the 17" saw him finish in a tie
for second on 66 with Kevin Chappell.
ted
"Ong big mistake" said Mcllroy ,whose tee
shot at the tough par three hit  the  rocks
in front of the  green and deffected  into
the water,US veteran Stewart Cink ,who
has  not won since 2009  British Open,was
among a group  of  five players sharing fourth
place on five under 67.

He  was joined by Webb Simpson Ricky
Barnes Michael Thompson Chesson Hadley
and Billy Hurley and Billy Hurley

Northern Ireland's Mcllroy ,who earned his
first US PGA Tour victory at  his event in
2010 was stroke further back on70.

Despite his miscue at the 17' he said his
round overall was satisfactory."I did what
I wanted to "Mcllroy said "I took advantage
of the  par fives and  made dirdie on a couple
of par fours"
Streb teed off on the back nine and  got up
and down for birdie at the par five10"

He picked  up three more strokes coming
in capping his  round with pars at eight and
nine."It's the first time in while I feel like
I have my putter working  Streb said.

Reed responded to an opening bogey with
a birdie at the second then reeled off four
birdies in a row starting at the fifth hole
to make the  turn at four -under.

Birdies  at 10,14 and 15 pulled him level
with Streb,but he was in a bunker at the 17"
en-route to  a bogey--AFP

LONDON,
New Zealand are  now officially
the  best team in international rugby
league after being installed at the top
of the  world rangkings on Thursday
The Kiwis knocked Australia off top
spot for the  first time since the standing
were introduced thanks to the margin
of their 26-12 win in the Anzac Test
in Brisbane earlier this month.

The victory was New  Zealand 's third
ina row against Australia --the  first time
they had achieved  that feat in 61 years
following back to -back wins over the
Kangaroos in the 2014 Four Nation Series.

It's always  humbling  when you accomplis-
ments are recognised  in  a tangible way
and  this  rangking is a sign that we are
doing something right in  terms  of our
overall goal ,which is simply to continually
strive towards  achieving our potential
Said Stephen Kearney ,New Zealand 's
longest serving head coach ,in a statement
issued by the Rugby  League International
Federation.

"We're somewhat fortunate that we've been
able to field close to our strongest side over
our last two campaigns-
The Four Nationals and this  months 's
Anzac
AFP

LONDON
Harlequins wing Tom  Williams, who was
      at the  centre of the  infamous Bloodgate'
scandal ,is to retire from full time rugby
at the end of this season ,the English
Premiership club announced Tuesday .

Williams ,who has spent 13years with the
London side ,is set to join the staff of Quins'
academy..Back in 2009 he  was involved int
the Bloodgate 'controversy when he left the
field after biting on fake blood capsule during
a European Cup quarter-final against Leinster,
following a  tactical substitution that got goal-
kicker Nick Evans back on the field.

When rugby  authorities unearthed the conspiracy
Williams was suspended for 12 months -cut to four
on appeal while Quin rugby director Dean Richards
,the former England No 8 was given a three year
global ban

The 31 year old Williams explaining his decision
to retire ,said "Time and injury have caught up
with me over the last two years ,and while I may
have one or two regrets,I can look back on my
career with Harlequins with immense pride.

Quins rugby director  Conor O'Shea ,Richard's
successor at the Stoop,added "Tom has one of the
best rugby brains there is His ability to know
where  to stand in defence ,and his lines  of running
in attack remain an on pich  rugby education
to anyone,
AFP

LOS ANGELES

Tiger Woods wrote a personal letter of  
support to a schoolboy who contemplated
suicide because of a stutter,saying "I know
it's like to be different  and  not fit in"

In the  letter ,published by Golf Digest
magazine Tuesday ,Woods revealed
he too had suffered with a speech impediment
and gave  the  boy encouragement  to over
come bullying

"I also stuttered as a child and  I would
talk to my dog and he would sit there
and listen until he  fell asleep.I also a class
for two years to hep me ,and finally learned
to stop, Woods wrote.

The  boy identified  only Dillon ,quit his
high school football team after being teased
and bullied and  his   mother then wrote to
LPGA tour player Sophie Gustagson of
Sweden ,who has had to cope with a stutter
throughout her career,saying she had only
just prevented him jumping into his death
from his bedroom window last month,

Thanks so much @TigerWoods for sending
my friend Dillon a letter,He got  so happy!
It's being framed and hanged #class"

Woods told Dillon he had to deal with many
barriers as a child ,such as being the only
black player in the field,

"But it didn't stop me ,and I think  it even
inspired me to work harder",he wrote I know
you can do that too,You have a great family
and big fans like me on your side
Be well and keep fighting I'm certain you'll
be great at anything you do"'

"I hope that  maybe one other person out there
that is also having struggles ,will hear my story
and realise suicide  is not the answer",


News of  the letter came out  just a week after
the 14 time major winner endured a high-
profile split  from girlfriend and US Olympic
ski star Lindsey Vonn amid  media reports
of infidelity by Woods AFP

MANILA;
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday
said the admission of Mary Jane Veloso 's
recruiters  that they worked for an international
drug ring provided hope  for the grant of clemency
to the  maid now sitting on death row in  Indonesia

De Lima  said she  yet to see the Philippine National
Police  report that supposedly contained  the confession
of  Maria Kristina Sergio and  her live-in partner,
a "big development "as it established that the
drug syndicate existed


The  public  Attorney's  Office on  Friday
denied  that Sergio and Lacanilao  had  admitted
to  working for the drug syndicate and said  it
challenge the resolution of the Department of
 Justice(DOJ)

The DOJ filed charges of  illegal recruitment
in the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court yesterday
against Sergio and  Lacanilao based on it's resolution
that found probable cause to put them on trial
following inquest proceeding on last Tuesday,

Veloso 's family has brought  separate charges
of human trafficking and  fraud  against Sergio
and Lacanilao in  the DOJ .The  confession of
Sergio and  Lacanilao  that they worked for
the  drug ring would validate  Veloso 's defence in
Indonesia thet she was a victim of  an international
drug syndicate.

DeLima  told  reporters that if Veloso 's defence
is validated then "there's" a big chance of  talk
with Indonesia authorities  for a grant of clemeny
to the  maid ,who was convicted of  drug trafficking
and  sentenced to death by firing squad in 2010.

Veloso was about to be  shot on the Indonesia
island  prison of  Nuskambangan early on April
29 when President Joko Widodo  stayed her
 execution after the  Philippine  government
 offered to make  her a witness against the drug
syndicate in the prosecution of Sergio and Lacanilao.


In the resolution ,the  DOJ Task  Force on Anti
-Trafficking in Person cite "information from
both respondents themseves relating to their
complicity and on participation with an international
drug syndicate ,"which led to Veloso 's arrest in
 Indonesia after authorities  at Yogyakarata airport
found 2.6 kilo of heroin in her suitcase.

The resolution cite the modus-operandi and
details on Sergio 's and Lacanilao 's foreign contacts
DAILY EXPRESS.

ISLAMABAD:
A militan video purports to show Taliban
fighters with a surface to -air missile,claiming
they used a similar one to shoot down a
Pakistani helicopter carrying diplomats.

The video ,obtained by The Associated
Press includes a message from  the Pakistani
Taliban claiming they fired a missile
from a distanceof 3 kilometers  to down the
helicopter Friday,

"The missile hit  the tail  "rotor" a written
message in Urdu says at the video's start.
The crash killed the ambassadors to Pakistan
from the Philippines  and Norway and the wives
of the ambassadors from Malaysia and Indonesia,
as well  as three Pakistani crew members .
Twelve passengers many of them diplomats,
were injured.

Military official could not immediately  reached
Sunday Previously ,Pakistan said  a technical
failure  caused  the  crash and  dismissed an
earlier Taliban claim as opportunistic

However ,the surface to air missile shown
in the video appeared real ,In the video, a
masked militant discusses  the missile 's parts
,while another portion shows what appears to
be hand-drawn picture  of how a missile can
stricke a helicopter 's tail rotor.

The video was released  late Saturday via
militan websites and   corresponded to other
message distributed by the Pakistani Taliban,
though the AP could not independently verify it
Militants in Afghanistan and  Pakistan do have
access to surface to-air missiles,

Pakistani security forces  have been battling
militants in the  country 's northwestern tribal
regions bordering ,Afghanistan  for the past
several years ,That fighting took on new urgency
after a Taliban attack in December on military
school killed 150 people ,many of them children


The helicopter's  crash site Friday Naltar is several
hundred kilometers form the  north Waziristan
tribal area ,where fighting recently has been
focused. AP

SKOPJE:
A police man injured in clashes with
unidentified gunmen in northern Macedonia
died of  his  wound 's Sunday ,a hospital
source said raising the number the  officers
killed in the violence to six,

"(Aj policeman  has  died while another one  is
in critical condition "a source at a Shopje  hospital
told AFP on condition of anonymity as
Macedonia began two days of  official mourning
for victims  of the violence,

The  government said  earlier that five policemen
has  been  killed and  some  30 injured  in clashes
with  unidentified gunmen in Kumanovo that
erupted Saturday at dawn,

:There are  victims among the terrorists but for
the  time being we can not give the exact  number
"Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska told reporters
Late  Saturday,

During the  operation in Kumanovo some 40
kilometers  north of Skopje ,officers met with
violence resistance:from snipers,grenades  and
automatic weapons the  minister  said.

Violence  broke  out when police moved in to
the dismantle what they called a "terrorist group
that allegedly entered Macedonia illegally from
neighbouring  country.

Local  media  suggested  the assailants came from
neighbouring Kosvo ,populated mostly enthnic
Albanian  .

In 2001, Macedonia's ethnic Albanian rebels staged
an insurgency in the Balkan country.

Sporadic shooting continued in Kumanovo on
Sunday morning ,media and official said
AFp

WORLD NEWS <MONDAY <MAY 12

11  min  Video,,GLOBAL NEWS

BERLIN
Germany  's air force has temporarily
grounded  it's sole Airbus A400M until
an investigation determines the cause
of the crash ofa plane of  the same type,
in Spain,a military spokesman said,

At least four  people were killed Saturday
when an A400M crashed  near Seville  airport
in southern  Spain during  a  test flight ,
the first fatal incident involving the  new
transport craft,

After the A400M  crash near Seville it
was decided Saturday to suspend until
further notice the test flights of the German
defence forces sole A400M' an armed
forces press  officer toldAFP

The  spokesman added  that since it's
delivery in Decenber the machine has
been in the air ona regular  basis ,

The  first of the  A400Ms  was delivered
to France in 2013 with subsequent planes
sold toTurkey ,Britain,Germany and Malaysia
,A total of 174 A400M planes  have been
ordered ,including 50 by France ,53 by
Germany ,27 by Spain and 22 by Britain,
AFP

BOGOTA:
Two  Colombian soldiers were killed
in  clashes with leftist ELN rebels,
in the country's second largest rebel
group,the military said,

The army accused gurrillas  from
the  National Liberation Army (ELN)
of  lunching an attack in the northeastern
town of  Cubara near the Venezuelan
border,

Official said the insurgents  on Saturday
attacked  soldiers  who were trying to
dismantle oil infrastructure that the ELN
is building in the area.

During  the security and defense operation,
our soldiers  were brutally murdered"the
army said in a statement Last week ,Colombian
President Juan Manuel Santos ordered
his government to step  up an offensive
against the  group after the rebels,
showed off a  soldier's severed  leg,
apparently blown off by an anti-personel
mine,

There are  about 2,500 fighters in ELN,
Colombia's second largest rebel group after
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) have  been at war with the Colombian
government since the mid 1960s

The  long -running unrest has left more than
200,000 people dead ,despite  dragging  peace
talks between the government and FARC,


The ELN  said in June that it  had begun exploratory
discussions with the government  in bid to lunch
negotiations in parallel with Bogota's negotiations with the  FARC,

KABUL:(AFGHANISTAN)
An Afghan judge has postponed
issuing verdicts for  the  19 police
officers charged over the mob killing
of a woman in Kabul,

Safiullah Mojadeedi said Sunday that
more time is  need to complete the
investigation into the officers ,who are
charged with failing to prevent  the March
19 attack on  the woman named Farkhunda,
He  did not specifically say when he'd
issue the  verdicts,


Of   defendants charged over the  slaying
four  have been sentenced to death and
eight to 16  years in prison,Another 18
were freed for lack of evidence,

Farkhunda was beaten  to death by  a mob
after  being falsely  accused  of damaging
a  copyf   of the Quran an  attack  that
shocked  the Nation,
AP

 

BEIRUT;
Marie Mansourati ,3,adjusts pictures
of her kidnapped son Dani ,more than
two decade after he was taken by Syrian
troops to Damascus ,at her house in Beirut,

Lebanon 's government in 2000 acknowledged
the existence of  mass graves in the capital
without beginning any  identification efforts

And  last year,the  country 's highest judicial
body ruled   that the families  had the right
to know the fate of their love ones
However little progress has  been made,
Since 2012 the International Commitee
of the Red Cross  has been compilling a database
of information about each disappeared person,

The ICTJ has  drafted a law ,which would have
to be  approved by  parliament ,that would
create a commission of inquiry into the issue,
led by  the police and  aided by specialised
archaeologists and anthropologists,

As  they fight for information ,many relatives
of the disappeared struggle to live normally,
feeling that  time just stopped  when their loved
ones went  missing,

Other mothers sit  by the  window,hoping to
see a returning child;or they have  left their
children 's  rooms untouched since their
disappearance,

Many like Saidi,have experienced dashed hopes
and false promises of a reunion
"When they would tell me Mather was free, I
would start dancing,:she said "The next day
there would be  no news,and I would cry and
scream his name all night,"

Despite  her pain,she harbours no desire for
vengeanece"I support the cause of all the
mothers  of the disappeared ,even those whose
sons were Lebaness Forces "and fought against
Mahter,

Among the disappeared  are dozens  of people
who were taken to Syria during the  war and
in  the early 1990s,
Damascus has always denied holding political
prisoners,despite the presence  of Lebanses detainees
in several releases between 1976 and 2000,

Marie Mansourati 3,is sure that  her son Dani
is still alive ,more than two decades after being
taken to Damascus in 1992.

Her hands trembling ,she smokes cigarette after
cigarette in her Beirut apartment.

"I don't meet people anymore -I have worn black
all these years"I just want him to come back
and call me MUM"
AFP

BEIRUT:
Forty  years after Lebanon's civil war bagan
,the  families of thousands of  people  who
disappeared are  still haunted by the conflict
and  fighting  to learn of their loved ones' fate

The civil war lasted 15 bloody years from
1975 to 1990 killing more than 150,000
people and  leaving some 17,000 missing
according  to official figures.


The  conflict primarily pitted  Christian group
against Palestinian factions backed by leftist
and  Muslim parties ,with significant regional
and international intervention

Those who buried their children were able
to weep for them,but we  have not been able
to mourn ,said Mariam Said ,whose 15-year
old son Maher disappeared in 1982 while
fighting near Beirut,

"It's a cause that must not  die "she insisted
in her apartment on the  old  line that separated
largely Christian east Beirut from the mostly
Muslim west of the  city

Like  the Argentine mother of the Plaza de
Mayo movement ,Saidi has since 2005 participated
 in a permanent protest camp outside the UN
headquarters in central Beirut.

But despite the long running protest and various
campaigns ,the  parties to the civil war have refused
to share information about the missing ,

"They refuse to reopen the files,saying it  will
threaten civil peace ,As if the country was at
peace !"Halawani said,

Lebanon has  experienced many spasms of
violence since the war ,and has   been criticised
by international NGOs for  its'collective amnesia"
about  the conflict,
u
"To earn the lessons of the war ,the  past must be
confronted "said Carmen Hassoun Abu Jaude,
director of the International Centre for Transitional
Justice (ICTJ)  in Beirut,


It's a  wound that was closed up  while it  was still
infected ,she  added ,nothing that investigations
into the fate of the disappeared in other countries
had  not rekindled conflict,

In 1991 Lebanon issued a  board amnesty that
benefited the country's war-lords allowing many
of  them to be  come political leaders
"Aboard ,people are astonished when I tell them
we don't want justice or the cancellation of the
amnesty law"said Halawani,whose husband was
kidnapped in front of her in   1982,
TO BE CONT...

BERLIN

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandoski
is  doubtful for next Wednesday 's
champions league semifinal at Barcelona
with a fractured cheekbone from their
cup defeat to  Dortmund while Arjen
Robben's season is  over,

Lewandoski  who  has secored 23 goals
this  season,spent  the  night in hospital
with concussion after a goal-mouth collision
with  Borussia  Dortmund's Australia
goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak last in extra
time of Tuesday 's 2.0 German cup semifinal
home defeat on penalties ,

The  26 year-old  could  still line up against
Barcelona at  the Camp Nou on  May 6
by wearing a special mask before  the  return
leg in Munich on May 12,

Having  missed the  last five  weeks with torn
abdominal muscles, Dutch Winger Robben
who has scored 19  goals this seasons,
is now out  for  the rest of  the season having
lasted just 16 minute in the second half after
coming  off  the  bench as it finished 1-1
after extra time  in   Munich,

There was  some good  news for  Bayern
coach Pep Guardiola  as midfielder  Thiago
Alcantara  is  not injured despite  coming
off in the  second  half with bruised  foot.

Their  cup semi-final defeat shatters Bayern's
dreams  f  repeating their 2013 treble of European,
cup and  league titles having  won  the Bundesliga
title last  Sunday,