At least 10 killed in Afghan suicide bombing

At least 10 people were killed and 23 wounded on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew up his car near the house of a pro-government militia commander in the province of Nangarhar, a provincial official said.

The car drew up in front of the house of the commander in the Nazian district of Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan, according to Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It was unclear whether the militia leader, whose name was given only as Dehqan, was injured in the attack.

"The commander was leading fighting against Taliban and Daeah insurgents in Nazian district," Khogyani said. "The bomber was in front of his house and as soon as people from the village came together, he detonated himself."

The commander belonged to a volunteer pro-government militia movement known as Public Uprising.

A statement from the governor's office said 10 people had been killed, including three children, and another 23 wounded in the explosion.

Nangarhar province has been the main base for militants from Islamic State, generally known in Afghanistan as Daesh, where they have battled both government forces and the Taliban.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

(Anti-) Corruption experts? Who’s who at Cameron’s post-Panama Papers transparency summit

Prime Minister David Cameron’s anti-corruption summit will bring together a bevy of political leaders, officials from the financial world and sports representatives of FIFA and UEFA. RT takes a closer look at exactly who’s coming.
Cameron has pledged to use Thursday’s summit in London, organized before the Panama Papers leaks, to clinch an agreement committing world leaders to tackling corruption and ensuring greater

Muhammuda Buhari 
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the self-described “people’s president,” will be among those in attendance. Since taking office last May, Buhari has embarked on a sweeping anti-corruption crusade. Critics, however, have slammed the campaign as politically motivated witch-hunt, accusing Buhari of using corruption as a pretext to weed out opposition politicians.

Despite having the highest paid public officials in the world and Africa’s biggest economy, oil-rich Nigeria is one of the largest beneficiaries of UK aid. Britain has committed to spending £860 million in foreign aid to the country.

The Mail Online reports that Buhari’s youngest daughter, 16-year-old Hanan, who attends a £26,000-a-year English school, was flown first-class from London to Nigeria in April in violation of Buhari’s own ban on premium travel for officials.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
Afghanistan’s President Ghani will also be among the politicians at the summit. Ghani took office in 2014 amid rampant allegations of fraud, pledging to eradicate corruption. The contested election was settled with a controversial power sharing agreement between Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, who assumed the newly created role of chief executive officer, similar to the position of prime minister.

Corruption across the country is widely believed to have worsened during his tenure. Transparency International (TI) downgraded Afghanistan to third from the bottom on in its corruption ranking in 2015.

The US, European Union and other foreign donors have all cited corruption as the greatest threat to rebuilding Afghanistan. Ghani announced last month the launch of a new anti-corruption body to coordinate work against graft throughout government agencies and push forward corruption cases which have stalled.

Christine Lagarde
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde is scheduled to be a panelist at the conference. Lagarde is embroiled in a scandal of her own and will stand trial in France for failing to prevent a multimillion euro fraud when she was French finance minister in 2008. Lagarde was cleared in 2014 of any direct role in a €403 million settlement paid by the government to tycoon Bernard Tapie, but will now face charges of negligence for failing to block the payment.

PM David Cameron
After coming under intense scrutiny in the wake of the Panama Papers when it emerged his late father Ian ran an offshore fund, British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted he too had owned shares in a Panama incorporated fund.

Between 1997 and 2010, he and his wife Samantha Cameron owned shares in Blairmore Investment Trust, a multimillion-pound offshore trust fund.

Man ‘shoots and kills’ brother in row over cheeseburger

  A Florida man has been charged with the murder of his brother following an alleged argument over a cheeseburger.

Benjamin Middendorf, 25, is accused of shooting and killing his older brother, Nicholas Middendorf, at their family home in the city of St Cloud, located around 30 miles south of Orlando.

The 28-year-old victim was shot in the chest with a 9mm handgun on May 5, police say, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to police, the argument began when the victim returned home with his mother and a third man following a night out.

Both brothers wanted to eat the cheeseburger, investigators say, with the verbal argument then escalating into a fight.

In a call to police, a distraught man explains: “I just shot my brother by accident.”

He continues: “We were in a fight and I grabbed the gun and I shot him. Oh God. I’m so sorry.”

A woman can be heard in the background of the call saying: “I hope you go to jail.”

St Cloud Police Department spokesperson Denise Roberts said: “This is an impulsive incident that happened. Maybe anger, rage. But it was definitely over a verbal dispute that sadly … was over a cheeseburger.

“It’s something that could have possibly been prevented, if he had held back those emotions.”

She added: “You know, it is Mother's Day weekend [in America] and in this particular case, the mum has lost two sons. One who is deceased, and then the other son who's now incarcerated and facing homicide charges.”

The suspect has appeared in court charged with first-degree premeditated murder.

The police department said in a statement: “On May 5, 2016 at approximately 2205 hours, the St. Cloud Police Department received a 911 phone call in reference to a shooting that occurred at 601 6th Street.  

“The investigation revealed, Benjamin A. Middendorf shot his brother on the chest with a 9mm handgun after a verbal dispute between them. Nicholas Middendorf was pronounced deceased on scene.  

“Middendorf was transported to the Osceola County Jail, where he is being held with no bond.”

Indian restaurant owner accused of killing customer with curry

Adebt ridden owner of an Indian restaurant killed a customer by serving him a meal that he knew contained potentially lethal peanut powder, a court heard.

Mohammed Zaman, 53, who was employing illegal workers in his takeaway, substituted almond powder with cheaper ground nut mix, which contained peanuts, as a way of cutting costs, a jury heard.

However he allegedly failed to warn customers and pub manager Paul Wilson, 38, who suffered a severe peanut allergy, died at his home after eating a curry made with the cheaper ingredient.

The waiter who took his order and the chef who prepared the meal were both in breach of immigration laws and working illegally.

Less than a month earlier, on January 3rd 2014, student Ruby Scott, 17, who suffered the same allergy, had already fallen seriously ill after suffering anaphylaxis - a severe allergic reaction - having eaten a chicken korma from another of Zaman's restaurants. She was saved after being rushed to hospital and injected with an epi-pen.

Her mother later rang the restaurant, The Jaipur in Easingwold, North Yorks, to ask whether it contained peanuts but she was assured it did not and had been safe for allergy sufferers.

Zaman failed to act, continuing to sell meals containing peanuts whilst assuring customers they were safe for nut-allergy sufferers, it is alleged.

Paul Wilson was killed by the curry he bought at The Indian Garden restaurant, also in Easingwold, on January 30th 2014, despite clearly stating "no nuts" - an order that was written on the lid of his takeaway meal, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Wright, QC, told the court Zaman cut corners to save cash.

After Ruby fell ill trading standards investigators bought a meal from one of Zaman's restaurants and discovered potentially lethal doses of peanuts.

Even the day after Paul Wilson died Zaman was still selling meals containing peanuts that purported to be safe for allergy sufferers, the court was told.

Mr Wright said: "We say Paul Wilson did what he always did and ordered no nuts in clear and simple terms.

"There was no confusion here. Instead there was a business in which corners were being cut for the sake of profits, systems were non-existent and the customer was constantly exposed to danger.

"There is no doubt at all that the curry he ate, the lid of which bore the legend "no nuts," contained peanuts and that the peanuts caused his death by way of an allergic reaction to eating them.

"An analysis of the curry recovered from the plate in the kitchen of Paul Wilson's home also demonstrated that peanut had killed him. Less than three grammes of the sauce from the curry would have been sufficient to give rise to the level of peanut in the stomach."

Mr Wilson, who discovered he had a peanut allergy aged seven after eating a Marathon bar, was found by his house-mate slumped in the bathroom of his home in Helperby, North Yorks, with fresh blood around his nose and mouth.

Mr Wright said Zaman deliberately cut corners because he was desperately needed to save cash, running his businesses at their overdraft limits.

With debts mounting Zaman met with his Blackburn-based food supplier Fakir Chilwan in June 2013 and asked him to replace almond power with ground nut powder, which was half the price, the prosecution alleged.

Mr Wright said: "He was told by Mr Chilwan that ground nut was in fact about half the price of almond. On being told that Mr Zaman instructed Chilwan to stop sending him almond and instead to send him ground nut powder.

"Mr Chilwan noted the request but also stressed that the change in ingredient was significant. He told Mr Zaman that if he changed product he would have to change his menu to ensure that customers knew he was using peanut ingredients in the preparation of food."

Allegedly Zaman said he would but in fact ignored the warning.

Mr Wright added: "The prosecution say therefore that the defendant had been given clear warning by his supplier as early as June 2013 that the product he had ordered for use in his kitchens posed a serious risk to the health, and potentially life, of any customer who might have a nut allergy."

In what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind, Zaman denies the manslaughter of Mr Wilson.

He also denied contravening EU food safety regulations on January 3, 2014 and selling food not of the substance demanded on January 23 and 30.

Zaman pleaded not guilty to falsely describing food on a menu on January 23 that year, and contravening food safety regulations on January 23 and 30 by placing food described as nut-free on the market that was unsafe for nut allergy sufferers.

The trial, expected to last three weeks, continues.

The Philippines’ likely new president has pledged to execute 100,000 people, and jokes about gang rape

The next president of the Philippines is likely to be a pugnacious lawyer-turned-politician who has pledged to execute 100,000 criminals and dump them into Manila Bay—and has confessed to killing several people himself.
Rodrigo Duterte, known as “the Punisher” and “Duterte Harry” among other nicknames, took such a commanding lead in the general election today (May 9) that one challenger, Grace Poe, has already conceded, even though an official count of the votes isn’t expected until June.

With 76% of precincts reporting unofficial results, he has a more than five million vote lead over his closest competitor, in a winner-take-all contest between five candidates.

As the mayor of Davao City, Duterte empowered “death squads” that are believed to have killed about 1,000 people without trial, according to Human Rights Watch, including hundreds of children. After a female missionary was gang-raped in the city jail while he was mayor, Duterte said it was a “waste” that the mayor could not have “been first,” because she was so beautiful.
Comedian John Oliver bestowed yet another nickname:

Duterte’s rise has taken place amid widespread frustration against president Benigno Aquino III, who belongs to the country’s dominant political dynasty. The country’s rapid economic growth hasn’t eliminated widespread corruption, inequality, or dangerous working conditions.
In the tense South China Sea, where China is feuding with its neighbors over contested territorial clais, Duterte has pledged to ride a jet ski to a disputed island. But he also said he’d “shut up” about his country’s long-standing claims there if China promises to build infrastructure in the Philippines while he is president.

Boris Johnson: Cameron can't cut immigration and stay in EU

Boris Johnson accused the prime minister of undermining trust in democracy by repeatedly promising to cut net immigration to the tens of thousands, despite it being impossible to achieve that as long as Britain is in the EU.

The former London mayor used a speech designed to make the “liberal, cosmopolitan” case for Brexit to launch an attack on David Cameron, who he said had failed to achieve any significant reforms in Brussels.

Johnson’s comments came just hours after the prime minister used his own speech to make the controversial claim that leaving the EU could increase the risk of war.

Johnson said: “It is deeply corrosive of popular trust in democracy that every year UK politicians tell the public that they can cut immigration to the tens of thousands – and then find that they miss their targets by hundreds of thousands.”

The Tory MP, one of the leading figures campaigning for an out vote in the EU referendum, cited a speech given by Cameron in 2013 at Bloomberg in which he said the EU needed “fundamental, far-reaching change”.

He highlighted the fact that Cameron said he was willing to campaign to leave if he failed to achieve fundamental reform and full-on treaty change.

“And that is frankly what the government should now be doing. If you look at what we were promised, and what we got, the government should logically be campaigning on our side today,” added Johnson, arguing that it was “bizarre” for the remain camp to claim that we were living in a reformed EU.

“There has been not a single change to EU competences, not a single change to the treaty, nothing on agriculture, nothing on the role of the court, nothing of any substance on borders – nothing remotely resembling the agenda for change that was promised in the 2013 Bloomberg speech.”

He joked that calling it a “reformed EU” might be an offence against the Trades Descriptions Act, “or rather the EU unfair commercial practices directive that of course replaced the Trades Descriptions Act in 2008”.

Johnson also directly took on Cameron’s earlier speech, saying: “I think it is very, very curious that the prime minister is now calling this referendum and warning us that world war three is about to break out unless we vote to remain. I think that is not the most powerful argument I’ve heard.”

Johnson then added: “If you want an example of EU policymaking on the hoof and EU pretensions to running defence policy that have caused real trouble, then look at what has happened in the Ukraine.’’

Cameron had said: “Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? Is that a risk worth taking? I would never be so rash as to make that assumption.”

The prime minister added: “As I sit around that table with 27 other prime ministers and presidents, we remember that it is pretty extraordinary that countries are working together to solve disputes and problems. We should listen to the voices that say Europe had a violent history, we’ve managed to avoid that and so why put at risk the things that achieve that?”

Johnson’s remarks about Ukraine were pounced upon by sources at the Stronger In campaign, who said that the Conservative MP had aligned himself with Ukip leader Nigel Farage, Russian president Vladimir Putin and the leader of France’s National Front, Marine Le Pen.

Johnson rejected the claim that Brexit campaigners were anti-Europe. “I can read novels in French and I can sing the Ode to Joy in German and if they keep accusing me of being a Little Englander, I will,” said Johnson, before offering reporters a verse in the language.

“Both as editor of the Spectator and mayor of London I have promoted the teaching of modern European languages in our schools. I have dedicated much of my life to the study of the origins of our common – our common - European culture and civilisation in ancient Greece and Rome.”

He said it was “offensive, insulting, irrelevant and positively cretinous to be told – sometimes by people who can barely speak a foreign language – that I belong to a group of small-minded xenophobes”.

Instead, Johnson claimed that Brexit was the “great project of European liberalism”.

“And I am afraid that it is the European Union – for all the high ideals with which it began, that now represents the ancient regime.”

Asked if he would serve in a Cameron cabinet following such a vociferous attack on his Conservative colleague, Johnson swerved the question. He responded that he was a “humble ex-municipal toenail” who was now determined to serve only one cause – his desire for Britain to vote to leave the EU on 23 June.

Former British spy bosses say nation's exit from EU would pose threat

A British vote to leave the European Union next month could make the country more vulnerable to militant attacks and cause instability across the continent, two former senior British intelligence officials said.

John Sawers, who stepped down as head of the MI6 foreign intelligence service in 2014, and Jonathan Evans, who led the MI5 domestic spy agency until three years ago, warned that a British exit, or Brexit, could weaken intelligence-sharing between Britain and neighboring countries.

"Counterterrorism is a team game, and the EU is the best framework available — no country can succeed on its own," they said in an article for the Sunday Times newspaper.

National security has become a key area of contention between rival campaigners ahead of the June 23 vote, particularly in the light of Islamic State attacks in Paris and Brussels.

Those wanting Britain to leave the 28-member bloc say an exit would enable the nation to have greater control over its borders. Those backing membership, including Prime Minister David Cameron, say the EU helps to coordinate intelligence-sharing.

Sawers and Evans said modern intelligence work relied on the sharing of large data-sets and that Britain could be restricted in the information it received if it was no longer part of the bloc.

The two men, who do not often speak out on national matters, said their concerns about the vote went beyond Britain's security and that the removal of one of Europe's main military powers could unsettle the EU itself.

"If the UK were to withdraw from the EU, the destabilizing effect on the EU itself — already beset with economic difficulties, the migration crisis and a resurgent Russia — could be profound," they said.

"Those who are enemies of democracy would rejoice. In our judgment, there is a real risk that such a detribalization could, in time, lead to the fragmentation of the EU and the return of instability on the continent."

SOURCE: REUTERS