British woman may face death in Indonesia for drugs

A British woman could face the death penalty in Indonesia after being arrested for allegedly smuggling crystal methamphetamine into the country from China, an official said on Saturday.

The woman, identified only by her initials AR, was arrested at a hotel in the city of Surabaya, East Java province, last month with 1.47 kilograms (three pounds, four ounces) of the drug, the national narcotics agency said.

McIlroy splits with management to go it alone

Former US Open champion Rory McIlroy is set to split with his Irish-based management company and organise his own business affairs, his close friend Graeme McDowell has confirmed.

McDowell confirmed McIlroy would parting company with Horizon Sports Management after winning through to the last 16 in the World Match-Play Championship in Bulgaria.

Cortese to stay as Southampton chairman

Southampton executive chairman Nicola Cortese will be staying with the Premier League club after clear-the-air talks with the owner, the club have confirmed.

The Swiss-Italian banker, who has overseen Saints' rise from League One to the Premier League via back-to-back promotions, had threatened to walk away due to uncertainty over backing for his vision of the club's future.

Eurovision fever hits the land of ABBA

Fans from around the world have descended on the Swedish city of Malmo for Saturday's final of the Eurovision Song Contest, with ABBA's Benny Andersson and Bjoern Ulvaeus expected to appear.

As betting sites tipped Denmark's entry as this year's favourite, rehearsals on Friday also showed a video of Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic welcoming viewers to the immigrant-heavy city where he grew up.

Brit athletics hero faces 'biggest challenge' since London

British long jump hero Greg Rutherford said he's facing his "biggest challenge" since taking London Olympics gold when he goes up against his two predecessors at Shanghai's Diamond League meet.

Rutherford, one of seven current Olympic champions in Shanghai, will face Beijing 2008 winner Irving Saladino and America's Dwight Phillips, the Athens 2004 gold-medallist who has been sidelined with injury for the last two years.

'Persons of interest' identified in Madeleine McCann case

Detectives said they had identified a number of "people of interest" in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who went missing on holiday in Portugal in 2007.

But Scotland Yard said it had not asked Portuguese police to make any arrests in connection with the missing girl.

"We are reviewing a significant number of documents and continue to identify potential lines of inquiry," the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement.

Litvinenko UK inquest in doubt after evidence excluded

The inquest into the death in Britain of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was close to collapse Saturday after the coroner ruled he could not hear evidence about the alleged role of the Kremlin in his poisoning.

Litvinenko's widow Marina said she was "utterly dismayed" by the decision. She accused Britain of making a deal with Moscow to improve relations chilled by the murder of her husband, who once worked as a spy for Russia.

British MPs concerned about parliamentary boozing

One quarter of British lawmakers believe there is an "unhealthy" drinking culture in the Houses of Parliament, according to a survey published on Friday.

Some 26 percent acknowledged concerns, rising to 36 percent among female MPs, according to the ComRes survey of 150 lawmakers.

Eric Appleby, chief executive of the charity Alcohol Concern which commissioned the survey, said the parliamentary authorities should act on the findings.

Becks not short of offers as he mulls future

David Beckham will not be short of work offers after he ended a playing career that made him a globally recognised celebrity, with sponsors and sporting bodies jostling to secure his services.

The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Los Angeles Galaxy star expressed the hope as he announced his retirement on Thursday that he would be best remembered as a footballer, rather than a celebrity.

It's all I have to play for, says Wilkinson

Jonny Wilkinson admitted Friday that getting a first taste of a European Cup final at the age of 33 represents all he has to play for.

The former England international will be key to Toulon's hopes of victory in Saturday's final against fellow French side Clermont.

"There's no doubt that at this stage in my career, this is all I have got to play for. This gives you an idea of what this represents," said the 2003 World Cup winner.

New case of SARS-like virus in Saudi: ministry

A new case of the deadly coronavirus has been detected in Saudi Arabia where 15 people have already died after contracting it, the health ministry announced on Saturday on its Internet website.

"One new case of novel coronavirus recorded in the Eastern Region" where most of the kingdom's cases have been registered, said the ministry, which this week created a special web page dedicated to the outbreak.

Cannes Festival rocked as Chopard jewels stolen

Jewellery worth $1.4 million due to be loaned to stars at the Cannes Film Festival was stolen from a local hotel in a pre-dawn heist but the coveted Palme d'Or trophy was safe, officials said.

The robbery took place in the hotel room of an American woman employee of Swiss bijoutier Chopard as she was out for the evening, police said.

A strongbox containing jewels was ripped out of the wardrobe and carried off, they said.

Mexico violence claims hundreds of US lives

When Malcolm X's grandson was beaten to death in a seedy Mexico City bar last week his name joined the hundreds of US citizens who have been murdered in this country in recent years.

Excluding terror attacks and US soldiers killed in action, Mexico has seen more homicides of Americans than any other part of the world in the past decade, according to an AFP analysis of US State Department figures.

France legalises same-sex marriage

France became the 14th country to legalise same-sex marriage Saturday after President Francois Hollande signed the measure into law following months of bitter political debate.

Hollande acted a day after the Constitutional Council threw out a legal challenge by the right-wing opposition, which had been the last obstacle to passing the bill into law. The legislation also legalises gay adoption.

Clashes at Cairo demo calling on Morsi to resign

Demonstrators calling for Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to resign and demanding early elections clashed with riot police in Cairo.

Hundreds of people had marched on Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday for the protest, called by a number of opposition groups.

The demonstrators, most of them teenagers, threw molotov cocktails at the police who replied with volleys of tear gas cannisters, but there were no reports of casualties.

US train accident injures 60 people

A rush-hour collision between two commuter trains in a suburb north of New York City Friday injured 60 passengers, five of them seriously.

A spokesman for the Metro North commuter train line said the incident involved a train headed into the city and one traveling in the opposite direction toward New Haven, Connecticut.

"Sixty people have been taken to the hospital," Connecticut governor Dan Malloy said on Twitter.

Bombs targeting Iraqi Sunnis kill 67

Bombs targeting Sunnis, including two near a mosque and one at a funeral procession, killed 67 people in Iraq, officials said, after dozens died in two days of attacks on Shiites.

The violence raises the spectre of tit-for-tat killings common during the height of sectarian bloodletting in Iraq that killed tens of thousands of people, and comes at a time of simmering tension between the Sunni minority and Shiite majority.

Tunis to decide 'by Saturday' on Salafist rally ban

The Tunisian government will decide by Saturday whether to allow or ban Salafists from holding their annual congress, the interior minister said on Friday rejecting "death threats" made by the radical Islamists.

"The final decision will be taken today or tomorrow," Lotfi Ben Jeddou told Kalima radio.

"The government will not be swayed by death threats," he added.

Hong Kong light railway accident injures 50: police

Up to 50 people were injured when multiple cars derailed on Hong Kong's light railway in the north of the city, throwing passengers onto the floor.

"There was a derailment on the light rail and right now, there are 40 to 50 injuries," a police spokeswoman told AFP.

Ai Weiwei creates giant map of China from baby formula

A map of China made from more than 1,800 cans of baby formula created by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei went on show in Hong Kong Friday, reflecting the controversy over mainland demand for milk powder.

A surge in demand for formula in China sparked by fears over the safety of domestic milk powder has seen shop shelves around the world cleared out by Chinese buyers and unofficial exporters.

S&P warns India could face junk status

India faces at least "a one-in-three" chance of losing its prized sovereign grade rating, global ratings agency Standard and Poor's has warned, in another blow to the scandal-tainted Congress government.

The announcement late Friday comes after finance ministry officials have been arguing for a ratings upgrade, saying the government has been taking strong steps to curb India's financial deficit and promote investment.

Hong Kong launches first electric taxis

Hong Kong saw its first electric taxis hit the streets on Saturday in a step towards reducing the city's high levels of roadside pollution.

The 45 bright red cars were launched by Chinese electric vehicle producer BYD, which is partly backed by US investment titan Warren Buffett.

Three new suicides at Foxconn China factory

Three Foxconn workers have committed suicide at a factory in China in the past three weeks, state media and a labour rights group said Saturday.

All three jumped to their deaths at a plant in the central city of Zhengzhou run by the Taiwanese electronics giant.

A 30-year-old married man killed himself on Tuesday following the similar deaths of a 23-year-old woman on April 27 and a 24-year-old man three days earlier, the Xinhua news agency reported.

China 'will not accept' carbon tax on EU flights: report

China will not pay for CO2 emissions by its airlines on flights within Europe, a top civil aviation official reportedly said after the European Commission warned eight Chinese firms face fines for nonpayment.

Yahoo Japan suspects 22 million IDs stolen

Yahoo Japan Corp. has said it suspects up to 22 million user IDs may have been stolen during an unauthorised attempt to access the administrative system of its Yahoo! Japan portal.

"We don't know if the file (of 22 million user IDs) was leaked or not, but we can't deny the possibility given the volume of traffic between our server and external" terminals, the company said in a statement late Friday.

Total boosts exploration, production drive: CEO

The development of new oil reserves and a more aggressive exploration strategy will enable French oil group Total to meet its targets for boosting production of oil and gas, chief executive Christophe de Margerie said on Friday.

Speaking to a general meeting of shareholders, he said that Total was developing new reserves with capacity of 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in extra output.

Apple, US lawmakers in offshore tax showdown

Apple and US lawmakers are gearing up for a showdown over taxes -- specifically how to deal with the huge stockpile of cash held by Apple and other multinational firms offshore.

A Senate panel has called Apple chief executive Tim Cook and others from the California tech giant to testify at a hearing Tuesday on "methods employed by multinational corporations to shift profits offshore."

IMF sees Cyprus growth in 2015, warns of pitfalls

Cyprus should return to growth in 2015 after three years of deep recession, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday, but will need to ensure that its sweeping austerity programme does not slip off the tracks.

The IMF agreed in March to provide Cyprus with some 1 billion euros in aid, along with another 9 billion euros from the European Union, to stave off a meltdown of the cash-strapped economy.

ECB to help businesses, says top central banker

The European Central Bank is exploring ways to directly help small and medium-sized companies as a way to boost the recession-hit eurozone economy directly, said Benoit Coeure, a member of the bank's executive board.

Coeure, speaking at a conference south of Paris, did not say how exactly the policy would work and stressed that the ECB would not intervene to replace "other actors" including struggling banks burdened by non-profitable assets.

Spain posts first trade surplus since 1971

Spain announced Friday its first monthly trade surplus since 1971 as imports slumped because of a collapse in demand in the midst of a recession and record unemployment.

The eurozone's fourth biggest economy posted a surplus of 634.9 million euros ($817 million) in March, the Economy Ministry said, although the total for the first three months of 2013 still showed a combined trade deficit of 4.048 billion euros.

New Yorkers unnerved by neighbor's voyeuristic photos

Residents of a New York City apartment building are up in arms over an exhibition of candid photographs one of their neighbors took of them, without their knowledge or permission.

A gallery show -- "The Neighbors" -- of the pictures taken surreptitiously by American photographer Arne Svenson opened last week at the Julie Saul Gallery in lower Manhattan.

'Ugly' film about Mumbai dark side

A decades-old rivalry between a Bollywood wannabe and a brutal police chief shines a light on Mumbai's dark side, in Indian director Anurag Kashyap's fast-moving psychological thriller "Ugly" about the kidnapping of a young girl.

Enthusiastically received at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, the aptly titled film was inspired by real events in a city blighted by child trafficking and prostitution.

High hopes for Palestinian 3D animated 'Scarecrow' film

Filmmakers in Gaza have finished making what is believed to be the first Palestinian animated feature in 3D in a bid to show a fresh perspective on life through a child's eyes.

Called "The Scarecrow", the 40-minute production tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan named Rima and the scarecrow she was given by her parents who died in a car crash.

Cannes Festival: Man held after scare at TV studio

A man was arrested on Friday after causing a scare at the Cannes Film Festival, where he attacked a TV studio with a gun loaded with blanks and a dummy grenade, police and witnesses said.

There were no casualties in the incident, and the TV channel, France's Canal +, resumed broadcasts after a break of several minutes.

America's tallest man boosts Ukraine's Eurovision hopes

As fog billowed, a giant cloaked figure strode onto the Eurovision Song Contest stage, lightly cradling Ukraine's singer, Zlata Ognevich, who looked tiny and doll-like in his arms.

The stunt awed the audience as Ukraine performed its entry during the contest semi-final on Tuesday. The ballad, called "Gravity", is widely tipped to win third place in Saturday's final in Malmo, Sweden.

Iran's Oscar winner scores Cannes hit with melodrama

Iranian Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi drew enthusiastic applause Friday for one of the most keenly awaited films at Cannes, with a Paris-set tale about love and its agonies.

"The Past" picks up many of the wrenching family themes and the taut drama of the Tehran-based "A Separation", which saw Farhadi scoop the Academy Award for best foreign-language feature last year.

At Cannes, shock movie tests China's boundaries

Disgusted by corrupt local leaders, an angry miner picks up a shotgun. A migrant worker returning home looks to armed robbery to escape a life of relentless bleakness. A pretty receptionist at a sauna is driven to the limit when a gangster tries to rape her. And a young man drifts nightmarishly from job to job to try to make ends meet.

Tiny Australian town abuzz with Daft Punk fever

A tiny Australian town better known for cotton-picking than culture was relishing the limelight Friday as thousands of electro-pop fans descended for French group Daft Punk's album launch.

Though "Random Access Memories" has been available online for several days and the French duo were not present, thousands of fans flocked to remote Wee Waa, a far-flung town of just 1,653, for the album's official launch.

Watson sheds Harry Potter image for Coppola Cannes pic

"Harry Potter" star Emma Watson abandons magic for pole-dancing and cat burglary in Sofia Coppola's latest movie, one of two Cannes contenders on Thursday with twists on the girls-gone-wild theme.

"The Bling Ring" is based on true events in fame-fixated Los Angeles where a gang of teenagers in 2009 broke into the mansions of celebrities including Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox.

Ultraviolent Mexican film leaves Cannes critics queasy

Mexican director Amat Escalante defended his ultraviolent film in competition Thursday at Cannes, calling it an accurate depiction of his country's blood-drenched drug wars.

"Heli", one of 20 pictures vying for the festival's Palme d'Or top prize, offers an unflinching look at an unspeakably vicious circle of underworld crime and vengeance.

Despair over spread of spot-fixing 'cancer'

The arrest of three Indian cricketers for spot-fixing has prompted new fears over the growing influence of betting mafias on the game in the subcontinent and despair about the "cancer" of corruption.

Police behind the arrests say the trio were acting under orders from crime syndicates whose bosses are based in the Gulf but are well aware of the rewards if they can manipulate events on the field throughout the cricket-mad region.

Becks prepares to sign off, Euro fight intensifies

David Beckham stole many of the headlines in Ligue 1 before the weekend as he prepares to make the penultimate appearance of his glittering career for Paris Saint-Germain, while elsewhere the battle for France's final Champions League qualifying berth intensifies.

After wrapping up the Ligue 1 title with victory at Lyon last weekend, PSG return to the Parc des Princes to face Brest.

All-French European Cup rugby final an international affair

Iconic English fly-half Jonny Wilkinson will seek to add a continental crown to his honours when his Toulon club take on French rivals Clermont in the European Cup final on Saturday.

The match at Dublin's Aviva Stadium might be between two French Top 14 clubs, but on paper it is a truly international clash, with top players from across the globe ready to battle it out for the ultimate honour in northern hemisphere club rugby.

Bayern eye more records in league finale

Bayern Munich wrap up their record-breaking Bundesliga season on Saturday at Borussia Moenchengladbach with 20 records in their sights and with coach Jupp Heynckes to end his German league career at the club where he began in 1963.

While Bayern's Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund in Wembley on May 25 looms ever larger, Heynckes' side finish their league campaign having already lifted the Bundesliga shield with a massive party in Munich last Saturday.

Bradley maintains PGA Byron Nelson lead

Keegan Bradley followed up his stellar 10-under par first round with a one-under 69 to maintain a three-stroke lead in the US PGA Tour Byron Nelson Championship.

Former PGA Championship winner Bradley on Friday couldn't match his opening-round exploits, but he had four birdies against three bogeys on a windy afternoon on the par-70 TPC Four Seasons Resort course to stay atop the leaderboard with an 11-under par total of 129.

Leader Van Garderen wins Tour of California time trial

American BMC rider Tejay van Garderen strengthened his grip on the overall lead in the Tour of California on Friday with a victory in the individual time trial, sixth stage.

The 24-year-old was the only rider to break 49 minutes on the 31.6-kilometer (19.6-mile) course, winning in 48:52 to extend his lead in the overall standings over Australian Michael Rogers, winner of the 2010 edition, to 1:47.

Italians want lower wind speed caps at America's Cup

The head of Italian team Luna Rossa said he wanted lower wind speed caps for the America's Cup yacht races, or to be allowed to sit out the event without being penalized.

Luna Rossa Challenge boss Patrizio Bertelli on Friday called for the changes, and additional safety gear for crews, after meeting with a committee looking into the death of a sailor from the Swedish team during training on May 9.

Defending Giro champ Hesjedal quits race

Defending Giro d'Italia champion Ryder Hesjedal has pulled out of the three-week race due to worsening health, according to his team Garmin.

Hesjedal becomes the second overall victory contender to retire following the withdrawal, due to illness, of Britain's Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins on Friday.

Hesjedal took many by surprise by winning last year's 'maglia rosa' (pink jersey) for the overall race winner to become the first Canadian to win a major Tour.

Spurs hold off Warriors to advance

The San Antonio Spurs booked a return trip to the NBA Western Conference finals on Thursday, holding off the Golden State Warriors 94-82 to win their second-round playoff series.

San Antonio's Tony Parker endured a difficult night of 3-of-13 shooting, but two of those baskets were crucial three-pointers in the final four minutes to help the Spurs fend off the determined young Warriors team.

Knicks beat Pacers to stay alive

Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 28 points as the New York Knicks staved off elimination with a wire-to-wire 85-75 victory over Indiana in game five of their second round NBA playoff series.

J.R. Smith and Chris Copeland came off the bench to score 13 points each for the Knicks who closed the Eastern Conference contest on a 10-4 scoring run in front of a crowd of 19,033 at Madison Square Garden arena.