Call to lower Aboriginal incarceration rates

SYDNEY • Human rights groups are urging the Australian government to do more to bring down Aboriginal incarceration rates, which have almost doubled in 25 years. The indigenous criminals now account for a quarter of prisoners although they comprise just under 3 per cent of the adult Australian population, according to the 2015 Bureau of Statistics data.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Kremlin says sorry to German newspaper

MOSCOW • The Kremlin yesterday apologised to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung after President Vladimir Putin wrongly claimed it was owned by United States bank Goldman Sachs as he sought to discredit leaks from the Panama Papers.

Mr Putin said on Thursday that US "masterminds" were behind the leak to the paper, which has shared millions of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca with international media to shed light on how the rich and powerful, including the Russian President's inner circle, hide money offshore.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

NYT to reach out to global digital audience

NEW YORK • The New York Times Company will invest more than US$50 million (S$68 million) over the next three years to support an ambitious plan to expand its international digital audience and increase revenue outside the United States, the firm said on Thursday.

The New York Times has formed a new team, NYT Global, to lead the effort.

"Because our digital report is still designed and produced mainly for a US audience, we have not come close to realising our potential to attract readers outside our home market," Mr Arthur Sulzberger Jr, The New York Times' publisher; Mr Mark Thompson, its chief executive; and Mr Dean Baquet, its executive editor, wrote in a memo to staff.

NEW YORK TIMES