The EU launched legal action today against Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in their share of refugees under a controversial solidarity plan.
	The move shows the frustration in Brussels over the scheme, which aimed to relocate 1,60,000 migrants from frontline migrant crisis states Italy and Greece but which has so far seen only 20,000 moved.
	"I regret to say that despite our repeated calls, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have not yet taken the necessary action," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a news conference.
	"For this reason the (European) Commission has decided to launch infringement procedures against these three member states," he said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
	The three eastern European states have led resistance to the plan since its outset in 2015 at the height of the migration crisis, when more than one million refugees landed on Europe's shores.
	But Avramopoulos, who is Greece's European ...

EU sanctions Hungary, Poland, Czechs over refugees

PTI Automatic

Zambia's parliament today suspended 48 opposition lawmakers who boycotted President Edgar Lungu's address to legislators last March to protest his contested electoral victory.
	"I have in exercise of my powers decided to suspend the 48 members of parliament from service for a period of 30 days with effect from today," said parliament speaker Patrick Matibini.

Zambia suspends 48 MPs who boycotted president's speech

Russia warned today that the blockade against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and its allies would make it harder to reach a peaceful end to the war in Syria, after President Vladimir Putin discussed the crisis with Saudi King Salman.
	In a phone discussion, the two leaders "touched on the aggravated situation around Qatar, which unfortunately does not help consolidate joint efforts in resolving the conflict in Syria and fighting the terrorist threat," the Kremlin said in a statement after the call.
	Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt said earlier this month that they had suspended ties with Qatar over the emirate's alleged support for extremists, banning all flights to and from Doha and shutting down the offices of the country's national carrier.
	As well as cutting air, sea and land links with Qatar, the countries ordered its citizens to leave within 14 days.
	The Kremlin said Putin and Salman also discussed developing ties in various areas and expressed an intention to "activate ...

Kremlin warns Gulf crisis imperils Syria peace efforts

President Donald Trump will host his new South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In at the White House late this month for talks on containing North Korea's nuclear programme, described by Washington as a "clear and present danger."
	"President Trump and President Moon will discuss ways to further strengthen the ironclad US-ROK (Republic of Korea) alliance" during the June 29-30 talks, a White House statement said today.
	The leaders will seek to "advance cooperation on economic and global issues" and "will also coordinate on North Korea- related issues, including countering the growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats," it added.
	The center-left Korean leader, who was sworn in last month after a landslide election win, favors engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table, rather than the hardline stance taken by the conservative government of his ousted predecessor Park Geun-Hye.
	Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned US lawmakers Monday that North Korea poses the most 

Trump to host S Korea's Moon for White House talks

US President Donald Trump was "wrong" to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change deal, Britain's new environment minister said today.
	"I think he is wrong. I think that we need international cooperation in order to deal with climate change," said Michael Gove, who was appointed by Prime Minister Theresa May over the weekend.
	Gove, who has himself come under criticism for voting against measures to prevent climate change, said the Paris Accord was "a significant step forward".
	Trump announced his decision earlier this month, prompting concern in many of the remaining 194 signatories of the historic agreement.
	May told Trump at the time that the climate accord was a safety net for future generations.
	"The Paris Agreement provides the right global framework for protecting the prosperity and security of future generations, while keeping energy affordable and secure for our citizens and businesses," May told Trump by phone.
	The US is the world's second biggest polluter 

Trump was 'wrong' to leave climate change deal: UK minister

Letters from Albert Einstein giving colleagues his thoughts on physics, God and Israel in the 1950s go under the hammer at a Jerusalem auction house on June 20.
	The website of Winners auction house describes five signed letters written in English between 1951 and 1954.
	The site gave current estimates of their combined value as between USD 31,000 and USD 46,000.
	In a 1951 letter to eminent physicist David Bohm, Einstein discusses Bohm's linkage between quantum theory and "relativistic field theory".
	"I must confess that I am not able to guess how such unification could be achieved," Einstein writes.
	The typed letter includes an equation added in neat handwriting and the writer's signature.
	Bohm, born in the United States to Jewish immigrant parents, had worked with Einstein at Princeton University before fleeing to Brazil after losing his post in Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts.
	In a 1954 letter to Bohm, who was living in Sao Paulo, Einstein empathises with .

Einstein letters on quantum theory and God to be auctioned

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today strongly criticised the decision of the authorities in Iraq's Kurdistan region to hold a referendum on independence, calling it "an error and a threat" to the country's territorial integrity.
	Turkey has prided itself on its good ties with the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq's north, with its leader Massud Barzani a frequent visitor to Ankara.
	But even as Turkish investment poured into the regional capital of Arbil, Turkey has always kept a wary eye on any moves towards full independence.
	Ankara is still battling a more than three-decade insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for autonomy in southeast Turkey that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
	It also strongly opposes any autonomous region for Syrian Kurds in the north of Syria that might result from more than six years of civil war in the country.
	"Making a step towards independence in the north of Iraq is an error and a threat for the ...

Erdogan calls Iraqi Kurdish referendum 'error and threat'

Thailand's junta chief today said he would invoke his 'absolute powers' to clear hurdles holding up a multi-billion-dollar deal with China to build a high- speed railway.
	The two countries, who are increasingly close friends, have agreed to lay the track that will ultimately cut through the Laos' border to Thailand's south.
	Beijing's big plan is to link the southern Chinese city of Kunming by rail with Singapore and work has already begun on the line in Laos.
	But the deal with Thailand has been beset by delays, including a tussle over the initial loan terms from Beijing.
	More recently construction has been set back by a Thai law limiting the number of foreign nationals who can work as engineers and architects on mega-projects inside the kingdom.
	Today Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said he would force through the deal, if necessary using Article 44 -- a self-granted law dubbed an absolute power by critics.
	"The government must solve the problem otherwise it will hit snags or ..

Thai junta vows to force through China railway

Indonesia has reached an agreement with Google over payment of taxes, the country's finance minister said today, after a long-running dispute with the US tech giant.
	The two sides have been locked in a row since last year when the government alleged that the California-based company had refused to cooperate with its tax office.
	A senior tax official had claimed the company had not fulfilled its obligations and owed over USD 400 million in taxes and fines for 2015 alone. Google insisted it had paid all taxes due in Indonesia since opening its Jakarta office in 2011.
	Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters today that "we had a discussion with them (Google) and reached an agreement based on the 2016 tax report, but because it is confidential we don't disclose the amount".
	She did not give further details, and it was not clear whether an agreement had also been reached regarding tax payments prior to 2016.
	No one from the tax office or Google's Jakarta office could be ..

Google seals deal with Indonesia on tax: minister

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today slammed the economic and political isolation of Qatar as inhumane and contrary to Islamic values after key Gulf states broke off ties with Ankara's ally.
	"Taking action to isolate a country in all areas is inhumane and un-Islamic," Erdogan said in televised comments to his party in Ankara, after Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain broke off relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism".
	In his strongest comments yet on the crisis, Erdogan added that Qatar was a country "on which a death sentenced had in some way been pronounced".
	The crisis has put Turkey in a delicate position as Ankara regards Qatar as its chief ally in the Gulf but is also keen to maintain its improving relations with the key regional power Saudi Arabia.
	Turkey also is eager to maintain workable relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia's foe with whom Doha's critics say Qatar maintained excessively close ties.
	Erdogan added he would hold three-way phone ..

Turkey's Erdogan slams 'inhumane' isolation of Qatar

Hungary's parliament approved today a crackdown on foreign-backed civil society groups despite an international outcry, in a move seen as targeting US billionaire George Soros.
	A new law, passed by 130 votes to 44, will force groups receiving more than 24,000 euros (USD 26,000) annually in overseas funding to register as a "foreign-supported organisation", or risk closure for non-compliance.
	The government of populist premier Viktor Orban says the measures are aimed at improving transparency as well as fighting money laundering and terrorism funding.
	But the European Commission and the United Nations have condemned the law, saying it could "discriminate against and delegitimise" non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
	International rights groups also warned that the labelling requirement would "stigmatise" civil groups critical of Orban's hardline policies.
	It "has nothing to do with transparency and everything to do with obstructing and discrediting critical civil society ...

Hungary passes tough anti-foreign NGO law

Poland today denounced as "illegal" possible EU sanctions against Warsaw for refusing to take in its share of refugees under a controversial solidarity plan.
	Three diplomats told AFP they expected eastern EU members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to face sanctions over their refusal to participate in relocating 160,000 refugees under a 2015 plan to ease the burden on frontline states Italy and Greece.
	The European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to make a decision on legal action today, with a formal announcement tomorrow.
	But Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski responded: "We're not at risk.
	"We won't react, we're not going to explain to them (the Commission) that this is illegal."
	"You can't link relocation, or forced re-settlement, to any kind of European policy," Waszczykowski told Polish media today.
	"Most of these people aren't refugees, they're migrants, who arrived in Europe illegally and they don't want to be re- settled in ...

Poland calls EU threat of sanctions over refugees 'illegal'

A mass food poisoning at a camp for displaced Iraqi civilians outside Mosul has left at least two dead and hundreds requiring urgent treatment, officials said today.
	"There are 752 cases of food poisoning and two deaths, a woman and a child" following a meal last night, health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr told AFP.
	He said around 100 of those affected required serious treatment after the iftar meal, which breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
	Badr said the exact source of the poisoning would be revealed after a more thorough investigation. Other health officials from Nineveh province, in northern Iraq, confirmed the figures.
	The outbreak occurred at Hasansham, one of the many camps dotting the region around Mosul, where Iraqi forces are battling the Islamic State group.
	More than 800,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since a massive operation against the jihadists in one of their last strongholds in Iraq was launched in October ...

Hundreds sick, 2 dead in food poisoning at Mosul camp

A rare Afghan marsh that was once a royal hunting ground is set to come under the official protection of the UN environment agency, with the aim of saving hundreds of migratory bird species.
	On the long, arid journey to the Caucasus and Siberia, across the Hindu Kush massif, the Kol-e-Hashmat Khan wetlands outside Kabul provide sanctuary for the thousands of storks, egrets, pelicans and flamingos that head north every spring from southern India.
	But after 40 years of conflict and neglect, their habitat is being threatened by the growth in new homes, irrigation systems, rubbish and global warming which is gradually changing the local environment.
	Now the UN has designated the wetlands a conservation site, the Afghan government said on Sunday, as it also looks to help preserve the water supply of the capital.
	"There are probably more than 300 or 400 species that pass through, though without an accurate count it is hard to be sure," says Andrew Scanlon, head of the United Nations ...

War-torn Kabul becomes a protected site for migratory birds

Sri Lankan railway authorities announced a crackdown on selfies today after a 12-year-old boy was decapitated and two other men also died while snapping themselves on a coastal track.
	The boy and his 24-year-old brother were killed as they took photographs of themselves on the picturesque section of track in Colombo on Sunday.
	Police said the boy was decapitated and his head became lodged between two railway carriages.
	Another man died as he tried to take a selfie with his new bride on the same day on another section of the line.
	The woman suffered serious injuries and is in intensive care.
	Railway spokesman Wijeya Samarasinghe said mobile phones accounted for most of the 28 deaths on Sri Lanka's railways so far this year.
	"We are launching a campaign this week to deploy our security staff to arrest those walking on the tracks and taking selfies in front of moving trains," he told AFP.
	"There are some who want to post videos and pictures of themselves in front of moving ...

Sri Lanka train deaths prompt selfie crackdown

Several people were wounded when shots were fired at a commuter rail station near the southern German city of Munich today and one person was detained, police said.
	"Several people were injured by shots. A female police officer was badly wounded" at an S-Bahn station in Unterfoehring, a northeastern suburb of the Bavarian city, police tweeted, and that the scene was now "secured".
	A Munich police spokesman, Marcus da Gloria Martins, later told reporters there was no indication of a "political or religious" motive behind the incident.
	"The sole male perpetrator was motivated by personal reasons," he said.
	Martins said that the unidentified man had tried to push at least one police officer in front of an incoming train, leading to a scuffle during which he took the female officer's gun and fired.
	"The police officer was shot in the head and critically injured," Martins said.
	Two other people at the station were seriously injured but their lives were not believed to be in danger. ..

Several wounded by shots at German rail station: police

Several people were wounded when shots were fired at a commuter rail station near the southern Germany city of Munich today and one person was detained, police said.
	"Several people were injured by shots. A female police officer was badly wounded," Munich police tweeted.
	Authorities reported that a handgun was fired during a police operation at an S-Bahn station in Unterfoehring, a northeastern suburb of the Bavarian city, and that the scene was now secured.

'Several people' wounded by shots at Munich rail station

Panama and China announced today they were establishing diplomatic relations, as the Central American nation became the latest to dump Taiwan for closer ties with the world's second-largest economy.
	The move prompted an angry response from Taiwan and will likely further strain ties between Taipei and Beijing, which considers the self-ruled island a renegade province awaiting reunification with the mainland.
	Taiwan is recognised by around 20 countries worldwide and its status is one of the most politically sensitive issues for Chinese leaders who pressure trade partners to accept its "one China" principle.
	Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said in a nationally televised message "to the country and the world" that "Panama and China establish diplomatic relations today".
	The two countries issued a joint statement saying: "In light of the interests and wishes of both peoples, the Republic of Panama and People's Republic of China have decided to grant each other, from the date of 

Panama cuts ties with Taiwan, switches to China

Several people were missing today after a seven-storey building collapsed overnight in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, rescue officials said.
	Residents were evacuated to safety when the building developed cracks and then collapsed, police said.
	"There are people reported missing in the tragedy," a senior police officer said.
	A total of 121 people are accounted for, said Pius Masai, deputy head of communications at the National Disaster Management Unit.
	"It is believed that some people may have been trapped. Rescue efforts are ongoing," he said in a statement.
	He "appealed to anyone with cutters, drillers and any other extrication equipment" to support search and rescue efforts.
	The incident occurred late yesterday in the Quarry area in Mukuru Kwa Reuben slum in the sprawling city's southeast.
	Building collapses are a recurrent problem in Kenya, where construction standards are weakened by chronic corruption.
	In April 2016, 49 people were killed when a six-storey building ...

Several missing after Kenya building collapse

The air embargo imposed on Qatar only applies to airlines from Qatar or registered there, the United Arab Emirates Civil Aviation Authority said today.
	Saudi Arabia and Bahrain issued identical statements on the air embargo, which came into effect when Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama broke off relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism".

Gulf air embargo only applies to Qatar companies: UAE

A Japanese court today gave the green light to switch on two more nuclear reactors despite heavy public opposition, in the latest victory for the government's pro-atomic push.
	Local residents lost their bid for an injunction to block the refiring of the No.3 and No.4 reactors at the Genkai nuclear plant in southwestern Japan on safety grounds, according to a district court official.
	The site, operated by Kyushu Electric Power, lies some 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Kumamoto prefecture which was hit by a deadly earthquake last year.
	Residents unsuccessfully argued that the utility had not taken enough measures to prevent an accident linked to a natural disaster.
	The restarts are not likely to happen for at least several months.
	The court ruling comes a week after another utility switched on a reactor at the Takahama plant in Fukui prefecture, some 350 kilometres (215 miles) west of Tokyo, bringing the number of running reactors in Japan to five.
	Dozens more in the country ..

AFP

AFP

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