Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels raged today on several fronts, killing 41 people, officials said, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kuwait to push forward peace talks.
	The Iran-backed Huthi rebels pressed ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.
	The rebels and their allies of forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province.
	Eleven rebels were killed when warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition bombed them in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.
	Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, a source in loyalist militia said.
	Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official ...

Clashes intensify in Yemen, killing 41

PTI Automatic

A Malaysian military transport plane was intercepted by two Indonesian jet fighters while flying a regular route over Indonesia's Natuna Islands, defence officials said today.
	The C-130 aircraft was flying from west Malaysia yesterday towards the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
	"That (flying over the Natuna Islands) is a regular route," the official said, adding that the C-130 continued its journey to Sabah despite the interception.
	Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed the incident.
	"Yes... The aircraft was intercepted by two Indonesian jets," he was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.
	The incident came two days after Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the islands on a warship in an apparent show of force after clashes with Chinese fishing vessels in the area.
	Unlike some of its Southeast Asian neighbours, Indonesia has no maritime disputes with China over reefs or islets in the South China ...

Malaysian plane intercepted by Indonesian fighter jets

European lawmakers urged Britain today to begin EU exit proceedings at a summit this week, as Germany suggested the country should be given time to "reconsider" the impact of its vote.
	Amid confusion and dissent over the timetable for any "Brexit", Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".
	"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," Schulz, a German Social Democrat, said.
	"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."
	However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff insisted there was no rush to show Britain the door.
	"The political leadership in London should have the chance to reconsider once again the consequences of a withdrawal," Peter Altmaier told the RND media group.
	He later clarified in a statement to AFP that he was "explicitly" not suggesting a do-over of ..

European MPs urge speedy Brexit as Merkel plays for time

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret today that Britain has chosen to leave the European Union and vowed Washington will maintain close ties with the bloc.
	Kerry, who flies to Brussels and London on Monday for crisis talks with EU and British leaders, said the ideal of unity must remain paramount as Britain negotiates "Brexit".
	"An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today," Kerry told reporters during a visit to Rome.
	"One country has made a decision, obviously it's a decision that the United States had hoped would go the other way," he said, alongside Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
	"The vote about Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU."
	Gentiloni said Brexit demonstrated the need for the EU to change.
	"We are working to relaunch the Union in light of the ...

US voices Brexit regret as Kerry heads to London

Scoreboard in the third
one-day international between England and Sri Lanka at Bristol on Sunday:
     Sri Lanka
     K. Perera c Buttler b Plunkett       9
     D. Gunathilaka b Willey              1
     K. Mendis c Hales b Plunkett        53
     D. Chandimal c Jordan b Woakes      62
     A. Mathews c Buttler b Jordan       56
     S. Prasanna c Bairstow b Plunkett    2
     U. Tharanga b Woakes                40
     D. Shanaka run out (Root/Buttler)    2
     F. Maharoof c Bairstow b Woakes      9
     S. Lakmal not out                    3
     N. Pradeep not out                   2
     Extras (lb4, w5)                     9
     Total (9 wkts, 50 overs)           248
     Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Gunathilaka), 2-32 (Perera), 3-88 (Mendis), 4-168 (Chandimal), 5-171 (Prasanna), 6-209 (Mathews), 7-215 (Shanaka), 8-242 (Maharoof), 9-242 (Tharanga)
     Bowling: Willey 10-0-55-1; Woakes 10-1-34-3; Plunkett 10-0-46-3; Jordan 10-0-49-1; Rashid 10-0-60-0.

Bristol (UK), June 26 (AFP) Scoreboard in the third

A junior minister was among 11 people killed in an attack by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants on a hotel in the Somali capital, the foreign ministry said today.
	The body of Buri Mohamed Hamza, minister of state in the prime minister's office for the environment, has been retrieved from the collapsed building of the Naasa Hablood hotel, the ministry added.
	"We extend our deepest condolences to the relatives of the minister who was killed in Mogadishu yesterday," a ministry statement read.
	Yesterday's assault, the latest in a series by the Islamist group targeting hotels and restaurants, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the building.
	Gunmen then stormed the Naasa Hablood hotel in an assault lasting for several hours. Special security forces ended the siege after killing three attackers inside the hotel.
	Two of the 11 dead were doctors, a security ministry spokesman said, while medical sources said some 20 civilians were wounded.
	The ...

Minister among 11 killed in Somalia hotel attack

Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states dropped today in the first trading session after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
	All seven Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets were closed for the Muslim weekend on Friday when the result of the British referendum was announced.
	Share prices in most Gulf markets dropped sharply at the start of trading today, but had recovered some of the losses by the close.
	The Dubai Financial Market began the day by sliding 5.0 per cent, but the index - the Gulf bourse most exposed to international markets - finished the day down 3.25 per cent.
	At one stage, investment companies fell 8.0 per cent and real estate dropped 5.0 per cent.
	Saudi stocks dropped 4.1 per cent at the opening but recovered to close down just 1.1 per cent. All 15 sectors were in negative territory.
	The Qatar Exchange fell 1.25 per cent, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange dropped 1.85 per cent and the Kuwait Stock Exchange closed 1.1 per cent lower.
	The tiny .

Gulf stocks fall on Brexit vote

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan today, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
	There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties after the earthquake hit at a depth of 18 kilometres.
	The epicentre was in a remote region near the border with China and Tajikistan some 390 kilometres south of the capital Bishkek.
	Earthquakes happen frequently in the mountainous regions of ex-Soviet Central Asia.

6.3 magnitude earthquake hits Central Asian Kyrgyzstan

Heavy fighting between Afghan forces and Islamic State fighters has killed dozens of people, officials said today, raising fears the militant group is staging a comeback months after Kabul said they had been defeated.
	The fighting began late on Friday in the Kot area of the Rodat district in eastern Nangarhar province after a contingent of IS fighters attacked police check posts, provincial governor Salim Khan Kunduzi said.
	The interior ministry in a statement said at least 18 fighters had been killed and more than 40 others wounded so far, though Kunduzi placed the number of IS fighters killed as high as 36 and said at least a dozen security forces personnel and civilians had also died.
	Scores of people have been forced out of their homes, according to local officials.
	IS fighters began making inroads into Afghanistan in late 2014, winning over sympathisers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf, primarily in the country's east.
	But in March, Afghan .

IS fighters launch new attacks in eastern Afghanistan

Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group's last positions in the city of Fallujah today, establishing full control over one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.
	Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.
	The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.
	"The Iraqi security forces now control the whole city of Fallujah," said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) that has been leading the fight.
	CTS fighters today eased into Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of Fallujah where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.
	"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat ...

Iraq forces take full control of Fallujah

One of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses was arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, the authorities announced.
	Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was captured in the early hours of the morning in an appartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.
	Fazzalari was the second most-wanted 'Ndrangheta fugitive after "superboss" Matteo Messina Denaro.
	On the run since 1996, he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova.
	His arrest was hailed by the government as a significant victory for the state in its battle against what is now considered Italy's most powerful mafia group.
	"Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet.
	Interior Minister Angelino Alfano .

Italy catches 'top mafia fugitive' after 20 years on the run

California firefighters today struggled to contain a wildfire that killed at least two people and destroyed some 150 homes as it raced over drought-parched land whipped up by strong wind.
	The blaze, known as the Erskine Fire, is raging in an agricultural and oil region of south-central California.
	The blaze has spread to nearly 37,000 acres, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) said.
	Some 1,700 personnel have been assigned to battle the wildfire, which is just 10 per cent contained, CAL Fire said on Twitter.
	At least 75 other homes have fire damage, officials said.
	Unusually high temperatures, bone-dry conditions that make brush and grass flammable, and powerful winds gusting up to 80 to 100 kilometers per hour helped spread the flames of a fire that broke out Thursday afternoon in the sparsely populated Lake Isabella area of Kern County.
	Deputies from the Kern County Sheriff's office said they may have found the remains of a third person killed ..

Deadly California wildfire destroys at least 150 homes

Rival immigration protesters clashed for the second time in a month in Melbourne today, with three people arrested as the government vowed to crack down on mask-wearing demonstrators.
	About 120 people took part in an anti-immigration rally in the country's second largest city waving large Australian flags and carrying posters such as "Islamic refugees not welcome".
	Anti-Muslim sentiment has mounted in Australia in recent years after a series of attacks by radicalised youth, including the killing of a police employee in Sydney in October.
	Today's immigration protesters were confronted by about 200 anti-racism demonstrators, with hundreds of police on site to try and keep the two groups apart.
	But some protesters broke through a police line and one man was kicked and punched before officers intervened, Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported.
	"Two people were arrested for assault, that's assault of each other, (and) one person was arrested for criminal damage, that's damage of a ...

Violence at rival Australian immigration protests

The Vatican today hit back at claims from Turkey that Pope Francis showed a "mentality of the Crusades" after he denounced the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as "genocide".
	The pope has stirred Turkish anger during a three-day visit to ex-Soviet Armenia by using the term for the century-old slaughter that Ankara furiously rejects.
	Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canlikli labelled the pope's declaration "very unfortunate" and said it bore traces of "the mentality of the Crusades."
	"It is not an objective statement that conforms with reality," Canlikli said.
	The Vatican rejected the allegations and said the pontiff was trying to build "bridges not walls" and had nothing against Turkey.
	"If you listen to the pope, there is nothing that evokes a spirit of the Crusades," spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists in the Armenian capital Yerevan.
	"Francis prayed for reconciliation of all and did not say one word against the Turkish people. The pope does not ...

Vatican denies Turkey 'Crusade' claims in genocide row

History professor Gudni Johannesson won Iceland's presidential election with 39.1 per cent of the ballots, according to final results announced on public television channel RUV today.
	The political newcomer only decided to run for the presidency after the so-called Panama Papers leak in April, which detailed offshore accounts and implicated several senior Icelandic politicians.
	Throughout the campaign, Johannesson rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, emphasising his non-partisan, independent vision of the presidency.
	The victory was especially sweet for the academic as he celebrated his 48th birthday today.
	Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir, also without party affiliation, came second with 27.9 per cent of the ballots.
	The president in Iceland holds a largely ceremonial position, acting as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity, and more important legislative elections are due in the autumn.
	Johannesson will now replace Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, 73, after 20 ...

Johannesson wins Iceland presidency with 39 per cent

At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 injured in clashes over land between residents of two central Malian villages, a regional official said today.
	The clash pitted villagers from Koussouma and Mougna near the ancient town of Djenne yesterday, with both sides claiming ownership over arable land nearby, the official from the province of Mopti told AFP on condition of anonymity.
	"They clashed on Saturday over a land dispute. At least 14 were killed and 42 others were wounded," the official said.
	A security source confirmed the clash.
	"On Saturday, with the first drops of rainfall, residents started heading towards the land to cultivate it. Residents from the opposing sides protested and then launched an attack," the source said, adding that the violence quickly led to bloodshed.
	There was no confirmation of the number of people involved in the clash. The two villages are located some 12 kilometres from each other.
	Another security source told AFP a land dispute between .

14 killed in Mali land dispute: local official

Elite Iraqi forces today retook the Islamic State group's last bastion in Fallujah, securing full control of the city after a month-long operation, a spokesman said.
	"Today the commander of Fallujah operations Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi announced that the city of Fallujah had been cleared after counter-terrorism forces (CTS) took control of the Jolan neighbourhood," the force's spokesman, Sabah al-Noman, told AFP.
	"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.
	"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."
	A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah.
	"We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the .

Iraq's Fallujah fully cleared of IS: force spokesman

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to meet today with Yemen's warring sides in a bid to push forward peace talks that have made no headway after two months.
	Ban, who arrived in Kuwait City late yesterday, was to meet delegates from the Iran-backed rebels and the Yemeni government in a joint session on Sunday, according to a UN spokesman.
	UN-backed talks between the Shiite Huthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in Kuwait on April 21.
	UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.
	Ould Cheikh Ahmed has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.
	But the Yemeni government is insisting the rebels withdraw ...

UN's Ban to push peace talks with Yemen warring sides

An Israeli court today sentenced an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man to life in prison for killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding others during a stabbing spree at a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade.
	The Jerusalem District Court convicted Yishai Schlissel in April of murder and six counts of attempted murder over the July 2015 stabbings.
	He was sentenced to life plus 31 years, a court statement said, after prosecutors had requested life plus 60 years.
	Schlissel was led into the courtroom with both his hands and feet shackled.
	The incident triggered harsh criticism of the police when it emerged that Schlissel had been released from prison only three weeks earlier after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack.
	He had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City and the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.
	Many questioned how Schlissel, 40 when he was convicted, was allowed anywhere near the parade, ...

Jewish man who stabbed Jerusalem Gay Pride marchers sentenced

The Britain that Scotland voted to stay a part of in a 2014 referendum "does not exist any more", Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said today following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
	"The UK that Scotland voted to stay in in 2014 does not exist any more," Sturgeon told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show after saying a second independence referendum was now "highly likely".
	"This is not going to be a re-run of the 2014 referendum. The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically," she said.
	Scots voted by 55 pe rcent to 45 per cent to stay in the United Kingdom in the 2014 vote.
	But a Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 per cent of respondents now wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 per cent were opposed.
	This comes after Thursday's historic EU referendum in which Britain as a whole voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave -- but 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay.
	Within hours of that result, Sturgeon said that a new ...

'UK that Scotland voted to stay in does not exist any more'

The European Parliament's chief called today for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week.
	Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".
	"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone," he said.
	"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."
	The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.
	This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".
	They added that "no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been ...

AFP

AFP

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