Four eastern EU states today said they needed Britain to stay in the bloc, two weeks before the landmark UK referendum on membership.
	Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, speaking at a meeting in Prague with Czech, Hungarian and Slovak counterparts, said that London played a very important role in the EU and "we need Britain there."
	Szydlo, whose Law and Justice party is eurosceptic, warned that "it won't be possible to create a good platform for cooperation with Britain outside the EU."
	Ahead of the June 23 vote, an average of the last six domestic opinion polls published by the WhatUKThinks website puts the "Remain" camp slightly ahead at 51 percent and the "Leave" campaign at 49 percent.
	Slovakia's Premier Robert Fico, whose country will take over the rotating six-month EU presidency on July 1, said Brexit will be an issue regardless of the referendum outcome.
	If Britain stays the EU would be "in for a difficult period of implementing its (reform) deal" with London, he ...

Central Europe urges Britain to stay in EU

PTI Automatic

Half-sized humans who lived 700,000 years ago were almost certainly the ancestors of enigmatic "hobbits" whose fossils were found on the same Indonesian isle in 2013, scientists stunned by their own discovery reported today.
	Two studies, published in Nature, fill a huge gap in our understanding of these diminutive people, whose tortuous evolutionary saga hit a dead-end some 50,000 years ago.
	A modest haul of teeth and bones from an adult and two children has bolstered the theory that the hobbits, known to scientists as Homo floresiensis, arrived on Flores island as a different, larger species of hominin, or early man, probably about a million years ago.
	And then, something very strange happened.
	These upright, tool-wielding humans shrank, generation after generation, until they were barely half their original weight and height.
	The process, called "island dwarfism," was well known in animals, with some species shrinking as much as six fold in adapting to an environment with fewer 

Likely ancestor of mystery 'hobbit' found

An Eritrean dubbed "the general", suspected of controlling a migrant trafficking network responsible for shipping thousands of people to Europe and sending some to a watery grave, has been extradited to Italy.
	Medhanie Yehdego Mered, 35, who had been on a wanted list since 2015 for international people smuggling, was arrested in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and flown to Italy late Monday.
	He is "the accused ringleader of one of the four largest criminal migrant trafficking organisations", the Sudanese interior ministry said in a joint statement with the country's British and Italian embassies.
	Referred to in wiretapped conversations between his subordinate alleged traffickers as "the general" for his control over a large area and number of "troops", Mered is accused of organising the smuggling of up to 8,000 people a year on migrant boats.
	Investigators believe his organisation was responsible for packing migrants onto a boat that sank in 2013 off the Italian island of Lampedusa, 

Migrant smuggling 'general' extradited to Italy

The European Central Bank today took the unprecedented step of buying corporate bonds, its latest weapon in a desperate battle to kick-start sluggish growth and inflation in the eurozone.
	Having already slashed key interest rates to below zero and pumped massive amounts of cash into financial markets, it started to directly finance businesses by buying their debt in the bond market.
	In the first major trades, the ECB bought millions of euros worth of bonds of French power company Engie and Spain's Telefonica, reported the Bloomberg financial news wire, citing unnamed market players.
	Other purchases were of debt issued by Belgian-Brazilian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, German engineering giant Siemens, Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali and French automaker Renault, Bloomberg said.
	ECB chief Mario Draghi hopes the scheme -- set to be worth billions of euros every month -- will deliver the financial medicine directly where it is needed, with Europe's major public ...

ECB pours cash into company bonds

One of France's most powerful Catholic leaders, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was questioned by police today over allegations he covered up the sexual abuse of Scouts, his lawyer said.
	Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon in central France since 2002, has been accused of failing to remove a priest from his diocese when he became aware the man had sexually abused young boys 25 years ago.
	Barbarin spent 10 hours at the police's family protection unit where he was interrogated as part of a preliminary investigation, but has not been taken into custody, his lawyer said.
	State prosecutors will now have to decide whether to pursue the case against Barbarin, which has shaken France's Catholic Church.
	The scandal has raised questions over how deep Church authorities should dig into abuse cases lurking in their past.
	Barbarin's interrogation comes four days after Pope Francis issued a decree that senior Catholic officials guilty of negligence in child abuse cases can now be dismissed from ...

French police quiz cardinal over alleged abuse cover-up

Two days before Euro 2016 kicks off in France, unresolved strikes and security fears hung over the tournament with Paris scrambling today to stop rubbish piling up in its streets.
	Europe's four-yearly football extravaganza is taking place just seven months after jihadists killed 130 people in the French capital and there are fears the tournament could be a target for more terror attacks.
	Germany defender Jerome Boateng became the first high-profile player to say he was banning his family from coming to the stadiums for the tournament because he was concerned for their safety.
	"My family and children will not be coming to the stadium. The risk is simply too big," he told Sport Bild weekly.
	The French government launched a free smartphone app in French and English which will warn visitors of any "major crisis", including suspected attacks.
	The immediate concern though was the industrial unrest and political turmoil over controversial labour reforms that look set to continue into ...

Security fears, strikes cloud French Euro 2016 buildup

Russian investigators said today they have launched a criminal case against former officials of the country's scandal-ridden athletics federation, which has been suspended over allegations of state-sponsored doping and corruption.
	The powerful Investigative Committee said in a statement it had opened a "criminal case against individuals who held management roles at the All-Russian Athletic Federation (ARAF) between 2009 and 2013 on the grounds of abuse of power, which led to the suspension of athletes on Russia's national athletics teams".
	"If it is determined that a crime has taken place, the guilty individuals undoubtedly will receive a criminal punishment to the fullest extent of the law," the statement said.
	Under Russian law, individuals convicted of abuse of power can face up to five years in prison.
	The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended ARAF in November over allegations of state-enabled doping and mass corruption.
	The former president of ..

Russia probes former federation officials over doping

A policeman in Italy has shot dead a mentally unstable migrant who stabbed him during a brawl in an area renowned for tensions between immigrants, locals and police, media reports said today.
	The fight reportedly broke out after the Malian migrant suffered a psychotic episode, became violent and tried to steal from fellow seasonal workers in the vast tent camp in San Ferdinando, which sits on the outskirts of the southern city of Rosarno.
	The overcrowded and dirty tent camp houses thousands of people who scrabble to get work largely in the area's orange groves.
	Two policemen intervened, but called for back-up when they failed to calm the Malian. When he saw extra police arrive he lashed out with the knife, wounding one of the officers near the eye, the Corriere della Sera said.
	Fearing a possible second attack, the officer shot the migrant in the chest, killing him instantly, it said.
	Shocked and angry migrants then circled the officers, who drew their weapons and called for more 

Italy policeman 'shoots dead migrant who stabbed him'

The University of Calgary in Canada said today it paid a ransom to regain control of its critical email systems from cyberattackers, prompting criticism that it has emboldened hackers.
	The school's administration, professors and students had been without access to emails for 10 days, before technicians were able to "isolate the effects of the attack" and use a key to unlock its server.
	To obtain the key, the university said it "paid a ransom totalling about CanUSD20,000 that was demanded as part of this 'ransomware' attack."
	"There is no indication that any personal or other university data was released to the public," it said.
	Police are investigating the malicious malware attack, the latest in a string of hacks targeting Canadian and US institutions including schools, hospitals, law enforcement agencies and even NASA.
	Such attacks typically involve an unknown person or group infiltrating and encrypting a computer or a network, rendering the data inaccessible until a ransom is ..

Canadian university pays ransom to cyberattackers

The International Monetary Fund today welcomed austerity measures by Middle Eastern oil exporters but warned that greater efforts were needed to plug budget deficits resulting from plunging crude prices.
	The IMF said the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, along with Algeria, were implementing "ambitious fiscal consolidation measures" but predicted that shortfalls would continue to grow amid cheap oil.
	"An additional substantial deficit reduction effort is required over the medium term to preserve fiscal sustainability," it said in a report.
	For GCC states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- further measures are also necessary to protect their currencies' peg to the dollar, it added.
	The IMF warned policymakers of "emerging signs of liquidity pressures in their financial systems and the risk of deteriorating asset quality.
	"Deep structural reforms are necessary to improve medium-term prospects and facilitate much-needed ...

Oil exporters must do more to balance budgets: IMF

Six children died while being baptised in a river in eastern Zimbabwe, police said today, adding that the organisers of the event had tried to flee before being caught.
	The two boys and four girls were among nine children aged between one and nine who were taken for baptism by two members of an apostolic church.
	"Six juveniles died during baptism in Muriwo village in Mashonaland East (province) on Tuesday," police spokeswoman Charity Charamba said in a statement.
	"We would like to warn members of the public to desist from engaging in dangerous practices under the guise of freedom of worship."
	A four-year-old boy escaped from the river shivering with cold and alerted a passer-by, she said.
	"After realising the children were dead, the culprits ran away from the scene but they were later arrested. They are being charged with culpable homicide."
	Local media said those arrested were two women aged 30 and 34.
	Apostolic churches and sects in Zimbabwe have grown in popularity in ...

Six children drown during baptism in Zimbabwe: police

A local staffer for European monitors observing Ukraine's flaring separatist conflict was returned today, a day after going missing in the country's pro-Russian east.
	The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said a member of its Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) did not return from a planned vacation yesterday and was reportedly being held in the insurgents' de facto capital of Donetsk.
	The employee was returned only this evening, after being gone for about a day, and after the OSCE mission demanded his "immediate and unconditional release."
	"The SMM staff member who went missing on 7 June was returned today to the mission in Donetsk," the mission said on its Facebook page.
	A mission spokeswoman contacted by AFP declined to give immediate details on the matter.
	A source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the missing Ukrainian was a driver who lived in the neighbouring pro-Russian region of Lugansk.
	The Donetsk rebels' human rights representative called .

OSCE staffer 'returned' after going missing in Ukraine

Saudi Arabia plans to develop its arts and media industry to counter negative "stereotypes" of the conservative kingdom, which has no public cinemas or theatres and is criticised for a lack of free expression.
	The initiatives are part of the wide-ranging National Transformation Programme which sets five-year targets for diversifying the oil-dependent economy.
	"The intention also is to transform the society," Culture and Information Minister Adel al-Turaifi told reporters yesterday after the NTP was endorsed by the cabinet a day earlier.
	While private film showings do take place in Saudi Arabia and small art exhibitions have occurred, the Wahhabi Islamic thought on which the kingdom is founded forbids paintings of the human form and frowns upon music.
	But under the NTP a Royal Arts Complex would be developed, as well as a Media City.
	Ahmed AlMulla, a poet and director of the Saudi Film Festival, welcomed the step but said the kingdom is starting from "ground zero".
	AlMulla, based 

Saudi to showcase arts in reform drive

French customs said today that officers had seized over 350 kilogram of elephant tusks in recent weeks, the biggest haul of ivory in the country in ten years.
	"We are dealing with organised networks who are slowly destroying African elephants," said Helene Crocquevieille, director general of the customs agency.
	The ivory was seized in two separate cases.
	Customs agents were alerted to one network when, during a road transport check in September, they discovered four elephant tusks in a car.
	Investigations led them to a French-Vietnamese businessman in Paris who had 212 kg of tusks hidden in wooden pallets in his office, which agents discovered on May 25.
	Brice Gutermann, head of the customs unit in the western city of Nantes who led the probe, said the suspect had his own company that dealt in beauty products, perfume and selling antiques.
	"He used this to organise the trafficking of ivory," said Gutermann.
	A dew days later, on June 1, customs agents at Paris' Charles de Gaulle 

France seizes 350 kg of ivory

Nearly 100 people have been kidnapped in northeast DR Congo during an attack blamed on Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army, the United Nations said today.
	Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Amouzou Codjo, spokesman for the UN's MONUSCO peace mission in DR Congo, said the suspected LRA members had "attacked and looted" two villages during Saturday's attack in Bas-Uele province.
	"These attackers also kidnapped nearly a hundred people to carry the loot," Codjo told a press conference, condemning the regular atrocities committed by the ruthless LRA against civilians in northeast DR Congo.
	The LRA first emerged in northern Uganda in 1986 when it took up arms in the name of the Acholi ethnic group against the government of President Yoweri Museveni.
	Over the years it has moved freely across porous regional borders, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before heading into northeastern DR Congo in 2005, finally crossing into the southeastern Central African Republic in ...

Rebels kidnap dozens of civilians in DR Congo: UN

Portuguese authorities today said they had detained an intelligence services officer on suspicion of being a double agent and selling secrets to Russia.
	A Lisbon court judge ruled that Frederico Carvalhao Gil, extradited following his arrest in Rome on May 21 on suspicion of handing over confidential documents to a Russian national, should be detained on suspicion of spying.
	The 57-year-old is being held on suspicion of espionage, selling state secrets, corruption and money laundering.
	Some of the documents he is accused of passing to a Russian handler for payment reportedly contain confidential information on European security and NATO operations. Portugal is both an EU and NATO member.
	Gil's lawyer Jose Preto, in comments to Portugal's Lusa press agency, called the arrest of his client "totally illegal" and the allegations against him "absolute fiction" and "absurd."
	Media reports indicated Gil is a long-serving and senior member of Portugal's SIS intelligence services, set up .

Portugal detains suspected double agent

Four people including a pregnant policewoman were killed in a car bombing today in Kurdish majority southeastern Turkey, a day after a deadly attack hit mega city Istanbul.
	Both bombings targeted Turkish police and have been blamed on Kurdish rebels waging a decades-long insurgency against the state.
	A massive plume of black smoke rose from the rubble of the police station after today's attack in the town of Midyat near the Syrian border.
	Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the "killer PKK", referring to the outlawed rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party.
	"We will fight them both in urban centres and rural areas with determination," he vowed.
	The Anatolia news agency said two police officers, including a pregnant woman, and two civilians had been killed and about 30 injured.
	The car -- loaded with half a tonne of explosives -- drove at the Midyat police station and blew up when police opened fire to stop it, the private Dogan news agency reported.
	Turkey remains on high alert after .

Four dead in Turkey bombing blamed on Kurdish rebels

From the shadow of Chernobyl's nuclear wasteland to international super-stardom and from penniless arrival in the United States, without a word of English, to a fortune nudging the USD 200 million mark.
     It may sound like the stuff of Hollywood dreams, but the story of Maria Sharapova, the world's richest sportswoman, was a testament to the power of one individual to make it, whatever the odds.
     However, today, the 29-year-old Russian's rags-to-riches story was seemingly at an end when she was banned for two years for failing a drugs test at January's Australian Open.
     Sharapova shot to international fame as a giggly 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 2004 -- the third youngest player to conquer the All England Club's famous grass courts.
     She would go on to win once in Australia and once at the US Open while claiming two titles at the French Open, despite famously likening her movement on Roland Garros's crushed red brick as a "cow on ice."
     Siberia-born Sharapova ...

Sharapova, rags to riches to doping shame

A British brewery has launched a range of beers to stimulate debate over the country's European Union membership, with early results suggesting that guzzlers were united with their continental counterparts.
	Little Valley Brewery in Yorkshire, northern England, has brewed 10,000 pints (5,600 litres) of three pale ales, bearing the names "In", "Out" and "IDK" (I Don't Know).
	Punters are encouraged to order according to how they will vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's EU membership, with each pint of "quaffable political dialogue" brewed to reflect the two camps.
	"'In' is fruity and hoppy and strongly influenced by the continental attitude, while the second, 'Out' is a light ale with bold hints of euroscepticism and a dry bitter finish," said Sue Cooper, co-owner and founder at Little Valley Brewery.
	"'IDK' is a mellow and malty pale ale, with a complex and thought-provoking finish."
	The brewery will publish results of each beer's popularity before the vote, but the "In" ...

No to Brewxit: Beer barometer predicts UK to remain in EU

US Secretary of State and former presidential candidate John Kerry declared today that Hillary Clinton "will make a terrific president."
	Speaking on a flight from Beijing to Abu Dhabi, Washington's top diplomat told reporters: "As a father of two daughters, I'm proud."
	Kerry was Clinton's successor at the State Department after she left to prepare her bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
	And he has some idea what she is up against, having himself tried and failed to win the White House for the party in the 2004 campaign.
	Yesterday, Clinton all but guaranteed herself the nomination with victories in the Democrats' last major primary races, including California.
	Her opponent, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, has yet to concede but appears to have no practical way to beat her convention delegate count.
	President Barack Obama has congratulated Hillary and now Kerry, who has been reluctant to intervene in the campaign, has lent his support.
	"I have great respect for the 

Kerry says Clinton to make 'terrific president'

Syrian rebels reopened a vital supply line by capturing two villages today from the Islamic State group as it came under pressure on a range of fronts in Syria and Iraq.
	IS has controlled large areas of both countries since declaring its self-styled "caliphate" in 2014 but is losing territory in the face of separate assaults.
	In Syria, pro-government forces, rebels and a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance are all engaged in offensives to squeeze the extremists' supply lines, while Iraqi forces are advancing on the IS-held city of Fallujah.
	The Damascus regime has also kept up its assaults on opposition areas, particular in second city Aleppo, where at least 15 civilians were killed today in bombing by pro-government forces that struck near a hospital.
	North of the city, rebel fighters re-opened a key supply route linking their two main bastions in Aleppo province: Marea and Azaz.
	In late May, IS captured several villages between the two towns, cutting off access to the Turkish ...

AFP

AFP

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